Top Attractions of Chicago Buckingham Fountain Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain

Buckingham Fountain, officially known as the 'Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain' is one of Chicago's most popular landmarks. The fountain is located in Grant Park at the center of a formally laid out garden.

Kate Buckingham

 

 

 

Buckingham Fountain

 

The fountain was commisioned in 1927 by Kate Buckingham to honor her late brother Clarence. She had frequently traveled to Europe, where she admired the huge public fountains and wanted to bring some of Europe's monumentality to Chicago. She also left an endowment to maintain the fountain.

Design

The design of the fountain is based on the 'Bassin de Latone' at the Versailles Palace near Paris and was built by Edward H. Bennett, who had also constructed

the Michigan Avenue Bridge.

 

 

One of Buckingham Fountain's Seahorses

The fountain rises more than 7 meters high (23ft) and consists of 3 layers of bassins surrounded by four pairs of bronze seahorses. Each sea horse symbolizes a state bordering Lake Michigan (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin) while the fountain represents the lake itself. The statues were created by the French sculptor Marcel F. Loyau, who won the Prix National at the 1927 Paris Salon for it.

A Monumental Fountain

 

 

 

The fountain at night

 

One of the largest fountains in the world, the Buckingham Fountain measures 85m/280ft in diameter. It features 134 jets powered by 3 pumps.
The fountain's hourly 20 minute water display starts with small sprays. While the basins are filled more and more jets are activated until it reaches its climax when the central jet pushes water up to a height of 46m/150ft. The animation is best seen at dusk - after 8 pm - when it is accompanied with music and beautifully animated with a now computerized choreography of color spotlights.

Top Attractions of Chicago Navy Pier

Navy Pier is a large pier on Lake michigan near Streeterville, close to Chicago's downtown. Originally known as the Municipal Pier nr 2, it is one of two piers called for in Daniel Burnham's 1909 Chicago plan. The other pier was never built.

Construction

Construction started May 1914 and in 1916 it was opened to the public. 

 

 

Navy Pier Entrance to Dock Street

 

 

At the time it was the world's largest pier, 292 ft wide and 3000ft long (89m x 914m).
The pier was designed as a shipping and entertainment area. In its first decade, the Municipal Pier was successfully attracting both visitors and ships. It was also temporarily used as a military facility during the first world war.

Decline

By the end of the 1920s, the Navy Pier's success started to decline. The introduction of cars and the opening of movie theaters created more competition for the Pier and the number of visitors dwindled. Shipping started to decline in the 1930s due to the Great Depression and the competition of transportation by trucks.

Navy Pier

In 1927 the pier was renamed Navy Pier in honor of World War I veterans. It would turn out to be a prophetic name change, as the Navy Pier

served as a naval training facility during the second World War. After the war it served as the Chicago branch of the University of Illinois. In 1965 the university moved to its new location and the Navy Pier started to decay.

Redevelopment

The first step in the redevelopment of the Navy Pier was the 1976 restoration by Jerome R. Butler, Jr. of the Auditorium building at the eastern end of the pier. One year later it was designated a Chicago Landmark. Another step to the redevelopment of the Navy Pier was taken in 1989, when the city of Chicago and the State of Illinois installed the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, an organisation responsible for the management of the pier.
At the same time they committed 150 million dollar for reconversion of the pier as a recreational center. The renovation by Benjamin Thompson & associates started in 1992 and was completed in 1994. 

 

 

Beer Garden

 

 

The result is a very successful recreational center next to Chicago's downtown area. Thanks to its many attractions and 50 acres of parks and gardens (20 ha) it attracts more than 8 million visitors each year.

Headhouse & Auditorium

The two major buildings on the Navy Pier, Headhouse and Auditorium - both designed by the architect Charles Summer Frost and constructed in 1916 - have survived its ups and downs.

The most western building, a brick and terra cotta building with two prominent towers is the Navy Pier Headhouse. The name was derived from the area, which at the time was known as the Headlands. Each tower housed a huge 

2-million liter tank for the fire sprinkler system. The Headhouse is now home to Chicago's children museum. At the western side of the building is the 19 acre (8 ha) Gateway Park, featuring a modern, computerized granite fountain with 240 jets.

 

Auditorium Building, Navy Pier

Beer Garden & Auditorium

 
At the other end of the pier is the Auditorium, also known as the Hall. This beautiful building with a magnificent Grand Ballroom measures 138 ft by 150 ft (42m x 48m) and has a 100ft (30m) high half-domed ceiling.

Attractions

The Navy Pier is home to many attractions, some may vary depending on the season. 

 

 

Ferris Wheel, Navy Pier

Here's an overview of attractions found at the pier:

- The most eye-catching is the 148 ft (45m) high Ferris Wheel. It was modeled after the first ferris wheel built for the 1893 World Columbian Exposition.

- Near the Ferris Wheel is a 44ft high musical carousel with 36 hand-painted animals.

- The skyline stage, a 100ft (30m) high vaulted roof structure, is used as an ice skating rink during wintertime and as a 1500-seat theater during summer.

- The Navy Pier features two museums: the Children's museum (which plans a move to Grant Park) and the Smith museum of Stained Glass Windows, which opened in 2000.

 

 

Children's Museum

 

 

 

- A 7 story Shakespeare theater complex with a 525 seat theater is another recent addition to the Navy Pier.
- The Navy Pier Aeroballoon, an anchored hlium-filled balloon that floats above the lakefront with up to 18 passengers allows visitors to admire Chicago's skyline from a height of 350ft (107m).
- Other attractions are an 18 hole miniature golf course, a funhouse maze, a beer garden, a 40ft high wave swinger and an IMAX theater.

