Page 47 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Chicago

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4 Federal Center
Dearborn St, between Adams and
Jackson sts. Map 3 C2. q Jackson
(Blue Line). Open 7am–6pm Mon–Fri.
Closed major public hols. 7
The three-building Federal
Center complex, designed by
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and
completed in 1974, expresses
the pared-down functionalism of
Mies’ International style (see p29).
There is little ornamentation to
distract from these austere
curtain-wall structures made
of glass and steel.
The Rookery’s spectacular light court The 30-story Dirksen
courtroom building stands on
the second floor to the top. The glass designed by J. A. Holzer the east side of the complex;
building was made a National of Tiffany and Company depict the 42-story Kluczynski office
Historic Landmark in 1988, 100 scenes of the French exploration tower and one-story post office
years after its opening. of Illinois. Sculpted heads inset are to the west. The center is
above the elevators on the first interesting for the expert
3 Marquette and second floors pay tribute to arrangement of its buildings
around the plaza and with each
the Native American chiefs and
Building early French explorers of the other. The granite grid of the
Chicago area (see p17). The pavement forms a unity
140 S Dearborn St. Map 3 C2. Tel (312) revolving doors of the lobby
422-5500. q Monroe (Blue Line). between these three structures
Open 24 hrs daily. 7 ∑ marquette. show exquisite metalwork, The sterile plaza is graced
macfound.org including forged peace pipes, with Alexander Calder’s 53-ft
which Father Marquette gave (16-m) vermilion sculpture
Considered the premier to the Native Americans as a Flamingo (see p46), which seems
remaining example of the gesture of goodwill. almost to be dancing – its steel
Chicago School of architecture The building underwent organic form a surprising
(see pp28–9), the Marquette restoration in 1980, and a four- complement to the rigid
Building was designed by year renovation was also geometry of the buildings.
Holabird and Roche in 1895. completed in 2006. An exhibit Federal agencies located in
Commissioned by the owners located just past the lobby this building include the Air
of the Rookery, the architects outlines the building’s history. Force Recruiting Service,
faced the demanding task of Originally built for an Department of Labor, Internal
equaling the Burnham and Root insurance company, the Revenue Service, and the
original sophisticated design of Marquette Building is now Consumer Product Safety
that building. home to the MacArthur Commission. Barack Obama
The grid of this early Foundation, started by John briefly had offices here
commercial 17-story high-rise’s MacArthur, once one of the following his election as
steel-frame skeleton is easily wealthiest men in America. President of the USA in 2008.
seen in the terra-cotta and
brick exterior.
The building’s ground-
breaking expansive horizontal
windows became known as
Chicago windows (see p29).
They are one of the few
remaining examples of this
innovative window design.
Bronze bas-relief panels over
the entrance doors, designed by
Hermon Atkins MacNeil, illustrate
Jesuit missionary Father Jacques
Marquette’s 1673–4 expedition
to the area. Marquette was the
first European settler in Chicago.
In the two-story lobby, mosaic
panels of mother-of-pearl and Entrance to the Marquette Building

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