pullman national monument, illinois

Take a tour through the highlights of Illinois's only National Monument, the Town of Pullman.
Built in 1880 by George Pullman the company owned town includes factory buildings, a church, shops, parks, a school and over 1,200 brick homes built for the company's employees.
If you would prefer to go on a private tour of the town please contact me at pullmanprivatetour.com.  All tours are fully customizable and can start from Chicago or from the visitor center in Pullman.

Pullman National Monument Visitor Information Center

Hotel Florence

The Greenstone Church

Market Hall

Pullman Stables

Arcade Park

Jump in your car and head to the northern part of the town to visit the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum. The museum aims is to promote, honor and celebrate the legacy of A. Philip Randolph, Pullman Porters and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. 
The Pullman company at one point employed over 12,000 African Americans as porters and maids. Learn about the conditions the Porters worked under and the man who helped create the first African-American labor union.  
Randolph later went to play a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement and was one of the principal organizers and speakers at the March on Washington in August 1963.

Information about opening hours and exhibits are located on the Museum's website: https://aprpullmanportermuseum.org/
  

A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum

Pullman National Monument, Illinois

Recorra lo más destacado del único Monumento Nacional de Illinois: la ciudad de Pullman.
Construida en 1880 por George Pullman, esta ciudad, propiedad de la compañía, incluye fábricas, una iglesia, tiendas, parques, una escuela y más de 1200 casas de ladrillo construidas para los empleados de la empresa.
Si prefiere una visita privada a la ciudad, contácteme en pullmanprivatetour.com. Todos los tours son totalmente personalizables y pueden comenzar en Chicago o en el centro de visitantes de Pullman.

Monumento Nacional Pullman, Illinois

art deco chicago architecture

Chicago is home to one of the largest collections of Art Deco buildings in the USA. On this tour, we will highlight a number of great buildings built between 1928 and 1934. These skyscrapers were designed not to look like the revivalist buildings that had come before, instead these fresh sleek new buildings representing all that was best from the Roaring Twenties.

If you're taking this tour on a weekday I suggest you walk into the lobbies of the buildings, check with building security and then take plenty of pictures! Most building owners permit guests to take pictures, just make sure you don't block the pedestrian traffic. On weekends most of the building lobbies are not accessible. 

If you're interested in learning more about this subject and would like to hire me as your private walking guide please contact me at ckchicago@comcast.net
 

This building was built in 1929 by the architecture firm of Burnham Brothers (Daniel Jr & Hubert, two of Daniel Burnham's 3 sons). The building is 37 stories tall and is wrapped in black polished granite at the base and dark green and gold terra cotta tiles on the body of the building.  At the top of the building is a 25 foot (8 meters) tower covered in gold leaf.

The original owners of the building made their money selling car batteries under the Eveready Batteries brand. The decoration on top of the building may be a reference to a battery terminal. Another theory on the building's design, says it was designed to look like a champagne bottle!  The building was likely inspired by the American Radiator Building in New York City built in 1924 by architects Howells & Hood.

In 2003 the building was converted into a hotel under the Hard Rock Cafe brand. In 2015 the building reopened as the St. Jane Chicago Hotel (honoring Chicago's first female Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams).  The hotel closed during the pandemic and reopened in Spring 2021 as the Pendry Chicago Hotel.  Be sure to check out the lobby of the building via the Michigan Ave. entrance.  

The Carbide and Carbon Building

Built in 1928 by famed architects Holabird & Root (Board of Trade), this small 17 story Art Deco gem is tucked away beside much taller buildings but is well worth a visit. This was the original headquarters for the Chicago Auto Club, think AAA, back when Henry Ford was churning out the Model A (there's one on the mezzanine level inside the lobby!)  

Since 2015 this has been home to a 143 room Hampton Inn, but this is not like any other Hampton Inn you have ever visited.  On the outside look for the original Club logo with a bright red star and the limestone and terra cotta panels playfully showing birds eating flowers.

