23 DEC 2020 · Did you know that Chicago is home to the largest Tiffany-stained glass dome in the world? Or that critically-acclaimed art exhibits, performances, lectures and film screenings are available to you every day for free all under one roof? This and more can be found at the historic Chicago Cultural Center.The Chicago Cultural Center is one of the city's ten most popular attractions. It’s considered one of the most comprehensive arts showcases in the United States. Taking up an entire city block, it is physically massive. And presenting more than 700 free programs a year, it's a liberal arts goldmine. You can spend hours admiring the architectural splendor of this incredible gem or just stop in for a quick dose of culture.Popularly known as the "People's Palace," the building was constructed at the end of the 19th century and was originally built as the city’s central library, as well as a monument to the Civil War’s Grand Army of the Republic. It was designed in the Classical Revival style, taking inspiration from the monumental structures of ancient Greece and Rome and the finely detailed buildings of the Italian Renaissance. The library was moved to the newly constructed Harold Washington Library on State Street several decades ago. The building now serves as home for the Office of Cultural Affairs, and is also home to one of the city's Visitor Information Centers.During your stay, be sure to step inside to see the magnificently restored 38-foot Tiffany stained-glass dome, located at the south side of building. Approximately 30,000 pieces of glass were used in the construction. There's an equally impressive 40-foot-diameter dome on the north side of the building, with around 50,000 pieces of glass in an intricate Renaissance pattern, designed by Healy & Millet. With its historic interiors restored to their original grandeur, the Chicago Cultural Center is listed as a Chicago Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.Welcome!Photo Chicago Cultural Center by JohnPickenPhoto is licensed under CC BY 2.0

23 DEC 2020 · This building was designed by Daniel Burnham for Marshall Field and completed at the beginning of the 20th century.Marshall Field and Company built their third permanent store at the end of the 19th century. This location was key for other businesses in the city's emerging retail district. Field himself emphasized the importance of customer service and is considered to be one of the leading figures in the development of the department store. The company was the first to introduce the concept of the personal shopper, and that service was provided without charge in every Field's store, right up to the chain's last days under the Marshall Field's name. It was the first store to offer revolving credit and the first department store to use escalators.Look for the Great Clocks at Washington and Randolph on State Street, which are popular Chicago landmarks. Marshall Field envisioned his great clock as a beacon that could be seen for miles and attract crowds to his store which he saw as a meeting place. Norman Rockwell immortalized this famous clock when he drew a picture of it for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in the 1940s. Among the "firsts" by Marshall Field's was the concept of the department store tea room. In the 19th century, ladies shopping downtown returned home for lunch; having lunch at a downtown restaurant unescorted by a gentleman was not considered ladylike. But after a Marshall Field's clerk shared her lunch (a chicken pot pie) with a tired shopper, Field's hit on the idea of opening a department store tea room, so that women shoppers would not feel the need to make two trips to complete their shopping. To this day the Walnut Room serves Mrs. Herring’s traditional chicken pot pie.Marshall Field was famous for his slogan "Give the lady what she wants." He was also famous for his integrity, character, community philanthropy and leadership. After his death, the company remained to the very end a major philanthropic contributor to its Chicago-area community. To fully appreciate this building's stately elegance, you’ll need to walk inside.  Named to the National Register of Historic Places, the multi-story atriums include Corinthian columns, skylights and the world's largest Tiffany-vaulted ceiling.You can walk into the Macy’s building and enjoy beautiful architecture, and Tiffany Glass ceilings inside.Photo Marshall Field Company Store by Teemu008 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

23 DEC 2020 · This 15-story building was designed by John Root and Charles Atwood after John Root’s sudden death. It’s considered the first steel and glass skyscraper and the forefather of the modern 20th century skyscraper. Its skeletal steel frame construction bears the weight of the building, giving it a delicate feeling and allowing the walls to be constructed with large windows. Additionally, the speed in which this building was constructed highlighted the economic efficiencies of utilizing the new steel frame construction method.The Reliance Building, named for its functionality, opened at the end of the 19th century with planned spaces for doctors and dentists to see patients downtown. Large glass windows allowed for ample amounts of daylight to stream into the office spaces. The light allowed for better visibility during medical exams and the white terra cotta projected a hygienic image to tenants and their patients. Al Capone’s dentist was among the health professionals found here.The Reliance Building struggled to maintain full occupancy after the Great Depression. The building’s small retail spaces were hard to fill and it fell into disrepair. Its design and importance have been recognized by being named a city, state and national landmark in the 1970’s. In spite of all of this, it continued to deteriorate until the city of Chicago purchased the building 20 years later and so the restoration of the building’s exterior began. The damaged terra cotta and all of the windows were replaced and the building was then sold to a private developer who renovated the interior, including the stunning elevator lobby, and created the boutique Hotel BurnhamPhoto Reliance Building by Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar is licensed under CC BY 2.0

