Harold Washington Library, Chicago

Massive is the first word that comes to mind when describing Chicago's central public library. The building, named after Chicago's beloved late Mayor Harold Washington, was built in 1987 with the goal of giving Chicago the largest public library in the world. Five design teams consisting of architects and builders submitted their design plans in a widely publicized competition. In the end, Chicago got a library that combined the latest in construction innovations with an old-world flavored architecture that fits right in with the classic Chicago buildings. Despite being largely understaffed, operations here run fairly smoothly. The collection is huge, encompassing 756,000 square feet and 10 levels, not including a rooftop winter penthouse garden. Among its more than 13 million pieces are innumerable rare manuscripts, books, art and sound archives.