Chicago Riverwalk & Chicago River Esplanade

Chicago River Esplanade..


Chicago Riverwalk..

I was under the impression that Chicago Riverwalk and Chicago River Esplanade would mean the same thing ... but was amused to find out that at least when it comes to Chicago, these terms are not interchangeable ... and are used to refer to the north and south banks of the Chicago River respectively ... By that I mean ..

Chicago Riverwalk.. refers to the walkway along the south bank of the Chicago River ... and extends from N Lake Shore Drive to Franklin Street ... As such, it runs along the lower Wacker Drive.
# For more on Chicago Riverwalk ... click here ...
# For Public Art along the Chicago Riverwalk.. click here..

Chicago River Esplanade.. refers to the walkway along the north bank of the Chicago River ... and extends from N Lake Shore Drive to Michigan Avenue ... It's officially named as "DuSable Founder's Way" ... It includes a continuous river walkway with a series of landscaped cascading plazas ...
# For more on Chicago River Esplanade ... click here ...
# For Public Art along the Chicago River Esplanade.. click here..

Chicago River Esplanade / DuSable Founder's Way

The Chicago River Esplanade is located along the north bank of the Chicago River between Michigan Avenue and the N Lakeshore Drive bridge. It's officially named as "DuSable Founder's Way". It includes a continuous river walkway with a series of landscaped cascading plazas..

As we walk down the stairways from the north-east of the Michigan Avenue bridge, there's a signage "Honorary: DuSable Founders Way". It can be seen in the image below, on the right corner..

Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable [1745 -1818] popularly known as "The Father of Chicago", was the first known non-native settler in the area which is now Chicago, Illinois. Du Sable was recognized by the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago as the Founder of Chicago on October 26, 1968..

A bust of DuSable, by sculptor Erik Blome, as also been installed [in 2009] on the north-eastern corner of the bridge..
For more, click here..

Du Sable Homesite [at the north-east corner of Michigan Avenue bridge] has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

The bronze plaque reads..
Point Du Sable House ...
"Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite has been dedicated a National Historic Landmark. This site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America
1977, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior".

Kinzie Mansion..
Near this site stood Kinzie Mansion 1784-1832, home of Pointe Du Saible, Le Mai, and John Kinzie. Chicago`s `First Civilian'. Here was born, in 1805, the city`s first white child, Ellen Marion Kinzie.
Erected by Chicago`s Charter Jubilee
Authenticated by Chicago Historical Society - 1937.

On Friday, October 15, 2010, the Michigan Avenue bridge was officially renamed as DuSable bridge.

I find this walkway [DuSable Founders Way] to be a very beautiful relaxing place to just walk or sit on the chairs and enjoy the river and cityscape..

Walking on the DuSable Way, one can find..
- Chicago Rising from the Lake by Milton Horn..
- Nicholas J. Melas Centennial Plaza and Founatin..

At the eastern end of the walk a DuSable Park is under construction.

RELATED LINKS..
# Chicago Riverwalk & Chicago River Esplanade..
# For Public Art along the Chicago Riverwalk..
# For Public Art along the Chicago River Esplanade..

Public Art on the North Bank of Chicago River..

The Chicago River Esplanade is located along the north bank of the Chicago River between Michigan Avenue and the N Lakeshore Drive bridge. It's officially named as "DuSable Founder's Way". It includes a continuous river walkway with a series of landscaped cascading plazas..

Public Art along the Chicago River Esplanade includes ...

Bust of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable..
By Kirk Blome
Installed: 1909
Location: Pioneer Court
DuSable is called the founder of Chicago ..
# For more on DuSable sculpture.. click here..
# For more on the site of DuSable House ..click here..
# For more, click here..

The Michigan Avenue bridge and the the bas relief sculpture on the bridgetower houses commemorating important events in Chicago history ..
Defense, Regeneration, The Pioneers, and The Discoverers..
By James Earle Fraser and Henry Hering..
Completed: 1928, Carved limestone
Location: Michigan Avenue Bridge
# For more, click here..

Chicago Rising from the Lake..
By Milton Horn ..
This bronze bas-relief is symbolic of the city of Chicago. The female figure represents Chicago emerging reborn from the bottom of Lake Michigan following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 ....
For more, click here ..

