Page 74 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guides - Chicago

72 ❯❯ Chicago Area by Area

The Rookery
5 THE LOOP’S SCULPTURE
MAP K4 • 209 S. LaSalle St.
• Open 6am–6pm Mon–Fri (to 2pm Setting a trend for public artwork
Sat), closed Sun downtown, Pablo Picasso’s untitled
This 11-story building, with its sculpture, simply known as “the
rusticated red granite base, was the Picasso,” was donated to Chicago in
country’s largest office building and 1967. The Loop’s street corners now
a precursor to modern skyscrapers accommodate more than 100 sculptures,
mosaics, and murals by both established
when it was completed in 1888 by and upcoming artists. A guide to the
Burnham and Root (see p43). Its open-air artworks can be downloaded
stunning skylit lobby was redesigned from www.cityofchicago.org.
in 1907 by Frank Lloyd Wright
(see pp36–7), who added a grand
Millennium and
staircase and hanging light fixtures, 7
both of which carry his signature Grant Parks
circle-in-square motif. The modern Millennium Park
(see pp34–5) is Chicago’s superb
adaptation of its “front yard.”
The park is home to a dynamic
Frank Gehry-designed music
pavilion and pedestrian bridge,
and a vast sculpture by British artist
Anish Kapoor. It also boasts lush
gardens, restaurants, a winter ice
rink, peristyle, and an interactive
fountain by Spanish artist Jaume
Plensa. The adjoining Grant Park
(see p46) hosts many summer
festivals including the Taste of
Grand staircase, The Rookery Chicago (see p67). It is also home
to Museum Campus (see p94),
Harold Washington
6 the Art Institute of Chicago
Library Center
(see pp14–17), and the ornate
MAP K5 • 400 S. State St. • Open 1927 Buckingham Fountain.
9am–9pm Mon–Thu, 9am–5pm Fri &
The “L”
Sat, 1–5pm Sun • DA 8
Named after former city Mayor Originally called the Union
Harold Washington, Chicago’s first Loop, this system of elevated trains
African-American mayor, this is the came about after the 1871 Great
largest public library building in Chicago Fire (see p40) when the city
the country. Its collections, which was rebuilt with such unexpected
include a superlative Blues Archive success that, within 20 years, its
and a vast children’s library, fill an streets could no longer handle the
incredible 70 miles (110 km) of influx of people, streetcars, and
shelving. Architects Hammond, horses filling them. Today, four lines
Beeby, and Babka incorporated ring the business district – the
architectural elements of several
Chicago landmarks, such as
The Rookery and The Art Institute
of Chicago (see pp14–15) in the
building’s design: don’t miss the
ninth-floor Winter Garden atrium,
which soars two stories to a
spectacular glass dome.
Elevated train, the Loop

070-073_Top_10_Chicago.indd 72 18/08/2016 12:54