Springtime

Beautiful day in the city today.  Enjoy!  Also, if you view them at full size by clicking on them, there are a lot of cool architectural details in some of them.

Personally, I think that the Jeweler’s Building (pictured below) is one of the most beautiful buildings in Chicago.  It also has an interesting history – during prohibition, it contained a speakeasy called the Stratosphere Lounge which was an Al Capone hangout.  It was located in the top of the building, seen here, and you used a birdcage elevator to get there.  These days, the building contains a pretty good and relatively inexpensive Irish themed bar and grill called the Emerald Loop.  The menu features pretty much what you’d expect – burgers and sandwiches, as well as some more traditional Irish fare.  They also have a pretty decent beer selection on tap, and in the summer they have outdoor seating – a good place for lunch if you’re in the north end of the loop.

The top of the Prudential Building (or One Prudential Plaza, as it’s now called) houses an observation deck (seen below).  When the building was finished at 44 floors in 1955, it had the highest roof in the city of Chicago.  Of course, it is now dwarfed by the 1,136 foot, 83 floor Aon Center (or, BP Building, Amoco Building, and Standard Oil Building, as it used to be called).

The Carbon and Carbide Building (below, to the right, taken on a different, cloudy day) is another interesting building with Prohibition history.  Designed by Daniel and Hubert Burnham, it was completed in 1929.  The green terra cotta facade and the gold leaf detail were made to resemble a bottle of champagne.  It now houses the Hard Rock Hotel, and is located at Michigan Avenue and South Water Street.

I saw the Smurfit-Stone Building reflecting in the window, and I liked the ghosting effect.