Self-guided route · generated from Wikivoyage
Chicago: more of the See list
Generated from Wikivoyage's See list for Chicago: 7 stops, about 0.9 km and 47 minutes on foot. Not a guided tour; check each place before you go.
7 stops · 876 m · about 47 min on foot · Wikivoyage source · fetched 2026-11-07 02:07:27 UTC. Not a guided tour: check each place before you go.
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Chase Tower
850 ft. Located at the exact center of CTA's Loop transit system, this building is distinctive for its vertical curve. It has been renamed for each of the successive banks that have bought out its previous tenants — for example, it was the BankOne Tower until 2005. The plaza outside is more interesting than the interior — it is home to an enormous mosaic by renowned Russian painter Marc Chagall.
41.88154, -87.63035 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Marquette Building
It's partially obscured by renovations, but this first-wave skyscraper still makes an immediate contrast with the modern Federal Center across the street. The lobby is decorated with Tiffany mosaics and bronze carvings of Pere Marquette, an early French explorer. There is plenty of first-floor retail to allow trips inside.
41.87950, -87.63007 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Federal Center
This plaza includes Mies' Dirksen Federal Building and Kluczynski Federal Building (built eleven years apart), with a low-rise post office enveloped in their sleek black lines. But the buildings are not quite as famous as the gigantic red constructivist flamingo statue by Alexander Calder in the plaza in front of the post office. An adventurous raccoon may have set a raccoon world climbing record by reaching the scaffolding on the 36th floor in 2006.
41.87840, -87.62990 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
Audio: not available — OpenVibe.AI has no speech-synthesis API today.
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Monadnock Building
Named appropriately for a mountain in New Hampshire, the Monadnock was the last tall building to be supported by its own walls (not a metal frame, although the 1893 addition by Holabird & Roche does use one). It's a masterpiece of simplicity and power in form. The block-long hallway that serves as a lobby has incredible ambiance: it's always kept at a level of brightness that suggests gas lamps, and the small stores on the first floor (a coffee shop, a shoe-shine, a restaurant) are all turn-of-the-century tile-and-polish.
41.87801, -87.62944 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Metropolitan Correctional Center
287 ft. While not very tall, this 1975 brutalist structure is one of the most distinctive and curious in the Chicago skyline. As its name suggests, it is a vertical prison skyscraper and its sharp triangular shape is designed to minimize the amount of time that it takes to patrol its corridors. Its prisoners have some of the prison world's best views as their exercise yard is on top of the roof, although the narrow slits serving as windows do not allow such nice views from the cells. The prison houses male and female convicts of all security levels, waiting for transport to the courthouse near
41.87670, -87.63060 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
Audio: not available — OpenVibe.AI has no speech-synthesis API today.
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Federal Reserve Bank Money Museum
Currency wonks can study various denominations and practice counterfeit detections. Guided tours every day at 1PM.
41.87850, -87.63160 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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The Rookery
The Rookery is gorgeous to the point of absurdity, with delight to be found in details in the rustic lower walls and the triumphant upper walls. (Note the helpful street names carved in the corners.) Named for pigeons' habit of roosting in the then-new skyscrapers, this was the first Loop building to be granted preservation status in 1972. The lobby was remodeled in 1907 by enfant terrible Frank Lloyd Wright, adding his own touch to the interior.
41.87908, -87.63211 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Notes and the ordering come from Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0; coordinates and map data from OpenStreetMap, ODbL. The route drawing is generated, not a guide's promise.