My first good taste of downtown came in 1978. I was 12 and caught the Jeffrey bus to the Loop with some buddies to see second-run (if not third-run) kung fu flicks at the Oriental Theatre.

I'd passed the corner of Clark and North countless times without noticing--really noticing--the Diamond Bank building on the intersection's northwest corner. Built in 1961 as North Federal Savings & Loan, the two-story modernist building is visually overshadowed by the huge, Byzanti

The house's backstory is more befitting a drama than a comedy. Lautner reportedly fell out with Hope and his wife Dolores over the couple's changes to his design. And unrelated to the contretemps, the place burned down in 1973 while under construction. Now that all history--and the house--can be yours for $50 million.

One of the many treasures of the Music Box Theatre's 70mm movie festival: Jacques Tati's Playtime from 1967.

It's worth celebrating when good design occurs in Chicago, as is the case with La Casa Student Housing and Resource Center, a college dorm that opened last fall in the Pilsen neighborhood.

David Schalliol and his team tell the story of an entire quadrant of Englewood that's being wiped away by a railroad company.

In 2010 Goes left, moved 92 miles north to the town of Delavan, WI.  And now within days, the company's 109-year-old former--a beautiful example of early 20th century industrial architecture--will be demolished.