Best of Chicago

The Willis Tower is defined by its dark, stepped silhouette of black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass, which rises in a series of setbacks to a height of one thousand four hundred fifty-one feet. Originally commissioned by Sears, Roebuck…

The Chicago Cultural Center is distinguished by two massive, intricate stained-glass domes that crown the building, including a thirty-eight-foot Tiffany glass dome on the south side composed of thirty thousand pieces of glass. Completed…

Millennium Park is a twenty-four and a half acre expanse defined by its stainless steel curves and massive, modern art installations, all built atop a sprawling underground parking garage and commuter rail lines. In the late nineteen…

The Art Institute of Chicago is recognizable by the two massive bronze lions that guard its Michigan Avenue entrance. Founded in eighteen seventy-nine as both a school and a museum, the institution struggled in its early years, moving…

The Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain is a three-tiered structure of pink Georgia marble that functions as the formal centerpiece of Grant Park. Designed in a rococo style, the fountain features four sets of bronze sea horses in its…

The Field Museum is defined by its massive white marble exterior, designed with sculptural detailing that recalls the architecture of ancient Greece. Originally established to house the vast collection of artifacts from the eighteen…

The Shedd Aquarium is a neoclassical temple of white Georgia marble, capped with a glass dome featuring a trident at its peak. Built on an octagonal footprint, the structure is decorated with aquatic motifs like turtles and shells, all…

The Adler Planetarium is a twelve-sided building perched on the northeastern tip of Northerly Island. When it opened on May twelfth, nineteen thirty, it became the first modern planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. The institution was…