At the moment (8:17pm, October 5th, 2004) I am visiting Chicago, one of America's most interesting large cities. It is also pretty, if you like buildings and lights. Here is the just now photographed dusk view from* the placemarked window of my hotel room.
Seer photo Copyright (C) 2004.
* Actually that is the view through the window, since it does not open. Click on the attached placemark to see the Chicago Sheraton Hotel and Towers with a view centered on the window from which the photo above was made.
P.S. The building in the center is the Chicago Sun-Times, which is moving from the site this weekend. Know why?
GREAT PHOTO!! I grew up in Chicago (3rd grade thru freshman year at U of I). When I left the "Windy City" <== (which by the way is not a weather phenomena), the Prudential Building was the tallest in town. Wonder if Mr. Seer could get a picture now, showing it dwarfed by all it's neighbors?
Keeping one's camera equipment clean is important. Foremost among these concerns is to have the cleanest possible lens. Unfortunately, the window through which I shot the images for the twilight photo was far from clean. Since the windows here on the 28th floor are fixed, there was little choice but to rely on the services of a professional.
Lens cleaning using Squeege, white bucket, and just-detached Suction Cup.
Here is how the process appears from outside the hotel.
Squeege, white bucket, and attached Suction Cup from the back side.
The difference between before and after is amazing. Just look at the row of windows below the men.
As requested by Lrae, the Prudential Plaza surrounded by its taller neighbor, the Aon Center, and other looming buildings.
Seer photo, Copyrght 2004
Seer photo, Copyrght 2004
Buildings are reflected in Anish Kapoor'sCloud Gate sculpture, celebrated in this Chicago Bean panorama. (Just look behind to see the Prudential Plaza unreflected.)
Also known as: The Bean
Built: 2003- 2004
Cost: $11,500,000.00
Designed by: Anish Kapoor
Type: Monument
Maximum height: 33 feet
Maximum width: 42 feet
Maximum length: 66 feet
Location: Michigan Avenue at Randolph
In fact, the Prudential building appears to be no larger than some Chicago people!
Seer photo, Copyrght 2004
...or perhaps you were expecting to see serious architectural images, such as these:
This building is more than it appears. At the time of its construction, it was at the cutting edge of several key engineering fields, including climate control (the United States' biggest plant and the first automated plant with a comprehensive network of thermostats), elevators (world's fastest--fast elevators are crucial in a skyscraper), and garages (world's biggest).
It was built on stilts over a working railyard, and consequently was a landmark in the use of air rights. The fact that the yard's 21 tracks stayed open throughout construction, including foundation excavation (done by hand over three years!), is impressive in its own right.
It now is connected with 1990's Two Prudential Plaza, a neo-Art-Deco-ish faceted spire.
Oh great shots... And your first window cleaning picture, I was sure they were cleaning the lens on your BIG camera.
More Prudential Building memories:
I believe when it was completed and for many years after, the two escalators to the observation deck were the highest in the world.
I went to school in downtown Chicago near the corners of Van Buren and State for eigth grade, about seven blocks from the P.B. and spent many an afternoon riding those high speed elevators. We would always try to go weightless by jumping up, just as the elevator came to a stop at the top.
Played many a game of touch football in Grant Park.
During the winter we would try to drop snowballs into the smokestacks or diesel exhausts of the trains passing under the overpasses between Michigan Ave and Columbus Dr.
Nighttime at Buckingham Fountain was an awesome sight.
During that time (1957-58) I lived in a small suburb (4452 Ozanam, Norridge, IL), you can see the distance from downtown. I would take the city busses and elevated/subway trains. Always an adventure. Took a number of different routes. In those days we thought nothing of traveling alone all over the city. The Museum of Science and Industry, Downtown, Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park, Soldiers Field. Brave 14 year old! Today... Scary
Sculptor Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate is the striking visual centerpiece of Chicago's Millennium Park. Kapoor was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) India in 1954 and now lives in London.
Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004.
An alien pearl gleaming lustrously within the shell of Chicago's 20th century heroic architecture, ...
Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004.
...Cloud Gate beckons the viewer closer for a personal experience.
Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004.
J. Krishnamurti said, "Relationship is a mirror in which you can see yourself, not as you would wish to be, but as you are.
Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004.
Cloud Gate's hush whispers a corollary: all who see us, do not see us--they see a distorted reflection of who we are.
Cloud Gate is a magnet for children, cameras, and tourists Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004.
At 110 stories and 1450 feet in height, Sears Tower is the tallest building in the United States and was the tallest building in the world when it opened in 1973. The Sears website claims that the building represents 76,000 tons of steel, 2 million cubic feet of concrete, 16,000 tinted windows, 1,500 miles of electrical wiring and 80 miles of elevator cable.
Sears Tower viewed from the Chicago River.
Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004.
Standing at the base and looking up is not the best photographic spot, but it is the only place where you can see the whole structure due to the crowding of nearby buildings.
Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004.
This building has been placemarked several times before--notably by lunatech as part of the Tall Towers collection. I'm just adding travel snapshots with this post.
"The gleaming white Wrigley Building is one of America’s most famous office towers. Located on Michigan Avenue on the north bank of the Chicago River, at the southern most point of Chicago's Magnificent Mile, the Wrigley Building consists of two sections connected by an open walkway at street level and two enclosed walkways." (MORE...)
View across Chicago River and Michigan Avenue bridge to Wrigley Building Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004
Details of Wrigley Building clock tower Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004
The building is actually in two sections--north and south--with only the pedestrian mall along Michigan Avenue and a skybridge connecting the two parts. Here is that 14th floor skybridge, which was added in 1931.
14th floor skybridge connecting halves of Wrigley Building Seer photo, Copyright (C) 2004
Dark building in the back is the IBM Tower, with lobby walls made of the same limestone that is used for the entry lobby at IBM's Armonk, NY headquarters.
Homework: Why is it 'vernacular architecture' that the Wrigley building would be in halves?
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