Happy Birthday to the Michigan Avenue Bridge [She's 90!]

AND I join the buzz of the day,
She turns 90 today!!
Happy Birthday to the Michigan Avenue Bridge!!!

I met a group of skateboarders, enjoying the Chicago Riverwalk..
"The Crew" as they call themselves..
From left.. Cody Cepeda, Timmy Johnson, Soma Fuller, Marquis King, Eric King and Colton Perugia..

Two plaques on the opposite sides of the bridge,
mark the day Michigan Avenue Bridge was first open for traffic..
May 14, 1920..

Although the relief sculptures on the bridge towers were completed later, in 1928, but now they are an integral part of the bridge.. so I leave with this beautiful image of "Regeneration" by Henry Hering.. which reflects the spirit of Chicago..

For more on.... [click on the link]..
- Michigan Avenue bridge - sculptures and markers ..
- Relief Sculptures: Defense, Regeneration, The Pioneers, and The Discoverers..

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Art Chicago, 2010..

Past few days, my entire focus has been on the 12th-floor of the Merchandise Mart..
for Art Chicago, 2010 [a part of Artropolis]..
Although the show ended on May 3rd, 2010..
But covering it demands still more time..

And then, there'll be a B-R-E-A-K!!

Check out Art Chicago, 2010.. click here..

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Tracking the Y-symbol [Franklin Street bridge]

This is perhaps the best placement of the Y-symbol..
on the Franklin Street bridge..
Exactly where the Chicago River splits into North and South branches..

Another interesting place to check out the Y-symbol is close to where the Chicago River originates..Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium..

For more on Y-symbol.. click here..

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A man, skyscrapers and a newspaper!

A query..
Can you spot the man reading newspaper in all the above images?
Click on any image for an enlarged view..
Today was a sunny, but a very cold day!
Mostly these stairs are filled with people enjoying the sun, but the blustery wind kept them indoors... I couldn't help noticing a man enjoying the newspaper... Besides the river, on the foot of skyscrapers, in the densely populated downtown, there he was, alone, with his newspaper..

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Chicago Riverwalk: An ongoing project ..

If only it was possible to walk uninterrupted along the Chicago River from Lake Shore Drive to Franklin Street.. .. In the fall of 2007, Mayor Daley established a Riverwalk Development Committee to help the city with the design and vision of Chicago Riverwalk .. It works along with CDOT..
CDOT: Chicago Department of Transportation..



Chicago Riverwalk is runs east-west along the lower Wacker Drive from Lake Shore Drive to Franklin Street.. But there are many interruptions, where a person needs to climb the stairs, cross the street descent another staircase to resume the riverwalk path.. Pedestrial underbridges will solve this problem..
And two such pedestrial underbridges have been completed..
- Michigan Avenue Underbridge
- Wabash Avenue Underbridge











Michigan Avenue underbridge..
is about 17 feet wide..
The refletive canopy protects the pedestrians from falling debris, and is also a good place for self-portraits! Everyone should take self-portrait there!











Wabash Avenue underbridge..
is about 20 feet wide.. It's three feet wider than the 17-foot under-bridge at Michigan in order to extend the riverwalk beyond the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Wabash Plaza and continue the pathway to State Street..

So now one can walk along the Chicago River to the Wabash Avenue..
However, there is no bridge underpass for the State Street bridge..
Future build-up of the Riverwalk between State Street and Franklin Avenue will occur as funds arrive. The City is still developing concepts for raising funding for the remainder of the Riverwalk, estimated in the tens of millions of dollars.
The goal is to complete the pedestrian promenade, along the entire South branch of the Main Branvk, allowing for contoinuous access at the river level under every bridge..

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Ira J. Bach Walkway

Ira J. Bach Walkway..
Everyone knows the Wacker Drive..
But few know the honorary street name Ira J. Bach Walkway ..
It's the Upper Wacker Drive between Franklin Street and Michigan Avenue [along the Chicago River]..

