Chicago Union Station

Following my previous blog about Open House Chicago and the Aon Center, the same morning John and I were able to visit Chicago's Union Station. We were able to visit the exclusive first class lounge, which restored its barbershop room featuring historic photographs and also the old ladies lounge which was in the process of being restored. Below are photos of the old lunch room/restaurant--plans for that restoration were unclear to us. I really liked finding the over-sized Christmas ornaments inside the ladies lounge. Overall, Union Station was a marvelous neoclassical treat to visit and I hope we catch a train sometime soon to get some use out of it.

Open House Chicago

In October, John and I were able to check out the Open House Chicago, which is a program that opens many historic and important architectural sites locations around the city. It's free and it allows people to access spaces usually closed off to the public. Buildings can range from historic theaters, skyscrapers, and even train stations. We decided to check out the Aon Center, which luckily didn't have a line to get in, but it did have remarkable views of the city. The Aon Center was originally coated in pink marble, but because of the harsh winter weather and cold temperatures here in Chicago, chunks of the stone were known to have fallen off the side. To my knowledge, no one was injured from the falling stone. The building was resurfaced, the pink marble was re-purposed, and today it is still on the tallest buildings in the city.