The Chicago Traveler

Chicago may be known for its warm and friendly Midwestern ways, but the city has plenty of spooky tales and creepy locations. Here are just a few that have been featured right here on The Chicago Traveler.
• The site of the Eastland Disaster is marked by a historical plaque, but some visitors to the historic location have reported hearing screams and cries for help coming from the Chicago River. In addition, the old armory building where most of the dead bodies were stored is still in use today. Many of its inhabitants have reported unexplained voices, sounds of crying, and …read more

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I’ve mentioned before how small bits of Paris occasionally pop up here in Chicago. This includes the entrance to the Metra Van Buren Street Station on Michigan Avenue (across from the Auditorium Building). It is a replica of a Paris subway entrance designed by Hector Guimard. The entrance was given to Chicago by the city of Paris in 2001.

Photo credit: (c/o Flickr) Atelier Teee, swanksalot, jima
Metra Van Buren Street StationPublic trans: Bus # 1, 3, 4, X4, 6, 7, 14, 26, X28, 126, 145, 147, 148, 151Metra Electric Line (Van Buren)

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Mather Tower may be Chicago’s slimmest skyscraper, but unfortunately, it has not always been the most physically fit.
Completed in 1928, the Mather Tower was originally meant to have a twin, but after the stock market crash of 1929, plans for the second building were canceled.1 The tower (just steps away from the Seventeenth Church) stands 521 feet tall (159 m), and due to its slenderness, it has the smallest floors of any skyscraper in downtown Chicago.2
Unfortunately, as beautiful as the tower and its abundant ornamentation are, the four-story cupola was declared structurally unsound in 2000 and had to be demolished …read more

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If you were a child in Chicago anytime between 1961 and 1994, you will recognize the following names: Cooky, Wizzo, Cuddly Dudley, Garfield Goose… These characters and more were all regulars on Bozo’s Circus and then on the even more popular The Bozo Show, both of which were produced locally and aired on WGN.1
You might drive by the WGN television studios and not even know it. While most of the other TV stations in Chicago broadcast from beautiful skyscrapers downtown (including the NBC Tower), the WGN structure looks like a boring office building. That’s because it was constructed in 1963, …read more

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Completed in 1891 and standing 197 feet tall (60 m), the Monadnock Building is an impressive and important figure in architectural history.
Traditional “skyscrapers” these days are supported by steel skeletons and/or reinforced concrete. But that’s what makes the Monadnock all that much more impressive. The northern half of this 17-story building (near the MCC) was designed by legendary architect John Wellborn Root and is completely supported by its brick walls. There are no internal columns and no steel reinforcements. All of the structure’s weight is sustained by the walls—which are six feet thick (1.8 m) at the building’s base—and an …read more

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When touring Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, you can’t miss the historic and beautiful Allerton Hotel. Completed in 1924, this 25-story 360-foot (110 m) skyscraper was the first structure to be built with pronounced setbacks and towers resulting from the new municipal zoning laws.1
Across from Saks Fifth Avenue, the hotel was built by the Allerton House Company as part of a national chain of “club hotels.” It was meant to provide young single professionals with the amenities of a hotel and the social scene of a private club. Fourteen floors were reserved for men, and six for women. The men’s and women’s …read more

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Some of the most beautiful architecture pieces are religious places of worship. Such is the case with the Alice Millar Chapel at Northwestern University.

Millar Chapel is interdenominational, serving a variety of faiths in the college community. Completed in 1962, the building stands 151 feet (46 m) at its highest point and was a gift to the school from Foster G. McGaw, a University trustee, and his wife. The chapel was named after McGaw’s mother and contains 720 seats and a 100-rank Aeolian Skinner organ.
 
Photo credit: (c/o Flickr) wallyg, giratikanon, Anne Ruthmann
Alice S. Millar Chapel and Religious Center: 1870 Sheridan …read more

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If you’re fortunate enough to take an architectural tour down the Chicago River, one of the most memorable buildings is the Civic Opera Building (a.k.a. Civic Opera House). Across the River from the Riverside Plaza and across the street from the UBS Tower, this limestone skyscraper is shaped like a gigantic armchair facing the River, with a 45-story office tower “back,” two 22-story “arms,” and a 12-story “seat” which is the opera house itself. It opened on November 4, 1929, just six days after the stock market crash.

Samuel Insull, “the Prince of Electricity,” was head of Commonwealth Edison and the …read more

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Today, a friend of mine is driving up to Madison, Wisconsin, and his trip inspired me to write about the Madison Street Bridge here in Chicago, also known as the Lyric Opera Bridge, near Riverside Plaza. Completed in 1922 and rehabilitated in 1994, this was the first bascule bridge in Chicago to raise the deck trusses above the deck to act as guardrails.1 (A bascule bridge is the movable type of drawbridge which people are probably most familiar with, in which a counterweight balances the span of the bridge, allowing it to swing at an angle. An animated example can …read more

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As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I make a monthly trip to visit family in southwestern Michigan. The trip usually takes about three hours, and I pass through several small towns along the way. In fact, in that rural area, it is not uncommon for us to visit one town to go grocery shopping, another town for dining out, and yet another to go see a movie! Of course, all the towns are within a few minutes of each other, so driving from town to town is much like driving to different neighborhoods here in Chicago.

One road that we …read more

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