The Union Station Tower is Finally Real
For as long as anyone can remember, it’s been lots of discussion but no digging in the West Loop where Amtrak has wanted to add a skyscraper to the Union Station complex since before Amtrak was a thing. In the last 15 years, we’ve seen at least three different plans for Amtrak skyscrapers that simply never got off the ground. But that has finally changed. 2019 rendering of BMO Tower, formerly Union Station...
150 North Riverside Opens For Business
It’s hard to believe that just four short years ago there were people scoffing at the idea of balancing a 54-story skyscraper in the middle of a set of very active rail lines on the edge of the Chicago River. But here we are today, with the official opening of 150 North Riverside. It’s not the first time that Goettsch Partners has cantilevered an office building on either side of a central core. But it’s the first...
Turning a West Loop Alley Into a Park
Unless you lived at the Randolph Place Lofts (165 North Canal Street), you probably didn’t have a need to use the strange, hanging alley that arced across the vacant space in the 100 block between Lake and Randolph Streets. Aside from moving trucks engorging themselves, and trainspotters leering at the silver streaks below, it was a quiet place. But all that’s changed now that 150 North Riverside is under construction,...
Slice of Life: Chicago’s Glitter Gulch
The number of skyscrapers lining the confluence of the Chicago River recently increased by three. You might think that would have a serious impact on the brightness of the area, but as always — Nature finds a way. Such is demonstrated in this photograph by Joe Zekas of YoChicago!. You can see sunlight reflecting off the towers, scattering sunbeams all across the river in a dazzling display. You can also see the intense progress...
The Park at River Point is Starting to Look Like a Park
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been following River Point for eight years. Back when it was approved in 2008, it was just known as 444 West Lake, and the park along the riverfront was just a dream. The narrow riverwalk portion of the project has been open for quite a while, and now the 1.5 acre elevated riverfront park looks like it’s getting close to becoming reality, too. The park is elevated because in reality, it is a cap for the...
150 North Riverside, Before It Reached Peak Skyscraper
We’ve reached our final height – tallest building west of the Chicago River! — 150 North Riverside (@150NRiverside) March 14, 2016 And with that tweet, 150 North Riverside announced it had achieved its latest milestone. The engineering marvel Chicago’s own Goettsch Partners designed along the Chicago River has been a wonder to behold. Despite a wind storm, a minor concrete collapse, and a major sunken barge, the 54-story...
Slice of Lights: River Point Illuminates the Chicago River
As River Point (444 West Lake Street) continues to climb toward its ultimate 730-foot height, we feel the need to remind ourselves the tower will look so much more spectacular once completed. That may seem rather obvious, but passing by, especially after dark, continues to be one of our favorite pastimes at the Chicago Architecture Blog. There are lots of construction sites around Chicago that will instantly grab your attention, but...
150 North Riverside Glasses Up The Joint
A new tower getting its first windows is always a big deal for us skyscraper nerds. But the friends-of-the-blog Goettsch Partners-designed 150 North Riverside office building has become a favorite child of sorts, what with all that steel at all those angles. So we were overjoyed Wednesday to see 150 North Riverside itself, despite not having thumbs, tweeted this gem out to its adoring followers: Our phenomenal, rippling Curtainwall is...
Status Update: Construction at the Confluence
Chicagoans just can’t get enough pictures of the triple skyscraper construction happening at the downtown Chicago River confluence. You know it. We know it. How often in any major city do three huge skyscrapers go up on a riverfront location within yards of each other? Not very often. With that in mind, our Fulton River District spy sent over another batch of photographs showing the work being done on Wolf Point West, which...
With Sunken Barge in the Past, 150 North Riverside Forges On
Construction projects are lucky to make the news once. It might be during the planning phase, or when said plans are made public. Or maybe there’s a particularly heated community meeting, where residents make impassioned pitches for and against their new prospective neighbor. Perhaps it’s at groundbreaking, when the local dignitaries make an appearance, gold shovels in hand. The new office tower at 150 North Riverside took...
