Paris in Chicago
The picture above was taken in Paris at the Bastille Metro entrance in April.
This picture was taken in Chicago at the Metra entrance on Michigan Avenue in September.
Notice any similarities?
When we moved to Chicago a few months ago I'd read a lot about the city's mayor and
his affinity for Paris. He sees the two cities as versions of one another, just in two different countries.
A plaque on the Michigan Avenue version gives design credit to Hector Guimard with the
year 1900, and a casting date of 2003. So if you've been to Paris and this entrance looks familiar, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The Metra entryway is a Metro entrance.
Posted by designslinger at 10/13/2009 2:00 AM 
Categories: Cities, History, Decorative Arts
Tags: Paris Metro
Categories: Cities, History, Decorative Arts
Tags: Paris Metro
Interesting. Where else does the mayor see the similarities then, and do you see any of them yourselves?
As far as we can tell the Mayor sees the root of the Paris and Chicago connection in the Burnham/Bennett Plan of 1909, which used Paris as its model. It seems that he uses the Plan, its Parisian antecedents, and the City Beautiful movement that Burnham played a roll in, as the basis for the claim and as the inspiration for future city planning. Apparently his visit to Paris a few years ago made such an impression that he was determined to have Chicago become the Paris of the U.S. This commuter entrance is the only literal example we've seen.
We were in Paris in April and moved here in June. The connection between the two cities seems to be a stretch, though if you look hard enough at trying to make that connection, it may be there somewhere. We've heard that the mega, pop-hit Millennium Park is Tuileries Garden-like. Um, hardly. Maybe folks see it in the 19th century Beaux-Arts detailing and symmetry of the plan or something, don't know.
Guess if you were to look at New York as more like London, Chicago is more like Paris. And there are the pieces of the 1909 Plan that eventually made their way into the landscape. The Mayor seems to love Paris and makes this connection with Chicago. We love Paris, and are coming to know Chicago, and so far we see them as two very distinctly, different places.
oh, PS! millennium park, way back when it had been planned, was specifically built to attract the 2016 olympics! it is like daley's (who had the roof of city hall rebuilt so that he could plant a prairie up there that the citizens who paid for such rooftop garden are never allowed to go up to visit [it]) entire existence for years on end has all been to get the OLYMPICS, the OLYMPICS (!!!) to chicago. little did he care that he'd uproot an entire neighborhood of human beings that would not be able to afford the new housing. the man just does not care. it is his way or the highway (like the one called the chicago skyway that he leased away on us, the taxpayers... that is like selling off a stream of income. there's no wonder that his "budget shortfall" is double, then triple, then quadruple, all every three months. he should be ashamed of himself--the consummate yuppie, who put TREES into CAGES over at millennium! why did he approve THAT?
when i attended the art institute, i used to go to grant park where millennium and it's ridiculous BEAN stands. we'd make all kinds of really creative snowmen.
yes, that park, grant park, where millennium was just plopped into, was so much like walking under the chestnut trees in paris. how i wish.
How fun. A good place to go to cure nostalgia when you miss either Chicago or Paris...
Indeed!
Wow, I knew he had a thing for Paris but I didn't think it went this far! You must of done a serious double take when you spotted that Metra entrance.
It was kind of a disconnect.
Who knew? Bet it was a shock to see that wonderful Metra entrance in Chicago. Good luck with your first winter in Chicago! As a native Californian, I can sympathize! I live south of Des Moines...Midwest winters can be a shock to your system
Thanks for visiting! Yes, we're trying to prepare our systems for the shock of the cold, way cold.
designslinger's right: there is not much paris in chicago, i've been in paris so i know. being a resident all my life of about the dirtiest politicking city in the world, don't kid yourself. grant park is like walking from the louvre all the way to the arch d'triomphe, until... daley coveted the 2016 summer olympics to the extent that he withheld city worker's raises awarded to them within an escrow, to pay the shortage on that monstrosity, millennium park (in grant park, which was fine the way it was). back in 1893, we had a chance to be as beautiful and gracious as paris, but the scumbags that run this city--for the past 60 years, in particular--have ruined that.