Among everyone's favorite buildings in Chicago, Bertrand Goldberg's Marina City still towers over the Chicago River.  I will undoubtedly post many photographs of this mid-20th Century gem (designed in 1959, completed in 1964).  It was the first post-war residential tower built in the United States in an effort to stop middle class flight from the city to the suburbs, a trend that after 60 years is in full reversal.

This photograph is taken from the 21st floor of the London House hotel on the opposite side of the river.  Amazingly, management still allows photographers to just photograph from this rooftop bar and restaurant for hotel guests and other patrons.  It is already a popular tourist attraction, which leads me to believe that hotel management will soon start to impose some limits on admission.

What I like about this photograph is that the two towers are depicted almost in full, but the angle eliminates the visual clutter of the newer buildings that have sprung up immediately north of the so-called corncobs. Unfortunately, to the west, developers are closing in the river with new high-rises.  In the distance, you can see a new glass and steel skyscraper that is still under construction.  Within the last several weeks, the construction crew largely finished installing the glass facing.

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Copyright 2016, Jack B. Siegel.  All Rights Reserved