The Tribune Tower and a Few History Lessons

The Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue in Chicago is one of my favorite buildings. Yes – it’s a great building.The architects won a huge contest in 1922 for designing, as the contest requested, “the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world.”  The Tribune newspaper publishers were serious – they offered a $100,000 prize. The building is a combination of the medieval and the modern. And though the building is quite remarkable, mostly I love it for the quirky stones embedded in the exterior walls that are from famous buildings and historic structures around the world. Pieces from more than 30 countries and all 50 states are represented.

Rock of Peter

Rock of Peter ©2008 Bo Mackison

Yes, I know these rocks and bricks don’t make for grand photos, but I am so totally taken with the very idea of journalists bringing back these kinds of artifacts to their boss – just so he could mount them on his building. The claim is that they were all obtained by appropriate methods, but who really knows. Imagine asking the Pope for a piece of the Dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral!

The story goes that the Tribune’s Rome correspondent informed Colonel McCormick, longtime editor and publisher, that the above stone was obtained from the Pope’s apartment “due to the fact that repairs were being made.” Oh. Okay.

The stone does come from the largest and one of the most widely known Christian churches in the world which took 181 years to build (1445-1626). The dome itself was built from 1573-90, and designed by Michelangelo who died in 1564.  This is really quite the artifact.

Tribune Tower Historical Stone

Tribune Tower Historical Stones ©2008 Bo Mackison

New Hampshire is represented by this brick from Fort William and Mary in New Castle. The fort, built in 1704-05, was one of the first forts involved in the new country’s struggle for independence in December of 1774.

I managed to take photos of about 80% of the stones. Some were just too high for me to photograph. Looks like there may be a few Tribune Tower posts in the next few months. Seems like something I would like to document. I can’t find much information about them anywhere on the internet.

Hello from Chicago!

Chicago postcard

Chicago Postcard ©2008 Bo Mackison

Spent a few fun days in Chicago recently. My eldest kiddo has lived half way across the country for the last six years – three years teaching in a high school in NYC and then three years going back to school for another degree once she realized she didn’t really want to teach for forty more years. And so now it’s time for job interviews. She just had several in Chicago.

Chicago is just a drive across the state line and then a few more miles from home. Sure beats traveling to and from New York. The last time we visited, we had a noon flight out of LaGuardia and finally flew out about ten the next morning. And no, the weather was fine. I won’t even try to rationalize why our trip took nearly 36 hours instead of six! There was no rational reason, though we heard a lot of excuses.

So I have my fingers crossed – my toes crossed, too – for a great job offer in Chicago.

Red Sumac

Smooth Sumac

Smooth Sumac © 2008

Sumacs are famous for their red foliage and fruits throughout much of autumn.  The fruits remain over winter and even throughout the following spring, providing much needed winter food for birds. It’s not that the birds are particularly fond of the berries (the berries are really drupes as they have a pit, not a seed), but that it is one of the few available foods. Moose and deer, however, are more than happy to chomp on the foliage and fruits, and often crop the bushes quite close to the ground.

I think the sumac is at its most attractive when the fruits are bright red, and the red berries are surrounded by foliage that is just turning from greens to blue/purples to reds.

Seth Peterson Cottage, Part II

Seth Peterson Cottage Exterior

Seth Peterson Cottage Exterior © 2008

Another set of photos from the cottage that was one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last commissions.  Located on a cliff overlooking Mirror Lake in central Wisconsin, the building fell into near ruin. A private conservancy group negotiated with the state of Wisconsin to rehab the site.

Frank Lloyd Wright Tile

Frank Lloyd Wright Tile © 2008

Wright affixed his signature red tile to his designs when completed. The Seth Peterson Cottage was built after Wright’s death and supervised by one of his associates. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation agreed to the use of this plaque with an orange tile, not the red tile used by the architect himself.

Main Room and Central Fireplace

Main Room and Central Fireplace © 2008

The inside is typical FLW. It is available for nightly rental, though there are no reservations available until December of 2009. I think it would be a pretty fine place to reserve for a night. Think of the photographs you could set up.

Black Box

Quincy Paper Box Company

Quincy Paper Box Company Composition © 2008

Sometimes I am simply drawn to texture and pattern. There is so much going on in this photo, and yet there is nothing going on at all.