But more importantly, who was Ira J. Bach???
I could hardly find any information...
Except for this small head sculpture..

I saw this head sculpture at the Chicago Cultural Center ..
Below is inscribed..
Ira J. Bach
1906-1985
City and Regional Planner
1940-1985
"In developing a general plan, we must look at the city as if it were going to be entirely rebuilt, because a healthy city naturally rebuilds itself in the long run"..
Sculptor: Fiorle de Hernriquez
Thanks Phil Bach for the information on the sculptor!

PostScript:
Thanks Alan Gornik for the information..
which I am posting here..
Ira Bach was an MIT trained architect who became Chicago's City Commission of Planning director in the late '50s. Prior to that he was the Exec Dir of the Cook County Housing Authority. Ira served as the Chairman of the Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks in the '80s. He had many other involvements in Chicago's planning efforts including O'Hare and the El line out to it. In 1983 he published "A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture," which remains an essential reference work. In '83 he was Chicago's Director of City Development. Other excellent references Ira Bach published were "Chicago on Foot" and "A Guide to Chicago's Historic Suburbs" and was editor of "Chicago's Famous Buildings." I took a special interest in Mr. Bach because we lived on the same street when I was a kid. I used to see him walking to the bus. He died in 1985...

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Michigan Avenue Bridge & The Roaring Twenties ..

Like many others, I must have crossed the Michigan Avenue bridge so many times, but this time out-of-nowhere, I remembered the Roaring Twenties.

The Roaring Twenties.. associated with phrases like, the age of contradiction, the Golden Age of mobsters, the age of Prohibition, the formation the League of Women Voters, age of the flappers, of short hair and rising hemlines.. and of the the most enduring hallmarks of the age.. the Michigan Avenue bridge, it's bridge houses and the four remarkable buildings in the four corners of the bridge, which till today, not only defines the Chicago cityscape, but make for some of the most beautiful buildings along the Chicago River..

- Michigan Avenue bridge: 1920
- Wrigley Building: North Tower: 1921, South Tower:1924
- London Guarantee Building: 1923
- Tribune Tower: 1925
- 333 North Michigan Avenue: 1928..

Michigan Avenue bridge.. click here..

North of the Michigan Avenue bridge, are Wrigley bldg. [west] and Tribune Tower [east]

Wrigley building..
Address: 410 N. Michigan Avenue
Year completed: 1924
Architect: Graham, Anderson and Probst..
It consists of two structures,
South Tower completed in 1921, and...
North Tower completed in 1924..
It was built to house the corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company. When it was completed, there were no major office buildings north of the Chicago River and the Michigan Avenue Bridge..

Tribune Tower..
Address: 435 N. Michigan Ave.
Year completed: 1925
Architect: Raymond M. Hood and John Mead Howells ...
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: February 1, 1989..
The Tower design was the result of an international competition for "the most beautiful office building in the world," held in 1922 by the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
For more.. click here..

South of the Michigan Ave. bridge are London Guarantee building [west] and 333 N Michigan Avenue [east]..

London Guarantee building..
Address: 360 N. Michigan Ave...
Year completed: 1923
Architect: Alfred S. Alschuler ...
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: April 16, 1996..
It is built at the site of Fort Dearborn..
Fort Dearborn - a U.S. Military Garrison - was the first government building to be built in Chicago. The fort was named for U.S. Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn. Its purpose was to protect the settlers against attacks by Native Americans.

333 N Michigan Avenue..
Year completed: 1928
Architect: Holabird & Roche/Holabird & Root..
Relief panel sculptor: Fred M. Torrey.
Each depict major event in Chicago history..
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: February 7, 1997..
For more.. click here..

Some other buildings in the Roaring Twenties phase include:
- 35 E Wacker Drive: 1927
- Mather Tower: 1928
- The Carbon & Carbide building: 1929
- Intercontinental Chicago Hotel: 1929
- Civic Opera building: 1929
- Riverside Plaza: 1929
And then we were hit by the Great Depression!!!

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