Tips 1 - 10 of 35 Chicago General Tips
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General Tips: What The City of Chicago Offered
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Favorite Thing: As much as I love Chicago, whenever I introduce someone to this great city for the first time, I'm always nervous that it might not be as impressive as I thought it would be. I should never doubt the impact this city has on visitors....my VT friend Rosie [rozehill] was overwhelmed with Chicago and all it has to offer.
As Photo #1 demonstrates, Chicago is a city of outstanding ARCHITECTURE...both old and new. This photo shows the old Chicago Water Tower and the modern John Hancock building. Both are unique, beautiful, and icons of the city.
Being October, the city was adorned with Fall Flowers. Rosie was so impressed with how many flowers the city provides. We even were able to witness the workers taking out the late summer flowers and replacing them with the dynamic and colorful Mums as pictured in Photograph #2.
We both appreciated the many spots right in the center of the city that provide calm and solitude for weary travelers and locals. My #3 photographs is such an example. Right in the midst of the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue which is packed with tourists, one is able to find calm and comfort at the church garden and fountain.
Fondest Memory: My photo #4 shows the famed Lions in front of the Chicago Art Institute on a Thursday evening when it is so crowded because on Thursday nights, there is free entrance. We visited the Art Institute and its lovely and huge gift shop. Once again, Rosie was impressed.
My final photograph #5 reflects the breathtaking visuals of Chicago's Lake Shore. Visitors, especially those from out of the country, are always amazed at the size of Lake Michigan. Except for the lack of tides, Lake Michigan looks like an ocean. And I personally think that the Lake Shore Drive is one of the most beautiful ones ever [and Rosie agrees!]
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 Visiting Chicago? Read reviews about Chicago Hotels Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
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General Tips: Importance of Chicago Water Tower/Pump Station
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Favorite Thing: The Chicago Water Tower & the Pumping Station are two of our city's treasured landmarks. They were constructed about 1869 for Chicago's municipal water system. Both were designed by William W. Boyington.
They are important as survivors of the destructive path of the Great Chicago Fire [1871]. When constructing the buildings, they wanted them to be attractive as well as functional. The Pumping Station was built to contain massive pumping machinery that received water from an underground tunnel that extended two miles out into Lake Michigan in order to create cleaner water.
The Water Tower was built to hdie an ugly cast-iron pressure standpipe from the public. It equalled a 15-story building at a time when Chicago's tallest commercial building was from 4 to 6 stories high. It had a first floor public are with the same stone water fountains in the form of carved lion's heads that still are there today. {See Photo #3] There was also a metal & glass observation dome which was reached by an iron staircase.
The architecture was of Gothic Revival style. Both buildings are designated as historic landmarks [1971]. Today, the Water Tower has The City Gallery inside where Chicago-themed photographs by Chicago photographers are presenting. They change frequently. The Pumping Station [across Michigan Avenue] still serves for its original purpose; however, it also contains a theater (Looking Glass Theatre) and a visitors' information center.
Fondest Memory: Both the Chicago Water Tower and The Chicago Pumping Station have undergone several renovations, but none of those renovations have changed their facades.
Photographs:
#1 a study in old and new with the Chicago Water Tower silhouetted against Chicago's modern architecture.
#2 Chicago Pumping Station [view from the Chicago Water Tower across Michigan Avenue].
#3 Inside the Chicago Water Tower where the THE CITY GALLERY resides, you will see the original stone water fountains with the carved Lion Heads.
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General Tips: Old saved by New...
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Favorite Thing: I pointed out the beautiful Carbide and Carbon Building to Allan. This building with its polished black granite and marble base is 40 stories high and uses glazed green terra cotta. It's topped with a gold Art Deco leaf-trimmed tower that is illuminated at night.
The Carbide and Carbon Building was completed in 1929, and it resembles a champagne bottle. In 2004, it was renovated and became the Hard Rock Hotel. Allan and wanted to see what it looked like inside so we casually walked inside as though we were staying there. Once inside, we sat down on the comfortable modern couches and observed. The interior is quite modern and follows what one would expect of the Hard Rock Franchise.
The Hotel is located at 230 North Michigan Avenue and attracts a much younger crowd. I'm so pleased that this lovely old building and its grand architecture was really saved by the "hip" Hard Rock Hotel.