23 DEC 2020 · The large building and plaza to your left is the Richard J. Daley Center.  Named after the late mayor of Chicago (whose son also became mayor), the 31 story, 648-foot tall Daley Center primarily functions as a courthouse. It has 120 courtrooms in total, but it also contains offices for Cook County, the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois. Built in 1965, this was the first major public building in Chicago to have a modern, rather than classical, architectural design. It is a particularly good example of International Style, based on the revolutionary steel and glass designs of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.In the building’s adjacent plaza stands a 50-foot tall sculpture created by Pablo Picasso from the same steel used for the construction of the Daley Center. This super strong material is great for sliding down. Children naturally use the Picasso as a slide which makes sense since the material was historically used for making slides on playgrounds. The sculpture was constructed in by metal workers in Indiana and then moved on­site and installed. It is unnamed and is often referred to as the “Chicago Picasso” or “The Picasso”. Picasso never explained what the sculpture was meant to represent. When it was installed here in the 1960s, it caused quite a controversy: Chicagoans have debated for years exactly what this sculpture represents, but it nevertheless started a trend and many more modern public sculptures have since been installed in Chicago.  Across Washington Street to the south, just opposite the Picasso, in a niche between buildings, you’ll find another great piece of public art. This sculpture is by famed artist Joan Miro and is called Miss ChicagoPhoto Chicago 6 by Potro is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

23 DEC 2020 · In another block, you come to City Hall. The main entrance on LaSalle Street is flanked by four relief panels sculpted in granite by John Flanagan and representing four features of municipal government: city playgrounds, public schools, the park system, and the water supply system. Inside the entrance, at landings on marble stairways to the right and left, are bronze tablets showing various city halls from the 1830’s to the present.The present Chicago City Hall-County Building was the first great civic work to follow the Burnham Plan for Chicago. The City Hall portion was erected at the beginning of the 20th century soon after the demolition of its predecessor on the site.The arquitects Holabird and Root had faced a challenging problem; how to design a building that would serve both as a monumental structure and as an efficient office building. This problem was intensified because the relatively small site made it necessary to build upward.In order to set the City Hall-County Building apart from other buildings in the area, a monumental classicism in the Corinthian order was used throughout the exterior elevation. The carefully designed building with its long colonnades of nine foot diameter columns resulted in a majestic and imposing building. With the resurgence of the administrative importance of the Loop, the political crossroads of the city and county are still to be found in this venerable gray granite building located exactly where the city and county governments have beenn quartered for more that 150 years since the 1850’s. The City Hall-County Building was and remains a successful symbol of ChicagoPhoto Chicago City Hall by Lucas is licensed under CC BY 2.0

23 DEC 2020 · Here sits one of the city's many architectural attractions: The James R. Thompson Center. It's the main state government building in Chicago, housing most of the state government agencies. The building also includes a large commercial area that features tons of shops and restaurants.Inside, you'll also find what's been dubbed one of the world's largest collections of contemporary artwork by Chicago natives. More than six hundred works of art make their permanent home at the James R. Thompson Center, ranging from photographs to oil paintings and wood sculptures.The best known work of art is a 26-foot-tall white sculpture with black stripes that stands in front of the building's main entrance. The sculpture, titled 'Monument with Standing Beast' was created in the late 20th century by French artist Jean Dubuffet.Completed in 1985, the James R. Thompson Center is a controversial work of contemporary architecture that has at the same time been lauded and heavily criticized. People either love or hate this building.The structure is a low-block design. The glass-enclosed steel structure, with a curving, sloping façade, boasts seventeen stories and two additional floors underground. The exposed steel is red and the cladding bright turquoise, making for a colorful sight.The most spectacular aspect of the building is its soaring cylindrical atrium which extends through the roof to a skylight. Glass elevator shafts project into the atrium as well and the view of the gigantic Concourse Level from the 72-foot-diameter open cut out of the lobby can be breathtakingPhoto Chicago (ILL) Downtown, James R. Thompson Center JRTC, 1985 by (vincent desjardins) is licensed under CC BY 2.0

23 DEC 2020 · Across the river to the north and west you will see the massive Merchandise Mart. Designed by Alfred P. Shaw for the architecture firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, the Merchandise Mart is one of Chicago’s many Art Deco buildings that reflects the optimism of the 1920s. The steel-framed structure is clad in limestone, terra cotta and bronze and its ornamentation displays many of the style’s popular motifs. The recessed vertical windows with dark spandrels emphasize the building’s verticality and balance out its horizontal mass. Rows of decorative chevrons (zigzags) and diagonal towers at each corner of the building are common motifs used during the Art Deco era.It was one of the first buildings in the city to be built over railway air rights. The Merchandise Mart occupies over 4 million square feet (approximately 372,000 square meters) or the equivalent of two and a half city blocks. Upon its completion in 1930, it was the largest building in the world and served as Marshall Field’s wholesale warehouse where retailers could buy stock. The idea was to unite sales of furniture, fabric and other decorative materials under one roof. However, it wasn’t the financial success investors expected. The Great Depression forced Field & Company out of the wholesale market.In the 1940s, the building was sold to a group headed by Joseph P. Kennedy for about a third of its original cost.Today, it’s still a designer showcase venue. More than one quarter of the building is leased by tech companies, including tech startup incubator 1871, and Motorola Mobility. The Chicago tech startup scene is the second largest in the countryPhoto Chicago (ILL), Near North Side, Merchandise Mart, 1930 by (vincent desjardins) is licensed under CC BY 2.0

