Introduction Roosevelt University is in the midst of a campaign to elevate its status as an institution of higher education. The centerpiece of this venture is the newly constructed Roosevelt University Tower (435 South Wabash Avenue) where the educational standard is physically manifested in the architecture and design. Chuck Middleton, Roosevelt University’s President set the stakes high for the quality of both academics and architecture saying, “We are building the quintessential 21st Century university structure and it’s going to give us a dramatic new image on Chicago’s skyline.” The high expectations and...
Slice of Life: The B...
posted by Paul Kulon
On gray winter mornings, most people downtown rarely take their eyes off the sidewalk as they trudge to the office. Yet just a simple glance up at the towering skyscrapers can infuse some beauty and inspiration into the day. I captured this photo walking across Federal Plaza. The overcast sky...
Briefly: Here Comes ...
posted by Editor
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...
Eight Views of 17th ...
posted by Editor
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...
Blue in the Loop
posted by Editor
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...
Old Old Chinatown
posted by Editor
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...
Loop Target: July 29, 2012
posted by Editor
For more than a year, people have been wandering past the Sullivan Center (formerly the Carson Pierie Scott flagship store at 33 South State Street) wondering when the Loop’s new CityTarget would open. We now have an answer: Sunday, July 29, 2012. For those with the retail bug, or who just hate seeing one of Chicago’s iconic buildings going to waste, it’s been agonizing walking past dusty windows with no signs of progress inside. Now the windows are protected from the inside by plywood, and work is moving forward toward the mid-Summer opening. After opening 1,750 stores in 49 states (Vermont is the final frontier), the...
Status Update: The C...
posted by Editor
Magellan Development’s latest water-named tower is progressing nicely. The Coast (345 East Wacker Drive) is going up in Lakeshore East, obliterating the lake and city views of thousands of people in the Swissôtel, The Tides, The Shoreham, and Aqua. The Coast is a 45-story apartment...
Grant Park Renovatio...
posted by Editor
The latest plans for replacing the northern portion of Grant Park are on display. Large display panels went up on the Pedway level of Block37 last night, allowing people who normally aren’t able to attend the Grant Park meetings to see what’s coming. This is part of the Chicago...
Saving Michigan Avenue’s Ugliest Building
posted by Editor
Johnson Publishing is moving out of its eponymous building at 820 South Michigan Avenue. It’s moving into the top three floors of the Borg Warner Building (200 South Michigan Avenue). It was just last week that the Tribune mentioned that a company was interested in the top three floors of that building, and it turns out to be Johnson. The old building is now owned by Columbia College, which is spreading through the South Loop like a well-intentioned educational virus. Columbia has done some very interesting things with its recently bought buildings, like its Theater and Film Annex (1415 South Wabash Avenue), or the ghost...
Update: Bakers Shoes...
posted by Editor
The scaffolding is down at the Bakers Shoes Building (133 South State Street). You’ll remember this was the store that the Chicago Tribune described as a “late 1940′s retail gem” before having a conniption fit in February, 2011 about its then-impending...
Jan09
Briefly: Wacker, Wol...
posted by Editor
The new Wolford store in the Shops at North Bridge (520 North Michigan Avenue) opened on Friday (January 6th, 2012). Last Thursday we saw CDOT workers putting up new signs in preparation for Stage Three of the Wacker Drive reconstruction. The changes go into effect today (Monday, January...
Fishing for History ...
posted by Paul Kulon
On days when the sun splashes on its golden terra cotta, the Fisher Building (343 South Dearborn Street) glistens like a gem. The building is one of the finest examples of the Chicago School of architectre, designed by the accomplished architect Charles Atwood, under the direction of the...
Flagship Walgreens A...
posted by Editor
You can feel it in your bones as you walk through The Loop — Like a spring mushroom, a new Walgreen’s is about to burst to life on State Street. Both our Gold Coast Spy, and one of our Loop spies sent in photos in the last few days of last-minute preparations for the new Walgreens...
Briefly: New Loop Ho...
posted by Editor
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the historic London Guarantee Building (360 North Michigan Avenue) may become a hotel. A similar plan was floated in 2004. The same Sun-Times article notes that the hotel planned for 330 North Wabash, formerly known as IBM Plaza, will open next year....
Green Light For New ...
posted by Editor
It’s been flying mostly under the radar for the last year or so, but now there’s finally reason to believe that the proposed residential tower at 73 East Lake Street is actually going to happen. The City of Chicago’s Plan Council has approved the latest plan from the...
Slice of Life: Night...
posted by Editor
The lights in, around, and above The Park at Lakeshore East turn this little patch of green on the edge of The Loop into a 24-hour amenity. Even I have, on occasion, taken part in a little late-night round of...
Revised Grant Park Renovation Plan Released
posted by Editor
Plans for the redevelopment of North Grant Park are starting to come together. New York architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates has come up with a revised and more detailed plan for the $30 million project, expected to get underway in the Autumn of 2012. Be sure to see our previous coverage for more details. The park has to be entirely removed and replaces because it sits on the roof of the East Monroe Parking Garage. That roof is in bad need of repairs. The current park will be stripped off, the roof repaired, and a new modern park put in its place. The proposed new park will be the first deviation in Grant Park’s...
Briefly: 22WW Sold, ...
posted by Editor
Globe Street reports that the office tower portion of Block37, known as 22 West Washington, has been bought by Prudential Real Estate Investors in New Jersey for $183.5 million. A web site called Out of the Storm News muses about Chicago’s skyline, and posits that Chicago, not Columbus...
Flagship Walgreens: ...
posted by Editor
Construction is underway turning the former Loehman’s discount store space in the Joffrey Tower (8 East Randolph Street) into a flagship Walgreen’s store. What makes it a flagship? It’s using the new design and services that Walgreens tested out at its new Duane Reade drug...