Photographs:
#1 I took this photo of the outside of the Carbide & Carbon Building very up close and from the bottom up at a slight angle.
#2 This photo was taken inside the Hard Rock Hotel. As we walked in, we turned to the right and made ourselves comfortable at this small bar/seating area.
Allan thanked me for giving him the "scoop" on this Carbide and Carbon Building, which has become The Hard Rock Hotel.
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Favorite Thing: Designated a Chicago Landmark on April 15, 1996.Although it is no longer the London Guarantee & Accident Building, that's what it's always called. Today it is known as 360 North Michigan Avenue Building (now, that's a mouthfull!)
It is typical of the neo-Classical conventions of the early 20th century and looks spectacular as you round the bend in the river. Because of the bend in the river and the shape of the lot, it has a trapezoidal shape. It's a good example of the tripartite skyscraper ("the design of the facade is divided like the columns of antiquity, into a base, shaft, and capital").
This is a 21-story building with an elaborate 5-story base that includes a tall triumphal-arched entranceway and four huge Corinthian columns with allegorical figures . The 6th floor is bracketed by 2 cornices, and on top of a 12-story "shaft" of vertical rows of windows is another cornice! Above that cornice, there are 8 three-story-high columns. At the crown of the structure is a columned belvedere (sometimes it is called a "tempietto".
I love the concave facade because it matches the semi-circular plaza that defines the intersection of Michigan Avenue with Wacker Drive.
The London Guarantee & Accident Building faces the prestigious Wrigley Building, which is a position of great prominence.
Fondest Memory: Most importantly, this building occupies the historic site of FORT DEARBORN, where Chicago was founded in 1803. That's why is is so cool that it has classical imagery and sculptural references to early history..
Don't miss taking a look at this wonderful classical building.
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General Tips: Excellent Anniversary Present
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Favorite Thing: For our 44th and 45th Wedding anniversaries, our daughter Jill gave my husband Allan and I gift certificates for an hour massage for each of us at MARIO TRICOCI in Chicago
In August of 2008, as part of our continual quest for good health, Allan and I walked 17 blocks from our hotel near Millennium Park to the Tricoci Spa at 900 North Michigan Avenue. The added benefit is that we really enjoyed the luxury of the massages between the walk there and back to the hotel!
This is a beautiful spa with outstanding services. We were escorted to the spa area, given instructions and led to the appropriate dressing rooms. We were given lockers and instructed how to use the lock. Inside was a huge robe and sandals. After changing into the robe and shoes, we met at the "waiting area" and sat on a comfortable couch where soft music was playing; water and juices were provided. This year Allan and I were put into the same room, and we each had females who gave us the Swedish Massage.
After being arranged correctly on the massage table, the extraordinary Swedish Massage began.
What a treat it was....it is so relaxing and creates better blood circulation.
After the massage was done, the available services include:
A steam room
A "rain-forest' shower
A quiet room for relaxation
juice drinks
In the Relaxation room, Alland and I talked about this wonderful experience and how much we appreciated this lovely gift.
Fondest Memory: Other services that are available at Mario Tricoci would be:
Manicures
Pedicures
Facials
Hair Design
Makeup Services
Nail Enhancements
Glycolic Peels
Microdermabrasion
Collagen injections
Body Polishes
Masks and Therapeutic Wraps
Waxing Services
Also available are Classic Spa Packages which include a basic manicure, basic pedicure, and a Swedish Massage
It certainly would be "heaven" to have such a massage once a week [dream on, Dee]
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Visiting Chicago? Read reviews about Chicago Hotels Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
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Favorite Thing: Heller International Tower is the tallest skyscraper west of the Chicago river. It's corner tower is 45 stories high and is quite imposing.
The tower has narrow windows that are highlighted with aluminum bands. They contrast sharply with the other windows which are set flush in the walls.
I like the light-colored granite of the building which appears to descend westward because of the series of setbacks.
The eastern facade has such interesting asymmetry, which I always find appealing.
And on the Monroe Street side is an arcaded pedestrian sidewalk.
This is a building that looks better from a distance than it does when you see it close up.
Fondest Memory: The Heller International Tower was built in 1992 and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
It is located at 500 West Monroe Street.
