Chicago River Architecture Tour &
Other Sightseeing Adventures

Photos: Carole Zak, Dave Worth, Yen King, Bill Manuel, Miriam Rich, Britta Sandblom

Saturday afternoon was given over to self-organized activities aka Chicago sightseeing. An Activities Guide was provided attendees online ahead of time. One popular early afternoon destination was “Cloud Gate” at nearby Millennium Park:

“Cloud Gate aka “The Chicago Bean”, Millennium Park.

Reflection in “Cloud Gate”, Millennium Park.

A well-attended early afternoon Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise, voted the #1 boat tour in the whole country by USA Today and highly recommended by our Chicago hosts, slowly cruised the Chicago River to reveal Chicago’s long, rich history of skyscraper architecture for which the Windy City* is famous.

In its long history, Chicago has been home to two of the world’s-tallest-buildings since 1885, including the world’s very first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building until 1890, and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) from 1974-1978.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

* Chicago is not called the Windy City because of the wind. We believe it was because of Chicago’s reputation in the 19th century of boastful self-promotion. Some have attributed it to the New York Sun reporter Charles Dana, who mocked Chicago’s politicians’ boasting competing to host the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, an event that would profoundly influence American architecture, the arts, American industrial optimism, and Chicago’s image for the next half century.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

Terry Mughan, Mary Yoko Brannen Mughan, Britta Sandblom.

Marina City (aka Corncob Towers), 1967. As seen on TV’s “The Bob Newhart Show” and in the movie “Ferris Bueller”. This “city within a city,” the first of its kind to layer residential, commercial and entertainment into one dense complex was financed by the Janitor’s Union. It was part of the revitalization of a decaying city center following WWII.

“The 300” (300 S. Wacker Drive) facade with map of the Chicago River and parallel city boulevards. 400 feet tall, portrays the bending river and Chicago’s crisscrossing street grid. The building is represented by a bright red rectangle that is backlit at night. The addition was added to make the building profile more distinct from that of its overshadowing neighbor just katty-korner, Willis (Sears) Tower. The new facade was added 40 years after the original building completion. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/300-south-wacker-drive

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) overshadowing every other skyscraper in the city. It was the tallest building in the world when completed in 1974, the same year many of us graduated from ASIJ! Architects and engineers collaborated to create a “bundled tube” system to address structural problems never before seen on this scale. The innovations ushered in a whole new era of skycraper construction. Given how more often than not it’s a windy day in Chicago, it was surprising to see how many residential towers offered balconies (e.g., short tower with white balconies on the right or Marina City).

LondonHouse. Originally the London Guaranty & Accident Building, built in 1923. It occupies the site of 1803’s Fort Dearborn. It has been home to many corporate headquarters over the years as well as the studios of Chicago’s WLS(AM) radio where legendary radio personality Paul Harvey broadcast his syndicated radio show. From the 1950s through the early 1970s the building also housed Chicago’s famous jazz supper club, The London House, on its ground floor.

Boeing Building. Originally constructed for the Morton Salt Co. in 1990, Boeing acquired the building for its own corporate headquarter move from Seattle to Chicago in 2001.

Tribune Tower Residences. 1925. The Chicago Tribune newspaper occupied this building until 2018. Conversion to luxury condominiums in 2019. About 150 fragments from famous structures from all over the world are embedded in outside walls around the base of Tribune Tower, brought back by the newspaper’s foreign correspondents and its syndicates — including pieces of the Berlin Wall, Great Wall of China, the Alamo …

Bank of America Tower (2017). Its unique superstructure design occupies only 25 percent of the lot at its base before expanding out and upward. At the tower’s base, there is a trio of three-pronged 83 feet tall columns, which look like tridents. By drastically reducing the number of columns that come to the ground, the design opens up the riverwalk.

Chicago skyline view from the turnaround at the river’s mouth on Lake Michigan. Engineering achievements reversed the flow of the river in the early 1900s. Today, the river’s “origin” is the lake, not its mouth, eventually reaching the Illinois River to the southwest, the Mississippi River basin and the Gulf of Mexico.

Tall buildings like those in Chicago can be subject to very high wind loads. While the entire facade is designed to withstand these pressures, some engineering strategies involve flexible cladding or sacrificial panels that reduce pressure buildup.

Aqua Tower (2009). Designed by a team led by Jeanne Gang. Mixed residential-commercia-office high-rise with no two balconies being alike. The balconies are extensions of the residential unit floor plates to provide views of specific landmarks in a visually dense neighborhood.

Approaching Trunnion Bascule Bridge, one of the thirty-seven moveable bridges spanning the Chicago River.

Low clearance!!!

NBC Tower, Skidmore Owings & Merrill (1989).

St. Regis Hotel. Opened in May 2023, the luxury hotel occupies the lower floors of a striking 101-story skyscraper designed by Jeanne Gang, making it the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. Upper floors include condominiums offering “hotel amenities for residential owners.”

The Wrigley Building, south tower (1921).

Wrigley Building, north tower (1925).

One of the thirty-seven moveable bridges in operation along the Chicago River.

333 Wacker Drive (1983). The sweeping curve of green-tinted glass harmonizes with the river’s bend and echoes its color.

One River Place (1930). Formerly Montgomery Ward Warehouse & Offices. 2002 Conversion to residential.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

World-famous Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise.

Another nearby-to-LondonHouse activity: perusing the collections at Art Institute Chicago:

Art Institute Chicago.

“Two Sisters (On the Terrace)” (Renoir), Art Institute Chicago.

“Frida Kahlo’s Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds” (Mary Reynolds), Art Institute Chicago.

“American Gothic” (Grant Wood). Art Institute Chicago.

“A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884” (Georges Seurat), Art Institute Chicago.

Next: Saturday Reunion Celebration