And though the city's monumental examples of the beaux arts and art deco movements are well documented in civic buildings dressed up in a mixed bag of Classical Roman and Greek elements, the city actually received its greatest modern architectural contribution in the years after WWII, when Ludwig Mies van der Rohe pioneered the new "International Style".

BBC: The infamous architecture of Chicago

The early influence of French Art Deco aesthetics can be seen in the stained-glass ceiling of the ballroom in the otherwise largely Beaux Arts-style old French Sports Club -- now the Okura Garden Hotel -- as well as in some other interior flourishes.

WSJ: Touring Asia's Art Deco Gems in Shanghai and Napier, New Zealand