Looking up: Chicago shows off a rich architectural history and legacy

CHICAGO — The boat glides under the Michigan Avenue bridge and heads into the heart of the city as the shimmering white Wrigley Building and neo-Gothic Tribune Tower rise to the north.

It passes the corncob-like Marina Towers, the sprawling Merchandise Mart and glass-and-steel skyscrapers — a tapestry of new and old that draws architecture enthusiasts from around the world to the city that famed architect Daniel Burnham once called his "Paris on the Prairie."

"I knew I was going to be coming to Chicago and the one thing that I wanted to do was the river cruise," said Kristen Moore, 35, of Phoenix, snapping photos on the tour, sponsored by the nonprofit Chicago Architecture Foundation.

"There's so much history in the buildings here."

The city's rise in the world of architecture began after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed swaths of buildings and the late 19th century saw the city's architects become world leaders — designing everything from the employee-packed skyscrapers to quaint homes that now make up the so-called Bungalow Belt.

Isolated from the East Coast's European influences, Chicago's historic architects were known for putting aside common ideas about design, creating a unique and different way of building.

So innovative were their ideas that Chicago is considered the home of the modern skyscraper. Among the most famous are the 110-story Sears Tower — the tallest building in the U.S. — and the Hancock Tower, along Lake Michigan.

"We have always thought big," says Charles Stanford, a docent and architecture expert with the Architecture Foundation. "Chicago was always bold about the way we built. We sort of really do believe that the sky is the limit. That if engineering will take us there, we'll go."

The foundation tries to put modern marvels and the city's classic buildings in context for visitors. The group hosts a museum on Michigan Avenue and offers more than 80 different boat, bicycle, bus and walking tours. Moore said she hoped to catch glimpses of the neoclassical and French classical building styles she loves. Chicago's Tribune Tower, built in 1925, and under-construction Trump Tower were on her list.

There soon will be more to see, with three more skyscrapers under construction.

The Chicago Spire, designed by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, will twist skyward for 150 stories and become the tallest building in North America. The Trump Tower will be 92 stories and the Waterview Tower 90 stories.

Interest in Chicago architects increased after the 2004 publication of Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City," a story of Chicago's 1893 World's Fair that tells of architect Daniel Burnham and serial killer H.H. Holmes. Along with Burnham, Stanford says interest piqued in Chicago architects Frank Lloyd Wright and his Prairie Style, Louis Sullivan and his ornate facades, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, known for a sleek, modern design.

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