The Wall by bmac62
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Description
...Early 20th Century buildings (with one or two exceptions) along Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
...these buildings face directly onto a wide park that today separates "the wall" from the shoreline of Lake Michigan.
...In 1885, William Le Baron Jenney built in Chicago what is known as the first skyscraper in the world: the Home Insurance Building. Demolished in 1931, it was 55 meters tall and included 9 stories, later extended to 11. It was built with a load-carrying structural frame, which would be the basic structure for all later skyscrapers. The Home Insurance Building marks the start of Chicago as a pioneering architectural city. Many famous architects like Louis Sullivan and later Mies van der Rohe would set new standards for urban architecture in Chicago.
...Daniel Burnham designed the first visionary urban plan for a city, the 1909 Chicago plan. It was nicknamed 'Paris on the Prairie' and included wide boulevards and parks.
...if interested in a timeline for the history of Chicago, here is a very good single page.
Bill
"Aloft"
Comments (33)
brewgirlca
This is really such a gorgeous cityscape. I never imagined Chicago to look so beautiful. It reall does give the impression of a wall with its strong vertical lines. Normally I would abore the intrusion of the glass and metal but here they actually contribute by breaking up the monolithic feel. I think their smaller size helps too as that is a bit unusual... normally newer metal monsters would tower over their older neighbors.
dragonmuse
One could almost step back in time.. really nice capture.
Buffalo1
Ah, the Hilton Hotel on the far left brings back memories of 1968 when I got dusted by one of Sen. Eugene McCarthy's secret service agents in this fine old building. Grant Park is right across Michigan Ave. and it is one of the finest lakefront parks in the world.