Read Introducing Chicago blog first, then this. I don't know how to reverse them.
Take the tour to Oak Park, the home of Walter Burley Griffin. It's an outer suburb of Chicago, the perfect place for a young architect to build a house and start a family.
* You can do a walking tour around the houses that he built for friends and family in the late 1800s and very early 1900's.... He started designing houses at a time when Victorian architecture was very formally structured... tall, turreted, each house in the centre of the block, front entrance also centred and always curtains on the windows.
* He had decided that houses should follow the lie of the land, the start of the bungalow house, set on a concrete slab, rather than over basements.... all the trends that we use today, including posiitioning the houses in the most suitable place on the block, with entrances around the side or wherever it works best.
* And the connection with Australia? One of his star young employees was Walter Burley Griffin, designer of Canberra, Castle Crag and many other Australian icons.
* You will want to see the furniture he designed for each house, and buy his books!
* He was fired from his first job, because when the Chicago Real Estate guide was published several years on, it featured houses designed by FLW, unbeknown to his employer. They took a dim view of it, and threw him out. Of course he went on to create history.
* Read Warren Buffits life story and his relationship with Bsrbara, the woman who headed up the Chicago Times... that's a good insight also.
* So, walk the waterfront, see the Aquarium, and the Marshall Field Museium, The Art Gallery, go the top of the John Hopkins building, the tallest building and look across three American states - and enjoy every minute!
" Chicago is, Chicago is... my kind of town!"
Friday, February 5, 2010
Chicago - Exceeding Expectations
It's a few years since I was there, but my recollections of this beautiful city are strong and clear. Friends have an upcoming visit planned. So I thought it a good time to record what made that visit great.
The first time I visited Chicago, it was so cold and windy that my luggage blew over as it stood on the kerb outside my hotel!
The second time, it was mild enough that I walked home late at night, alone, under a mild and starry sky, drink still in hand.
And the most recent time, it was again crips and very cold.
What did I love?
It's a planned city: It's stylish and different with great stories to tell. In the early 90s, the City developed a redesign plan..and set about implementing it.
The the Chicago River was filty in those early days, and emptied itself into the beautiful Lake. So the forefathers worked out how to reverse the flow of the River. Unbelievable to think that in the upper reaches of this river they changed the layout of the land, so that the water flowed from the Lake through the City!
Go to the Opera House: You will see that there is a solid stone feature wall overlooking the River. No windows, no terraces. No-one wanted to look out onto such a putrid river.
Be sure to take the Architectural Tour by Boat: That traces the origins of all the buildings along the river front. I'm not so good on the original architects, but they were all there, in Chicago, in her formative days. But what I do recall is
* The Fabric Industry building - now owned by the Kennedy family - one whole city block - the largest building in the world until the pentagon was built and the only building to have its own zip code.
* The Jewellery Industry building - beautiful art deco - designed so that each merchant could drive his car into the building, and up ten floors in a huge lift, to park on his floor, for absolute security.
* No wonder Al Capone selected the top floor of that beautiful building, under a stunning cupola, for his speakeasy..... not much chance of being raided without notice. It kind of worked for everyone.
* And it was the first city in the world to sell the airspace to developers! I remember that in the press. The heart of the city is covered in a huge railroad terminal, a left over from the strong commercial early days. However, they sold the "airspace" above the railroads to build high rise buildings. They are there today, but when you peek at the ground floor, its a fully operational Railroad Centre....
* They also built a second high rise on the same basis. However in more recent times the tracks had to be widened, and one of the supports for the building was in the way. No problem.... they cantilevered the second high rise off the first one, and removed the pesky pilon... Nothing seems impossible.
* And there's Bauhaus next to contemporary design... amazing.
*
The first time I visited Chicago, it was so cold and windy that my luggage blew over as it stood on the kerb outside my hotel!
The second time, it was mild enough that I walked home late at night, alone, under a mild and starry sky, drink still in hand.
And the most recent time, it was again crips and very cold.
What did I love?
It's a planned city: It's stylish and different with great stories to tell. In the early 90s, the City developed a redesign plan..and set about implementing it.
The the Chicago River was filty in those early days, and emptied itself into the beautiful Lake. So the forefathers worked out how to reverse the flow of the River. Unbelievable to think that in the upper reaches of this river they changed the layout of the land, so that the water flowed from the Lake through the City!
Go to the Opera House: You will see that there is a solid stone feature wall overlooking the River. No windows, no terraces. No-one wanted to look out onto such a putrid river.
Be sure to take the Architectural Tour by Boat: That traces the origins of all the buildings along the river front. I'm not so good on the original architects, but they were all there, in Chicago, in her formative days. But what I do recall is
* The Fabric Industry building - now owned by the Kennedy family - one whole city block - the largest building in the world until the pentagon was built and the only building to have its own zip code.
* The Jewellery Industry building - beautiful art deco - designed so that each merchant could drive his car into the building, and up ten floors in a huge lift, to park on his floor, for absolute security.
* No wonder Al Capone selected the top floor of that beautiful building, under a stunning cupola, for his speakeasy..... not much chance of being raided without notice. It kind of worked for everyone.
* And it was the first city in the world to sell the airspace to developers! I remember that in the press. The heart of the city is covered in a huge railroad terminal, a left over from the strong commercial early days. However, they sold the "airspace" above the railroads to build high rise buildings. They are there today, but when you peek at the ground floor, its a fully operational Railroad Centre....
* They also built a second high rise on the same basis. However in more recent times the tracks had to be widened, and one of the supports for the building was in the way. No problem.... they cantilevered the second high rise off the first one, and removed the pesky pilon... Nothing seems impossible.
* And there's Bauhaus next to contemporary design... amazing.
*
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Late booking trend in UK also happending in Australia
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Flight comparison site Skyscanner has reported a significant change in the way people are booking flights since the global downturn began. Examining data for three of its most popular routes from the UK, Skyscanner found that, although overall search numbers were up, in 2008 users searched for flights an average of 146 days ahead of when they planned to travel, but in 2009 this dropped to just 34 days.
Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder and director commented: “There are two obvious reasons for this trend for later bookings. In the middle of the UK’s worst recession in decades many people didn’t want to book holidays too far in advance, in case they lost their jobs.
“People also need to feel confident about the viability of airlines. Over the last 18 months, a number of airlines have folded and people are much more cautious of losing flights if they book too far ahead.
“The irony of this is that although people are understandably keen to be financially prudent, it can be self-defeating as it’s almost always cheaper to book flights in advance – prices tend to rise the closer you get to the date of departure.”
Flight comparison site Skyscanner has reported a significant change in the way people are booking flights since the global downturn began. Examining data for three of its most popular routes from the UK, Skyscanner found that, although overall search numbers were up, in 2008 users searched for flights an average of 146 days ahead of when they planned to travel, but in 2009 this dropped to just 34 days.
Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder and director commented: “There are two obvious reasons for this trend for later bookings. In the middle of the UK’s worst recession in decades many people didn’t want to book holidays too far in advance, in case they lost their jobs.
“People also need to feel confident about the viability of airlines. Over the last 18 months, a number of airlines have folded and people are much more cautious of losing flights if they book too far ahead.
“The irony of this is that although people are understandably keen to be financially prudent, it can be self-defeating as it’s almost always cheaper to book flights in advance – prices tend to rise the closer you get to the date of departure.”
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