He became the second architect in the USA to receive the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects

On April 14, 1924, Louis Henry Sullivan, the inventor of the modern skyscraper, was discovered dead in a run-down hotel room in downtown Chicago. Sullivan was laid to rest in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery, close to the graves of his parents and the tombs he had constructed for the Getty and Ryerson families. Later, friends built a modest headstone. A few feet from Sullivan's grave, a monument is now rising in his honor.

Louis Sullivan became only the second architect in the USA to receive the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects posthumously for his total contribution to American architecture in 1844, which was a significant act of appreciation for his exceptional career.

A significant push was launched in the 1970s to protect Sullivan's architectural legacy. Richard Nickel, who organized several demonstrations against the destruction of Adler and Sullivan's structures, was one of his most ardent backers.