Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Slice of Life: Lawn Ornaments




There's nothing like an early spring warm snap to make office workers seek out an open patch of grass. These people are sunning themselves on the lawn of 311 South Wacker Drive.

Status Update: Children's Memorial Hospital



Yet another status update on the new Children's Memorial Hospital (225 East Chicago Avenue),  The facade is coming along, and is even completely in place on some sides.  The vertical stripes you see in the picture are repeated at the top of the building where they conceal mechanical equipment.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Face-Off in the Gold Coast

There's a face-off in the Gold Coast.  The facade of what used to be Sur La Table (52 East Walton Street) has been pulled, pushed, knocked, ripped, and torched off over the last couple of weeks.  It looks like the whole place is being gutted.

Last we heard, a cupcake joint was looking at moving in here.  But there are still "For Lease" signs on the scaffolding, so maybe that plan fell through.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Slice of Life: Lunar Reflections




I just took this picture of the full moon reflecting off Lake Michigan and across Navy Pier (600 East Grand Avenue) with my CrappyCameraPhone. I like how the reflection begins abruptly. That black border is Michigan.

TweetEcho: March 11-29, 2010


For those of you who don't subscribe to our Twitter feed, here are the items we tweeted in the last week or so:


  1. Full moon rising over Lake Michigan. Get your cameras out!
  2. Chicago building of the day: 1242 North Lake Shore Drivehttp://ow.ly/1aDuX
  3. Which Chicago skyscrapers did (and didn't!) participate in Earth Hour - Pix and partial list: http://ow.ly/1rNzx
  4. One last dark Chicago skyline pic. http://twitpic.com/1beu8z
  5. Another darkened Chicago pic. http://twitpic.com/1beu3e
  6. Still lit: 300 & 353 N LaSalle, Museum Park, Millennium tower, Millennium Park, the Fordham.
  7. Navy Pier; Hancock Center; Willis, Park, NBC, Chicago Title, Chase, Unitrin, United Towers; Marriott all dark for Earth Hour
  8. Pix: Chicago skyline darkened for Earth Hour. Except for 300 N. LaSalle. Shame on Hines. http://twitpic.com/1bercw
  9. Chicago building of the day: 2626 North Lakeview Avenuehttp://ow.ly/1aDuy
  10. Chicago building of the day: 16 West Jackson Boulevardhttp://ow.ly/1aDub
  11. @AgentLuke Good thought. The buildings were selected at random months ago. I'll try to keep an eye out for this sort of thing in the future
  12. Considering the size of the waves breaking on Lake Shore Drive today, maybe Happy Days was right -- you can surf on Lake Michigan.
  13. Chicago building of the day: Chicago Board of Trade : 141 West Jackson Boulevard http://ow.ly/1aDtX
  14. After much publicity in the trade press, Rush Street boutique Jake finally puts up a "Goodbye" sign.
  15. Chicago architects selected for yet another World's Tallest Building -- this one in Saudi Arabia http://ow.ly/1qIjX
  16. Chicago building of the day: The Terraces : 801 South Plymouth Court http://ow.ly/1aDtL
  17. Chicago building of the day: University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center College of Dentistry http://ow.ly/1aDtl
  18. Chicago building of the day: The New Roosevelt University Building : 425 South Wabash Street http://ow.ly/1aDta
  19. An Australian newspaper's guide to Chicago:http://ow.ly/1pj1j
  20. Old Varsity Theater movie palace in Evanston could have new life as performing arts center - chicagotribune.comhttp://ow.ly/1piYe
  21. I need people to test out a new web site I'm just about finished building. See here for details: http://ow.ly/1p52z
  22. Chicago building of the day: Northern Trust Company Building : 118 East Oak Street http://ow.ly/1aDsQ
  23. Chicago building of the day: Marriott Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile : 540 North Michigan Avenuehttp://ow.ly/1aDsD
  24. Chicago building of the day: Roberto's Building : 214 South State Street http://ow.ly/1aDso
  25. Did you know that Henry Ford built a hanger in Lansing in the 1920s to mass produce an airplane? http://bit.ly/8ZT2yS (via @enjoyillinois)
  26. Chicago building of the day: Eight East Chestnut : 8 East Chestnut Street http://ow.ly/1aDrE
  27. Its antennae are lit up green for Saint Patrick's Day, but that could be the only "green" thing about the Willis Tower:http://ow.ly/1nCn7
  28. Oak Park approves 20-story condo/hotel towerhttp://ow.ly/1np4a (via @CRED_by_Crains)
  29. Chicago building of the day: 420 East Ohiohttp://ow.ly/1aDrq
  30. Another boutique closes on Oak Street: http://ow.ly/1niN3while another one opens: http://ow.ly/1niNS
  31. Chicago building of the day: Wrigley Building : 400-410 North Michigan Avenue http://ow.ly/1aDqp
  32. Tribune review of the Elysian tries to make a timely Alice In Wonderland joke. Fails. http://ow.ly/1lohH
  33. Chicago building of the day: The Constellation : 1555 North Dearborn Parkway http://ow.ly/1aDq8
  34. Chicago building of the day: The Fairbanks : 280 East Illinoishttp://ow.ly/1aDpk
  35. Chicago building of the day: Newberry Plaza : 1050 North State Street http://ow.ly/1aDot
  36. Chicago(ish) building of the day: Murray Baker Bridgehttp://ow.ly/1aDnv
  37. If you're wondering where the marching band music is coming from downtown, it's for the opening of the new Columbia store on Michigan Avenue
  38. New York Times article about pop-up art galleries in vacant spaces in #Chicagolandhttp://ow.ly/1i1Ud
  39. Frank Gehry will speak at a FREE public event at the Chicago Public Library: http://ow.ly/1hkK4