The Park Tower Condominium (1973) exemplifies how Chicago’s late modernist architects adapted the high-rise residential tower to the city’s lakefront, creating a landmark that combines urban density, engineering sophistication, and panoramic engagement with Lake Michigan.
Park Tower Condominium, 5414 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, SCB, 1973. View from east looking west. August 2015. Author’s photograph. 3.15mb.
Park Tower Condominium is on the lakefront next to north Lake Shore Drive and across from Foster Beach in Lincoln Park. Its address is 5414 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago
Constructed in 1973 by Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz (SCB), a Chicago architectural firm founded in 1931, the tower was planned as the first of three towers in a triangular formation but the others did not materialize.
Tallest building outside Downtown Chicago for 8 miles north to Foster Beach. Located on North Sheridan Road in the Edgewater neighborhood, directly adjacent to Lake Michigan, its height and slender profile make it a prominent visual landmark on Chicago’s northern lakefront.
At 55 stories tall (513 feet high), Park Tower Condominium is the tallest structure between downtown and Foster Beach and one of the tallest structures in Chicago outside the downtown area.
Park Tower Condominiumis one of the largest all-residential buildings in the city.It was originally built as luxury rental apartments, though the building became condos in 1979.
In the Edgewater neighborhood, Park Tower Condominium is one of three residential towers in Chicago with black Miesian windows and three rounded lobes. The others are Lake Point Tower (505 North Lake Shore Drive) and Harbor Point (155 North Harbor Drive).
The tower reflects the modernist emphasis on efficiency, structural clarity, and residential density.
Park Tower Condominium, 5414 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, SCB, 1973. View from northeast looking southwest. August 2015. Author’s photograph. 3.15mb.
The curtain wall of the Park Tower Condominium is beautifully detailed and proportioned.
Park Tower Condominium Is a lens into late modernist Chicago residential architecture, lakefront urban development, and the emergence of high-rise luxury living along Sheridan Road.
SOURCES:
Architect Magazine. “Solomon Cordwell Buenz.” Accessed October 23, 2026. architectmagazine.com.
Emporis. “Park Tower Condominiums, Chicago, IL, USA.” Building ID 117420. Accessed October 23, 2026. emporis.com.
Sinkevitch, Alice. AIA Guide to Chicago. 2nd ed. Harcourt, Inc., 2004.
The links are dropped because the Emporis database was permanently shut down in 2022, and the specific URL you provide for Architect Magazine now leads to an inactive or broken page.
John P. Walsh, 2015. All rights reserved. All text and photos are the property of the author, except for materials explicitly credited as public domain or licensed content. Photographs were taken by the author on August 7, 2015.
