Sights in Chicago
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Art Institute of Chicago
The second-largest art museum in the country, the Art Institute of Chicago has the kind of celebrity-heavy collection that routinely draws gasps from patrons. Grant Wood’s stern American Gothic ? Check. Edward Hopper’s lonely Nighthawks ? Yep. Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on La Grand Jatte ? Here. The museum’s collection of impressionist and postimpressionist paintings is second only to those in France, and the number of surrealist works – especially boxes by Joseph Cornell – is tremendous.
reviewed
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John Hancock Center
Chicago’s third-tallest skyscraper (at 1127ft) is our favorite place to get high. In many ways the view here surpasses the one at Willis Tower, as the Hancock is closer to the lake and a little further north. Plus, you have a couple of options for taking in the view – one of which saves money and provides liquid refreshment.
So here’s the deal: you can pay the admission price and ascend to the 94th-floor observatory. Recently revamped, it provides visitors with an edifying audio tour that gives a city history overview (good anecdotes from local newspaper journalists). There’s the ‘skywalk’, a sort of screened-in porch that lets you feel the wind and hear the city soun…
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Nelson Algren House
You can’t go inside, but on the third floor of this apartment building writer Nelson Algren created some of his greatest works about life in the once down-and-out neighborhood. He won the 1950 National Book Award for his novel The Man with the Golden Arm, set on Division St near Milwaukee Ave (about a half-mile southeast). A Walk on the Wild Side contains the classic advice: ‘Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom’s. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.’ And his short Chicago: City on the Make summarizes 120 years of thorny local history and is the definitive read on the city’s character.
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David & Alfred Smart Museum of Art
Named after the founders of Esquire magazine, who contributed the money to get it started, this fine arts museum opened in 1974 and expanded in 1999. The 8000 items in the collection include some excellent works from ancient China and Japan, and a colorful and detailed Syrian mosaic from about AD 600. The strength of the collection lies in the paintings and sculpture contemporary to the university’s existence, including works by Arthur Davies, Jean Arp, Henry Moore and many others.
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Robie House
This masterpiece is the ultimate expression of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School style, and it’s often listed among the most important structures in American architecture. The low horizontal planes and dramatic cantilevers were meant to mirror the Midwestern landscape, and they’re ornamented solely by the exquisite stained- and leaded-glass doors and windows. At the time of research the house was undergoing extensive restoration, which had disrupted the tour schedule, so call ahead.
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Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum has over 70 PhD-wielding scientists and 20 million artifacts, so you know things are going to be hopping. The big attraction is the Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue, a 13ft-tall, 41ft-long beast who menaces the grand space with ferocious aplomb. Sue, the most complete T rex ever discovered, takes its name from Sue Hendrickson, the fossil hunter who found the 90%-complete skeleton in South Dakota in 1990.
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University of Chicago
Some universities collect football championships. The University of Chicago collects Nobel Prizes – 80-plus so far and counting. In particular, the economics department has been a regular winner. Merton Miller, a U of C economics faculty member and a prize winner himself, explained the string of wins to the Sun-Times: ‘It must be the water; it certainly can’t be the coffee.’
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Prairie Avenue Historic District pp106–7
By 1900 Chicago’s crème de la crème had had enough of the scum de la scum in the nearby neighborhoods. Potter Palmer led a procession of millionaires north to new mansions on the Gold Coast. The once-pristine neighborhood, which lined Prairie Ave for several blocks south of 16th St, fell into quick decline as one mansion after another gave way to warehouses and industry, hookers and gin. Thanks to the efforts of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, a few of the prime homes from the area have also been carefully restored. Streets have been closed off, making the neighborhood a good place to stroll. A footbridge over the train tracks links the area to Burnham Park and the M…
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Churches of Ukrainian Village
The domes of the neighborhood’s majestic churches pop out over the treetops in Ukrainian Village. Take a minute to wander by St Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, which is the less traditional of the neighborhood’s main churches. Its 13 domes represent Christ and the Apostles. The intricate mosaics – added to the 1915 building in 1988 – owe their inspiration to the Cathedral of St Sophia in Kiev. Saints Volodymyr & Olha Church was founded by traditionalists from St Nicholas, who broke away over liturgical differences and built this showy church in 1975. It makes up for its paucity of domes (only five) with a massive mosaic of the conversion of Grand Duke Vladi…
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Northerly Island