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General Tips: True Chicago Style Architecture: Reliance Bldg
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Favorite Thing: Please view all the hidden photographsAgain, I am always amazed when I am able to see a part of Chicago's history within its famed architectual excellence. This was the case on Febraury of 2007 when Kristi (Dabs) took us inside the historical Realiance Building, which now is the Burnham Hotel. We were in awe of the lobby, the elevator doors and stairway that is decorated with extensive iron grillwork. I was thrilled to see upclose the beautiful marble mosaic floors in the lobby of this 1975 City Landmark Building.
Charles B. Atwood of the D.H. Burnham & Company Architectural Firm was the main architect for the Reliance Building. Thus, the Atwood Cafe is named after him. Furthermore, the Burnham Hotel is named after D.H. Burnham.
Ironically, the original retail tenant [1891] was Carson Pirie Scott & Company! This original Carson Pirie Scott & Company's base was decorated with the still-intact mosaic floors, mahogany woodwork, English alabaster walls, ceiling murals.
The Reliance Building is internationally recognized as an ancestor of today's "glass-and-steel skyscraper". It has an airy facade that is made up most entirely of windows that are known as a "Chicago Window". Thank goodness, the City of Chicago was smart enough to completely restore this building in 1996 because its exterior was quite badly deteriorated.
Fondest Memory: The Reliance Building/Burnham Hotel is located at 32 North State Street
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It was the first "comprehensive achievement of the stystem now known as Chicago construction". This kind os construction consisted of "a riveted steel-frame superstructure, hallow-tile flooring on steel joists, plaster fire-proofing, perimeter bay windows filled with plate glass, steel-trussed wind bracing and bedrock concrete caissons sometimes extending for as much as 125 feet beneath the footing..." (Architectual Digest). We are so fortunate that it was saved.
In 2004 the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects voted the Hotel Burnham/Reliance Building as "the best preservation or re-use of an existing building in Chicago in the last 10 years."
In my humble opinion, they are more than correct.
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General Tips: Harold Washington Library Center
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Favorite Thing: Harold Washington Library Center is Chicago's CENTRAL OR MAIN library which is named for the late Harold Washington [Chicago's first African American mayor, 1983-1987]/
Allan & I visited it recently and were astounded by its size & scope. It was opened to the public in 1991, costing $144 million dollars. It covers one full city block & is the largest municipal library building in the world!. Thomas Beeby of Hammond, Indiana, designed the building after his office won the competition held in the late 1980s to build a new central library in Chicago.
I learned so much visiting this architecture giant. It's open 7 days a week [Monday-Thursday: 9:00 AM-7:00 PM; Friday & Saturday: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM; Sunday: 1:00 PM-5:00 PM] and has over 9 million books, publications, collections, & microforms. Surprisingly, to me, I discovered that it is one of Chicago's top tourist attractions.
Loving architecture so much, I was fascinated by this neo-classical building that is anchored at the base by granite blocks. It's quite obvious that this structure was built to last. It has 5-story-tall arched windows that are linked together by cast stone ornamentation. In 1993, 7 ornaments were added to the roof [placed on the 4 corners. I noticed that the Plymouth Court side is a glass wall above the base.
I was literally overwhelmed by the interior & its massive lobby with a mosaic mural called "Events in the Life of Harold Washington". Also on this first level is the POPULAR LIBRARY that features current titles from bestsellers and biographies.
The SECOND FLOOR has a walkway above the main lobby and is a gallery of artworks by Chicago painters.Be sure to see the Thomas Hughes Children's Library on the SECOND FLOOR. He was a British author who was so moved by the Chicago Fire of 1871 that he organized an English campaign to collect books for Chicago. It turned out to be 8,000 volumes and was the beginning of the Chicago Public Library!
Fondest Memory: For general information, you need to go to the THIRD FLOOR. There is a reference desk, the Interlibrary Loan Service, voter registration, computer Commons, newspapers, periodicals, and U.kS. telephone directories.
We also visited the FOURTH FLOOR with the Business/Technology Division.
If you need Socail Science periodicals and microforms, talking books, or government publications, then visit the FIFTH FLOOR.
Education, sociology, history, religion, psychology, philosophy, biography, genealogy, TRAVEL, parapsychology, and Chicago history are on the SIXTH FLOOR.