The Centennial Plaza and Fountain...
Every hour on the hour, from 10:00 to 14:00 and again from 17:00 to midnight, the esplanade's Centennial Fountain shoots a massive arc of water across the river for 10 minutes.
For more, click here ...

DuSable Park: This 3.5 acre park is located where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan. It was dedicated as parkland in 1988 by the late Mayor Harold Washington. DuSable Park is named after Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable [1745 -1818] The first non-native settler and founding father of Chicago ...

Merchandise Mart Hall of Fame..
For more on Pioneer Court, click here..

RELATED LINKS..
# Chicago Riverwalk & Chicago River Esplanade....
# Public Art along the Chicago Riverwalk....
# Chicago River Esplanade/DuSable Founders Way
# Public Art along the North Bank of Chicago River

Public Art in the Loop

The Loop is now one of the world's largest outdoor museums for contemporary art ...

The year 1967 marks the beginning of a series of outdoor public art pieces installed in the Loop. The first monumental modern sculpture to be unveiled was the "Picasso", in the Civic Center Plaza on August 15, 1967 ...

# Read more .. "Picasso" ... click here ...

Although the Picasso was initially received with scorn and ridicule, it soon became an symbol of Chicago ... and thereafter many more public art pieces were installed in the Loop area ...

Then the year 1974 is very significant, when two important sculptures were installed in the loop ...
# Four Seasons - Marc Chagall
# Flamingo - Alexander Calder
Marc Chagall was present when his sculpture were dedicated to the city of Chicago ...In fact, Chagall had arrived in Chicago several weeks earlier from his studio in France to oversee final details of this massive five-sided mosaic sculpture, which he and his devoted friends, Chicago philanthropists William and Eleanor Wood Prince gifted to the city of Chicago ...
Also Alexander Calder, was present when his bright red "Flamingo" was unveiled ... In fact he arrived at the Federal Center Plaza atop a white-and-gold circus wagon drawn by 40 horses to dedicate his Flamingo, ... [although Pablo Picasso could never make it to the US]...

The 1974 events helped inspire a city ordinance four years later called City of Chicago Percent-for-Art Ordinance ... It requires 1.33 percent of the construction budget for municipal buildings to be used for artwork ... As a result many art pieces are displayed at City Hall, courthouses, libraries, and police and fire stations ...

* NOTE: Most of the informations are gathered from the official website .. Chicago Public Art Program .. click here ..



Four Seasons - by Marc Chagall
Installed: 1974
Location: Exelon Plaza

# Read more .. Four Seasons ... click here ...



Flamingo - by Alexander Calder
Installed: 1974
Location: Federal Plaza

# Read more .... Flamingo .. click here



Batcolumn - by Claes Oldenburg ..
Installed: 1977
Location: Harold Washington Social Security Administration Building Plaza
600 W. Madison St..
Art-in-Architecture Program ...

# Read more .. Batcolumn ... click here ...



Sounding Sculpture - by Harry Bertoia
Installed: 1975
Location: Aon Center Plaza [formerly Amoco Building Plaza], 200 E. Randolph St.

# Read more .. Sounding Sculpture ... click here ...



Monument with standing Beast - by Jean Dubuffet
Installed: 1989
Location: James R Thompson Center Plaza
Art-in-Architecture Program

# Read more ... Monument with standing beast ... click here ..




The Flight of Daedalus and Icarus - by Roger Brown
Completed: 1991
Location: 120 N LaSalle Building ...
* I've also read this mural named as "Arts and Science of the Ancient World" ..

# Read more ... The Flight of Daedalus and Icarus ... click here ...



Free Form - by Richard Hunt
Installed: 1993
Location: 160 N. LaSalle St.
Art-in-Architecture Program ...

# Read more .. Free Form ... click here ...

For many more pieces of Public Art in the Loop, please check out the .. List of Public Art images displayed in the blog .. click here ..

The Flamingo (1974) - by Alexander Calder

The Flamingo - by Alexander Calder

Installed: 1974

53' high X 29' wide X 60' length

Location: Chicago Federal Plaza

Commissioned by the US GSA Art in Architecture program

This sculpture titled "Flamingo" is made by Alexander Calder, one of the most eminent sculptors of the 20th century American art.  "The sculpture was received in a public ceremony never before nor since equaled in scale nor in fanfare".

