civic opera building (built 1927–29) was designed by prominent architectural firm graham, anderson, probst & white. the civic opera building was the first high-style building on the south branch of the chicago river. the mixed-use building occupies an entire city block and helped to expand the central business district to the west, fulfilling one of the goals identified in daniel burnham’s plan of chicago. the 45-story building has 872,000 square feet of commercial office space and a 3,563-seat auditorium for the lyric opera house.