Chicago - My Kind of Town!

I love Chicago. It’s so fun for me to live in one of the greatest cities that people from all over the world come to see. My friend Cheryl came up for 4 days and we were on the go the whole time. The challenge was deciding of the plethora of things to do, see and eat what we should select. The weather cooperated and was a little chilly for the first two days, but then warmed up and not a smidge of rain or snow. You can’t ask for more than that in February.

Here is a quick rundown of the fun! It’s no secret I love all things Frank Lloyd Wright. Cheryl had seen the Home and Studio on a previous visit but was looking forward to seeing his 2 UNESCO World Heritage sites that are here - Unity Temple and Robie House. So that was on our list. Both really worth seeing. Unity Temple in Oak Park and Robie House in Hyde Park on the campus of the University of Chicago.

We visited the Driehaus Museum which is over the top gilded age - the opposite of Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s on Erie St just 2 blocks west of the Starbucks Roastery on Michigan Ave. It’s a favorite of mine and Cheryl loved it as well. They have a special exhibit now called Materialities which is a contemporary look at the materials used in the original home. If you go I highly recommend taking the tour for an additional $5. So worth it. Check the website for the hours and tour times.

If you are visiting Robie House walk across the street and see the Rockefeller Chapel. It was built from 1925 to 1928 and the completed cost was $1,900,000. Funds were provided by John D Rockefeller. It has the second largest carillon in the country and we were fortunate to be there when the beautiful bells were being played. It’s a huge Gothic building that has been meticulously maintained thankfully.

Always fun to meander down Michigan Ave stopping at whatever catches your attention so we did that too. No purchases were made but still fun to see what’s in style for spring.

Now for the food! That’s always tough too as there are so many great places. Three wonderful bakeries - is that too many in 4 days? Nope! Two in Oak Park - Broken Tart and Spilt Milk, and then the new Milk Bar that just opened February 8th in the West Loop. I only have pictures from Milk Bar but we both liked the other two better. But Milk Bar was good too.

Pizza is a must and deep dish is a great choice as long as you only eat it a few times a year. Pequod’s has been given the award for best dish dish in the country so why not start there! Only two locations and we went to the main one on N. Clybourn Ave in Chicago. Cheryl couldn’t get over how tall it was - a pizza casserole but so delicious.

We picked up food from Freddy’s in Cicero one night and brought it back to my place. Definitely a throwback Italian grocery store and restaurant with fantastic made from scratch Italian food. We got lemon chicken and a pasta dish to share but no pics of the food - but the store is the best part.

Brunch at Beatrix in the West Loop. I haven’t spent much time in that newer neighborhood in the city but will return soon as lots of cool restaurants many in historic buildings.

The Palmer House - a hotel in the downtown loop with one of the most beautiful lobbies in the world - so fun to stop there for a drink on a Friday night. Did we do that? Yes!

The last night was the best night. Dinner with Keeley, Matt and Monica at their home with a great home cooked meal. And lots of love from sweet Monica🩷

It was wonderful having Cheryl visit. She’s always up for anything, has great energy and a willingness to do all the things I had planned. It also made me feel like I was on a mini vacation as we had planned in advance to put ourselves in the happiness bubble and not even turn the news on once. With everything going on in the world we both really needed to take a break. I highly encourage you to do the same as taking care of our mental health is as important as our physical health.

If you’re planning to visit Chicago I’m always happy to offer suggestions! My town is a great town!

Wright in Wisconsin

This is a short architectural post about my day trip to Racine Wisconsin to see 2 important Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. Feel free to skip if that’s not your thing. Wright was born in Wisconsin and was very influenced by the terrain so not surprising he built quite a bit there. Racine is the world headquarters of the SC Johnson Company (formerly Johnson Wax), and a big shout out to them for not only preserving these important masterpieces but making them available for FREE for people to see and appreciate. The 2 buildings are the world headquarters and Wingspread which was a home built for H.F. Johnson - president of the company at the time it was built. The home has been turned into an executive conference center so tours are available when they aren’t hosting a conference so reservations are essential. Easy to book that reservation on their website. The headquarters is still a working campus so tours are available typically on weekends and again best to make a reservation. They are separate websites so if you want to see both - and why would you not - toggle back and forth because sometimes tours available at one site might not be available at the other. We made a 10AM reservation at Wingspread and a 2PM reservation for the headquarters. Worked out perfectly. We spent about an hour and a half at Wingspread, had time for lunch and then made it to the headquarters in plenty of time. They are about 5 miles apart so easy to cover the distance.

