Miraculous Monoliths on the Magnificent Mile Part I

Hooray, its another blog chuck full of ramblings on about tall and otherwise awesome buildings. Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper, and has now become the sibling that other sky scraper-building cities' moms say, "Why can't you be more like your older brother?" about. A perfect example of why Chicago has maintained its architectural prowess is the newly topped-off Trump International Hotel and Tower. In early 2001 good ol' Donny Trump announced that this building would be the world's tallest, then later that year something happened in New York that caused him to back away with his tail between his legs. I guess its a good thing that Donald gave up his tallest building pursuit since the Burj Dubai would totally be kicking his rear right now. Any faithful reality tv fan will know that the bulding construction is/was being overseen by Bill Rancic, the winner of the first season of The Apprentice, though Don and Ivana's kids are really the ones in charge.

Nope, not done talking about the Trump tower yet. The building is more than just a huge hotel and spa, its actually a gigantic monument to the adjacent buildings. Notice that there are different layers in the building, these are called set-backs. The first set back is the same height as the Wrigley building next door to the east, the second set back is lined up perfectly with Marina City two buildings to the west, and the third is the same height as IBM Plaza directly to the west (that black boring building in the pictures). I think that's pretty darn cool. Your homework assignment for the weekend is to watch The Dark Knight, as it was mostly filmed in this area. As a matter of fact, the very last scene when Batman takes down the Joker was all filmed in and around the Trump Tower construction site. The Trump Tower is the 3rd tallest building in the US (first is the Sears Tower, 2nd is the Empire State Building), and the 13th tallest in the world. I'm proud to say that I have seen the 11 tallest buildings in the US personally. Very personally.

I guess this is a good place to give a quick shout out to Marina City as well. That's the two towers pictured to the left. That black one in the picture is IBM Plaza, which is next door to the Trump Tower. Anyhow, these towers contain an entire city including condos, bowling alleys, grocery stores and all that. Those semi circles that jut out from the sides are for parking. The same company that built the Trump Tower also did Marina City clear back in 1959. You can see these towers in The Dark Knight as well. Man I love Chicago, it makes any sky scraper enthusiast want to pee his or her pants with excitement. Usually when we come to Chicago we do most of our sky scraper watching around the Sears Tower, I forget that there were so many incredible structures on Michigan Avenue. Don't worry, I didn't forget about the Tribune Tower, or the Water Tower, they'll be making a special guest appearance in the next posting. So remain on the edge of your seat.