The Chicago Cultural Center
When people come to Chicago they’re sure to visit the Sears, oh excuse me – Willis Tower. They wander through Millennium Park and look at their reflection in Anish Kapoor’s “Cloudgate” sculpture. They...
View ArticleThe Elks National Veterans Memorial
Too often we just walk by buildings without venturing inside. Considering the presence of buildings like the Elks National Veterans Memorial, that’s a shame. The memorial’s exterior is squat and...
View ArticleThe James R. Thompson Center
In May of 1985 a UFO landed on the corner of Clark and Randolph streets and it remains there today as the James R. Thompson Center (dubbed by many as “Starship Chicago”). Designed by internationally...
View ArticleO’Hare’s United Airlines Terminal
It looks and sounds like a time machine. But it’s not. It’s an 800ft tunnel that connects concourses B and C in Terminal 1 of Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Designed by Helmut Jahn, it’s not a...
View ArticleThe Willis Tower
The Willis Tower is always making headlines. For 23 years it held the record for the world’s tallest building, and its height continues to be unparalleled in the Western Hemisphere. The tower was the...
View ArticleReebie Storage Warehouse
Because I am on vacation this week and have been unable to profile a new building, I hope you instead enjoy this recycled early article on the Reebie Storage Warehouse . . . There are some Egyptian...
View ArticleAon Center
At a time when glass and steel buildings were the norm, architect Edward Durell Stone believed in masonry. He thought masonry buildings conveyed a feeling of strength and permanence that glass...
View ArticleFederal Center
The son of a stonemason, it makes sense that Mies van der Rohe was once heard exclaiming, “Now a brick, that is something!” But Mies became famous not for his admiration of bricks, but his mastery over...
View ArticleThe Auditorium Building
The opening of the Auditorium Theater of December 9, 1889 was the grandest and most anticipated social event Chicago had ever seen. One after another, horse-drawn carriages pulled up to its Congress...
View ArticleLakeview Presbyterian Church
John Wellborn Root (1850-1891) once wrote “Reason should lead the way, and imagination take wings from a height to which reason has already climbed.” And so it is with his design of the Lakeview...
View ArticleInland Steel Building
Imagine this: it’s the year 1956 in downtown Chicago. Massive old masonry buildings define the landscape. The Prudential Building, completed in the previous year, was the first skyscraper built...
View ArticleGarfield Park Fieldhouse
There’s an exciting building around every corner of Chicago – a city famous for its architecture. But even so, you’d think that after several years of searching out Chicago’s notable buildings...
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