Rules will govern changes and alterations to the buildings.

Buildings recommended for landmark status include the Pittsfield Building at 55 E. Washington St. in the East Loop; the site of the former Sauganash Hotel and Wigwam at the southeast corner of Lake Street and Wacker Drive in the West Loop, where Hines Interests LP's 191 N. Wacker Dr. office tower has been built; and the Belle Shore and Bryn Mawr apartment hotels in the 1000 block of W. Bryn Mawr Ave.

The 75-year-old Pittsfield Building, named after the city in Massachusetts, changed hands a year ago for $15 million, or less than $40 per sf. The 38-story Art Deco building includes offices for doctors, dentists and jewelers.

A plaque will likely be placed in the lobby of 191 N. Wacker Dr. to mark the site of the Sauganash Hotel, site of Chicago's first village board election in 1833. After a fire, the Wigwam rose in its place, hosting the Republican national convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860.

Built just before the Depression, the apartment hotels in Edgewater recently have undergone a combined $17.1 million in restoration work. They contain 371 affordable housing units.