Chicagoist: Focus on Architecture

karczek

Fri, 26 May 2006 14:04:33 -0600

I've never understood the unwavering praise for the Rookery. To be sure, the interior atrium IS deserving of all of the hyperbole it receives. That said, I've never liked the exterior at all. It's so fussy and overdone, like a cake with every conceivable topping. The structure itself seems bloated, with cluttered lines. It's oafish. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly a valuable landmark, but it exhibits a different sort of greatness than most of the other buildings folks have mentioned. Like the difference between the slick fielding, mediocre hitting shortstop and the home run king designated hitter, the Rookery's interior is far more noteworthy than it's ugly facade while most of the other buildings mentioned offer unremarkable interiors while the skin provides glamor and awe. Neither strength is really worth more than the other, but how many people walk past the Rookery and have no idea about the treasure inside? As such, isn't it slightly less relevant when discussing architecture that makes people look up and marvel? Just curious.

graham

Fri, 26 May 2006 13:40:30 -0600

carbon and carbide is great, can't deny. but the rookery takes all. and probably a close third would be the library; probably the best modern thing downtown.

Gary

Fri, 26 May 2006 08:49:48 -0600

I have to go with either Mather Tower (75 E. Wacker), the Smurfit-Stone building, or Tribune Tower.

Elizabeth

Fri, 26 May 2006 07:32:06 -0600

It's a tie between the Thomspon Center and the Rookery.

Jeremy

Thu, 25 May 2006 17:44:30 -0600

I work across the street from the Hyatt Center, so its front and center from the windows in our conference room. I always try to get to meetings early, so I can grab a window view seat, and just stare away. Stainless steel goodness. An interesting thing I noticed last week, the window washers also wash the stainless panels. So, in effect, the entire face of that building gets washed on whatever interval they run on.

Cheryl

Thu, 25 May 2006 16:48:11 -0600

Favorite old building--The Reliance/Hotel Burnham. You really have to go in a room there to realize how BIG those windows are. From in a room, it looks like you're in a Modernist building. Favorite "new": Either Inland Steel or the Daley Center. Favorite way to learn about architecture: http://architecture.org/

geekgrrl

Thu, 25 May 2006 16:38:39 -0600

@ Zak: yeah, i meant 'gothic' concerning the tribune, not the carbon & carbide. c & c = art deco all the way. mmm rookery. i remember taking a different way to the train one evening and just stopping cold once i saw it. i'd never seen it before, but i instantly knew what it was... i know it's not downtown, but there's also that really wicked apartment building near navy pier that's all curves.

Lody

Thu, 25 May 2006 16:30:48 -0600

Jocelyn - here's some info on that building... seems that vagina comment is an urban legend... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smurfit-Stone_Building

Jocelyn

Thu, 25 May 2006 16:24:02 -0600

a lot of these i don't know by name! :( in reading another thread like this somewhere else, i was shocked to read that several people loved the chicago title and trust building! i worked there and i never would have even considered it. interesting stuff. the diamond shaped building... i always think of that as the vagina building. i don't know if this is true or not, but i've always heard that a woman designed it to offset all the phallic skyscrapers....??

Lody

Thu, 25 May 2006 16:02:33 -0600

Oh yeah, and the Smurfit-Stone Building on North Michigan Ave. and Randolf... (the one with the diamond shaped top) every time I see a movie and they pan a city skyline... that building is in it. I think it has to do with all the John Hughes films I saw when I was younger. :) But I'm in love with that building too.

Lody

Thu, 25 May 2006 16:01:15 -0600

zoomzoom79

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:43:11 -0600

The Rookery, hands down. It oozes Chicago history.

karczek

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:39:13 -0600

I really love Inland Steel, Mondanock, Wrigley, Tribune, Reliance, Chicago Temple (I can see all the details on the spire from the conference room in my office...). It seems like I must be forgetting one or two favorites... I hope some of the next generation of tall buildings will be more awe inspiring. (Fordham Spire!) I'm warming up to Hyatt and One South Dearborn, but I'm not fond of Skybridge and Chase Center. Hopefully Aqua will fulfill the promise of it's renderings when it's up.

Margaret

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:30:08 -0600

Jocelyn, yes, Trib building on the east, Wrigley on the west. Interesting thing about the Trib building is, yes...it's gothic. But if you look at the trunk of the building, its got all the makings of an Art Deco building, just topped off with a lot of ornament. YAY CHICAGO!

