All in Urban Landscapes
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Pictured is a sculpture that adjourns the City and County Building. Analogous to Certs--Two Mints In One--the Cook County Main Administration building is combined with Chicago's City Hall in an 11-story, Greek-styled building designed by Chicago architectural powerhouse Holabird & Root.
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150 North Riverside Plaza opened for occupancy earlier this year. It sits above the Amtrak rail lines feeding into Chicago's Union Station. The building is a visual delight, perched on single leg, with the east and west sides moving out on the diagonal, and then jutting straight up. Will it tip?
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Photographers always find new opportunities whenever a new building is completed. 150 North Riverside Plaza provides many opportunities given the elevated public space in back of the building and the promenade running along the Chicago River. Once it opens, the Starbucks may also offer some interesting opportunities, but that will depend on the depth of the outlet.
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Last year at this time, the building under construction at 150 North Riverside Plaza had not yet topped out. The plaza abutting the Chicago River was filled with building materials and construction equipment, with steel and glass being hoisted by a crane. I have photographs to prove it.
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Helmut Jahn's State of Illinois Building is in a state of disrepair. Chicago Tribune architectural columnist Blair Kamin points to rusted columns, chipped paint, and duct tape holding faded carpets together. There is also the smell of fast food grease wafting through the atrium from the food court on the lower level. All of this mirrors the State of Illinois' budget crisis, which will continue to plague the state despite the band-aid tax increase signed into law ten days ago by Governor Bruce Rauner.
Unfortunately, but appropriately, Jean Dubuffet's Monument with Standing Beast, which is located at the building's southeast corner, is in similar disrepair. The 10-ton sculpture has faded in parts from white to cigarette-finger yellow. It appears to be chipped, with parts of it covered in graffiti, which serves as another example of why we can't have nice things.
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Ah, yes, we all remember being a kid and partaking in the joys of summer. No school, so head down to the Daley Plaza, and then use the Picasso statue as a slide.
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I headed over to the Chicago Cultural Center today intent on photographing the Tiffany Glass dome that sits above the Preston Bradley Hall. This is the dome that has the star power because it is believed to be the world's largest Tiffany dome. At 11:00AM the light was perfect, with the sun not quite directly overhead. Unfortunately, the hall was closed for an event--high school students.
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Just about every event passes through the Trump filter in this day and age. Today, the Lions Clubs International held a parade on Chicago's State Street to commemorate the Chicago-based organization's 100th anniversary. One parade participant proudly told me that the Lions Club is the largest service organization in the world, with 1,400,000 members in somewhere around 200 countries. The organization focuses its efforts on visual impairment, hearing loss, disaster relief, diabetes awareness, and other good causes.
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On Monday of this week, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events installed a statue by Chicago artist Scott Reader across the river from the Trump Tower. As is evident, the statue is simply the words "Real Fake" in gold lettering. Quite appropriate for anything associated with President Donald J. Trump.
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On December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi established the first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction under the Stage Field Stadium located on the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus. The laboratory was a squash court, which is an appropriate given the speed and force that a squash ball ricochets off the walls of a court.
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Oak Park, Illinois may be the location of a number of important Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, including Wright's home, but Hyde Park is the location of one important Wright work, the Robie House. The house was built between 1908 and 1910 for Chicago businessman Frederick C. Robie.
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Best to position yourself in one place over a 2.5-hour period. The changes are gradual, but dramatic. Today, the Chicago skyline was partially cloudy: Mid morning there were high cumulus clouds and large blue patches.
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The weather on the drive from Chicago to Milwaukee today was pretty intense. No precipitation. Just large cumulus clouds hanging above. As we got closer to Milwaukee, the clouds became more dense, losing their form and dimensionality, but after lunch the sun kept popping through, creating interesting light.
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Over the last several years, I have noticed an interesting phenomenon as I travel throughout the city: Skyscrapers create their own micro climates. Traveling south on Lake Shore Drive toward the John Hancock Center, I sometimes see fog drifting in that pretty much obscures the skyline, only to discover clear skies once I cross North Avenue heading south on LaSalle.
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Covfefe made it into the demonstration lexicon at Chicago's March for Truth today. This was the poster of the day, even though the Photoshopping is less than desirable.
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Everyone who visits Chicago inevitably sees the skyline, with the Willis Tower on the south end and the John Hancock Tower on the north end. The Trump Tower is in the middle, as is the Amoco Building (now the Aon Center) . What many don't see is the spiral drum immediately to the east of the Hancock Tower. It is part of the ramp that leads to the parking garage on the lower floors of the Hancock. It is made of concrete, and looks similar in shape to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, although on further reflection, there are big differences.
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Rain was in the forecast today, but on North Avenue Beach, it was nowhere to be found. Sunny, warm, but none of the July and August humidity was in the air, which probably kept beach attendance down a bit, but there were still plenty of people milling about. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Volleyball, touch football, castles in the sand, and the smell of a little reefer in the air.
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Given what a delightful day it was, I found it odd to stumble across these rather sinister looking bottles, high on a windowsill. The first feature I saw was the white light, but then I noticed that the bottles were casting a rather large and sinister shadow. It was the setting sun that provided an intense source of light.
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If you are looking for somewhere over the rainbow in Chicago, walk along the Riverwalk toward the Lake Shore Drive Bridge. Centennial Fountain is located on the north side of the river. Dedicated in 1989, the fountain commemerates the 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
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Chicago is known for the sound of the electric blues, but long before Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Little Walter, and all the others plugged in, Chicago was an industrial center, home to foundries, transportation hubs, and animals headed through shuts to their slaughter. In the words of Carl Sandburg, the City of Broad Shoulders. Emblematic of those shoulders are 27 or so bridges that tie one side of the Chicago River with the other.
