The design, by Adrian D. Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is considered one of the finest reproductions of the Art Deco style. It was inspired by 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, which is NBC's global headquarters. The tower is further enhanced by the use of limestone piers and recessed tinted glass with granite spandrels. The building takes additional cues from the nearby landmark Tribune Tower with the use of flying buttresses. A 130 ft (40 m) broadcast tower and spire tops the skyscraper. WMAQ and WSNS have STL and satellite facilities on the roof; the STLs link to WMAQ and WSNS's transmitter facilities atop the Willis Tower. WMAQ radio/WSCR studios and STL were located in the building until 2006 when they relocated to Two Prudential Plaza.
AYIP 2023
The Art Institute of Chicago - Day 111 /
Daniel H. Burnham was selected as director of works and emphasized architecture and sculpture as central to the Fair. The buildings around the Court of Honor were designed in Neoclassical style and painted white, which lead to the fairground’s nickname, “White City.”
The Art Institute is a unique example of a collaboration between the trustees of the Art Institute and the fair committee, which put up close to one-third of the cost in exchange for its use for the duration of the Fair. From May through October 1893, it was utilized as an auxiliary building that housed the popular international assemblies and conferences. In November, interior conversions began and a members’ reception was held on December 8 to christen the new location of the Art Institute, whose expanding art collection had outgrown its previous location.
Wintrust Building — Day 110 /
The Wintrust Bank Building, formerly the Continental Illinois Bank Building, stands across LaSalle Street from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, two neoclassical near-twins guarding the main intersection of Chicago's financial district. Its namesake bank called the building home until a financial collapse in 1984. Interior spaces include a mix of neolassical and Gothic Revival architecture with Art Deco influences, most notably a massive 88,000-square-foot grand banking hall on the second floor, recently restored. The building stands on the site of the former Grand Pacific Hotel, where the continental United States was officially divided into four standard time zones in 1883, an event commemorated with a plaque outside the building on Jackson Street.
Michigan Plaza — Day 109 /
Michigan Plaza is at the heart of the thoroughfare between the Magnificent Mile and Millennium Park and is the largest office complex with the only outdoor landscaped plaza on Michigan Ave.
Michigan Plaza’s timeless, highly visible Miesian design conveys an image of strength and endurance. It boasts a retail concourse with gateway connection and direct access to Illinois Center shopping and hotels; walking distance to the shops of State Street, the Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier, Wacker Drive, public transportation and the commuter rail stations, as well as great views of Lake Michigan, Millennium Park and the Chicago River.
The Jewelers Building — Day 108 /
The Seventeenth Church of Christ — Day 107 /
Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, built in 1968, is a modern style Christian Science church building located in The Loop at 55 East Wacker Drive, (at Wabash Avenue) in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. It was designed by noted Chicago-based architect Harry Weese, whose most famous work is the Washington Metro but who is remembered best as the architect who "shaped Chicago’s skyline and the way the city thought about everything from the lakefront to its treasure-trove of historical buildings."
190 South Lasalle — Day 106 /
Designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee, a Chicagoan, 190 South LaSalle adopts the visual language of earlier Chicago buildings but supersizes its decorative elements to add a touch of drama and fun. This is a common characteristic of Postmodern buildings—oversized scale combined with over-the-top symbolism and in-your-face colors—and depicts the architectural freedom that flourished in the 1980s and ‘90s. This style was an explicit response to the strict precepts of the International Style, epitomized in Mies van der Rohe's steel and glass structures.
541 N Fairbanks — Day 105 /
541 North Fairbanks Court, formerly the Time-Life Building, is a 404-foot-tall (123 m), 30-story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, designed by Harry Weese and completed in 1969. The 27-foot-high (8.2 m) lobby has a base of 87 feet (27 m) with 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) bay windows.
The structure is clad in Cor-Ten steel, the material used for the Daley Center and the Picasso sculpture in the Center's plaza. The metal rusts with age, an effect intended by the architects. The lobby floor is ½ level below ground, and an underground retail concourse is found another half level below. The coffered ceilings in the lobby and outdoor arcade are similar to Washington, D.C.'s subway system, designed by the same architect.