A bit further south from the Adler Planetarium and 12th St Beach, Northerly Island was once the busy commuter airport known as Meigs Field. Now it’s a prairie-grassed park with walking trails, fishing, bird-watching and the (allegedly temporary) Charter One Pavilion outdoor concert venue. The shift from runway to willowy grasses has its root in a controversial incident that reads a little like a municipal spy thriller, complete with midnight operatives and surprise bulldozings. To sum it up: Mayor Daley wanted the land for a park; businesses wanted to keep it for their private planes. A standoff ensued. Then, one dark night in March 2003, Daley fired up the heavy machin…
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River Esplanade
The developers looking to cash in on River East Center were given a mandate by the city: for the proposed shopping area to be approved, the company would have to leave the River Esplanade to the Chicago Park District. It was a good deal for both parties, and the River Esplanade makes an excellent place to take a break from your hectic shopping/sightseeing schedule. Beginning with the oddly proportioned curving staircase at the northeast tower of the Michigan Ave Bridge, the landscaped walkway extends east along the river past the Sheraton Hotel. Every hour on the hour, from 10am to 2pm and again from 5pm to midnight, the esplanade’s Centennial Fountain shoots a massive …
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Essanay Studios
Back before the talkies made silent film obsolete, Chicago reigned supreme as the number one producer of movie magic in the USA. Essanay churned out silent films with soon-to-be household names like WC Fields, Charlie Chaplin and Gilbert M Anderson (aka ‘Bronco Billy,’ the trailblazing star of the brand-new Western genre and cofounder of Essanay). Filming took place at the studio, but also in the surrounding neighborhoods. Getting the product out the door and into theaters was more important than producing artful, well-made films, so editing was viewed somewhat circumspectly. As a result, it was common in the early Essanay films to see local children performing unintentio…
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Soldier Field
Built between 1922 and 1926 to pay homage to WWI soldiers, this oft-renovated edifice has been home to everything from civil-rights speeches by Martin Luther King Jr to Brazilian soccer games. It got its latest UFO-landing-upon-a-Greek-ruin look in a controversial 2003 makeover. Prior to that, the stadium’s architecture was so noteworthy it was named a National Historic Landmark. Unfortunately, the landmark lacked corporate skyboxes and giant bathrooms, so the city (the venue is owned by the park district) decided it was time for a change. The new look met almost unanimous derision when it was unveiled; critics quickly dubbed it ‘the Mistake on the Lake.’ The landmark fol…
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Garfield Park Conservatory
These 4.5 acres under glass are the Park District’s pride and joy. Built in 1907, the conservatory completed a multi-million-dollar restoration campaign in 2000, polishing it above and beyond its original splendor. One of the initial designers, Jens Jensen, intended for the palms, ferns and other plants to recreate Chicago’s prehistoric landscape. Today the effect continues – all that’s missing is a rampaging stegosaurus. Newer halls contain displays of seasonal plants that are especially spectacular in the weeks before Easter. Kids can get dirty with roots and seeds in the Children’s Garden. Between May and October the outdoor grounds are open, including the Demonstratio…
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Old St Patrick’s Church
A Chicago fire survivor, this 1852 church is not only the city’s oldest but also one of its fastest-growing, thanks to the strategies of its politically connected former pastor, Father Jack Wall. Old St Pat’s is best known for its year-round calendar of social events for singles, including the enormously popular World’s Largest Block Party; this is a weekend-long party with big-name rock bands where Catholic singles can flirt. (No less an authority than Oprah has proclaimed the block party the best place to meet one’s match.) The social programs have certainly boosted Old St Pat’s membership, which has gone from four (yes, four) in 1983 to thousands two decades later. The…
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Shedd Aquarium
A huge assortment of finned, gilled, amphibious and other aquatic creatures swims within the kiddie-mobbed, marble-clad confines of the John G Shedd Aquarium. Though it could simply rest on its superlative exhibits – say, beluga whales in a 4-million-gallon aquarium – the Shedd makes a point of trying to tie concepts of ecosystems, food webs and marine biology into its presentation of supercool animals. Permanent exhibits include the multilevel oceanarium, which mimics ocean conditions off the northwest coast of North America. The beluga whales inside are remarkably cute creatures that come from the pint-sized end of the whale scale. You’ll also see Pacific white-sided do…
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Sr Crown Hall
A world-class leader in technology, industrial design and architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) owes much of its look to legendary architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who fled the Nazis in Germany for Chicago in 1938. From 1940 until his retirement in 1958, Mies designed 22 IIT buildings that reflected his tenets of architecture, combining simple, black metal frames with glass and brick infills. The look became known as the ‘International Style.’ The star of the campus and Mies’ undisputed masterpiece is SR Crown Hall, appropriately home to the College of Architecture. The building, close to the center of campus, appears to be a transparent glass box …
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Millennium Park
