Landscape Information
First constructed in 1921 and then expanded in 1934, this limestone-clad, nine- and twelve-story Art Deco building was proposed in Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett鈥檚 Plan of Chicago and designed by architects Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. The approximately 2.5 million-square-foot structure edges the west bank of the Chicago River鈥檚 South Branch and spans Interstate 290 (Eisenhower Expressway) where it turns into Ida B. Wells Drive, signaling to highway travelers that they have reached the Loop. Built atop a below-grade railway and at-grade roads, the expansion required the demolition of much of the original structure, though the original east facade remains intact.
In 1997 the building was vacated, and in 2009 sold into private hands鈥攗ltimately becoming a mixed-use development for office and retail. In 2023 Hoerr Schaudt landscape architects completed a three-acre rooftop garden nestled within a panoramic cityscape of varied skyscrapers. The garden is unified by a ground plane carpeted in a prairie-inspired meadow that offers a rich tapestry of understory flowering perennials and small shrubs. Additional amenities include pavilions, movable seating, a running track, and basketball and tennis courts. Among the largest private rooftop gardens in the country, it deploys innovative soil mixes and stormwater filtration to support more than 50 plant species, 41,000 individual plants, and three bee colonies. Paved pathways zig-zag through plantings to create visually appealing geometries and facilitate circulation.
In 2023 the rooftop garden received an American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Honor Award in General Design. The Old Chicago Main Post Office Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
