photo by John Suddath: skylineChicago skyline reveals the many high-rise buildings on the waterfront © John Suddath

Chicago is like Disney World on steroids. Instead of mid-size replicas of different styles of architecture, you find the real thing --- only super size. While most American cities would consider a 50-story building probably one of the tallest in the city, that’s just mid-range in Chicago. They’ve already got a couple around 100 stories and new ones under construction heading for 150 stories.

The city that some call the home of the skyscraper lives up to its name with buildings of dizzying heights on nearly every corner inside the Loop. Some of the early buildings of 8 – 12 stories from a hundred years ago are still around and are interesting for their architectural features as well as their historical value.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation offers tours by boat, bus, or by walking. They offer four walking tours with an audio guide, and four with a guide in person. The four bus tours focus on different neighborhoods. I chose the 90-minute river cruise that circles the Chicago River and the Loop. I lucked out with a beautiful, windless, sunny afternoon to catch the glint of the windows of the towering buildings that reflected a multitude of colors that bounced against each other. The guide was incredible in his knowledge and the clarity of his diction so that I could actually understand what he was saying.

photo by John Suddath: barge and draw bridgeBridge on the Chicago River lifts for barge traffic. © John Suddath

I caught the 5:00 pm tour just as a barge was clearing the Michigan Avenue bridge so we started by getting the unusual opportunity to see the bridge raised and lowered. Although there are 22 bridges around the Loop, they aren’t operated as often as when the river was an industrial waterway 30 years ago. The river has been cleaned up for a couple of miles and gentrified so that many of the former warehouses have been converted to condos. The city is enforcing a rule to provide public access to the river walk as new construction or conversions happen. It’s a great way to see the sites, and it’s a lot easier than doing it on foot.

I also did that strolling up and down Michigan Avenue from the historic water tower to the Art Institute. It’s the best way to see the facades up close and to have time to stop and photograph the interesting buildings. The Miracle Mile is touted as a grand avenue of exclusive stores and others as big as a city block. What struck me was the immaculate condition of the streets and sidewalks with nary a wrapper nor a crumb in sight in spite of the mobs of people who come out after dark. The pattern varies from street to street inside the Loop where there are planter boxes on the sidewalks, the median, or the windows of the buildings, but the trees and flowers are all beautiful and well maintained. I can’t seem to do as good a job with my own small deck at home.

photo by John Suddath: wacker ave. towersMichigan Ave. bridge features monumental gate © John Suddath

Just to make sure that I didn’t miss any of the famous sites, I also took the Grayline trolley that allows you to get on and off at 14 popular tourist sites. It follows nearly the same route as the free trolley provided by the City of Chicago so there is confusion at each stop where people are waiting for the other trolley.

The other options of public transit are buses, the “el” and the “Metra” commuter rail. I took the elevated the next morning to Oak Park to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright House and Studio. Oak Park is an early suburb of Chicago that was developed around the turn of the 20th Century and still includes many beautiful homes with several designed by Wright.

photo by John Suddath: Unity TempleUnity Temple, Oak Park, IL © John Suddath

The Village of Oak Park provides a free shuttle every 30 minutes to tour the attractions with a stop right at the train station. Wright spent the first 20 years of his long career in Oak Park and enlarged the house twice and added the studio. His Prairie School of architecture was ahead of its time and very modern and different than the prevailing styles of that era. Two Queen Anne style houses tarted out in orange-colored red and another in bright blue to this day sit directly across the street from his studio as though mocking him. After touring the studio, I slowly strolled along Kenilworth Avenue and photographed the large homes in Romanesque, Victorian, Italianate, and American Gothic styles that outsold Wright’s designs that were considered too radical. The large trees spread a leafy green over the street, and the lush lawns with flowers and grass created a sense of peace and quiet.

The next day I took another Grayline tour down to the University of Chicago to see their sprawling campus with its original buildings in a English Gothic style. En route we drove through Chinatown along several blocks of Clark Avenue. Another Wright house built for Frederick C. Robie in 1910 sits just to the north of the campus and was one of the first to reflect his mature design with the long horizontal lines and narrow wrap-around windows. The Illinois Institute of Technology is an early example of the International style of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who was replaced in 1958 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as the campus architect. Perhaps the most famous building on the campus is the Campus Student Center by Rem Koolhas that features a stainless steel tube wrapped around a section of the elevated train tracks to reduce the noise from the trains.

photo by John Suddath: Navy PierNavy Pier, Chicago © John Suddath

We returned downtown via Lake Shore Drive that runs for more than 20 miles along Lake Michigan directly adjacent to the shoreline. The Museum of Science and Industry in the Beaux-Arts style is the only surviving building from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and was rebuilt with a new limestone exterior in the 1920s. The surrounding community of Hyde Park seems flat with its low-rise single family dwellings and broad tree-lined streets. In fact, most of Chicago has miles of 2-story row houses spread out in all directions. The skyscrapers are concentrated inside the loop and along Lakeshore Drive.

photo by John Suddath: The beanThe Bean, Millennial Park © John Suddath

photo by John Suddath: fountainUnique Water fountain with a face © John Suddath

Chicago features buildings and homes by some of the most famous architects in the world who have showcased their talents here. I don’t have space to describe all of the beautiful parks, including the new Millennium Park, so you’ll just have to plan a visit on your own. Of course, you will want to visit the world-class museums and the popular sports stadiums and the vibrant theater district, but that’s another story.

photo by John Suddath: O'Hare concourseConcourse at Chicago O'Hare Airport © John Suddath

photo by John Suddath: Wright studio

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