Chicago - What a beautiful city

© Christine Till... more

by Alexandra Till

Title

Chicago - What a beautiful city

Artist

Alexandra Till

Medium

Photograph - Photographs - Prints - Digital Images - Cards - Posters - Photo-calendars - Photo Art

Description

© Christine Till
Right: Aon Center (Amoco Building, Standard Oil Building)
The Aon Center is the quiet, dignified supertall in the Chicago skyline. From a distance, the building feels like another boring grey 1970's stone block. To really appreciate it, you have to walk right up to it and crane your neck to see the top.
Just after the building was completed in 1973, its famed marble facade began to buckle. Stainless steel straps were wrapped around the building to keep any large chunks from falling off. From 1990 to 1992 the building's 43,000 marble cladding panels were replaced by white, two-inch-thick Mt. Airy granite panels at a cost of $80 million - half what it cost to build the tower in the first place. That left the owners with 5,900 tons of unwanted marble.

2nd from right: Two Prudential Plaza
At the time of completion in 1955 "2 Pru" was the world's second tallest reinforced concrete building and the first skyscraper erected in Chicago after WW II.
The distinctive shape features stacked chevron setbacks on the north & south sides, a sharp pyramidal peak rotated 45 degrees￿, and an 80-foot spire. The building has a terraced one-acre plaza on its west side with fountains and landscaping.

3rd from right: One Prudential Plaza
One Prudential Plaza was the first high-rise office building completed in Chicago since the LaSalle Bank Building in 1934. It was built above and beyond office standards of the day. When the Prudential Building was finished in 1955, it had the highest roof in Chicago, included one of the largest parking facilities built within an office building in the world, and the tower featured the world's fastest elevators.
The Two Prudential Plaza is joined at the lobby level to the much older One Prudential Plaza.

Center: Diamond shaped building
The Crain Communications Building - Also known as: Diamond Building
Formerly: 150 North Michigan Avenue
Formerly: Smurfit-Stone Building
Formerly: Stone Container Building
Formerly: Associates Center
The Smurfit-Stone Building (now Crain Communications Building) in Chicago, Illinois is one of a kind. Some may argue it is the most unique building to distinguish the Chicago skyline from others.

For names and descriptions of its neighbors to the left please visit my image titled 'Chicago The Beautiful'

Uploaded

October 30th, 2012