Blair Kamin – Page 3 –

A CTA Purple Line train appears on the tracks just north of the Merchandise Mart in 2004.

Column: ‘Rolling Thunder:’ The Loop ‘L’ tracks shaped downtown Chicago and unified a divided city. They still matter today, a new book reminds us.

November 3, 2020 at 6:59 a.m.

The best transit systems don't just haul passengers — they become symbols of their cities. In San Francisco, it's the cable cars gliding gracefully over the steep hills. In London,...

Construction fencing surrounds the future Sable Hotel at Navy Pier on Aug. 13, 2020.

Column: Opening of Navy Pier hotel is postponed, the latest blow to city’s reeling hotel market

October 26, 2020 at 2:13 p.m.

Before Navy Pier temporarily shut down on Labor Day, officials of the popular lakefront attraction remained optimistic about the planned opening of The Sable Hotel, built atop an existing pier...

The exterior of the David Rubenstein Forum building at the University of Chicago on Oct. 19, 2020. Its 10-story tower includes a conference center and classroom building.

Column: A pile of stacked boxes at the University of Chicago — exhibitionism or architecture?

October 26, 2020 at 10:48 a.m.

It's an eye-grabbing pile of irregularly stacked boxes, seemingly designed to land on magazine covers and draw attention — as well as big donations — to its university. Following that...

The Hotel Florence, seen in 2000, is the crown jewel of the Pullman Historic District.

Column: Open House Chicago just got extended. Here’s what to see on new smartphone architecture tours.

October 22, 2020 at 7:41 a.m.

Necessity, it's often said, is the mother of invention. So it is with this year's Open House Chicago. Normally, the big architecture festival gives architecture buffs free glimpses inside the...

Hayo Tikba (The Fire Inside), 2019 by Santiago X (Koasati/Chamoru) part of the The Chicago Architecture Biennial held at the Chicago Cultural Center on Sept. 17, 2019.

Column: Chicago Architecture Biennial will go on next year with new format and gritty subject matter: Finding creative uses for city’s vacant lots

October 21, 2020 at 3:23 p.m.

The show — the architecture show, that is — will go on. After weeks of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers of the Chicago Architecture Biennial on Wednesday announced...

Jim Loewenberg, prolific Chicago developer who backed Lakeshore East and its Aqua and Vista towers, dies at 86

October 16, 2020 at 1:23 p.m.

Prolific Chicago real estate developer Jim Loewenberg, who joined with partner Joel Carlins to transform a nine-hole golf course and driving range south of the Chicago River into a vibrant...

The new Bank of America Tower with a new block of Riverwalk.

Column: City’s tallest office building in 30 years opens along Chicago River, mixing drama and banality

October 9, 2020 at 3:37 p.m.

Here are three big reasons you should care about the just-completed, hauntingly empty, Bank of America Tower on Chicago's ever-more-alluring downtown riverfront: 1. The city's tallest office building since 1990,...

A neon Schlitz sign hangs on the exterior of Schubas Tavern, formerly a Schlitz Brewery, on Sept. 28, 2020, in Chicago.

Column: Let’s toast the architecture of Chicago’s beer buildings, even if this isn’t happy hour for some of them

October 1, 2020 at 1:54 p.m.

Raise a glass to Chicago's architecturally alluring beer buildings. Their ornate brickwork, fanciful turrets and other decorative flourishes make them a savory alternative to less-is-more design sobriety. From the mansions...

Airickca Gordon-Taylor, center in purple, and the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., both cousins of Emmett Till, speak outside Roberts Temple Church of God In Christ in Chicago on Aug. 28, 2015. They led a motorcade to Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the death of Emmett Till. Till's funeral took place at Roberts Temple in September 1955.

Column: Chicago church where thousands viewed Emmett Till’s open casket is named to list of nation’s most endangered places

September 24, 2020 at 10:03 a.m.

The Chicago church where Emmett Till's badly beaten body was displayed in an open casket, helping to ignite the civil rights movement, was named Thursday to a list of the...

A nonprofit says it is near a deal to buy the building at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Avenue ini Chicago, seen on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017, where Emmett Till once lived.

Column: Group says it’s near deal to buy Emmett Till house and turn it into museum

September 22, 2020 at 4:46 p.m.

A plan to transform the South Side house of civil rights icon Emmett Till into a museum appears closer to reality now that the head of a nonprofit says her...

All Stories