Chicago - Architecture & Cityscape: Historic Michigan Boulevard District

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Historic Michigan Boulevard District ..
Continued from part I on .. Historic Michigan Boulevard District.. click here ..

The five individual Chicago Landmarks in the Landmark Michigan Boulevard District are ..
The Auditorium Building [designated in 1976],
The Chicago Cultural Center [designated in 1976],
The Fine Arts Building [designated in 1978],
The Gage Group [designated in 1996] .. and ..
The Blackstone Theater [designated in 1998] ..

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Chicago Cultural Center ..
Address: 78 E. Washington St.
Year Built: 1897
Architect: Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: November 15, 1976 ..
This is the first permanent structure of the city's public library system .. The interior is extensively decorated with mosaics, marbles, bronze, and two stained-glass domes ..

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Gage Group Buildings ..
It includes three buildings ..
Address: 18, 24 and 30 S. Michigan Ave.
Year Built: 1899-1900
Architect: Louis H. Sullivan for 18 S. building .. and
Holabird & Roche for 24S and 30 S. buildings ..
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: September 11, 1996 ..
The facades, which resulted from Sullivan's collaboration with Holabird & Roche, demonstrate two different approaches to the Chicago School .. The buildings by Holabird & Roche are straightforward, while the facade designed by Sullivan exemplifies his more expressive approach.

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Fine Arts Building ..
Address: 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Year Built: 1885; addition and remodeling, 1898
Architect: Solon S. Beman
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: June 7, 1978
Originally built by the Studebaker company for the assembly and display of their carriages and wagons, this building was converted into studios and theaters for artists and craftsmen in 1898.

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Auditorium Building ..
Address: 430 S. Michigan Ave.
Year Built: 1886-90
Architect: Adler & Sullivan
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: September 15, 1976 ..
The extraordinary engineering talent of Dankmar Adler and the architectural genius of Louis H. Sullivan created this building to reflect the cultural maturity of Chicago ..

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Blackstone Hotel ..
Address: 636 S. Michigan Ave.
Year Built: 1908-10
Architect: Marshall & Fox
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: May 29, 1998 ..
Built by prominent hoteliers Tracy and John Drake, the Blackstone became known as the "Hotel of Presidents," serving as host to a dozen U.S. Presidents, including Woodrow Wilson, Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy ..

The ten buildings in this Michigan Boulevard Landmark District are listed in the National Register of Historic Places are .. It includes the above five buildings .. and .. five more .. The Buckingham Building, People's Gas Building, Lake View Building, Santa Fe Building, and Crane Company Building ..

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Santa Fe Building ..
Address: 224 South Michigan Avenue
Year Built: 1904
Architect: D.H. Burnham & Co...
- Upon the completion of the building, architect Daniel H. Burnham moved his office here,
It was at the top of this building that the 1909 Plan of Chicago was drawn up
- It's the headquarters of the Chicago Architecture Foundation. A ground floor exhibit area is open to the public, and the foundation operates a gift shop and bookstore on the Michigan Avenue side.
- Chicago's largest architecture firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is headquartered here.