Inside the lobby look for the 50 foot wide mural on the elevator wall showing early cross-country automobile highways and destinations designed by John Warner Norton. This is a celebration of the American road trip. Also inside look out for the fully restored original patterned terrazzo flooring and original Art Deco light fittings.

In 2016 the owners were awarded the Chicago Landmark Award for Preservation Excellence by the City. 

Chicago Motor Club Building

The Merchandise Mart is a Chicago architectural icon, completed in 1930 for the Marshall Field company as a warehouse and showroom for its wholesale business. The structure was the largest building in the world at the time with 4.2 million sq. feet of floor space and was designed by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White.  

Monday thru Sunday, you can walk inside the main lobby (entrance facing the river) and admire the cycle of painted murals by Jules Guerin, highlighting the city's past global trading partners.

The building displays many Art Deco stylings including decorative chevrons and diagonal towers at each of the building's four corners.

The building was bought in 1945 by Joe Kennedy (father of JFK) for a third of the original cost to build and he commissioned eight bronze busts of leading retailers to display along the river bank opposite the main entrance. 

Look for the MM (Merchandise Mart) logo throughout the buildings' interior and exterior.  

At night time the south-facing wall becomes one huge screen for the Art on The Mart project - check out their nighty schedule here: https://artonthemart.com/

The Merchandise Mart

This Art Deco skyscraper was completed in 1930 and was originally known as The Trustee System Service Building, housing a bank of the same name. The building is often overlooked on tours due to its location up against the elevated train tracks on the northwest corner of The Loop.

The structure is twenty stories high with an additional eight-story set-back tower, which is capped with a ziggurat and lantern. The first four floors are covered in embellished limestone while the remaining floors are covered in terra cotta tiles.

The recessed south-facing entrance is surrounded by ten limestone plaques designed and carved by Gwen Lux and Eugene Van Breeman Lux. These beautiful plaques depict figures from the evolution of banking and finance.

Above the main doorway look out for the grid of glass panels designed by famed Chicago artist Edgar Miller. The figures represent trades such as farming, mining and logging. If you like this work be sure to check out his Glasner Studio in Old Town https://www.edgarmiller.org/

The building was converted to apartments in 2003 - converted to a condo building in 2005 and then in 2018 the condo owners accepted a deconversion offer to return it to rental apartments.

Fun Fact: Scenes from the movie Batman Begins were filmed here in 2005. 

Century Tower

Now referred to as the Lyric Opera House this building was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White and opened 6 days after the stock market crash of 1929. 

The exterior of the building is a mix of Art Deco and French Renaissance stylings while the interior is a hybrid of Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs.

The building was the idea of Samuel Insull who wanted a luxurious 3,500 seat opera house to compete with Adler & Sullivan's Auditorium Theatre on Michigan Avenue (also well worth a visit!). The opera house and smaller theatre were to be funded in part by the rents obtained from the 3 office towers wrapping the auditoriums. The tallest of these towers was 45 stories with two other towers both 22 stories high.  

The building is made of limestone and its west side faces the river like a gigantic throne.  Near the entrances are comedy/tragedy masks and musical instrument decorations. 

The Opera Theatre's main foyer was decorated by the artist Jules Guerin and uses typical colors of that time period, salmon pinks, olives, gold and bronzes. 

If time permits walk across the river to Riverside Plaza (directly across from Civic Opera House) and enjoy this wonderful art Deco building also completed in 1929 by the architecture firm of Holabird & Root. Note the bas-reliefs depicting famous people from the world of journalism on the east-facing walls. The Plaza also has free wifi:) 

Civic Opera House

Nowadays known as the Bank of America Building this building was completed in 1934 and designed by the architecture firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. It sits on the site of the former Home Insurance Building, known as the world's first skyscraper which was built in 1885. This was the last building completed downtown after the commencement of the Great Depression and World War II and was not fully occupied until 1942.

This was Chicago's largest office structure when built and the first to be fully air-conditioned. The building is made up of 5 towers: one central tower that is 43 stories tall and four lower towers (22 stories) on each corner.  The locals use this building to walk from Clark Street to LaSalle Street and avoid the Chicago weather!