Wingspread is the last and largest (14,000 Square feet) Prairie home built by Wright. It is on 36 acres of land and was commissioned in 1939. When originally built it had 8 bedrooms and was built in a spiral pattern with 4 wings coming off of the main structure. One wing was the primary bedroom suite, a children’s wing with a huge playroom, a guest wing, and a kitchen and entertaining wing. The guest wing is now used as office space for the Johnson Foundation but the others are intact.

When you enter into the home it is pretty mind blowing. A soaring space with a massive fireplace and a ceiling with 140 windows in a skylight. It’s a tiered skylight so picture a boat turned upside down. Please be generous in your thoughts about my pictures. I use an iPhone and have limited skills!😂

The structure is very horizontal but does have a tower reached by the circular staircase accessed from the 2nd floor. It leads to kind of a crow’s nest with an observation window allowing visibility 360 degrees around the property. It was added by Wright because the client had a young son that didn’t want to move a few miles out of town fearing his friends wouldn’t visit him. Wright thought this would be a great feature that kids would love. The son also asked for a swimming pool - rare in those days. Wright disliked swimming pools but added a large reflecting pool that was 12 feet deep at one end. We definitely saw old pictures of people sitting around the reflecting pool in bathing suits😂

If it’s a large tour they don’t allow anyone to climb the ladder to the tower, but since we lucked out and it was just myself and my 2 friends it was allowed. But only Maddie was brave enough to go all the way to the top! Keely and I tried but it was scary. Not unsecured but high and very open. I don’t love heights so we believed Maddie when she said the view was amazing.

The huge central fireplace is 4 sided and on one side is the largest tea pot I’ve ever seen! You fill it with water and swing it into the fire and hot water for 50!

Wingspread hosted many events and famous people - including Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a frequent guest of the Johnsons but instead of a guest room she preferred the cozy sitting room off the primary bedroom with a fireplace, couch, and huge windows overlooking the pond. So when she visited they had it made up as a bedroom for her.

Another unique idea Wright implemented was the dining room table that slid back and forth into the kitchen. They could slide the table into the kitchen and use the space for cocktails etc, then slide the table out with the first coarse in place for the guests. Then slide it back and forth during the dinner with no interruptions from the staff with each coarse. Wright had many great innovative ideas but apparently this one wasn’t one of them. The guide told us it made the guests uncomfortable so they didn’t really use it after the first couple of times😂

Done at Wingspread but so worthy of a visit. The guide told us about a very historic lighthouse we might want to see on our way to downtown Racine for a bite of lunch. Racine is right on Lake Michigan so has a beautiful lakefront. The Wind Point Lighthouse began functioning in 1880 and at 108 feet one of the tallest and oldest lighthouses still serving navigation on the Great Lakes. It was placed on the National Historic Registry in 1984. So pretty!

Lunch at the Red Onion Cafe in downtown Racine. Good soups, salads, sandwiches and lots of breakfast items so kind of perfect for us. A nice vibe and good food. Their signature potato chowder and grilled cheese for me😋

Off to SC Johnson headquarters for our 2PM tour. There are some rules so be sure and read them when you make your reservation. You need to provide a drivers license, arrive at least 15 minutes before your reservation, a designated place to park, no large bags, and no photos allowed inside the buildings.

The headquarters was commissioned in 1936 and the goal was to be the best office building in the world. H.F Johnson was a visionary and did a world wide search for the architect to build it and his choice was Wright. This building has stood the test of time because it’s the only Wright designed headquarters still in use. The tour is great and you get to visit the main headquarters where the famous Work Room is located, the presidents office, the research tower, Fortaleza Hall and the new Waxbird commons. We were there at least an hour and a half. Our guide was very knowledgeable and interesting. Remember there are no photos allowed inside so this is a picture of the Work Room I got from the internet. One of my very favorite stories about Wright is from this room. The ceiling is held up by those pillars that he called Dendriform which means tree shaped. Some people call them lily pads, mushrooms or golf tees. I get that! Well when this building was built it required as buildings do now approval by a board to certify that it met codes. Wrights plan was not approved because the board said there was no way those skinny columns would hold up the ceiling. The base of each column is just 9 inches in diameter. In Wrights typical dramatic fashion he proved that they would not only meet the standard of weight stipulated but exceed it by five times! They sheepishly approved the plans. This Work Room is still used by employees and contains what at the time were breakthrough ergonomic equipment for the staff.

Here’s a picture of me with my Wright loving friends and that’s the headquarters and tower in the background. We had a great day in Racine and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for something interesting and an easy drive from the Chicago area. Thanks for joining me Keeley and Maddie! Also thanks to SC Johnson for putting a priority not just on making great products (they have come a long way since floor wax) but investing in their community and the arts🩷