Over the
years, when in Chicago I have logged many miles on Michigan Avenue’s “Magnificent Mile.” And I have spent
countless days strolling “State Street
that Great Street.” As a fourth generation Chicagoan, I have often played
the role of tour guide when visiting the city with friends and family. My tour
would include Michigan Ave and State St., a few of the East-West streets, and
the adjacent parks, restaurants, ornate hotel lobbies, soaring skyscrapers and
subtle historic landmarks. However, on a
recent visit to Chicago my sister-in-law suggested that we deviate from our
normal route (which had become more rut, than route) and explore LaSalle – a
street whose name honors an explorer and his explorations.
Our
exploration began when we hopped off the Metra Train at the Van Buren St.
station rather than the more popular end-of-the-line Millennium station. Immediately I was transported into a scene
from a 1940s black and white movie. Built in 1896, the Van Buren St. station is
the oldest active building on the Metra Electric line. Ornate tile floors and
pillars reeked with nostalgia. The graffiti-laden wood benches – looking like
pews – seemed saturated with stories of generations of commuters who squeezed
into them as they waited for their train home.
Heading up
the stairs into the bright morning light, I was surprised to exit through a replica
of an Art Nouveau-style Paris Metro entrance which the City of Paris gave
Chicago in 2001. This would be just the first of many surprising discoveries.
We walked
west on Adams past the venerable Bergoff’s Restaurant and then ducked into the two-story
lobby of the Marquette Building to see the beautiful mosaics honoring two other
Illinois explorers Pere Marquette and Louis Joliet. Four
bronze relief sculptures depicting the pair launching their canoes, meeting
Native Americans, arriving at the Chicago River, and interring Marquette’s body
can be found above the
entrance to this National Historic Landmark. Built in 1895, it was one of
Chicago’s first skyscrapers. Even the revolving doors are noteworthy
with tomahawks on the kick plates and panther heads on the push plates designed
by Edward Kemeys of the Art Institute lions fame.
Continuing west we came to our destination. LaSalle Street
is the heart of the financial district and this heart pumps money across the
city and world. It is cliché to refer to canyons among skyscrapers in major
cities, but LaSalle really feels like a canyon. The canyonesque feeling comes
from the Board of Trade Building which closes off the south end of the street,
thereby making pedestrians feel like they are walled in on three sides by rock canyon/skyscraper
walls. Atop the copper roof of the art deco Board of Trade building a 6,500
pound, 3-story tall aluminum statue of Ceres, the Goddess of Grain, looks down
on LaSalle Street.
She holds a bag of corn in one hand and a sheaf of wheat in
the other hand to represent the commodities traded in the building. For many years this was the tallest skyscraper
in Chicago and many folks still consider this to be its finest building.
It seems appropriate that in the shadow of the Board of
Trade is the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Money Museum. Ironically, it does not cost money to enter
the Money Museum. Once you pass through airport-like security visitors learn
how our economy works and why it sometimes doesn’t. You will see a stack of one million dollar
bills and you can put your arms around a million dollars’ worth of $20
bills.
You also can learn how to
identify counterfeit money. Free souvenirs include a bag of shredded currency
and photo “ops” include having your face on a $2.00 bill.
Across the street from the Money Museum is another building
on the National Register
of Historic Places, the Rookery Building. My
sister-in-law works in the building and so this was our primary destination on
our exploration of LaSalle Street.
Designed by Daniel Burnham and John Root, the Rookery was completed
in 1888. Frank Lloyd Wright redesigned the two-story, sky-lit lobby in 1905. At
11 stories tall, it is considered the oldest standing high-rise in Chicago.
Even an untrained eye like mine could see the innovative
and intricate approaches applied to designing a building with light in mind.
Chicago was a dark, smoky city in the 1880s and even on sunny days the coal
smoke shaded the city. Electric lamps
were gradually replacing oil lamps and the Rookery light fixtures were designed
to work with either. (A bank vault in the basement stores many original light
fixtures, elevator buttons, and other artifacts.) But neither source was
reliable and, even when working, these lamps only produced weak light. So the
architects designed an open “light court” to allow natural light to permeate
the building.
The friendly security guard led us into the elevator to
the 11th floor where we visited the Burnham Library. Burnham, Root and Wright
all worked and studied in what now serves as a conference room for the building’s
tenants. A photograph of Burnham and Root sitting in the room depicts the
furniture and fireplace just as it is today.
The most stunning feature of the building is Root’s vertigo-inducing
oriel staircase which goes between the 2nd to the 12th
floor. This staircase is one of the most
photographed features in Chicago. It is commonly featured on art posters sold
to all of those tourists back on Michigan Avenue. Here on LaSalle you see the
real thing!
Before leaving, I asked my sister-in-law how the building
got its strange name. She said there were several versions, but most point
toward mocking noisy Chicago politicians.
City Hall occupied the site before the Rookery was built. The “Rookery”
may have referred to the City Hall’s rundown appearance or the crow-like politicians
who roosted there. Others said it was because pigeons flocked to the adjacent
fire station to eat the oats that were fed to horses that pulled the fire
wagons. In any case, Burnham and Root were not happy that the name stuck to
their beautiful building. But whether in jest or resignation, Root did design
cawing crows (or rooks) on the building’s exterior.
Daniel Burnham is most famous for designing Chicago’s glorious iconic lakefront. His most notable quote states, “Make no little plans;
they have no magic to stir men's blood …” The next time you visit
Chicago I suggest that you “make no little plans” and include time to explore
LaSalle Street. The architecture may stir your blood and your imagination. - Posted by Ted
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