Chicago Cultural Center/Chicago Public Library

We'd walked past the Cultural Center numerous times but finally were attracted to it upon learning it housed one of the great Tiffany domes. That it was the original Chicago Public Library dawned on us a bit later. Although it no longer houses the city library, it has got to be one of the great library buildings of the world. The dome of the Grand Army of the Republic was, for Mark, the icing on an incredible cake.

From Michigan Ave

The first floor was definitely a cultural center, contemporary art and
artists, including inflatable sculpture

And a great gift shoppe

But then we got to the architecture of the old library...

Never more true than today...

The Tiffany dome

Looking out to the Gehry structure in Millennial Park

Fuller view

Now, having traversed back the length of the great building,
we are gazing at the Dome of Grand Army of the Republic...

Illinois can claim both Grant and Lincoln...

Above the doors, names of the great Union victories of the Civil War

Grand indeed!

Chicago River Architectural Tour

One of the things one does in Chicago is to take one of the several river architectural cruises. This was absolutely obligatory for us, and, when the temps were forecasted to reach the 40s December 17th, we seized the day. The tour, by Wendella, was excellent, the guide apparently a professional actor, quite knowledgeable about architecture and Chicago history and also quite entertaining. Skyscrapers originated in Chicago with the first uses of metal skeletons. Chicago School skyscrapers were relatively low-down, but were fully ornamented, so to speak, from the ground up, affecting beaux-arts, neo-Gothic, or whatever guises the architects proposed. They are beauties. Alas, they are a bit hard to see nowadays, many torn down, nearly all the survivors surrounded by the ugly glass and steel boxes of the mid-20th century. Mies van der Rohe is not our favorite architect. But the tour was great.

35 East Wacker, one of the great old ones

Tribune Tower

Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower

One of the Wendella boats like we rode (sailed) in; the chameleon-like river
was actually brown that mid-December day

I'd guess the Tribune Tower was the most heavily sculpted
and ornamented, bottom to top...

The St. Regis (and neighbors)

Glass and steel, yes, but shapely, sculpted, interesting

Many, many works in progress

Headed downstream to the Lake...Navy Pier...fun for the kiddies...
next time or maybe next life...

Back up-river...Marina Towers, 300 North State Street, Brutal;
the first 19 stories are the parking garages

Merchandise Mart; largest building in the world, for a time

At least the glass and steel uglies occasionally reflect something
interesting

Civic Opera

Riverside Plaza

A glimpse of the Willis (Sears) Tower, for a few years
the world's tallest

"If you can't put your building on the map, put the map on your
building," the guide said

River City...same Brutalist architect as Marina Towers (above)
right here in River City...

Down in the RR yards...Rust Belt country

Better view of Willis Tower

Returning to base, a Chicago River view

Pendry Tower, one of the old beauties

A last view of Tribune Tower...with the NBC Tower
to the right

The InterContinental

With its unmistakably Egyptian markings...hmmm

Also, the Burberry, with its signature plaid markings

Celebrating at Lou Malnati's, home of the original 
Chicago deep-dish pizza

Addenda...walking to our next destination, we happened by the Pendry building and stepped in for a nosey...just as gorgeous as we'd imagined...

Entrance

Elevator doors used to be works of art...

Lobby ceiling

Gingerbread model ('twas the season)