Washington/Wells station

Washington Block is a Chicago Landmark building located in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Designed by Frederick and Edward Baumann it was built between 1873–1874 in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on January 14, 1997. When completed, Washington Block was one of the tallest buildings in the city of Chicago and is described as a rare example of the "isolated pier foundation" (see below) which contributed to the foundation of knowledge that has made Chicago the birthplace of the skyscraper. The building has limestone facades and originally included an exterior staircase that led to a second-floor corner entrance. The lobby has a curving hardwood staircase. Today the first floor is occupied by a 7-Eleven and the second floor occupied by Carter Legal Group PC. The building, which is located at the corner of North Wells Street and West Washington Street is five stories tall.The building was originally intended to host upscale offices for companies wanting to be close to the nearby then-blossoming LaSalle Street financial district. However, when the Chicago 'L' was built next to the building, the upscale commercial customer found the building undesirable. During the mid 1900s, the owner hammered off ground-level architectural details in order to modernize the storefronts. 21st century owners have recast some of the details during a restoration. The isolated pier technique uses several separate foundations, one at each of the load-bearing points underground. Thus, instead of using a single foundation that would crack as the building shifted on sandy soil, a building may be built on a much longer-lasting and sturdier foundation. The Washington Block's foundation enabled it to be built on soft, compressible soil, instead of the solid bedrock formerly seen as a requirement. This ability allowed skyscrapers to be built in places like Chicago, and many of them were.

Madison/Wells was a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Loop. The station was located at 1 North Wells Street in the Chicago Loop. Madison/Wells opened on October 3, 1897, and closed on January 30, 1994, and demolished so that work on the new Washington/Wells station could begin. This station and Randolph/Wells were replaced by Washington/Wells. The station was located at Madison Street and Wells Street in the Chicago Loop.

Harrington College of Design (1931–2015) was a for-profit college in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois, USA, that closed in 2015. It offered students programs leading to either a master's, bachelor's or associate's degree upon completion of the interior design, digital photography or communication design programs. Each program was credentialed with multiple levels of accreditation. The college was owned by Career Education Corporation.

The Velvet Lounge was a nightclub in the South Loop of Chicago. It started as a jazz club and was called the "dusty epicenter of the Midwest's free form jazz scene." It was located at 2128 1/2 S. Indiana Avenue before moving to 67 E. Cermak when the original building was scheduled for demolition. It closed permanently in 2019.

Loop Retail Historic District is a shopping district within the Chicago Loop community area in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is bounded by Lake Street to the north, Ida B. Wells Drive to the south, State Street to the west and Wabash Avenue to the east. The district has the highest density of National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places and Chicago Landmark designated buildings in Chicago. It hosts several historic buildings including former department store flagship locations Marshall Field and Company Building (now Macy's at State Street), and the Sullivan Center (formerly Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building). It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 27, 1998. It includes 74 contributing buildings and structures, including 13 separately listed Registered Historic Places, and 22 non-contributing buildings. Other significant buildings in the district include the Joffrey Tower, Chicago Theatre, Palmer House, and Page Brothers Building. It also hosts DePaul University's College of Commerce, which includes the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and the Robert Morris College. The district is most commonly associated with department store buildings. In its heyday the district hosted seven prominent department stores from which six buildings remain today. These include the aforementioned Marshall Field and Company Building, and Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Buildings as well as the National Register of Historic Places A. M. Rothschild & Company Store (pic) at 333 S. State St. The other department store buildings are contributing properties.

200 West Madison is a skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. The building rises 599 feet (182 m) in the Chicago Loop. It contains 45 floors, and was completed in 1982. 200 West Madison currently stands as the 52nd-tallest building in the city. The architectural firm who designed the building was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the same firm who designed Chicago's Willis Tower and John Hancock Center and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The building was designed with a "sawtooth edge," and incorporates six corners onto the southeast face of the building. Thus, the building has nine corner offices on most of its floors. Originally named "Madison Plaza," the building was proposed to have a twin tower located on the lot situated south of the tower. However, plans for a second tower were ultimately abandoned. Six years later, in 1988, the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle was proposed for construction on the same lot, adjacent to 200 West Madison. Plans called for 125-story tower that was to rise 2,000 ft (610 m). However, that plan was also eventually cancelled. The lot is now the site of a parking garage.200 West Madison is the location of "Dawn Shadows," a famous black metal sculpture created by Louise Berliawsky Nevelson. The sculpture was brought to the plaza in 1983.

30 North LaSalle is a 553 ft (169m) tall skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was completed in 1975 and has 44 floors. Thomas E. Stanley designed the building, which is the 81st tallest in Chicago. It is built on the site of the Chicago Stock Exchange Building.

