Glorious reflections: 77 West Wacker Drive
If there is one building on the river that truly takes my breath away, it is 77 West Wacker Drive (formerly the United Building, and once the R.R. Donnelley Building). It is strong, but not loud; graceful, but not demure. Its clean lines, highly reflective façade, and relative simplicity combine to create a truly eye-catching beauty. Yet for all of this, it doesn’t call attention to itself like a lot of Postmodern buildings seem to want to do: it is not arrogantly self-conscious, nor does it brag to the observer about the cleverness of its design (as anyone who has studied Postmodern anything–art, literature, music, etc.–already knows is par for the course in this hodge-podge “style”). Its quiet, stunning beauty makes it one of my favorites in the city. Finished in 1992, designed by DeStefano + Partners–with world-famous architect Ricardo Bofill as artistic consultant–77 West Wacker is not only one of my personal favorites, but also officially one of Chicago’s favorites: it made it to #7 on a 1995 Chicago Tribune poll of the city’s 10 favorite buildings.
The details of this building round out its apparent perfection: it is perfect from afar, and it is perfect up close. The gables over the doors and windows echo the triangular pediments at the top of the building. Each side is symmetrical; indeed, it is like a Postmodern twist on an ancient Greek column. The lines are clean and perfect outside, but once you go inside, you see that perfection continued–and it is amazing. You see ceilings over 40 feet high in a grand lobby covered in gleaming white marble; you see large sculptures, trees, even a perfectly serene reflecting pool. The entire building is somehow–in my mind–a study on “reflection”: from its reflective façade, to its reflective (in form) details, to its reflective artistic touches–and indeed a reflection of a past style itself (another characteristic of many Postmodern buildings)–77 West Wacker is worth a visit at street level, and if you have a moment, a visit inside.
Whether you live around here or are visiting, treat yourself to a walk along the Chicago River at night, and take a look at this building. Its exterior lighting design was done by the artist who designed the lighting for the Louvre, so you can imagine how magnificent it is at night. The exterior is lit up with 540 lamps with an opaque base, i.e., the light does not go through the bottom of the lamp, but rather shoots straight up in what look like 540 magical beams of light covering the building. And again, the real beauty is in the perfect attention to detail, and here’s a tip: you’ll notice that the (opaque-based) silver lamps at the building’s main entrance are reproduced in the interior, but in a soft, frosted glass so as to radiate light throughout the interior space.
One last thing: this is one of the sweetest building interiors to visit at Christmastime. The management actually licensed the use of characters from the beloved 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie, and they plan to add a new character every season. My favorite is the little girl from the Island of Misfit Toys! We visit this building’s interior on our Christmas Tree Crawl tour just for this reason!
