One detail, from the elevator doors at the Rookery, my single favorite building of the walking tour. Birds. Get it? Rookery?
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Bob said on October 28, 2003 at 12:34 am
One of Chicago’s best-known and -loved buildings is Union Station, the only one remaining of six great Chicago stations that once handled intercity passenger trains. Daniel Burnham created the original designs, but he died before he could complete the project. The building was completed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, a successor firm.
The cavernous train concourse, supported by an open framework of soaring girders and flooded by natural light from huge windows and a skylight, was razed in the late 1960’s and an office building was built in its place. A low-ceilinged claustrophobic space cluttered with tacky vendors and lighted sickly green with flourescent tubes gave access to trains. That space was improved in a subsequent remodeling, but nothing can ever atone for the loss of the original.
The main waiting room is still largely intact; a fire several years ago was followed by a thorough top-to-bottom cleaning and sprucing up, including cleaning and restoring the skylight nearly a hundred feet above the floor. Before, the space was grimy and gloomy; now it’s bright and full of light.
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