Walk along the main corridor and look out for the mirrored Art Deco bridges connecting the north and south balconies. Also, make sure to check out the elevator banks, especially the elevator lights on the brass building display, together with the Art Deco ceiling light fixtures.  

Fun Fact: At the last minute the building owners requested that the building plans be changed to remove any reference to a 13th floor!

Field Building

Book-ending South LaSalle Street is the iconic Chicago Board of Trade Building. Completed in 1930 by the architecture firm of Holabird and Root it is 605-feet (184-meter) tall and was Chicago's tallest building up until 1955.  As the name suggests this was home for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the world's largest trading floor focusing primarily on agricultural futures. CBOT was formed in 1848 the same year the railroads came to Chicago and farmers from the prairie now had the opportunity to sell their livestock and crops to the population centers in the North East of the country.

Typical of Art Deco buildings there are multiple setbacks on the north-facing building with a pyramidal cap. Look out for the eight bovine heads on the building's exterior representing the livestock traded.

On top of the building is a 31-foot tall aluminum sculpture of Ceres the Roman goddess of agriculture, honoring the commodities traded in the building below. The figure was sculptured by artist John Storrs and is faceless.

Inside the building, there are many great Art Deco features to look out for including; Martini glass style elevator doors, three mailboxes fronted with stylized eagles, and check out the flooring in the basement which displays the latest transportation types from 1929.

Chicago Board of Trade Building

Opened in 1934 this massive Art Deco building, designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, was the largest post office in the world. Built on the site of an existing post office, this building covers multiple train tracks and had a hole cut through the building to allow The Eisenhower Expressway (I-290)/Ida B. Wells Drive flow through it. The building has 2.5 million square feet of space (230,000 m²).
 
The structure is so vast (takes up 3 full city blocks) that at one point during the planning stage the idea of adding a landing strip on the roof for mail-carrying planes was discussed!

The reason such a large structure was needed can be explained by the rapid growth in the mail order catalog businesses of 2 of America's largest retailers, Montgomery Ward and Sears. At its peak, it sorted 19 million pieces of mail per day! This was the main mail facility for Chicago for more than 60 years and finally closed in 1997, being replaced by a new modern facility one block south.

This picture is from 1935 

The Old Post Office (Part 1)

The building then sat empty for the next 20 years, reopening in 2019 after the owners spent $800 on the largest single adaptive reuse project in the nation.  It's now home to the headquarters of many large corporations including Walgreens and Ferrara Candy.  On the roof is a 3.5-acre rooftop park with a jogging track and a basketball court.
 
Inside the vast lobby, there are many Art Deco features, look out for the cream marble walls, French glass windows, light fixtures and tile reliefs showing the different ways mail was transported back in the thirties. 

The building's exterior is clad in limestone with narrow recessed windows and vertical uninterrupted piers, mitigating the length of the building.
 
Fun Fact: The lobby appeared in the opening scenes from the movie The Dark Knight - remember the bank robbery scene at Gotham National Bank?

The Old Post Office (Part 2)

Walking tour of select Art Deco Buildings 

Art Deco Chicago Architecture

Chicago alberga una de las mayores colecciones de edificios Art Déco de Estados Unidos. En este recorrido, destacaremos varios edificios magníficos construidos entre 1928 y 1934. Estos rascacielos no se diseñaron para parecerse a los edificios revivalistas anteriores, sino a estos nuevos y elegantes edificios que representan lo mejor de los locos años veinte.

Si realiza el recorrido entre semana, le sugiero que entre en los vestíbulos de los edificios, consulte con el personal de seguridad y luego tome muchas fotos. La mayoría de los propietarios de edificios permiten que los visitantes tomen fotos, solo asegúrese de no obstruir el tráfico peatonal. Los fines de semana, la mayoría de los vestíbulos de los edificios no son accesibles.

Si le interesa aprender más sobre este tema y desea contratarme como su guía privado a pie, contácteme en ckchicago@comcast.net.

Recorrido a pie por edificios Art Déco selectos

Colm Ronan

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