Lee Bey

Chicago's skyline: Cooler by the lake

By: Lee Bey | Aug. 2, 2012

Aug. 2, 2012
One of the cool things about living in a three-sided city is there is nothing east of downtown — or the North Side or much of the South Side — to block views of that magnificent skyline.
 
But as good as those views are, seeing the city from the lake itself is even better. From the lake, the city erupts from the shoreline; a staggering display of skyscrapers and tall buildings that, from that vantage point, seems to run uninterrupted from 31st Street to Hollywood Avenue.

In the above photo, the Willis Tower is visible to the left. And Trump Tower can be seen in the middle of the picture. The forest of tall buildings is also quite deep: There are skyscrapers behind skyscrapers. Look at this view taken in 1940 from almost the same spot.

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Faded Chicago Vocational could shine with $75m facelift

By: Lee Bey | Jul. 30, 2012

Jul. 30, 2012
The sprawling Chicago Vocational Career Academy is in line for a significant renovation that would include a new addition, athletic facilities and demolition of portions of the architecturally-significant campus, according to documents made public last week.

The project — likely the most expensive rehab in the school district's history — could also equip the 72-year-old Art Deco-designed school at 2100 E. 87th St., with new furniture, fixtures and on campus parking, according a request for qualifications issued last Thursday by the Public Building Commission.

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Empty corporate HQs: Suburbia's next big problem?

By: Lee Bey | Jul. 27, 2012

Jul. 27, 2012
The Libertyville campus of Motorola Mobility — with its manmade lakes, sober exterior and acres of parking — represents the golden age of the suburban corporate headquarters.
 
And next year — less than 20 years after it was built — the complex will be empty. Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Thursday the company will move all 3,000 workers from the Libertyville campus to the upper floors of Merchandise Mart. The 80-acre auburban campus was built in 1994.
 
The move brings jobs downtown — part of a reversal of fortune in which the city is now snatching corporations from suburbia. And as a result, a building type with a future that once seemed rock solid now appears under threat. United Airlines vacated its 66-acre Elk Grove Township headquarters — it even has tennis courts — for downtown Chicago beginning in 2007.

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Historic Carson's building well-served by new Target

By: Lee Bey | Jul. 25, 2012

Jul. 25, 2012
One of State Street's bright spots has been the reuse of the former Carson Pirie Scott flagship store.
 
Joseph Freed & Associates restored the giant old retail landmark, designed by Louis Sullivan, converting the building into offices, a restaurant and retail. And now, five years after Carson's departure, a new CityTarget store opens Wednesday in the historic space.
 
Design-wise, it is a tricky thing bringing the retailer — and its famous red bull's-eye logo signage and color scheme — into one of the world's most celebrated pieces of architecture. But the marriage seems pretty good so far.

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Shuttered bank still has architectural richness

By: Lee Bey | Jul. 23, 2012

Jul. 23, 2012
The temple-like bank in the Beverly neighborhood has sat empty for months now. Its altar, as it were, is barren.
 
But the former PNC Bank at 108th and Western has one good thing going for it: All things considered, it is pretty good piece of architecture. The building's design takes the "temple of money" architecture of old banks — columns and monumentality — and gives it a modernist turn.
 
Let's take a look around. Built in 1967 as Chesterfield Federal Savings & Loan, the flat-roofed, two-story building sits behind 54 precast concrete exterior columns.

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Curtains for church's plan to purchase historic theater

By: Lee Bey | Jul. 20, 2012

Jul. 20, 2012
A North Side congregation has bowed out of its bid to purchase and architecturally alter the historic Portage Theater, according to the office of Ald. John Arena (45th).
 
The decision by Chicago Tabernacle, a ministry based in the Albany Park neighborhood, came on the eve of a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing today. The congregation's application for a special use permit to allow the theater to be rezoned as a church was to be deliberated at the hearing.
 
Chicago Tabernacle's plans to buy and convert the functioning 92-year-old theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee, into a church facility faced a strong head wind from cinema buffs, preservationists and residents of the Six Corners area when the effort became public in March.
 
Even Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert weighed in on Twitter then: "Chicago has countless churches but not enough theaters like the very special Portage.

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A return trip to long-gone McCormick Inn

By: Lee Bey | Jul. 18, 2012

Jul. 18, 2012
I've got quite a bit of feedback from my post earlier this week on the demolished McCormick Inn.
 
Built at 23rd and Lake Shore Drive in 1973 across from what was then McCormick Place's only building, the architecturally modernist McCormick Inn was demolished in 1993 after only 20 years of service. It's already been gone as long as it was there.
 
Gone — but apparently not forgotten. Many of you emailed me or commented on my Facebook page saying you attended events and proms there, or swam in the hotel's big pool. But the most entertaining response came from Epstein Global, the 91-year-old Chicago architecture and engineering firm that designed the hotel.
 
Epstein put up great early images of the McCormick Inn on the company's Facebook page, including the great sunrise shot atop this blog.

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A long-gone hotel, caught on video

By: Lee Bey | Jul. 16, 2012

Jul. 16, 2012

Here's a building I'd forgotten about until I ran across the above video clip on YouTube recently: The McCormick Inn, a high-rise convention center hotel that was demolished after only 20 years of use.

The silent video, posted by YouTube user firemann57, shows the action around a 1976 two-alarm fire at the hotel, located at 23rd and Lake Shore Drive. Drive. The camera sweeps around a bit, but there are great views of the glassy, black 25-story hotel designed by A. Epstein & Sons as a companion piece to the then-new McCormick Place on the Lake.

I'm also digging the clunky fire equipment, the old school green-and-white CTA bus stop sign at 1:22 and the traffic whizzing by on a stretch of 23rd street that--like the hotel--no longer exists. At 1:39 you can see McCormick Place (now Lakeside Center) and the open breezeway that separated the convention center side from Arie Crown Theater. The opening was later closed with a glass wall.

The 625-room McCormick Inn opened in 1973 at a cost of $30 million with the Teamsters' Union pension fund covering about $20 million of the construction price. The hotel was demolished in 1993 to make from for McCormick Place's western expansion — which included a new hotel.

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