Of Michigan Avenue
chicago-beautiful.com
The initial Anchor was a very lonely Wrigley Building south tower, the first skyscraper north of the Chicago River in 1921.
By Megan McKinney
The four Michigan Avenue Anchors surround the Du Sable Bridge, which was begun in 1918 as the Michigan Avenue Bridge. The monumental structure opened to traffic in 1920—with decorative work completed in 1928—and was renamed in 2010 in honor of Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, Chicago’s first permanent resident.
historicbridges.org
The new structure stretching across the Chicago River would be the focal point for the Anchors.
Above is a portion of the decorative work that completed the great bridge in 1928.
The completed Wrigley Building, designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, in all its glory. The north tower was indeed an elegant upgrade from the billboards advertising chewing gum it replaced.
A special treat for this writer, as a child visiting Chicago, was to be driven down to the River after dark on winter nights to view the flood-lit Wrigley Building.
archiseek.com
The Beaux-Arts London Guarantee Building, directly across the Chicago River from the Wrigley, was designed by Alfred S. Alschuler and built in 1922-23 to house the London Guarantee & Accident Company, a British insurance firm. From 2016 this structure’s primary occupant has been the LondonHouse Chicago Hotel, currently celebrated for its rooftop bar.
gpchicago.com
Spectacular, both day . . .
and night, it is a marvelous spot for those who are very casually dressed to gather.
The London Guarantee was still being constructed when the Tribune company broke ground for its great Tower in 1923. The newspaper had purchased land just north of the river earlier based on information Chicago Tribune editor Colonel Robert R. McCormick had gained during his young years as a Chicago alderman.
The old time journalists at theTribune would be stunned to see the sleek condominums and apartments that have emerged from the disorderly environment in which they produced a daily newspaper.
The fourth floor Chicago Tribune city room in the Tribune Tower on a typical day in 1976.
The building known as 333 North Michigan Avenue joined the three existing Anchors at the fourth bridge corner in 1928.
This amazing image of 333 North Michigan was captured from diagonally across the river at a spot between Kinzie and Rush streets in 1930. There is a small corner of the Wrigley Building at the left and an edge of the London Guarantee Building to the right, with a portion of the bridge in the center.
Author photo: Robert F. Carl
