Chicago’s sweeping views are mosaics of historical detail.
© Jennifer Kleiman

A Big City’s Surprising Little Details

Poet Carl Sandburg called Chicago “The City of the Big Shoulders.” America’s third biggest city is known for big sights—as a few little details will show:

• First skyscrapers? Sorry, New York. They started right here in the 1880s, soaring from 10 to 110 stories in nine decades.
• That body of water to the east? It’s massive Lake Michigan, more of an inland sea.
• A “world-dazzling” wheel that rivaled the Eiffel Tower? George Ferris engineered it for the 1893 World’s Fair. We know it as the Ferris Wheel. Today’s version at Navy Pier is a Chicago icon.

Face it, Chicago knows BIG. (Crown Fountain Millennium Park)
© Joyce McGreevy

Best Big City

This month, for the third year in a row Conde Nast crowned Chicago “America’s Best Big City.” Typically, travelers are in a big, big hurry to see it all. From Millennium Park to Willis Tower to the Architectural Boat Tour, Chicago’s big attractions draw big crowds.

But too big a rush makes for one big blur. So as a former local, here’s my travel tip: Slow down and focus on Chicago’s surprising little details.

Consider the Loop, for example, the heart of Chicago’s downtown. Only 1.5 square miles, it’s a world of magnificent architecture, parks, and public art. Seen close-up, it’s a detail lover’s dream, a mosaic of urban history. Here’s a sampler of Chicago’s best reasons to dwell on details.

Holy Cow, It’s Past-Your-Eyes!

Among the most photographed sights in Chicago is a cow.

You may take the bull by the horns, but there’s good reason to look this cow in the eyes.
© Neil Tobin

This big bronze bovine stands right outside the Chicago Cultural Center. You can’t miss it.

Visitors hoof it to see Chicago’s bronze cow.
© Joyce McGreevy

Ah, but there’s something most visitors do miss. Eager to get their photo and moo-ve on, they typically overlook two  little details:

Etched in one eye is an image of the Chicago Water Tower.
© Neil Tobin

In the other is an image of an untitled sculpture by Picasso.
© Neil Tobin

Oh, I see: The tiniest detail can be a rich repository of history.

Built in 1869, the Water Tower is one of the only buildings that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871. (The notion that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the fire, however, is bull.)

Here’s how to house a humble standpipe, Chicago-style.
© Afries52 [CC BY 3.0]

As for the Picasso, some people had a cow when it arrived in 1967. Chicagoan Gwendolyn Brooks, the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize, anticipated the mixed response in a poem she delivered at the unveiling:

Does man love Art? Man visits Art, but squirms.
Art hurts. Art urges voyages—
and it is easier to stay at home,
the nice beer ready. . . .

At the Art Institute of Chicago, visitors are a study in the art of focus.
© Joyce McGreevy

Reading Between the Lions

Housing 300,000 of the world’s greatest artworks, the Art Institute of Chicago is clearly a place to slow down and focus. Those who do will notice fascinating little details even before they step inside.

For instance, two lions have guarded the entrance since 1894. Visitors choosing a lion to photograph often comment that they’re identical.

Only they’re not.

Sculptor Edward Kemeys loved animals and was famous for sketching them in the wild. Would such an artist turn lions into copycats?

One lion growls and prowls. The other, Kemeys noted, “stands in an attitude of defiance.”
© Joyce McGreevy

Ever Wonder “Y”?

Like animals in camouflage, some intriguing Chicago details hide in plain sight. Curiously, the most prolific detail may be the least noted—though many visitors unknowingly photograph it.

“Hidden” in this popular landmark is another Chicago icon.
© Joyce McGreevy

Can you see it?

Zoom in.

It’s the Y shape behind CHICAGO.

Why the Y? It represents the three branches of the Chicago River, which splits north and south at Wolf Point.

Once you notice this symbol of civic pride, you start seeing it everywhere—on buildings, bridges, and even staircases:

Spot the Y symbol in mosaic above the Y-shaped staircase in Chicago’s Cultural Center.
© Joyce McGreevy

Eyes Up

It’s funny how pixels on a few square inches of phone screen can commandeer our attention. Meanwhile, 1.6 million of Chicago’s most spectacular details often go unnoticed—even by locals, reportedly.

What—where?

Start at the former Marshall Field & Company, now part of a national retail chain. Built in 1873, it was once the world’s biggest department store. Today, its five elegant stories still dominate State Street.

Enter at street level and walk through a warren of cosmetic counters until you reach the center.

Now look up.

Feast your eyes on the largest ceiling ever built with favrile glass.
© Joyce McGreevy

The iridescent glass was created by Louis Comfort Tiffany, who patented the process.
© Joyce McGreevy

Tiffany’s mosaics enchanted early 20th-century Chicago. Today you can follow the “Tiffany Trail” to 14 venues.

An Urban Mosaic

“In the Big City, large and sudden things happen,” wrote that master of surprise, O. Henry. True, but seen close-up, a big city’s little details can suddenly enlarge your sense of place.

That’s why my travel tip for Chicago is slow down and focus. Some of the city’s biggest surprises are found in the smallest details.

Details of Chicago’s Cultural Center evoke the landmark’s rich history.
© Neil Tobin

Thanks to Jennifer Kleiman and Neil Tobin for their stunning images of Chicago.

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