Rising up boldly from Grant Park’s northwest corner (between Monroe and Randolph Sts), Millennium Park is a treasure trove of free and arty sights. Frank Gehry’s 120ft-high swooping silver band shell anchors what is, in essence, an outdoor modern design gallery. It includes Jaume Plensa’s 50ft-high Crown Fountain, which projects video images of locals spitting out water gargoyle-style; the Gehry-designed BP Bridge that spans Columbus Dr and offers great skyline views; and the McCormick-Tribune Ice Rink, which fills with skaters in winter (and al fresco diners in summer). But the thing that has become the park’s biggest draw is ‘theBean’ – officially titled C…
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Newberry Library
Humanities nerds and those trying to document far-flung branches of their family tree will have a field day at this research library. Entry requires a library card, but one-day passes are available for curious browsers; you must be 16 or older to be admitted. Once inside, you can pester the patient librarians with requests for help in tracking down all manner of historical ephemera. (The collection is noncirculating, though, so don’t expect to take that 1st edition of the King James Bible home with you.) The Newberry often features interesting special exhibits, and has a bookstore where you can pick up such treatises as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy, and cool …
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Illinois Institute of Technology
A world-class leader in technology, industrial design and architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) owes much of its look to legendary architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who fled the Nazis in Germany for Chicago in 1938. From 1940 until his retirement in 1958, Mies designed 22 IIT buildings that reflected his tenets of architecture, combining simple, black-metal frames with glass and brick infills. The look became known as the International Style. The star of the campus and Mies’ undisputed masterpiece is SR Crown Hall, appropriately home to the College of Architecture. The building, close to the center of campus, appears to be a transparent glass box floati…
reviewed
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Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows
Navy Pier doesn’t promote this free, impressive attraction very well, but visitors who wander along the lower-level terraces of Festival Hall will discover the country’s first museum dedicated entirely to stained glass. Many of the 150 pieces on display were made in Chicago (a stained-glass hub in the late 1800s, thanks to the influx of European immigrants), and most hung at one point in Chicago churches, homes or office buildings. Even if you think stained glass is something for blue-haired grandmas, you should make a point of coming by; the articulately explained collection ranges from typical Victorian religious themes to far-out political designs (the Martin Luther Ki…
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Lincoln Park Conservatory
‘It’s like a free trip around the world,’ one visitor said after walking through the conservatory’s 3 acres of desert palms, jungle ferns and tropical orchids. We couldn’t agree more, especially in winter, when the glass-bedecked hothouse remains a soothing 75°F escape from the icy winds raging outside. Just south, the 1887 statue Storks at Play has enchanted generations of Chicagoans. Real birds fill the landscape immediately northeast, at the corner of Fullerton Pkwy and Cannon Dr, around the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool. The Prairie-style garden, whose stonework resembles the stratified canyons of the Wisconsin Dells, is an important stopover for migrating spec…
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Pilsen Churches
Some wonderful European-influenced churches remain throughout Pilsen. The 1914 St Adalbert Church (1650 W 17th St) features 185ft steeples and is a good example of the soaring religious structures built by Chicago's ethnic populations through thousands of small donations from parishioners, who would cut family budgets to the bone to make their weekly contribution.
The Poles had St Adalbert's; the Irish had St Pius (1901 S Ashland Ave), a Romanesque Revival edifice built between 1885 and 1892. Its smooth masonry contrasts with the rough stones of its contemporaries. Catholics of one ethnic group never attended the churches of the others, which explains why this part of tow…
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Chicago Theatre
Everyone from Duke Ellington to Frank Sinatra to Prince has taken the stage here over the years (and left their signature on the famous backstage walls). The real showstopper, though, is the opulent French baroque architecture, including the lobby modeled on the Palace of Versailles. Opened in 1921, the theater originally screened silent movies with a full orchestra and white-gloved ushers leading patrons to their seats. Tickets cost just 50ç so rich and poor alike could revel in the splendor. Today it’s a concert venue. Tours are available most days (excluding Friday and Sunday) in summer, less often the rest of the year. At the very least, take a gander at the six-st…
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Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
Consider it the Art Institute’s brash, rebellious sibling, with especially strong minimalist and surrealist collections and permanent works by Franz Kline, René Magritte, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol. Covering art from 1945 forward, the MCA’s collection spans the gamut, from Jenny Holzer’s LED Truisms to Joseph Beuys’ austere Felt Suit, with displays arranged to blur the boundaries between painting, photography, sculpture, video and other media. The museum also regularly hosts dance, film and speaking events from an international array of contemporary artists, and the traveling exhibits it pulls in are A-list. The museum’s shop wins big points for its jewelry pi…
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