10 Unique Facts About Chicago

Unique Facts About Chicago. There’s many fun facts about Chicago that you may already know. It’s called the “Windy City”, Trump Tower is the second largest building, and it’s home to the Chicago Cubs…but what about the unique facts that’s been buried by history and forgotten about by most?

On my recent trip to Chicago, we took a Riverwalk Walking Tour with Free Tours by Foot.  Not only were we shown parts of the city we might not have seen otherwise in our short weekend there, but we learned so much about the architecture and the beauty of Chicago. We also learned some fun facts about many of the buildings that people look at everyday. Are you visiting Chicago soon? You might want to check out these facts for your next Dates in the States guided tour.

Some of these facts you may already know, and others might blow your mind!

1.) “The Bean” 

The famous sculpture in Millenium Park known as “The Bean” is actually called “Cloud-Gate”. This sculpture was created by Sir Anish Kapoor and is one of the biggest tourist traps on that side of the city. Thousands of people gather around it every day for pictures of their reflection and to ogle at this work of art. The name never stuck and it has been nicknamed, “The Bean.”

2.) Chicago is passing a bill to protect the birds.

Chicago-based architect Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects loved birds so much and saw the devastation that happens every year. Thousands of birds are killed by flying into the windows of these tall skyscrapers. We look at the skyline as a thing of beauty, but it can be a deadly vision for migrating birds. Jeanne Gang designed a building called “Aqua” with bird-safe features such as pattern-forming balconies and angled, downward sloping glass so that birds can easily see the buildings. The bill that is being passed will require that public buildings built must incorporate bird-safe features such as these.

3.) This old brick building used to be an old Grocer in the early city days.

Today, many grocers are able to recycle, compost, or put their expired and rotten foods in a dumpster. However, back in the day, grocers such as this one used to dump their trash into the river. So, when you see people kayaking, paddle boarding, and having a good old time in the river, think of this! The river is NOT as clean as one may think.

4.) Dave Matthews Band Mishap

Dave Matthews Band visited Chicago a few years ago on their tour. On their way out of the city, they were stuck in traffic on a bridge over the river, above a walkway. Their toilet/dump tank on the bus needed to be emptied, and the bus driver thinking the gutters on the bridge led to somewhere, proceeded to dump the tank into the gutter. Little did they know, the waste was being dumped all over the people and the walkway below them. Dave Matthews Band hasn’t visited Chicago since. The city now created a special design for every bridge so there is an extension above the walkways in case this ever happens again.

5.) “Corn Cobs” 

The Marina Towers are condos next to the Riverwalk in the shape of “corn cobs”. They were built in 1962, and used to be the two tallest residential buildings at the time. There’s a store that makes actual furniture to specially fit into these apartments. That’s because the rooms are such an odd shape, no other furniture can fit logically and you end up wasting space. The parking garage is at the bottom of the towers. Your probably wondering, has anyone driven off and crashed? Yes, one lady drove off the tower, however it was only one of the bottom floors so she didn’t get hurt. Then in the action film, The Hunter, a famous car chase scene happened here in the corn cobs and for the movie, the car drove off the tower. In 2006, Allstate recreated that famous car chase scene and shot a car off the 17th floor. You can find the commercial on YouTube! There’s a reason the towers now only allow valet to park.

6.) Hidden Art on The Chicago Tribune Building

The Chicago Tribune has some of the most fascinating art sculpted and placed on their building that I’ve ever seen. The architects who designed and built the building were not allowed to put their names on the buildings they built as did many known architects back in the early 1900’s. Due to this, the architects came up with strategically placed designs to mark the buildings they built. Howells & Hood built the Tribune tower in 1923 and placed a sculpture of a wolf howling and Robin Hood as their signatures. These can be seen on the front of the building above the main entrance. Also, on the tower are bricks from all over the world. You can find Abby Road, The Parthenon, and more strategically placed on the outside of this beautiful office building.

7.) All of the buildings in Chicago aren’t as old as they look. 

Walking through downtown Chicago you might be thinking many of the buildings are from the 1800’s or early 1900’s. That’s not the case. Many architects and the people of Chicago loved the art deco and gothic inspired look and ran with it. They wanted to look older than they are, but in reality, many of the buildings weren’t build that long ago and actually were built in the early 1960’s. Chicago also has many features that replicate Paris, France such as these lamp posts. You can see objects such as these scattered throughout the city.

8.) This circular building is actually a church called the Seventeenth Church of Christ Scientist.

Walking inside you might recognize it due to the interior of the building being a filming location for the movie Divergent. You can also catch a glimpse of the exterior of this building in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. This building has won numerous awards for it’s architecture and unique design. It looks like a concrete ship in the middle of the city.

9.) The Carbide & Carbon Building

Another one of Chicago’s beautiful and unique skyscrapers. The most unique fact about this building is that the top is made up of 24 karat gold. As you start to move your eyes from the bottom of the building towards the top, you can see this art deco building is composed of granite, green and gold terra cotta with bronze trim. Then as your eyes meet the top of the building, the gold cap blinds you in the sun. It’s certainly eye-catching.

10.) “The Onion Dome” 

There’s a building known in Chicago as “The Onion Dome” due to it’s very large yellow and onion shaped cap. This building is now a hotel, and from what I hear there used to be a speak-easy up at the top. Now, the interesting fact isn’t the “Onion” it’s actually what’s behind it called the “Zeppelin Mooring Mast”. This ladder was built because someone had the brilliant idea to fly a blimp through the city and enter the speak-easy by way of this ladder. What they didn’t calculate was the wind in between the buildings in this “windy city” would prevent the blimp from even attempting to fly that close into the city. Therefore, this “Zeppelin Mooring Mast” was sadly never used.

 

 

Did you learn any new Chicago facts today?