Devyn

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:28:17 -0600

First and foremost... Daley Center, absolute perfection in modernism that works, and works well. Next would be, Inland Steel I just took a tour of it last Saturday, during Chicago Great Places and Spaces Weekend, and then blogged about it. It is partly owned by Frank Gehry. Then I would list Federal Plaza. Mies at his best. Note the way the lines in the pavement line up to the columns of the building as well as to each other across the street. And after that... A long list indeed, but it would include Sofitel, 333 Wacker, The Hyatt Center, Carson Pirie Scott, The Monadnak, The Hancock (I still want to live there someday), 1 South Dearborn, 111 S Wacker, and many many more...

Jocelyn

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:23:39 -0600

i get them confused, but the tribune building is the one on the east side, right? (wrigley is on the west?) really elaborate and stuff? i LOVE that building. just super sweet. with the river there and all. loave it. the merchandise mart is pretty cool. i love telling people that the kennedys used to own it. i'm sad bloomingdales went into the medinah temple building thing. :/ also, it's always interesting to see the CNA building in contrast to the rest of the skyline.

curmudgeon

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:12:40 -0600

Monadnock Building. The old Santa Fe RR building on S. Michigan. Chicago Cultural Center Building. So many. We are truly luck to live here and have such magnificence in our sights.

Margaret

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:11:24 -0600

I think my favorite is still the Reliance Building (or the Burnham Hotel). The building itself has an amazing history, was a fore-runner to the skyscrapers yet to come, and the last hurrah (at least the base) for Burnham's partner, John Root. I could go on and on and on. Also, the Equitable? Used to hate it, now I love it! Notice how it changes colors depending on the day, sometimes green, sometimes gray...love it. Good thread yo.

Jerry

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:09:35 -0600

That's a toughie. I love the Wrigley building and the Tribune Tower. Wish the Equitable would go away, though. Ruins the whole entrance to north michigan avenue. Big fan of the NBC Tower. Its so...skyscrapery. The Rookery is also way cool. My other favorite...well, I don't know the name. Its the one on North Wacker, near Michigan with the little dome on top. And, of course, Marina City is totally rad. If I was gonna live downtown, it'd have to be Marina City.

Paul

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:09:16 -0600

The old First Chicago building(now Chase tower). I remember standing in the plaza (as a child...and even recently) with my back to the building, then gazing up and almost getting vertigo from the sweeping lines the building offers. Oh, and the plaza's cameo in Ferris Bueller's Day Off was pretty cool too.

JJ

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:08:55 -0600

anyone see Catherine Opie's exhibit of photos of Chicago at the MCA? they are really nice, like views of famous buildings but from angles we don't typically see them. they are like portraits of buildings. my favorite older building: I don't know the name of it, but it's on the river in the south loop, and it has no right angles. it's an apartment building, Modernist. favorite newer building: Sofitel

Jerry

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:08:38 -0600

Paul

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:07:43 -0600

Zak

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:07:03 -0600

Painfully obvious, I suppose...but the Board of Trade building is fantastically foreboding. Also, a second vote for Carbide and Carbon building...although I would call it "art deco" way more than "gothic."

Stephen

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:06:44 -0600

I'm a big fan of Chase Tower, but probably tops for me is the Monadnock Building for its wicked staircase!

j3k

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:02:30 -0600

I agree with MikeH. I love the Emporis Building (333 W Wacker) and the way it complements/reflects the river.

Justin

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:59:57 -0600

From the north side, the 900 N Michigan building looks like a fortress. From the south side, the spindly Pru Tower (#1?) stands out.

I

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:59:11 -0600

I'm gonna go with the Congress Hotel building as one of my favorites. Nonwithstanding the current labor problem there, the building itself is remarkable.

Wayne

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:58:08 -0600

IBM Building!

Krystal

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:50:52 -0600

I know...i know its the obvious one but i'm always a sucker for the sears tower...its just sooo....whats the word....big

geekgrrl

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:33:42 -0600

carson's, yes.. gotta give up props to Sullivan.. i'm glad i'm not the only one who goes around slackjawed sometimes..

MikeH

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:33:22 -0600

I've always been partial to 333 W. Wacker--I like it when structures are designed to complement their immediate environment. The green windows mirror the tint of the river (for better or for worse) and the curve on the north face of the building mirrors the bend in the river at that same point...

Lody

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:25:51 -0600

my vote is for Carson's (Louis Sullivan - Frank Lloyd Wright's teacher) and for Marshall Fields (love the Tiffany ceiling)!

NSH

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:21:52 -0600

my vote is for Carson's. What a great rehab!

geekgrrl

Thu, 25 May 2006 13:20:03 -0600

tough call. what spring to mind immediately are carbon & carbide and the tribune building.. oh, the droolable gothicness...