If you want to head uptown, a single set of stairs will take you straight to Chicago’s grand promenade, Michigan Avenue. Along with Rodeo Drive and Fifth Avenue, one of the world’s great shopping districts. A place for the hip and the haute, the Magnificent Mile is more magnificent after work when the string lights and store windows turn the area into a stunning display of old-world elegance.
A must-see since it’ll be part of your view out the window. Won first prize for “the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world” in 1922. The building features stones and fragments from 120 structures from around the world: Abraham Lincoln’s original tomb, India’s Taj Mahal, China’s Forbidden City and Great Wall, the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, Berlin Wall, Westminster Abbey, and the White House. A masterpiece of the neo-gothic style, the ornate buttresses surrounding the peak of the tower are more visible at night. Best kept secret: the steps just to the right of the entrance take you down to an amazing walkway fronting the Chicago River.
Tribune Media Building
435 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, 60601
Opening its doors in 2006, the Bridgehouse Museum celebrates Chicago’s river and world-famous movable bridges. Located in the southwest bridge tower of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, you start your adventure at river level and continue the tour spiraling five stories up within the historic landmark bridgehouse. At river level, visitors can view the massive gears of Chicago’s most famous movable bridge and then journey through time as they experience the story of the Chicago River. Once at the top of the Bridgehouse, visitors are treated to magnificent 360 degree views of the city and river. On Wednesdays and Saturdays in the Fall and the Spring, visitors can even see the gears in motion.
376 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 977-0227
