Office Perks: What’s On Your Roof?
Chicago’s competitive downtown office market has building owners bending over backwards to attract tenants, with amenities from lunchtime restaurant shuttles to dorm-like social spaces where people from different companies can engage serendipitously. And while apartment and condominium developers are increasingly cutting back on balconies, saying people don’t use or want them, office buildings across the city are sprouting...
Aon Center And Prudential Plaza Offer Great Views Of The Loop And Downtown
We end 2015 featuring a pair of venerable downtown buildings that offered visitors million dollar views during this year’s Open House Chicago, hosted by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Those two buildings, the Aon Center (at 200 East Randolph Street) and its next-door neighbor Prudential Plaza (at 130 East Randolph Street), have far different exterior styles. One thing they have in common is an excellent view of Millennium...
Staring Down From The Rock
Earlier this week we showed you photographs from the party that was thrown recently on the roof of the not-quite-completed skyscraper at 200 North Michigan Avenue called MiLa. The photographer was Joe Zekas of YoChicago!, and Mr. Zekas must have some crazy good photo gear because of what we were able to notice in the background of one of the pictures he sent us: It’s the old observation deck that used to awe tourists and locals...
Will Aon Center be Chicago’s Next Skyscraper to Sport an Observation Deck?
Better late than never, Chicago’s third-tallest building may soon get into the observation deck business. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that some of the potential new owners of the Aon Center at 200 East Randolph Street want to open the upper reaches of the stately skyscraper to the public. The 83-story building in Chicago’s New Eastside is currently for sale, and expected to fetch well in excess of...
Polishing A Piece of the Rock
The facade of One Prudential Plaza (130 East Randolph Street) is getting a good painting. Or is it a scrubbing? Loop Spy Roy sent in this picture of One Pru getting all pretty. The difference in the color of the building before and after is quite remarkable. Almost dazzling in the sunlight. One wonders if the grey-looking neighbor will schedule a little cosmetic work so it doesn’t look like a frump next to the shining face to...
Spires Old and New
The spires of three generations of Chicago skyscrapers pierce a deep blue sky. If you like this photograph, click here to order it as a poster or...
Chicago on the Really Tiny Screen
We’ve seen Chicago blown up on the big screen in Transformers, Batman, and The Blues Brothers. We’ve seen Chicago serialized in Mike and Molly, Early Edition, and Good Times. But this is the first time I can remember Chicago being used as a race track in a video game. Electronic Arts has a game out called Need For Speed Shift 2 Unleashed, which has race tracks in all of the usual places like the Middle East, and Rio de...
