Cruisin' Down the River
I've never been on a cruise though I've had several invitations. I'm just not interested in
seeing the world by boat, or getting stuck on a water-bound hotel with a bunch of strangers. We did take a boat ride on the Chicago River the other day however, sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Two hours, in delightful weather, looking at spectacular architecture, this is my idea of a cruise.
Marina City Towers, Bertrand Goldberg, 1965, IBM Building, Mies van der Rohe, 1973, Trump Tower, Adrian Smith, 2009; Tribune Tower, Howells & Hood, 1925, Equitable Building, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1965 /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
As the boat left the dock near the Michigan Avenue bridge and the buildings soared
above us. I've seen all of them from the street, or while walking across one of the bridges, but they were so much more dynamic when the view was from the top deck of a boat.
Wrigley Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, 1919 /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
Buildings which are very familiar to me took on a new life. The tour started at 10:00 a.m
so don't be deceived by time on the Wrigley Building clock, it wasn't working.
You get the full impact of the city's huge, urban planning initiative that created Wacker
Drive and transformed this portion of the river from industrial warehouses, into gleaming commercial high-rises from the boat.
IBM Building, Trump Tower /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
One of the few warehouses still standing which could tell us stories about the river's
days as an industrial waterway is the Reid, Murdoch & Co. Building built in 1914. Rising behind it is the just completed 300 N. LaSalle designed by the architectural firm Pickard Chilton. Also found at the river's edge are three designs that span a 45 year period of iconic modern architecture: Bertrand Goldberg's Marina City (1965), Mies van der Rohe's IBM Building (1973), and Adrian Smith's Trump Tower (2009).
Kohn Pederson Fox designed 333 W. Wacker Drive to follow the street as it turns from a
westerly direction to the south, while the elegant curve of the building enhances a natural bend in the river. It's at this point that the main branch of the Chicago River which runs east-west, turns and splits into two branches, one going north the other heading south. The overwhelming wall of the monolithic Merchandise Mart also sits near this intersection and dominates the river bank. When it opened in 1930 it was the largest building in the world with 4 million square feet of floor space!
One of the best views of Sears (now Willis) Tower can be seen from the south branch of
the river. Nearby is 235 W.Van Buren, a just completed condominium building whose balconies remind me of hanging chads. You remember those little bits of computer punch card debris that caused such a ruckus a few presidential elections ago.
There are about 39 moveable bridges in the city that cross the river and it's 3 branches,
their story, and more pics from our Chicago River cruise tomorrow.
Posted by designslinger at 8/25/2009 2:00 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History
Tags: Chicago river tour Chicago Architecture Foundation
Categories: Architecture, History
Tags: Chicago river tour Chicago Architecture Foundation
The luminousity of the Trump Tower in your second photograph is remarkable.
The more we see it, the more captivated we are by its beauty.