A group of students from the Illinois Institute of Technology are putting their education to work in the real world. They’ve taken up a project to build exhibit space at  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House (14520 River Road, Plano), about 60 miles west of...

We have a new building in our NFP series.  NFP stands for New Favorite Photo, and this is our new favorite photo of 401 North Michigan. If you like it too, click here to purchase a copy of this photo.  It helps support this...

Amtrak has finally decided to invoke its legal rights and go after Canadian National for delaying its trains in and out of Chicago.  According to WGN-TV, between Chicago Union Station and Joliet, freight trains delay passenger trains 99% of the time.  By law, Amtrak trains are supposed to...

Lately we’ve posted a few articles about Chicago’s lesser known architectural interiors.  Today, here’s another one. Check out the lobby of 14 West Elm Street.  The fireplace is fake, but hopefully the triptych mural of an idyllic Old World scene is real and original to...

We have a new building in our NFP series.  NFP stands for New Favorite Photo, and this is our new favorite photo of 300 North La Salle. If you like it too, click here to purchase a copy of this photo.  It helps support this...

  The Chicago Architecture Foundation has started a new web site to help students who are interested in architecture.  According to the press release, “DiscoverDesign.org, an online tool that guides students through the architectural process on real-world design projects, with...

Dozens (hundreds?) of books have been written about the fantastic historic architecture in downtown Chicago.  But there are hundreds of other buildings around Chicago with equally wonderful details. One of them is The Patrician (401 West Fullerton Parkway) in Lincoln Park.  We were invited...

One of the most prominent corners of Chicago is occupied not by a glittering skyscraper, but by a concrete church. The 17th Church of Christ, Scientist (55 East Wacker Drive) is an unusual looking building from the outside.  But once you go inside, you can see that the form follows the...

There are plenty of photos and postcards showing Chicago’s famous red skyscraper, the CNA Center ().  But not everyone knows that there is also a blue skyscraper in the Loop. The building at 10 South LaSalle Street is widely considered to be among the ugliest buildings in Chicago.  In...

Our Gold Coast Spy checked in today with a couple of pictures of the new Burberry Flagship Store going up at 633 North Michigan Avenue.  After months of digging around in the basement, the steel of the building has finally risen above street level. Construction is expected to be finished in...

While cruising the Tumblr* feed known as Calumet 412, I stumbled across this picture of the King Yen Lo restaurant taken around 1902.  It reminded me of something that a lot of Chicagoans I speak to don’t know — that while New Chinatown is fairly new, the so-called...

One of our readers was catching up on old episodes of Mythbusters recently when he spotted something interesting — the Chicago skyline. It turns out that in one episode, the sorta-science bunch needed a generic city background for one of its animations, and Chicago got the honor.  You...

The light of a full moon tries to compete with the bright lights of the Chicago skyline.  Silly...

The Wrigley Building (400 North Michigan Avenue) has been named a Chicago Landmark.  See Alderman Reilly’s announcement below. Not a new web site, but it’s new to us.  Check out Chicago Loop Bridges for lots of interesting information and pictures of… Chicago Loop...

We’ve seen Chicago blown up on the big screen in Transformers, Batman, and The Blues Brothers. We’ve seen Chicago serialized in Mike and Molly, Early Edition, and Good Times. But this is the first time I can remember Chicago being used as a race track in a video game. Electronic...

About ten months ago we mentioned that two neighboring downtown Chicago residential skyscrapers were for sale: Echelon at K Station (353 North Desplaines Street) and Alta at K Station (555 West Kinzie Street).   Echelon must be the cuter kid of the two because today it was sold, alone, to...

I stumbled across 1155 North Dearborn Street the other day and was instantly transported back to third grade social studies class, and a word I’d thought I’d forgotten:...

An afternoon view across the Lincoln Park neighborhood through a dirty window.  It’s art; I wouldn’t...