The fact that the fame of Chicago`s architecture runs more than skin deep may seem obvious, yet visitors miss many splendid interiors in their haste to cover a lot of outdoor territory.
Singling out downtown interior spaces is a perilous business, since so many are worth a stop. Still, it`s possible to choose a few that offer a chronological and stylistic cross-section of distinguished architectural performance.
Here`s a baker`s dozen, arranged in the approximate north-to-south order you can follow in an amble that may easily consume most of a morning and afternoon:
– The Episcopal Cathedral of St. James, 65 E. Huron St. Its Gothic facades are handsome enough, but the true glory of this 19th Century building springs from its stenciled interior ornamentation inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement and executed in 26 colors reflecting plant motifs. There is nothing else quite like it in town.
– Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave. The recently restored main lobby behind the arched main entrance is always open, and worth seeing for its huge relief map, intricate woodcarving, patriotic wall inscriptions, a finely wrought stone clock face and an almost cathedral-like atmosphere. Be sure to read the quotation by John Ruskin set artfully into the floor.
– North Pier, 435 E. Illinois St. Chicago`s transformation of old buildings into settings for new activities has given the city`s architecture a welcome new dimension, and among the front-runners in this category is North Pier. Once a warehouse for cargo lifted from lake boats in an adjacent slip, North Pier is today a shopping-dining-museu m venue boasting a funky, rough-hewn look that seems a perfect antidote to the ubiquitous plastic-and-chrome malls of suburbia. (Summer events continue at the public Navy Pier just a few blocks away, incidentally, despite renovation work there; for Navy Pier information, phone 312-791-PIER).
– The Sporting Club, 211 N. Stetson Ave. Foreign architects have begun contributing to Chicago`s architectural scene in major ways, and one of them is Japanese-based Kisho Kurokawa, who designed this glassy, white-gridded structure in Illinois Center. Spotting the health club building is easy, because it is topped by four large, gently kinetic wind sculptures titled
”Children of the Sun.” But step just inside the entrance to understand Kurakawa`s design ingenuity. From that single position you can see people working out on several floor levels, which in turn are penetrated by an astonishing 100-foot climbing wall.
– The Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. Ascend a majestic marble staircase and just wander. The mosaics throughout are stunning and the stained-glass Tiffany domes are among Chicago`s great public treasures. (A small library element in the Cultural Center will move out between July 15 and Aug. 30, but the building will remain open; beginning Oct. 7, you can also visit the interior of the new main library approaching completion at the corner of State Street and Congress Parkway).
– State of Illinois Center, 100 W. Randolph St. Outside, it is a strange building that almost defies classification and has drawn little formal praise from critics anywhere. Inside, it is an explosion of light, color and spatial extravagance unparalleled in late 20th Century American architecture. The building became an instant landmark on the day it opened, and your first glimpse of its huge atrium will tell you why. ”Not to be missed,” as the guidebook writers put it.
– The Palmer House Lobby, 17 E. Monroe St. Our town has hotel lobbies that are more chic and flamboyant than this one, but none so likely to quicken the pulse of caravansary connoisseurs. Nudes and cherubs peer from ceiling murals in this marvelous room, and beneath them intricate bas-reliefs curve down to mellow, travertine-clad columns. The ambience is old-fashioned elegance, but without intimidation. What more can a hotel lobby lounger ask for?
– Trading Room, Art Institute, Michigan Avenue and Adams Street. After the famous Louis Sullivan-designed Chicago Stock Exchange building was torn down in 1972, its elaborately ornamented, polychromatic Trading Room was reconstructed (partly with salvaged materials) inside the Art Institute. See it, by all means, and on the way into the museum pause to view the permanent exhibit of historic building fragments encircling the upper level of the grand staircase.
– AT&T Building, Monroe and Franklin Streets. Enter the lobby of this handsome new skyscraper through the main doorway on the south side of Monroe, just east of Franklin, and marvel at the cost-be-damned chandeliers, oak millwork, bronze, marble, granite and twin atriums. But proceed further straight ahead for the real surprise: a huge trompe l`oeil on canvas done by master illusionist Richard Haas. The painting at the temporary dead end of an arcade tricks you into ”seeing” Adams Street in the distance (as it will appear when other construction is complete). But it`s just a pictorial deception, so don`t break your nose while striding southward.
– 190 S. La Salle St. Building. The outside of this new Postmodern office tower is a shallow reprise of the renowned Masonic Temple that long stood elsewhere in the Loop. But while 190`s silhouette is a mere historicist cartoon, its lobby is a showplace running neck-and-neck with AT&T. Marble sheaths practically every flat surface, including the interiors of the elevator cabs. The vaulted ceiling is slathered with gold leaf. In a large alcove is a superbly crafted tapesty by Helena Hernmarck depicting one of the Burnham Plan`s most famous illustrations.
– 311 S. Wacker Dr. Chicagoans have variously clucked and gasped over the 65-story building that opened at this address last year. It`s that 959-footer with an almost blindingly illuminated drum on top. Less familiar, but perfect for an interiors tour, is the 8-story-tall glassed-in and vaulted wintergarden at the base of the skyscraper. Towering palm trees, a fountain and a sculpture are among its accoutrements, and it houses a restaurant as well as sit-down space for noontime brown-baggers. Perfect for a city with short summers.
– Union Station, 210 S. Canal St. It`s the last monumentally scaled, still operational rail terminal of the several that once served Chicago. Few of the city`s interiors compete with the breathtaking sweep and grandeur of the station`s waiting room, which rises 112 feet from its floor to a vaulted glass skylight. Twenty huge Corinthian columns define the edges of this space, which is surveyed by two allegorical sculpted figures representing ”Day” and ”Night.” Renovated not many years ago after a fire, the waiting room retains much of the sparkle it had on opening day in 1925.
– Northwestern Atrium Center, 500 W. Madison St. From a distance, its exterior looks like the front of an old Chrysler Airflow sedan (a deliberate allusion by the architect). Inside, the two lower levels of this blue and silver glitterbox offer a procession of atriums, lobbies and other spaces meant to recapture some of the openness and drama of the Chicago & North Western station that was torn down to make way for its 1987 successor. Exposed steel trusswork and glass give the office tower`s public spaces a dramatic, high-tech look, and trains still pull up to a stylish if spatially diminished commuter passenger area.
Having savored this rich sampling of Chicago`s interior wonders, you may be inspired to try more future ramblings on your own. And it just may be the best free form of sightseeing in town.
