Last October, we spent the weekend in Chicago so that my brother and I could then take a road trip to South Bend for USC's 38-0 win over Notre Dame. That evening, we spent time exploring the north side of Chicago with our wives and daughters. I love evenings in Chicago. Chicago is a great city to walk around in at night. One of our favorite destinations is the water tower district along Michigan Avenue. The Hershey shop is there, and the American Girl Place is right around the corner, and every imaginable high-end retailer is somewhere along Michigan Avenue, within walking distance. The John Hancock Center looks down on it all.
Across Michigan Avenue, the world-famous Chicago Water Tower, the only major structure to survive the great Chicago fire, is quite popular as a photography object, but I also like this building across the street, at 821 North Michigan Avenue. It houses the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station, built in 1869. The architecture is the same as its more famous mate across the way. The buildings are a perfect compliment to one another.
Towers aren't everything. You need pumping stations, too. This is a good one, don't you think? I know Oscar Wilde once stated that the Water Tower looked like "a castellated monstrosity with pepper boxes stuck all over it," which I assume he meant negatively, but Oscar Wilde's tastes and mine never have been that similar.
Comments