Chicago Board of Trade

[mbarrick]

Looking up from the street:


Looking down from the Sears Tower:

(Larry, you can see that high-rise prison near the top right of this one)

Comments

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

yeh i recognize those crazy ass windows...what a strange, strange building...

[sycochk.livejournal.com]

uhh, I have a dumb question... is this in chicago? that building looks like one in newyork, and they have a highrise prison too, which I am totally facinated by.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Yup, it's Chicago.

The height the second picture is taken from - the observation deck of the Sears Tower - is about the same as tip of the spire on the Empire State Building-- 17 storeys higher than the observation deck on the Empire State Building. Yet, even though it is higher, the view from the Empire State Building is soooo much better. Chicago is *flat*, the Chicago River is little more than an open sewer running through the city, and the city is just one big clump - no separation like there is between Downtown and Midtown Manhattan, no pretty bridges, lots of park but it is all up against the lake so it doesn't make the same impression as Central Park. All there is to see in the distance from the Sears Tower is the lake on one side and flat farmland on the other. There are some great buildings in Chicago, but the city as a whole is kind of ugly.