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951 Chicago Avenue
Oak Park, IL 60302
Phone: 708-848-1976
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The main draw for architecture buffs here in Oak Park is Frank Lloyd Wright’s own home and studio, which has been restored and is open to the public. In 1889, at the age of 22, Wright designed and built this elegant home, but as his family grew, he added on more space to accommodate the family’s six children. As Wright’s reputation and architecture business expanded, he constructed a studio next to the residence. Here, Wright and his assistants would create many of the over eleven hundred designs that he developed during his long and illustrious career. By 1910, Wright had moved back to his native Wisconsin, but the legacy he left behind in Oak Park and Chicago is remarkable. Known for an ego that nearly matched his talent, Frank Lloyd Wright considered himself the world’s greatest architect. And looking around Oak Park, it’s really kind of hard to disagree.
Frederick C. Robie House
5757 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: 708-848-1976
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. Designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1910, this building inspired an architectural revolution. Its sweeping horizontal lines, dramatic overhangs, stretches of art glass windows, and open floor plan make it a perfect example of what’s called the Prairie School of Architecture, a style promoted by Wright and a few of his like-minded contemporaries. Wright believed that a building had to be in harmony with its surroundings, so he designed these Prairie style houses to evoke the wide-open spaces of his native Midwest. Today, the Robie House is open for daily tours, and its interior is being painstakingly restored to its original glory. It’s a rare chance to get a up-close look at architectural genius.
Jane Addams' Hull-House Museum
800 S. Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60607
Phone: 312-413-5353
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In the 19th century, the area around this museum was a slum for recently arrived immigrants. Social activist Jane Addams, seeing the great needs of the people around her, founded Hull House as a center for the community. It provided numerous social services for the poor, and became a model for the future of social work in the United States. Today Hull House is open to visitors five days a week, and admission is completely free. No doubt, Ms. Addams would approve.
Michigan Ave. & Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60603
Phone: 312-742-1168
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Millennium Park is the Loop’s newest, flashiest, and most expensive attraction. It’s tough to choose, but probably the most eye-catching part of the park is the Crown Fountain. This multi-media masterpiece is something else. The artist, Jaume Plensa, gave the old idea of a gargoyle spitting water a 21st century update. Here, two fifty-foot glass towers have huge screens where the faces of local Chicagoans are projected. There are two more post-modern touches that make Millennium Park unique. The first is the Pritzker Pavilion, an amphitheatre designed by noted architect Frank Gehry. The whole Pavilion is open to the public all day for strolling and picnicking. The last major attraction in the park is a huge sculpture known as Cloud Gate. This 110-ton piece is the creation of British artist Anish Kapoor, who says he got his inspiration from liquid mercury.
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: 312-280-2660
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With its slightly shocking exterior and its constantly changing exhibits, the modern MCA is the perfect companion to the more traditional Art Institute. The Museum of Contemporary Art Collection has outstanding examples of visual art from 1945 to the present with a strong focus on surrealism, minimalism, conceptual photography, and work by Chicago-based artists. The MCA also has nearly 2,500 examples in its collection of artists’ books.
Untouchable Gangster Tours
Meeting around 600 N. Clark
Chicago, IL 60610
Phone: 773-881-1195
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Some of the highlights of this tongue-in-cheek look at the wacky world of organized crime include the Biograph Theater, where notorious bank robber John Dillinger met his end, Holy Name Cathedral, where bullet holes in the cornerstone still bear witness to a 1924 mob hit, and the South Side brewery that was once owned by noted Chicago “furniture dealer” Al Capone.