It's brilliant color and graceful curves are a great contrast to the three black and blocky buildings surrounding it. The Chicago Federal Center comprises of three buildings -The Everett McKinley Dirksen Building, the John C. Kluczynski Building, and the Loop Post Office.  All the three Federal buildings are designed by Mies Van Der Rohe  

Plazas in the Loop, Chicago

PLAZAS IN THE LOOP..
# The Daley Plaza .. click here
# The Federal Plaza
# Exelon Plaza..
# One Financial Place Plaza


The Daley Center Plaza ...
Richard J. Daley Civic Center consists mostly of courtrooms and county offices. The Cook County Law Library and County Sheriff's office also reside here.

The Daley Center Plaza is a gathering place for events, all year round .... It serves more than 10,000 people a day ... In winter, the Chicago city Christmas tree is raised in this square, as seen in the image ... The plaza also has some important pieces of public art like ...
# The Picasso .. click here ...
# The Eternal Flame .. click here ..
# The Fountain .. click here ..


The Federal Plaza ...
It's surrounded by three Federal Center buildings: the Everett McKinley Dirksen Building, the John C. Kluczynski Building, and the Loop Post Office ... All the buildings are designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ... All these structures have Mies characteristic style of steel frame and curtain walls ... The Post Office, a unitary space with a central core, is typical of Mies’s reductivist concept of the single-story pavilion.

The Federal plaza has the famous sculpture ..
# The Flamingo - by Alexander Calder .. click here ...


The Exelon Plaza, also known as the Chase Tower Plaza, is one of the most beautiful public squares in the Loop.
# Exelon Plaza...
# The mosaic sculpture "Four Seasons" - by Marc Chagall ... click here ..
# The Clock .. click here ..
# The Fountain ... click here ..


One Financial Place Plaza..
# San Marco-II, by Ludovico De Luigi..

Loop: The Weather Bell Corner

The Weather Bell Corner ..
Location: Intersection of Monroe & Clark streets in The Loop...
It changes color with the weather forcast:
# Yellow – for colder temperatures ..
# Red – for warmer temperatures ..
# Green – for no change ..

Pioneer Court: Site of Point Du Sable House ...

Many bronze plaques can be seen at the 401 N. Michigan Avenue Plaza [formerly known as the Equitable Building Plaza], also known as the Pioneer Court. These plaques mark the pioneers of Chicago's birth, growth and greatness..



As one of the bronze plaque reads ... Point Du Sable House ...
"Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite has been dedicated a National Historic Landmark. This site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America
1977, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior"..

Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable [1745 -1818] ... popularly known as "The Father of Chicago", was the first known settler in the area which is now Chicago, Illinois. Du Sable was recognized by the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago as the Founder of Chicago on October 26, 1968..

The above images show the site of Jean Baptiste Du Sable's house, which is north-east of the Michigan Avenue bridge. The stairways down from the Upper Michigan Avenue takes one be the site of Jean Baptiste du Sable's original residence and trading post...

The River Walkway along the north branch of Chicago River, from the east of Michagan Ave. to Lake Shore Drive has been named as DuSable Founders Way..



Kinzie Mansion..
"Near this site stood Kinzie Mansion 1784-1832, home of Pointe Du Saible, Le Mai, and John Kinzie. Chicago`s `First Civilian'. Here was born, in 1805, the city`s first white child, Ellen Marion Kinzie. - Erected by Chicago`s Charter Jubilee - Authenticated by Chicago Historical Society - 1937".



"On Dec 4, 1674, Pere Jacques Marquette, S.J. and two voyageurs built a shelter near the mouth of the Chicago River. They were the First Europeans to camp here, the site of Chicago. - Erected by Illinois Society Daughters of Colonial Wars in our 50th year 1980"..



Time Capsule..
"The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States has sealed herein a time capsule containing notable memorabilia in commemoration of the dedication of its Midwestern Headquarters Building and of Pioneer Court, June 23, 1965 "...


A view of the Pioneer Court ...
All the plaques mentioned above in this post, can be seen on the left side of this Pioneer Court ...

RELATED LINKS..
# Bust of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable..
# Pioneer Court..
# Chicago River Esplanade/DuSable Founder's Way.. ..