Chicago – February 2019 – Art Deco Skyscraper Details

We continued the architecture tours with ‘Art Deco Along The Riverfront’. This tour took us into many buildings we had been in before, but each docent will focus on different details, so you always come away with a new appreciation of the building.

We started on the Wacker Drive side of 333 North Michigan Avenue.

This building has granite at the bottom and limestone the rest of the way with reliefs carved into the stone on the exterior.

The elevator lobbies are great. The concept of Art Deco was it was new, young and fresh, and the doors that have decorative panels by Albert Stewart called Night Day illustrate that.

The panels show two young adults in a manner that 5 years earlier would’ve been unacceptable with their ‘risque’ look.

All Art Deco buildings have great letter boxes, and 333 North Michigan was the same. The letter box became a favorite subject for me of this tour.

We went back to the Carbide and Carbon Building. Each docent we have had has a slightly different story on the inspiration of this building, champaign bottle, battery, etc.

Our docent Jeff said it was modeled after the American Radiator Building in New York. Below is the Carbine and Carbon Building.

This photo off of the internet is the American Radiator Building. It seems obvious Carbide and Carbon Building was designed from this look.

The Water Street view of the building shows much of the detail on the exterior.

The Michigan Avenue entrance is the most impressive.

Once inside it is Art Deco heaven. The radiator grills.

The lobby lighting and mezzanine railing.

The letter box.

The elevator door detail. The full elevator lobby photo is the featured photo for this posting.

Even the trash cans have style.

We moved just down the block to the Chicago Auto Club building, now a Hampton Inn.

Again it seems every tour took us into this building, but close observation reveals more details previously missed.

Yet another letter box – which is best is up to individual opinions.

The detail of the balcony, with the light reacting strangely in this photo.

Since it was once a motor club they have retained where the maps used to be set out for the travelers (alas no maps anymore)

Lighting and wall detail.

The famed mural/map of American roads of the mid 1920s.

As we continued down Wacker Drive there was evidence of other Art Deco style, including the lighting, since Wacker Drive was built at about the same time.

While not all of the bridge houses are in Art Deco, this one is.

We passed by 121 West Wacker without going in the lobby, as it is under renovation. This building is interesting as it mirrors closely the Chicago Board of Trade Building – visible way down LaSalle Street in the lower right of this photo.

At the corner of Lake and Wells is the Trustees System Services Building. This building is unique with the mix of materials and the progressively lighter to give the illusion the building is taller than it is.

The interior of the large windows has a great art piece.

The main stairs depict someone who saves as good (on the left) and someone who didn’t as bad (on the right). Ironically the people who built the building were shysters and went bankrupt early in the depression, causing a riot outside the building.

Our last stop was the famed Merchandise Mart. This massive building has nearly as many square feet as the Willis Tower, more than the World Trade Center in New York at 4 million square feet.

Built in the Art Deco style, it has less ‘bling’ than others, but still many nice features.

The building logo is in the granite floors.

The interior of the building is 2 blocks long.

Our last letter box of the tour.

Jules Gierin completed 17 murals for the lobby depicting commerce throughout the world.

Our last stop on our tour came to appreciate the up lighting common in Art Deco buildings. As I almost always end these blogs, our docent Jeff was entertaining and informative – never having to rely on his ‘cheat sheet’ cards.