We had a dozen persevering people join us today on a Dearborn Street Jane’s Walk … and despite the dismal, wet November day, we all stayed to the end and had a great time!
Rolf Achilles covered tremendous ground in Chicago’s architectural and artistic heritage, describing the evolution of office building construction by William LeBaron Jenney, Burnham and Root, the architects’ reliance on engineering to achieve new building heights, and the mutual design influences between Chicago and Vienna – courtesy of Adolf Loos, among other people – at the turn of the 20th Century.
We started with the Manhattan Building at 431 South Dearborn,
and moved on to Holabird and Roche’s Old Colony Building

Old Colony Building
and D. H. Burnham’s Fisher Building,
Mies van der Rohe’s Federal Center,
Calder’s Flamingo
and the spectacular mosaics designed by J.A. Holzer in the lobby of the Marquette Building.
We finished up by viewing SOM’s Inland Steel Building, Chagall’s mammoth mosaic, The Four Seasons,
“the Picasso” and Miro’s “Miss Chicago” sculptures. Along the way, Rolf talked about other great Chicago art collections and design influences.
We’ll be doing the same Walk again in December, and while we’re currently sold out, you can add your name to our waitlist at Dearborn Street Walk. We certainly hope for better weather!

Donations to Jane’s Walk Chicago, a program of Friends of Downtown
$1.00
Thanks for posting!!! So glad to hear the walk went well, despite the weather…and for those of us who couldn’t go, your report and pix were really a pleasant and much appreciated surprise!! Nice to have a little taste of the walk at least!!
You’re welcome! You should sign up for the waitlist for the Walk on December 3rd. As of now, it’s “sold out” but there are always spaces that open up at the last minute.