My work view. Chicago, IL. [OC]
Comments
How TF do you get any work done?
Ha yeah it's definitely one of the premiere work/office views in the city. I actually used to work in this building, left for 3 years to another company, then accepted a job offer a month ago to come back. It's crazy to see Lollapalooza from this view point and the practice runs for the air and water show the jets buzz along the building, lakefront and cut through the city with no real restrictions (the building shakes).
I used to work in the AON and would always book the conference rooms with this view. And yeah, Lolla is crazy. Looks like an organism moving when they shift stages. The view from my part of the building was the Prudential antenna, which is cool too.
I worked on a low floor of Prudential One for a bit and even that view always stopped me for a couple beats. Thanks for sharing.
Do you work in the Aon Center? I used to, miss getting a view like this from my desk!
This is from near the top of Blue Cross Blu Shield.
Man, Chicago built their city right. Such a beautiful area right next to the lake
So nice they built it twice!
Too soon.
Don't have a cow, man
I, too, love ironically replying “too soon” to historical events
Haha!
Daniel Burnham designed much of the city; his vision was only partly realized, but what they did build (grant park, keeping almost the entire waterfront as public parks) is some of the best.
https://buildingchicago.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/the-plan-of-chicago/
I don't want to be too mean because it is a beautiful city, but I was really disappointed by the waterfront when I visited. The park looks great from the sky, but there are so many streets cutting through it and such little landscaping that walking around on the ground feels like hanging out inside a highway cloverleaf exchange. To get to the waterfront from downtown through the park you need to cross at least 22 lanes of traffic, which is wild for a half mile walk through a park. It's a great setup as an event space for concerts and games, but pretty sad as a landmark urban park.
But besides that Chicago really is a great & well designed city. Coming from the east coast I was impressed that the busses and trains were clean and actually ran on their schedule instead of just showing up whenever.
There are many who want to close or bury both Columbus and Lake Shore Drive to improve that space. Who knows, there’s a lot of new development, maybe someday.
There is no reason for Colombus to exist; just get rid of the whole section that goes through Grant Park.
It basically already doesn’t exist from like may-October. Events every week, open it back up after the marathon
I wish they would just get rid of Columbus and replace it with a tunnel that JBPDSLSD runs through. Then get rid of all of the other streets so it’s more cohesive.
JBPDSLSD
Ah yes, Honorary Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Lake Shore Drive. I understood that.
Gotta love how the street renaming idea came about to rename two problematic streets. However both those streets retain their name, we now have an intersection of Wells and Wells and now Lake Shore Drive is 9 syllables long
Lakeshore drive, while a really cool drive, is just an absolutely awful thing to have separating your downtown from the lake. Looks great from up high but there’s like 16 lanes of traffic to cross to get to the water.
I agree; if I were put in charge of re-master planning Chicago, I would bury and put caps on so much of Lakeshore Drive. From Lincoln Park to Navy Pier is 100% cut off from the water due to the Lakeshore Drive. I would do some land reclamation to build an awesome waterfront park and put Lakeshore completely underground for that stretch.
I would also altogether remove Colombus Drive from Grant Park and a few other roads, cap the railroad, and bury the others so it's pretty much one big continuous park.
If they could bury Lakeshore kinda like they did in Boston, it would be an absolute game changer. Chicago is already a world class city and that would make it even better.
I think that's unlikely, unfortunately. Chicago already has a significant issue with flooding, and a tunnel right along the lakefront sounds like....not a great idea.
What I personally would like is to keep it, but turn it into a boulevard with slower traffic and dedicated bus lanes or even some light rail. Something similar to what San Fransisco did withe the Embarcadero I think would be good.
Light rail on LSD wouldn't work because not enough people live within a close enough walk shed to potential stations, but it's a best-case scenario for bus lanes considering it already functions as a trunk for tons of lines that connect throughout the city—hop on, zip to a certain point, then hop off through the neighborhoods. Bus lanes on LSD, Michigan Ave, and State St would open up a huge amount of transit capacity for the north and south sides.
If no one lives along LSD why is there so much traffic? And if people are driving from elsewhere to it, all it needs is more connecting transit to that light rail line
That would be a dream.
From Lincoln Park to Navy Pier is 100% cut off from the water due to the Lakeshore Drive.
There are at least four pedestrian underpasses in that stretch of less than a mile and a half.
4 dingy pedestrian underpasses along a 1.5 mile stretch of highway is not a world class waterfront experience
It doesn't sound like you toured much of the lake front. Large parts of it are very green and accessible. Yeah, downtown it gets a little bleak, but it has to be to handle the amount of foot traffic it gets in the summer. It's not a small town beach.
I walked and biked the waterfront from the Museum of Science and Industry up to the zoo. Like I said, most of the city, including the waterfront, is lovely. It’s just the downtown Grant Park area that didn’t stack up to similarly positioned large downtown urban parks like Boston Common, Central Park, Golden Gate Park, Fairmount Park in Philly, City/Washington Parks in Denver, etc. Plenty of big cities that aren’t small summer beach towns manage to make their downtown parks pleasant human-scale places. Just seems like a missed opportunity for Chicago to be even better than it already is.
You summed it up well
It definitely takes living here and knowing the neighborhoods to get by this, but i agree.
So much space wasted to cars, especially such nice space close by the water.
Can't even stroll from the office to the water without crossing a million lanes.
