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spmarshall

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I'm loving the landscaping and the good tree coverage - there's a lot of money spent of course to keep it up. Brown and Storey are planning something similar for Bloor, and I note here one drawback is how the crowd is almost forced along the store fronts, rather than towards the curb.

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Views from the Hancock - the line up was almost non-existent, and no security - a lot less hassle than I expected, but it was a Sunday morning (and the sky was clear without rain clouds or smog, which was why I went then).

The view was amazing. I'm glad I went there and not Sears.

Looking west. Cabrini-Green is visible in the foreground. You can see that outside of downtown and the North Shore, Chicago has few highrises.

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The North Shore. The apartments and the lake make driving along LSD (which is a full-fledged freeway here) interesting and beautiful, but it does create a barrier, with a narrow park hemmed in (through the beaches look enticing). A few more pedestrian bridges would do the trick, as at least a lot of people live around there.

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Looking towards the "mouth" of the Chicago River and Navy Pier.

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I had found Cabrini-Green, and went back to street level.

Cabrini-Green, one of the most notorious housing projects, is largely gone, with most of the remaining buildings boarded up (though the vacant land is empty, like where Robert Taylor Homes was along the Dan Ryan on the south side). It's Chicago's Regent Park, with new condos and loft conversions around. Soon enough, though this land should be redeveloped. Chicago built bigger than anything Toronto did - I saw Robert Taylor from the Rock Island-Joilet Metra train, and it's now blocks and blocks of urban prairie.

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Next: The Architecture Cruise, Oak Park, Wrigleyville.
 
Gorgeous pics... the Magnificent Mile most definitely deserves its name. The sort of streetscaping seen in the third pic would do wonders for certain Toronto streets such as Bloor West between Yonge and Avenue. Does the B & S scheme have plans for this sort of greenery?
 
I find the gated-community feeling to the landscaping rather twee and precious.
 
It is a little much. Some nice trees, planters and paving would do wonders.

I haven't been to Chicago, but I'm a little surprised by the waterfront. I've heard people rave about it, yet it does seem to be dominated by a freeway.
 
I haven't been to Chicago, but I'm a little surprised by the waterfront. I've heard people rave about it, yet it does seem to be dominated by a freeway.

They have better parks for sure, and don't have an elevated highway or a railway viaduct, but there's little connection to the lake itself, thanks to LSD. Toronto can relatively easily do wonders with its waterfront, which is open to the lake, especially with the Islands (I can see a grand park opened up on Centre Island, with a great fountain and more activity, though it would reduce the Islands as a quiet refuge - Docks notwithstanding). Chicago could bury or tame LSD, but then it would have to evict some of the yacht clubs to really open it up.
 
One thing Chicago does have is spectacular beaches, even right in the centre. They are so well-maintained, and the sand so magnificent, one could be forgiven for thinking it was Miami in parts.
 
Great photos. I have to agree that they went overboard with the landscaping on MM. It almost looks like the lobby of a Mandarin Restaurant with little goldfish swimming around in the babbling brook.

I really have to see Chicago in person before I make any kind of definitive judgement but there's an annoying quality about the place that comes through in the photos. There's a real overbearing fussiness in a lot of the architectural detailing that seems to rob the streetlife of vitality or urbanity. It's like being in someone's exquisitely detailed apartment where you're not allowed to touch anything. It's impressive but I wouldn't want to live there. But, maybe that's just the jealousy talking...
 
Great photos. I have to agree that they went overboard with the landscaping on MM. It almost looks like the lobby of a Mandarin Restaurant with little goldfish swimming around in the babbling brook.

Now that I think of it, it looks like the installations in high-end malls (adding the fish would make it look like Mandarin). When I was in Detroit, I checked out Tory and the Somerset Collection (on Big Beaver Road, or 16 Mile), where many of the same retailers as on Michigan Avenue, Bloor Street or 5th Avenue are, but only in mall form. That's Detroit for you.

I'm curious as to what they do in winter. Chicago's winters are as bad, if not more brutal than ours. I have seen pictures where they go all out for Christmas, but they must do something with the extravagant planters for the off season. I am amazed by the amount of money spent - not even 5th Ave comes close with things like this.
 
Looks like a lot of perrenials in those beds. They're probably just cut back for the winter. Beats having to replant in the Spring too.
 
Nice photos. Is that the Trump Int'l tower I see actually u/c? Actually I thought Chicago had done a really good job with it's streetscapes when I was there- particluarly the public art and subway entrances- quite classy and not overdone at all. Regardless CHI is definitely a museum for the skyscraper... and the beats goes on:

U/C:
1 Trump International Hotel & Tower 1,362 ft 92 fls
2 Waterview Tower 1,047 ft 89 Stories
3 One Museum Park [Central Station] 734 ft 62 fls&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp
4 340 on the Park [Lakeshore East] 672 ft 64fls
5 The Clare at Water Tower..[Loyola University] 595 ft
6 The Columbian 517 ft
7 The Streeter [345-363 East Ohio Street..] 514 ft
8 600 Lake Shore Drive, .. [600 Lake Shore Drive] 513 ft
9 Parkview West [River East] 507 ft
10 The Tides [Lakeshore East] 498 ft

Approved:
1 400 North Lake Shore Drive 2,000 ft 124fls (North America's tallest freestanding structure by Calatrava: www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=240620)

2 Mandarin Oriental Tower.. [Illinois Center] 930 ft 65fls
3 Aqua [Lakeshore East] 823 ft 82fls
4 The Legacy at Millennium Park 822 ft 71fls
5 300 North LaSalle 784 ft 60fls
6 680 North Rush 730 ft 64fls
7 Elysian 700 ft 60fls
8 One Museum Park West [Central Station] 1 620 ft 54flrs
9 351-363 East Ohio Stre.. [345-363 East Ohio Stre..] 570 ft 53fls
10 The Ritz-Carlton Residences 495 ft 40 fls

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Great Chicago pics again! The John Hancock Center has as good a observation deck to me as the Sears Tower. The recent CHI changes were documented well. LI MIKE
 

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