THE SEVENTH FLOOR was exciting for me, of course. It is Literature & Language Department with the largest collection of literature and fiction in the Midwest. They have a great Teen Edition section.
On the EIGHTH FLOOR, we discovered the Visual and Performing Arts Department. It has an Art Information Center, Music Information Center, piano practice rooms, chamber music rehearsal room, and a Listening/Viewing Center.
Oh, joy...on the NINTH FLOOR, you can enter the Winter Garden, a public space that rises over 100 feet through the TENTH FLOOR to a skylight. You can rent this space for special events. If you want info on Civil War, Chicago Theater, 1893 & 1933 World's Fairs, Chicago Neighborhood history as well as the Chicago Public Library Archives, this is the place for you.
I almost forgot to tell about the LOWER LEVEL and its 385-seat auditorium, an exhibit hall, a video theater, & meeting rooms!
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General Tips: Lake Point Tower
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Favorite Thing: For many years (since the 70's), I've admired Lake Point Tower apartment building near Navy Pier. Believe it or not, although it was built about 1967-1968, the concept began about 50 years earlier.
How? Well, famed architect, Mies van der Rohe in about 1921 made plans for a glass-clad tower for offices made of free, curving forms. That building was never built because he could not find financing for it.
However, the actual architects associated with Lake Point Tower were former students of Mies at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Some of them actually worked in his practice.
This is a sleek, very sophisticated tower that, at one time, was a lone sentinel in Navy Pier Park. At the time that it was built, Navy Pier was at its low and in disrepair, horribly neglected. Of course today after a $200-million investment of public funds, Navy Pier, is now one of Chicago's most popular attractions.
Fondest Memory: Lake Point Tower Apartments is really tall (645-feet high). There are 900 very expensive apartments here. Atop the building is the exclusive Citi Restaurant (We ate dessert with coffee there once, and the bill was over $40.00!)
The building really has only one wall, and it is a completely smooth curtain of glass that literally flows around "a 3-lobed, clover-leaf plan with a central, triangular core."
I remember the the 1970's going there to see one of our neighbor's grandparents, and I was awe-struck...I still am today!
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Favorite Thing: Originally the Morton International building and now the Boeing International Headquarters, this 1990 structure has unusual exposed roof trusses that support the south end of the building as well as adding a decorative touch intended to reflect the architecture of the river bridges.
It is located between Randolph and Washington Streets at 100 North Riverside Plaza.
It's a 36-story mixed-use skyscraper. This site presented many challenges to the architect, Ralph Johnson. The location is long, narrow, irregular. In addition, it is bounded by the Chicago River on the east. But, the biggest obstacle was the passage through the site by the Metra commuter railroad line!
They literally had to build over existing railroad tracks and rights-of way.
The building uses simple rectilinear blocks with geometric patterns on gray granite, glass, and metal exterior. The blocks are connected by a pedestrian arcade of 15-foot repeating columns and by a cool clocktower that is placed asymmetrically toward the northern end of the building.
Fondest Memory: "Since structural columns could not be placed where the train tracks curved, a rooftop truss was used to redistribute loads."
Thus, there is an exposed form that reflects the structure of the nearby Chicago River bridges.
According to city mandates, there must be public access to the riverfront; thus, a linear park at the river's edge was retained with stairways leading to it from the street level.
It's not my favorite building by far; however, I do admire what the architect had to do to overcome all the difficulties of the site.
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 Comments for deecat about Chicago | | | | |
LoriPori Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:56 UTC
Hello Dee: Great new restaurant tips. The Uzbeki food and the Beef Shawerma at Skewer's Grill sound delish. Enjoyed the pics of Jo's visit - good turnout eh! | Dabs Wed Jun 10, 2009 14:57 UTC
Ha ha, the Pierogi Fest babushka ladies made an appearance at White Sox Park, I got to stand on top of the dugout and sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and throw a couple of tshirts :-) | icunme Wed Jun 10, 2009 06:48 UTC
Hi there Dee - Enjoyed that Chicago party for Jo via your travelogue (referenced on Jo's page). Hope to make your red VT's meet list one day! Ciao, Carol <(•¿•)> | starship Wed Jun 10, 2009 01:51 UTC
Nice travelogue for Jo104's visit, Dee! What a happy-looking group they are! You must have had a wonderful time! |
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on Oct 27, 2008
