Building sights in Chicago
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A
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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B
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…
reviewed
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C
McCormick Place
Called ‘the Mistake on the Lake’ before the Soldier Field renovation stole the title, the McCormick Place convention center is an economic engine that drives up profits for the city’s hotels, restaurants, shops and airlines. ‘Vast’ isn’t big enough to describe it, nor ‘huge,’ and ‘enormous’ doesn’t work, so settle for whatever word describes the biggest thing you’ve ever seen. The 2.7 million sq ft of meeting space spreads out over four halls, making this the largest convention center in the country.
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D
St Valentine’s Day Massacre Site
In perhaps the most infamous event of the Capone era, seven members of the Bugs Moran gang were lined up against a garage wall and gunned down by mobsters dressed as cops. After that, Moran cut his losses and Capone gained control of Chicago’s North Side vice. The garage was torn down in 1967 to make way for a retirement home, and the facility’s landscaped parking lot now lies at the site. A house used as a lookout by the killers stands across the street.
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E
Wrigley Building
The Wrigley Building glows as white as the Doublemint Twins’ teeth, day or night. Chewing-gum guy William Wrigley built it that way on purpose, because he wanted it to be attention grabbing like a billboard. More than 250,000 glazed terra-cotta tiles make up the facade; a computer database tracks each one and when each needs to be cleaned and polished. Banks of megawatt lamps on the river’s south side light up the tiles each night.
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F
Chicago Fire Department Academy
Rarely has a public building been placed in a more appropriate place: the fire department’s school stands on the very spot where the 1871 fire began – between Clinton and Jefferson Sts. Although there’s no word on whether junk mail still shows up for Mrs O’Leary, the academy trains firefighters so they’ll be ready the next time somebody, or some critter, kicks over a lantern.
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G
Chicago Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a 1930 art deco gem. Inside, manic traders swap futures and options – a mysterious process that has something to do with corn. Or maybe it’s wheat. A small visitors center tries to explain it. Or just stay outside and gaze up at the giant statue of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, that tops the building.
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H
Maxwell St Police Station
This station, two blocks west of Halsted St, exemplified the corruption rife in the Chicago Police Department in the 1920s. At one time, five captains and about 400 uniformed police here were on the take.
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