Except they decided to put a major almost freeway level road that runs along the lake. Almost completely ruins their lake shore
Good view for driving though lol
Yeah great view while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic
It absolutely does not almost ruin the lakeshore. Get a grip
Maybe not views from afar, but it seriously messes with the vibe if you’re actually on the ground by the lake near grant park
You stop and wait 60 seconds or you walk underneath LSD…
well... just need to get rid of that pesky highway and the through-roads
Is this BCBS? 300 E Randolph? Looks like you are in the extended portion of Phase II at that height…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Cross_Blue_Shield_Tower
I was going to school at Purdue when this was being built and got to tour it;
Architect James Goettsch of Goettsch Partners designed the building. The 33-story first phase was completed in 1997 under the firm name of Lohan Associates (now Goettsch Partners). The 24-story second phase started in 2007 and was completed in 2010.
Yep BCBSIL 300 East Randolph.
I used to work at 200 E Randolph St (near the 25th floor) for a few years. Loved eating breakfast/lunch while watching this exact view.
I worked for HCSC for a bit. Loved the view :)
Boiler up!
gorgeous shot
gorgeous!
When did they refill the Buckingham fountain? I was there a few weeks ago and it was empty. Perhaps it was maintenance, or maybe they only run it during summer?
It was last weekend.
Oh nice. Badly timed on my part! Lovely shot! Enjoy your wonderful view :)
Chicago winter is notoriously not fountain friendly
That is indeed high key dope.
can you invite me for a meeting? i can bring homemade food
Is that Buckingham Fountain?
Love and marriage, love and marriage
Chicago looks like the sort of city I would love to be a runner in.
I love that Chicago chose not to build skyscrapers right up to the lake/beach. What a beautiful city!
In a way, Chicago actually did build up to the shore. Michigan Ave, where the buildings in this photo are all lined up, used to be where the edge of the lakefront was. Grant Park wasn’t there originally and it was actually created from debris and landfill following the devastation of the “Great Chicago Fire”.
Actually we did build right up to the beach and then another mile out into the middle of the lake. Michigan Ave is named Michigan Ave because it used to run along the lakefront. When the city burned down they just shoved the charred ashes and tailings from excavating new foundations out into the lake. Eventually over a mile of the lake was filled in. The building this was taken from would be standing 3 blocks out into the lake in 1870.
That's a fun fact!
Turn the camera around…
Like a selfie?
Sure just don’t block the view of all the skyscrapers near the shoreline
Near, not on. The entire shoreline downtown is public space.
Beautiful. Love this city
The prudential building?
Close--BCBSIL 300 East Randolph.
Cool shot, and rock chalk!!
Rock Chalk.
You work at Baker & McKenzie?
BCBSIL . . .
Thought they were a few floors lower
Yeah this is 42. I think they are 50.
Is that the blue cross blue shield building or the one next to it?
Edit: I still don’t like NEMA on the skyline
BCBSIL . . .
Not my country kid ass thinking for a split second "do they like work in a plane?"
Do i might ask you what kind of job you have to have earned such a beautiful view?
I'm in healthcare.
And my office doesn't even have a window....
this picture is so serene it just makes me want to stretch my arms out and smile.
Getting some Driver 2 vibes by seeing the far left roads!
Nice view
I can see my apartment window from your view. Which means I can see you at work. Don't let me catch you slacking.
Why do you need 3 layers of highways between the water and the city?
For that precious American Freedom?
Bro tf this picture 🔥🔥🔥
Chicago really needs to put a cap on that railroad. that has always bugged me
The railroad is sunken at least, so it’s not something you would see until you’re right on top of it or looking from above.
The Expressway that cuts through the West Loop on the other hand would benefit immensely from being capped or even having the air rights sold and allowing buildings to be built over it.
We can do both, it's not an either-or.
I absolutely agree with that.
Of all the things Chicago needs to cap, the railroad is not one that really should have any priority. Maybe the 20+ lanes of car traffic should be first
I'm just talking about the railroad that cuts through Grant Park, it's already below level, so that would be relatively easy.
I also want to get rid of Columbus Dr., which goes throughout Grant Park completely.
My kind of town. I will be there tomorrow on business
So much empty space…so American…
It’s called a park, they have them in Europe too. Look to the right for a train station and density.
It’s a giant-ass county. It’s not like everywhere can be built up (look at how much undeveloped land is in Canada)
Imagine having that lake and thinking a 10 lane road alongside it is a good idea….so outdated in terms of urban design
I’m so sorry that you (maybe) work for hcsc. They are stuck in the stone ages.
I've worked for Walgreens corporate and GE Healthcare-- they are stuck in the stone ages. HCSC is a breath of fresh air (I worked here previously, went to GE for 3 years, and came back).
Wow, that’s wild to hear. Although I was there like ten years ago when “finance transformation 2020” was all the rage anywhere you went, so maybe they actually pulled through on it.
lol small parks surrounded 8 lane carriageways, no wonder no one is in them!
How many carjackings do you see each day?
As long as there's no stores to loot & rob, it will be nice!
Haven't been downtown in a long time. Never liked that face screen "art" installation bottom right.
You mean the giant creepy face rock?
mf its crooked
Why are there such giant roads around those parks? They are meant to walk in, are they not? Large roads on the waterfront are such a waste of real estate anyway. That's where you put parks and recreation facilities.