Love Architecture? At the Chicago River and South
based on 5 votes
Some outstanding examples of differing styles of architecture which can be explored in a single day.
-
Explore locations featured in this Traveler List:
Chicago
- Category: Other
-
Traveler type: Culture, Sightseeing, Active/Outdoors, Never been before, Repeat visitors, Theater
-
Appeals to: Business travelers, Couples/romantics, Honeymooners, Singles, Families with small children, Families with teenagers, Large groups, Seniors, Students, Budget travelers, Tourists
- Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
- Tags: Architecture, Tours, Culture, Parks, Fountains, Chicago, Buildings
|
|
|
|
|
| Located at 209 S. LaSalle. Designed by Burnham and Root with the lobby remodeled by Frank Lloyd Wright. If you only have a very short time to explore Chicago, this is one building to include in your itinerary. |
|
|
2. The Auditorium Theatre
|
|
| Located at 50 E. Congress Parkway, the Auditorium Theatre was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan - and was one of the first projects worked on by Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago. See that 24kt goldleaf on the ceiling arches and murals? Notice the murals and mosaics. Historic tours are available, but why not go when the Joffrey Ballet or another fine performance is occurring there. |
|
|
3. The Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building
|
|
| Located almost at the very center of Chicago - the 0/0 mark, so to speak - the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building was designed by Louis Sullivan with an outstanding example of his signature design in metalwork framing the entrance. |
|
|
4. The Reliance Building (Hotel Burnham)
|
|
| Designed in 1895 by Burnham, Root and Atwood, this building was the predecessor of the modern skyscraper. Restored in the late 1990's, the building now houses the Hotel Burnham and the Atwood Cafe. |
|
|
|
5. The Monadnock Building
|
|
| Talk about a split personality! Designed by Burnham and Root and located at 53 W. Jackson, half of this building is one of the last masonry skycrapers built. The other half is built on a steel skeleton. Great example of the end of one design phase, and the beginning of another. |
|
|
6. The Chicago Board of Trade Building
|
|
| Located at 141 W. Jackson, the Chicago Board of Trade Building is one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in Chicago. With exterior sculpture by Alvin Meyer and a faceless statue of the goddess, Ceres, crowning the building. Also close at hand are the One N. LaSalle and the Field Building (at 135 S. LaSalle), making this area one of the richest in Chicago for this type of architectural styling. |
|
|
7. The Carbide and Carbon Building
|
|
| Another great example of Art Deco architecture and my personal favorite, the building is located at 230 N. Michigan and now houses the Hard Rock Hotel. It is said that the inspiration for the building's colors was a champagne bottle with gold foil cap. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Just north of the Chicago River, the gleaming white towers cannot be missed - either day or at night, when the terra cotta tiles are lit with floodlights from across the river. This building and the following three can be seen standing in the same spot. All were built in the 1920's around the Michigan Avenue Bridge. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Located across Michigan Avenue from the Wrigley Building. In 1922, the Chicago Tribune held an international competition for the design of this building. The base is studded with stones and pieces of masonry from buildings and structures of historical prominence. An interesting fact: just two days after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, in which the Tribune lost its own building, the famous editorial which promised "Chicago will rise again" was published by the Tribune. |
|
|
10. The London Guarantee Building
|
|
| To the south of the river, south of the Wrigley Building, at 360 N. Michigan Avenue is the London Guarantee Building. One of the premier examples of Beaux-Arts Classical Revival design architecture. When you are standing in front of this building, look down at your feet and you will see an indication of one of the most famous structures in Chicago history which is no more. There are brass fittings in the sidewalk to outline where Fort Dearborn once stood. |
|
|
|
11. 333 N. Michigan Building
|
|
| Another of the best in the Art-Deco style of architecture. |
|
|
|
12. The Mather Tower
|
|
| Located at 75 E. Wacker just west of the London Guarantee Building, this is the most slender of the city's skyscrapers, built in the "Jazz Age" in the Modernistic style. |
|
|
|
|
|
| You've seen them in pictures - the two "corncobs" of Chicago. Designed by Bertrand Goldberg. This and another project of his, River City, which lies south of the Sears Tower also on the Chicago River, were designed in the "modern" style of architecture |
|
|
|
14. The IBM Building
|
|
| Located at 330 N. Wabash, just to the east of Marina City, this is the signature style of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Less is More. |
|
|
|
15. Bridges and Bridgehouses on the Chicago River
|
|
| If you are fortunate, you will be witness to the bridges over the Chicago River opening to allow river traffic to pass. They are fixed-trunnion bascule bridges, which operate with counterweights. Each street or avenue which passes over the Chicago River has its own distinctive architectural style of bridgehouse. The Michigan Avenue Bridgehouse Museum will be opening in June 2006. |
|
|
16. The Chicago Cultural Center
|
|
| Just across Michigan Avenue to the west of Millennium Park is the Chicago Cultural Center, which previously housed the city's public library. Built in the Classical Revival style, it boasts Tiffany domes and mosaics-marble-bronze decoration. A visitor's center is located there and free entertainment is performed there on certain days during the week. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Highlights: Cloud Gate (aka "The Bean"); the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion which hosts free summer concerts by the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra; the Crown Fountain; the Serpentine Walkway. |
|
|
18. The Art Institute of Chicago
|
|
| Not only a prestigious art museum, it also contains original architectural drawings and sketches of some of the most famous architects of Chicago and of the world. Burnham, Adler, Sullivan, Wright and Mies van der Rohe to name a few. In addition, the Art Institute also contains portions of the rooms of the Chicago Stock Exchange, designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, which was demolished in the early 1970's, including an entire Trading Room with intact stenciled decorations and art glass. But beyond the contents of the Art Institute, a portion of the building of it was one that housed delegates at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Inspired by the fountains of Versailles, in the Beaux-Arts style, Buckingham Fountain sits near the start of historic Route 66. Lovely during the daytime, it's even more spectacular at night during the light shows (April to October, on the hour until 11 pm). |
|
|
|
|
|
| Did you think I'd forget the tallest one? A building so big, it has its own zip code. |
|
Compliment ChiTownFriend
ChiTownFriend
Chicagoan who loves to explore