- Navy Pier is also a starting point for many boat trips. You have ample choice: You can take a trip on a 148ft high, four-masted schooner or you can hop on one of the 4 seadogs reaching speeds of up to 25 knots 

 

Spirit of Chicago

Architecture cruises and water taxis are also available. You can also opt to take a romantic dinner cruise and you can even charter ships.
- You can also rent some of the pier's areas, including the English Garden Tent and the Crystal Gardens, a one-acre indoor glass atrium with more than 70 palm trees.

Top Attractions of Chicago Sears Tower

At the time the Sears tower was constructed in 1974, it was the world's tallest building, eclipsing New York's twin-towered World Trade Center by 25 meters (83 ft). It would keep the title of tallest building in the world until the Petronas twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were constructed in 1997.

 

Sears Tower

 

 

 Ledges on the Sears Tower (Willis Tower)

 

 Sears Tower seen from the Shedd Aquarium

The Tallest

There was much discussion on whether the Petronas Towers are actually taller than the Sears Tower as the height of the antennas on the Petronas Towers are included in the total height, while the height of the antennas are not included in the height calculation of the Sears Tower as they are not considered an actual part of the building.

With the construction of the 508 meters tall Taipei 101 in 2004 this discussion became irrelevant. However, when in November 2013 New York's One WTC was officially declared taller than the Sears Tower - grabbing the coveted title of the tallest building in the US, the issue was brought up once again: one WTC's rather pathetic spire was included in the calculation of its height, so that even though the Sears Tower's roof is a substantial 25 meters (83 feet) higher than One WTC's, the latter is now officially 99 meters (325 ft) taller.

Anyhow, the Sears tower is still the tallest Chicago skyscraper, exceeding the height of the number two, the Trump International Hotel and Tower by 27 meters (89 ft) and the Aon Center by 96 meters (315 ft).

The Structure

 Sears Tower at night

The building consists of nine framed tubes, which are actually nine skyscrapers on themselves taken together into one building. Originally, the plan included no less than fifteen tubes, but when the planned hotel was 

  taken out of the project, only nine tubes were used in the final designs. The nine tubes all reach forty-nine stories. At that point, two tubes end. The other rise up to the sixty-fifth floor. From the sixty-sixth to the ninetieth floor, the tower has the shape of a crucifix. Two tubes, creating a rectangular, reach the full height of 442 meters (1451ft).

Wind Load

The result is an interesting tower, which looks different from all angles. The construction, designed by Fazlur Kahn (1929-82), has other advantages : the construction with separate tubes provides lateral strengths to withstand the strong Chicago wind loads, as each tube only needs to take a part of the pressure.

Observation Deck

The Sears Tower's observation deck - known as the skydeck - is one of Chicago's most popular attractions. At 1,353 ft or 412 m, it's Chicago's

highest observatory, besting the John Hancock Center's by 323 ft (98m).
The most spectacular attraction at the skydeck is 'the ledge', a glass balcony extending 4.3 ft where you can look straight down. It will make most people feel uneasy at first but the balconies offer spectacular views over Wacker Drive and the Chicago River.

Willis Tower

The tower was named after Sears, Roebuck and Co., an American chain of Department Stores which was headquartered here. Sears sold the building in 1993 after moving to the suburbs. The building's name was left unchanged until Juli 16, 2009, when it was renamed Willis Tower for one of the skyscraper's tenants, a British insurance firm. The move was met with local opposition however, and some even started online petitions to protest the name change.

Top Attractions of Chicago USA , Cloud Gate The Bean

Cloud Gate is a large public sculpture which was first unveiled at the opening of Millennium Park in 2004. It soon became one of the city's most photographed attractions, and is now one a famous symbol of Chicago.

 

 

Cloud Gate

The Cloud Gate further cemented Chicago's reputation of a city at the forefront of public art and follows in the footsteps of earlier well-known public installations such as Alexander Calder's Flamingo at Federal Center, Picasso's untitled sculpture at the City Hall and Jean Dubuffet's Monument with Standing Beast at the James R. Thompson Center.

The Name

Even before it was given an official title, Chicagoans were quick to dub the reflective steel sculpture 'the Bean' after its peculiar shape and the name stuck. The official name however is Cloud Gate as it represents a gate to the city it reflects.

Design

 Cloud Gate

Cloud Gate was the first public sculpture of Indian-born and London-based artist Anish Kapoor. His work was selected out of two proposals that were submitted in 1999 for a showpiece sculpture in the new, modern Millennium Park, which was scheduled to open in 2000.
Kapoor designed a stainless steel construction consisting of 168 plates, each 1 cm (0.4 inch) thick and seamlessly welded together. The structure weighs 100 tons and measures 10 meters high and 20 meters wide (33 x 66 ft). People can walk through the 3.7 meter high central arch, where they can look up to the large 'dent' and see numerous distorted reflections of themselves.

Unveiling

When the new Millennium Park was officially inaugurated in 2004 after a four year delay, the city was eager to show the sculpture to the public, as it had spent the hefty sum of 23 million dollars on what was to become one of the highlights of the park. 

 

Reflection of the

Michigan Avenue Skyline

Unfortunately the assembly of the sculpture was well behind schedule and Kapoor was reluctant to unveil the unfinished artwork to the public. And not without reason; the structure was still unpolished and the seams were visible.
As expected, many Chicagoans were highly critical and dismissed the unfinished 'Bean' as a piece of metal. After the inauguration of the park, the structure was put back under wraps. Not until it was completely finished in May, 2006 became its almost magical appeal visible.
Now seamless and polished, the Cloud Gate reflects and distorts the skyline of Michigan Avenue, the sky, and the people nearby, who always seem to have the urge to touch the sculpture's silvery surface. Cloud Gate instantly became an icon of Chicago, and an attraction that every visitor to the city wants to see.