Chicago Landmarks

State of Illinois Center, 100 W. Randolph St.
Masterpiece by German star architect Helmut Jahn, huge atrium mall with shops, cafes and restaurants; outside a sculpture by Jean Dubuffet. The State of Illinois Art Gallery is also located here.

Magnificent Mile (website)
The portion of Michigan Avenue that runs north of the Chicago River to Oak Street with numerous galleries, restaurants, boutiques and Niketown, 669 N. Michigan Avenue.

360 CHICAGO (formerly John Hancock Center), 875 N. Michigan Avenue (website)
343 m high, upwardly tapering, conveyor tower-like building, completed in 1970 according to the ideas of the SOM architectural office and the tallest building in the world in the 1970s; Viewing platform on the 94th floor (314 m above ground; accessible 9 a.m. – midnight). Two 105 m high telecommunication antennas protrude from the roof into the sky.

Terra Museum of American Art, 666 N. Michigan Ave. (website)
extensive collections of American art spanning more than two centuries. Paintings by JS Sargent, WM Chase, Mary Cassat, Samuel FB Morse, Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper. Opening times: Tue 12 noon – 8 p.m., Wed – Sat 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sun 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Ave (website)
Outstanding contemporary art collection. The museum building was designed by the German architect Josef Paul Kleihues. Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 6pm, Wednesday to 9pm, Sunday 10am to 5pm.

Wrigley Building, 410 N. Michigan Ave (website)
1924 built in the forms of French Renaissance for the chewing gum group 32stöckiges building with a bell tower.

Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave (website)
Built in the 1930s with reminiscences of Egyptian pyramids, Gothic cathedrals and Greek temples.

International Museum of Surgical Sciences, 1524 N. Lake Shore Drive (website)
Extensive medical history collection from the primitive aids of indigenous peoples to the most modern technical devices.

Marina City (website)
Built on the Chicago River in 1963/1964 according to plans by Bertrand Goldberg; 61-storey office and apartment complex with a theater, ice rink and marina, towered over by 179 m high twin towers; in the 1960s, the Marina City Towers were the tallest buildings in the world.

Merchandise Mart (website)
Furniture and other supermarket, built in 1928 and constantly expanding, with 1,800 exhibition rooms, the largest department store in the world.

Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th St., (website)
Largest facility of its kind in the north of the USA.

United Center, 1901 W. Madison St., (website)
Home of the Chicago Bulls.

Chicago Board of Trade, S. LaSalle St./141 W. Jackson Blvd. (website)
the oldest and largest grain exchange in the world, visitor gallery on the 5th floor. Opening times: Mon – Fri 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Civic Center for the Performing Arts, 20 N. Wacker Dr.
Home of the Civic Opera (website), the Civic Theater and the Chicago Lyric Opera (website).

333 West Wacker Drive Building (website)
The Chicago River is reflected in its steel and glass facade.

State Street Mall (website)
Featuring the 450 department wholesale Marshall Field & Company store.

Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St. (website)
Largest public library on earth.

Willis Tower – also called Sears Tower, 233 S. Wacker Dr.
443 m high with 110 floors, completed in 1974 for the department store group Sears, Roebuck & Co., still the tallest building in the USA and the tallest building in the world until the 1990s; Observation deck on the 103rd floor (theskydeck.com) overlooking the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin on a clear day. Opening times: March – September daily 9 a.m. – 11 p.m., Oct – February until 10 p.m.

Navy Pier (website)
Festival and amusement area with rides and other leisure facilities, over 20,000 square meters in size. The ChicagoFest takes place here in August, with an overwhelming view of the Chicago skyline.

Grant Park (website)
Grade II listed Grant Park extends from S. Michigan Ave. east to Lake Michigan and south to the Field Museum of Natural History, about 2 mi / 3 km away. Some of Chicago’s must-see museums are gathered here. With the Buckingham Fountain, the park offers an oasis of calm for the numerous employees in the surrounding offices.

Art Institute of Chicago, Michigan Ave. & Adams Sts. (website)
One of the most extensive art collections on earth. The museum includes all collection areas from antiquity to today, paintings, graphics, sculptures and photographs, as well as objects of applied art and ethnographic exhibits from Asia, Africa and America. The exhibition of French impressionists and post-impressionists is outstanding, including works by Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Degas and Van Gogh. The Thorne Miniature Rooms show 68 different living rooms from the farmhouse parlor to the palace including their facilities on a scale of 1:12. Opening times: Mon. – Fri. 10.30am – 4.30pm, Tues. until 8.00pm, Sat. 10.00am – 5.00pm, Sun. 12.00pm – 5.00pm Clock

Auditorium Theater, 430 S. Michigan Ave. (website)
Designed in 1889 by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, impresses with its clear lines and excellent acoustics, and houses the private Roosevelt University founded in 1945, the O’Malley Theater and the Ganz Recital Hall.

Spertus Museum, 618 S. Michigan Ave (website)
Dedicated to Jewish culture and owns a large number of art objects from synagogues around the world.

Field Museum of Natural History, on the south side of Grant Park (Roosevelt Rd. & Lake Shore Dr.), (website)
The most popular are the Egyptian mummies, the dinosaur presentation, the multimedia Africa section and the section on the development of life. Opening times: daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

John G. Shedd Aquarium, 1200 S. Lake Shore Dr. (website)
one of the largest of its kind in the world with over 6,000 different aquatic animals, an artificial coral reef (fed by divers daily at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.), sharks, sea turtles and other residents of the Caribbean Sea. In the “Oceanarium” are residents of the northwestern Pacific, including whales, dolphins and sea otters. Opening times: Tue – Fri 9 am-5pm, Sat and Sun until 6pm; June – August also on weekdays until 6 p.m.

Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. Lake Shore Dr. (website)
Celestial demonstrations and accompanying exhibitions dealing with various aspects of astronomy and space travel.

Soldier Field (website)
Huge sports stadium, laid out between 1922 and 1940, with space for 200,000 spectators

Prairie Avenue Historic District
Around the refurbished nineteenth-century posh street where the city’s wealthy like department store kings Marshall Field and Joseph Sears lived. The Glessner House, built in neo-Romanesque style in 1886 (website) (1800 S. Prairie Ave.), Today the seat of the renowned Chicago Architecture Foundation. The Clarke House, built in the “Greek Revival Style”, is one of the oldest houses in Chicago.

West Fulton Market
According to equzhou, Chicago’s slaughterhouse district is developing into a trendy area. Low rents attract artists and the art trade is flourishing. The trendy restaurant Victor is located in a former sausage factory. There are many galleries, bars, designer shops and restaurants.

Lake Front
Chicago has a 50 km long shore front on Lake Michigan. The 124-block stretch of shore has withstood all efforts to build it up. In 1909, the architect Daniel H. Burnham submitted a general design for the city, which provided for the free stretch of shore with space for beaches, islands and marinas. It was the hour of birth of the Lake Front, which still exists today.