Chicago Architecture Guide: The River Cruise and a Loop Walk

Chicago's buildings are its main attraction, and they make most sense in two parts: from the river first, for the big picture, then on foot through the Loop, for the details.

The river cruise

The Chicago Architecture Center's cruise, run on the First Lady boats from the dock by the Michigan Avenue bridge, lasts about ninety minutes and follows all three branches of the river. Its volunteer guides explain how the city moved from brick and iron to steel frames and glass, and you pass under the bascule bridges that lift to let tall boats through. Book ahead for summer weekends and sunset departures. Other companies run cheaper cruises, but the guiding is the reason to choose this one.

A walk through the Loop

About two miles, and flat all the way. Start at the Chicago Architecture Center on Wacker Drive.

1. The Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower. Across the river on Michigan Avenue, the white terracotta clock tower and the Gothic newspaper tower, whose walls have fragments of famous buildings from around the world set into them.
2. Marina City. Look west along the river for the two round "corncob" towers of 1964, with car parks spiralling up the lower floors.
3. The Rookery. On LaSalle Street, a fortress of red stone from 1888, with a light court that Frank Lloyd Wright remodelled in white and gold. The lobby is free to walk into on weekdays and Saturday mornings. Use the Adams Street door.
4. The Chicago Board of Trade. The Art Deco tower at the end of LaSalle, topped by a faceless statue of Ceres, the goddess of grain. The sculptor, John Storrs, reportedly assumed nobody would ever see her up close. Taller towers now look straight down on her.
5. The Monadnock Building. On Dearborn Street, the tallest building ever made with load-bearing brick walls, which are about two metres thick at the base.
6. The Sullivan Center. On State Street, Louis Sullivan's department store, with cast-iron ornament swirling over the corner entrance.
7. The Chicago Cultural Center. Finish on Michigan Avenue under the Tiffany dome, free and a short walk from Millennium Park.

For the view from above, add Willis Tower, from 1973, or 360 Chicago, as in our things to do list.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Wright began his career here. In Oak Park, about half an hour west on the Green Line, his Home and Studio and the concrete Unity Temple can be toured, and the surrounding streets have the largest group of his buildings anywhere. In Hyde Park, the long, low Robie House is his finest Prairie-style home. Both need tickets booked in advance.

The cruise and the walk fill a day of our 3-day itinerary.