Chicago's architectural gems

CHICAGO — Marshall Jacobson is an architecture aficionado.

Jacobson has chalked up many miles walking the streets of downtown Chicago, admiring the city's classic collection of buildings. He is a volunteer docent with the Chicago Architecture Foundation and a certified professional guide who takes groups on architectural tours by foot and by boat.

An energetic Chicago native, Jacobson, 67, was a natural when we decided to put together a walking tour of the Top 10 Architectural Gems in the downtown area. He gladly accepted the task, with a caveat.

"If you selected another guide, he'd probably come up with a different 10," Jacobson said. "It's like going to an art museum, everybody has his favorites."

We both had our walking shoes on when Jacobson showed up at 9 a.m. at the Trump International Hotel & Tower, where I was staying. The hotel is open while construction continues on its upper floors, which will total 92 when completed in mid-2009.

As we sat in the Trump's sleek, yet subtle, lobby, Jacobson explained that the Great Fire of 1871 created a clean slate for America's renowned architects to show their stuff in rebuilding the city.

"There was a continuing challenge, especially with office buildings, to go up," he said. "Land was expensive, and architects were forced to go higher and higher to make the cut."

Hitting the streets, an obvious problem arose. Jacobson was armed with his list, but it contained 15, not 10, choices. We'd have to whittle it down as we walked. Here's what we came up with:

1. MARINA CITY

300 North State St.

The basics: Twin 60-story towers built in 1964 by Bertrand Goldberg, a student of Mies van der Rohe. Affectionately known as the "corncobs," the complex has apartments, offices, restaurants, 18 stories of parking space and home to the House of Blues.

Marshall Jacobson's take: "The architect wanted it to be a city within a city."

2. WRIGLEY BUILDING

410 North Michigan Ave.

The basics: Serves as the headquarters of the Wrigley gum-making company and was built in 1920 by the company's founder, William Wrigley Jr. Nighttime floodlights highlight its sparking white terra-cotta cladding.

Jacobson's take: "The first tall building on the north side of the river."

3. CARBIDE AND CARBON BUILDING

230 North Michigan Ave.

The basics: Designed by the Burnham Brothers and completed in 1929. The accents at the top are covered in 24-karat gold leaf. The Hard Rock Hotel opened in the building in 2004 after $106 million in renovations.

Jacobson's take: "A wonderful urban legend says the chairman of the board of Union Carbide was dining with the Burnhams and asked them what the building would look like. They pointed to a champagne bottle. The building has green terra cotta and a gold cork at the top."

4. TRIBUNE TOWER

435 North Michigan Ave.

The basics: Completed in 1925 and designed by John Howells and Raymond Hood, who later built the Rockefeller Center in New York City. Home of the Chicago Tribune.

Jacobson's take: "The design is modeled after the Rouen Cathedral in France. The top and bottom are Gothic and the middle part is Art Deco."

5. CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER

77 Randolph St.

The basics: The building was designed by the Boston architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge for the city's central library and Grand Army of the Republic Museum, and completed in 1897.

Jacobson's take: "The interior designers were very lavish. Lots of marble, gold leaf, a Tiffany dome, a Healy-Millet dome, mosaic floors."

6. RELIANCE BUILDING

32 North State St.

The basics: Designed by Charles Atwood, a new partner at Burnham and Root, and built in the early 1890s. The light and airy facade is almost entirely windows, both flat and projecting bays, with narrow piers covered with cream-colored terra cotta. A flat cornice tops the 14-story structure. Now home to the Hotel Burnham.

Jacobson's take: "Because of the percentage of glass to terra cotta, a lot of people say its the precursor to modern architecture. It's pretty much the same percentages found in the glass-and-steel buildings of the 1960s."

7. PALMER HOUSE HILTON

17 East Monroe St.

The basics: The first opulent hotel built by Potter Palmer in 1871 was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire. Palmer and his wife, Bertha, designed the second while the ashes were still smoldering, incorporating in the hotel French architectural design. The beaux arts lobby has a ceiling created by French muralist Louis Pierre Rigal.

Jacobson's take: "The columns are travertine marble, the lights were done by Tiffany and the Empire Room, which opened in 1933, was one of the great nightclubs in the city of Chicago."

8. JAY PRITZKER PAVILION

Millennium Park

The basics: Designed by Frank Gehry, the pavilion stands 120 feet high, with billowing rolls of brushed stainless steel framing the stage that is used for outdoor concerts. An overhead trellis of crisscrossing steel pipes supports the advanced sound system.

Jacobson's take: "Gehry said what inspired him was a Van Meer painting of a white cowl over a girl's head. The evening concerts are lovely."

9. MARQUETTE BUILDING

140 South Dearborn St.

The basics: Designed by architects Holabird & Roche and built in 1895. The steel-framed skyscraper is built around a central light court. The lobby is decorated with mosaic panels made by Tiffany that show the adventures of Jesuit explorer Pere Marquette.

Jacobson's take: "The guy who managed the building, Owen Aldis, said to invest money in the lobby because that was the first thing that people saw."

10. THE ROOKERY

209 South La Salle St.

The basics: Completed in 1885; the architect was John Root. Frank Lloyd Wright remodeled the large skylit lobby in 1905, introducing elements of his Prairie School designs. A temporary structure built on the site after the Great Chicago Fire was used as roost, or rookery, by pigeons.

Jacobson's take: "The atrium was not only beautiful, but brought air and light into the inside offices, like a square doughnut."