23 DEC 2020 · While walking let’s give you a short story about Eastland Disaster.The Eastland Disaster was the Chicago’s worst tragedy. It killed more than twice as many people as the Great Chicago Fire. What happened?On the morning of July 24, 1915, more than 2,500 Western Electric employees boarded the lake passenger steamer Eastland to cast off from the Chicago River dock at the Clark Street Bridge for a company outing to Michigan City. More than 7,000 tickets had been purchased for the day-long festivities celebrating the fifth annual employee picnic. But the day quickly turned tragic…Immediately as the SS Eastland ship slipped away from the dock, it began to tilt to the right and slowly roll over on its side. In a matter of minutes, it settled on the mud of the river bottom.  Some of those on board jumped into the water and swam ashore. Despite the best efforts of nearby ships, 844 people perished in the incident, including 22 entire families.Now, some say, the ghosts of the doomed passengers linger on.According to reports in the Examiner and Ghost Research, pedestrians strolling near the site of the disaster at times hear screams and splashes coming from the water. However, when they stop to investigate, the river is calm and no one appears to be in any trouble. Other passerby reportedly see hundreds of ghostly faces peering up at them from the water.It seems the disaster site isn’t the only place haunted by Eastland victims. Shortly after the disaster, Chicago officials set up a makeshift morgue at the 2nd Regiment Armory. The armory is now the home of Harpo Studios, site of the Oprah Winfrey Show and several other productions. According to a former Harpo security guard, a woman in gray haunts the studio and several workers have been spooked by crashes and bumps in the night.The Eastland disaster happened 100 years ago. Do you think there’s something to the ghostly claims? Or are the stories nothing more than creepy tales inspired by a horrific tragedy?Photo Eastland Postcard - View of Eastland taken from Fire Tug in river by Max Rigot Selling Company, Chicago is licensed under Public domain

23 DEC 2020 · Now please look at the other side of the river. You will be particularly impressed by the twin towers of Marina City with their corn-cobbed faces looking down at you. That would probably reminds you of the cover of Wilco’s album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.Designed by Bertrand Goldberg, Marina City is a complex of two cylindrical towers; each of them 65 stories tall. It is a lively complex of nearly 900 apartments, recreation facilities, offices, restaurants, banks, a theater and 18 stories of parking space. The complex even has a dock at the Chicago River underneath the towers, and there's also a marina at river level. Due to their unique shape, the towers are known locally as the 'corn cobs’. Incredibly innovative when completed in the 1960s, Marina City was truly a city within a city.The experimental complex was financed by unions who feared that the outflow of people from the cities in the early sixties would lead to a decrease in jobs. Marina City would give an alternative to the villages and small towns, offering everything in a small area.The complex was at the time the biggest ever built in concrete and its shape was in contrast with the contemporary architectural concepts of straight lines and cubical apartment buildings. The cylindrical shape was used to have less wind pressure. But also, the curvature of Marina City’s facade alone points to Goldberg’s detestation for right angles and their oppressive implications.The architect chose reinforced concrete instead of steel as this was the only material he could use to create the petal shapes of the apartments.Now look at the 17th floor of the west tower, the one close to the river. Imagine a car falling down from that floor. That really happened. Have you ever watched the movie “The Hunter” ?In the 1980 Paramount Pictures film The Hunter, Steve McQueen plays a bounty hunter who chases a fugitive up the spiral parking ramp on Marina City’s west tower before the villain loses control and drives off into the Chicago River.The stunt was performed on Friday afternoon, September 21, 1979. McQueen kept mostly to the parking ramp that day, venturing out once but returning when spectators got too close. About 1,500 people gathered near Wacker Drive to watch the stuntPhoto Chicago - Marina City & George Washington by David Ohmer is licensed under CC BY 2.0

23 DEC 2020 · You’re now on the recently constructed south bank Chicago Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is at its widest between State and Wabash Street, where you will find the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza, also known as Wabash Memorial Plaza. The plaza, consisting of a terraced lawn, ramps and a memorial, was designed in the early 2000s by Ross Barney architects. The centerpiece of the plaza is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It is one of the largest memorials in the nation outside of Washington, D.C. The memorial features many high-end architectural elements, carefully selected to highlight the historical significance of this landmark. Such elements include black granite stone engraved with the names of the more than 2,900 Illinois men who died in the Vietnam War. The memorial features a waterfall representing a sculpture of the Vietnam service medal given to all Vietnam War Veterans. There is also a fountain with 14 water jets.Chicagoans can’t resist messing around with their river. On St. Patrick’s Day, the Plumbers Union dyes the river a bright shade of Irish green, and every summer the Special Olympics holds a fundraiser where tens of thousands of rubber ducks race down the waterwayPhoto IMG_8975 - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza, Chicago Illinois by Ray Dumas is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0