181 West Madison Street is a skyscraper located in Chicago managed and leased by MB Real Estate. Built in 1990, the building is 680 feet (207 m) tall and contains 50 floors. It is architect Cesar Pelli's first and only completed tower in the city. The building was constructed by Miglin-Beitler Developments.The glassy office tower's most distinctive feature is its recessed crown. The top of the building is illuminated white at the corners, as well as other various colors depending on the holiday. In 1989, the same combination of developer (Miglin-Beitler Developments) and architect envisioned the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle nearby. The 2,000 foot (610 m) and 125-story building would have been the tallest skyscraper in the world if completed, but plans were scrapped because of a sluggish real estate market.

Wells Street is a major north–south street in Chicago. It is officially designated as 200 West, and is named in honor of William Wells, a United States Army Captain who died in the Battle of Fort Dearborn. Between 1870 and 1912, it was named 5th Avenue so as not to tarnish the name of Wells during a period when the street had a bad reputation.Wells Street is interrupted by Guaranteed Rate Field, Interstate 55, and Lincoln Park. Wells Street crosses the Chicago River at the Wells Street Bridge. Some downtown blocks of Wells Street are located beneath the Chicago 'L' train system. The first Crate & Barrel store, which opened in 1962, was located on Wells Street.Wells Street was named in Time Magazine's 1976 article "The Porno Plague".

The Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle was a proposed 125-floor skyscraper intended for Chicago, Illinois, United States, by Lee Miglin and J. Paul Beitler and designed by architect César Pelli. The site of the proposed Skyneedle now is host to a parking garage. If it had been built when it was planned, the 1,999 ft (609 m) tall Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle would have been the tallest building in the world.The tower's plans were unveiled in 1988. The plans would falter due to the post-Gulf War market downturn. Miglin-Beitler held hopes of reviving the project, but these were dashed by the murder of Lee Miglin.The tower would have risen 125 floors and 1,999 feet. It would have had 1.9 million square feet of space (with 1.2 million being office space). It was planned to cost $450 million to construct. As of July 1990, it was tentatively planned to open in 1993.The firm had believed that the observation deck planned atop the tower, as well as the twelve floors of parking at its lower levels, would produce large amounts of revenue. Plans also called for the building to include a two-story health club. Office space in the building would have been marketed to smaller yet prestigious firms. The goal was to attract law firms and other tenants desiring a high-status location, but needing only between 8,000 and 10,000 square feet of office space.There were a number of challenges facing the project before the post-Gulf War economic downturned ultimately doomed it. This included the earlier savings and loan crisis putting in place a stricter regulatory climate for banks and credit unions, which made many financial institutions wary of large real estate projects as investments. Another challenge was that the Chicago real estate market, particularly in its downtown, was "soft". The downtown had an office space vacancy of 14%, which was on the rise. Additionally, millions of additional square feet of office space was already under construction in downtown Chicago, with millions more to open up with Sears moving out of the Sears Tower for a new suburban headquarters. Another challenge that analysts predicted was that larger corporate tenants might avoid the building, as its narrow floorplates would require firms needing larger amounts of office space to locate their offices across several floors. This could prevent the building from attracting large "anchor" tenants.Across Wells Street from the site where the tower was to be built is another Pelli project previously developed by Miglin-Beitler, 181 West Madison Street, which reportedly inspired the general design of the Skyneedle. Visually the upper floors of the Skyneedle do appear to be similar to a stretched 181 W Madison. Across Madison Street from the site where the tower was to be built is 200 West Madison, another building developed previously by Miglin-Beitler.César Pelli also designed the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The Petronas Towers have an obvious design reference, with the exception of having round floorplates as opposed to square ones.

The La Salle Hotel was a historic hotel that was located on the northwest corner of La Salle Street and Madison Street in the Chicago Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was situated to the southwest of Chicago City Hall and in very close proximity to St. Peter's Church. It was built between 1908 and 1909 by Holabird & Roche, contemporaneously with the Blackstone Hotel designed by Benjamin Marshall in a very similar style and at the time was Chicago's finest hotel.After a major fire in the hotel in June 1946, it was rebuilt at a cost of US$2 million and reopened in July 1947; it flourished for 29 more years, until it was demolished in 1976 to make room for office towers.

10 South LaSalle (formerly Chemical Plaza, Manufacturers Hanover Plaza, and Chase Plaza) is a 502 ft (153 m) tall skyscraper in the LaSalle Street financial district of Chicago, Illinois. It was completed in 1989 and has 37 floors, and is tied with One Superior Place for the 87th tallest building in the city. The building is owned by The Feil Organization, which purchased it from MetLife in 2002 for $139.4 million.