Chicago Architectural Foundation

We took a river cruise today to see the vibrant and varied architectural heritage of Chicago. The whole east side of Chicago was built on a land-fill, with debris from two sources - (1) they used refuse from the great Chicago fire, and (2) they dredged up more dirt from the Chicago river than was dug out of the Panama Canal! Why - to make Lake Michigan flow south and west (instead of its natural north and east flow) into the Mississippi - all the way to New Orleans! Mies Van Der Rohe, Phillip Johnson and others led Chicago in developing the first skyscrapers using steel construction. Here are some views: