Downtown
June 1, 2020
Downtown is the center of Chicago, resplendent with towers, parks and museums. While its attractions are closed during the pandemic, downtown’s architectural and historical places of interest are still worthy of being visited. The “Loop” of downtown is the loop formed by the intersecting tracks of the “L” transit system, so almost everywhere in downtown is easily accessible by train. Downtown coffee shops like the Dollop Coffee Co. and Fairgrounds Coffee & Tea are still open for takeout.
Tribune Tower
While the most striking features of the Tribune Tower may be its ornate limestone arches, the building also boasts a unique historic feature closer to eye-level: stones from historic sites all around the world rest in the building’s foundation, with inscriptions marking their origins for curious passersby. Some notable examples include a brick from the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal.
Wrigley Building
The Wrigley Building is one of Chicago’s premier downtown architectural highlights and acts as an office building. It was constructed in 1924 for the Wrigley Company. The luminous white exterior is the product of its glazed terra-cotta facade.
Willis Tower
The Willis Tower is a popular tourist attraction and Chicago’s tallest building. At its construction, few towers exceeded 20 stories in Chicago. It held the title of tallest building in the world for 25 years and was among the first buildings to employ a tubular support system. This is visible as the nine vertical blocks that comprise the body of the tower and lend its distinctive shape.
Flamingo
Alexander Calder’s Flamingo sculpture is a 53-foot work of steel, famous for its vermillion color, scale and its position between large Mies van der Rohe designed buildings in downtown Chicago. Calder built the structure in 1973 out of a series of smaller steel pieces in the constructivist style, accumulating a total weight of 50 tons.
Chicago Board of Trade
The Chicago Board of Trade is an art-deco tower that hosts the derivatives exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The building has appeared frequently in popular culture through franchises like Batman and Transformers. Sculptor John H. Storrs created the statue at the top as a representation of Ceres, goddess of grain, from forty distinct pieces with a total weight of 6,500 pounds.
Art Institute
The Art Institute is Chicago’s main art museum and features works from every art period. Although it is closed during the pandemic, visitors can still admire the arcaded loggia of the beaux-arts building and the glass exterior of the modern wing. Notable are the museum’s twin lions that stand at the entrance.