Customer Reviews

AIA Guide to Chicago

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Chicago is generally known as one of the centers of modernist architecture, and this visual guidebook, complete with maps, photographs and authoritative little essays on most of the important buildings, is a must-buy if you plan to tour this richly textured urban center. It's also one of the best small resources for anyone interested in architecture from 1850 to the present. Inexpensive, designed to slip in your pocket, it holds up well-- I depend upon mine to help me with the walking tours of the city I give on a regular basis, and it's still in one piece after three or more years of hard use.

This is a big book, but it's narrow enough to fit upright into a pocket or sideways into a large purse or bag, so you can carry it with you as you go on architectural walking tours. I find the history and construction information in the front of the book very interesting: it includes information on the settlement of Chicago, creative architecture, the Great Chicago Fire, neighborhoods, and other subjects. The rest of the book is organized by section, such as Central City, which contains The Loop, North Michigan Avenue and Streeterville, River North, and the South Loop. There are a total of seven large sections, each with subdivisions.

I still own this guide, but I really should replace it with the more recent edition, because architecture in Chicago is always happening.

Recently, on PBS, they did another tour of Chicago. They showed many places that you would want to visit yourself but did not give specific addresses. I wrote them and asked if there was a guide to Chicago that could be used to find these places and they suggested the A1A Guide.

It truly is the Chicago Bible and in conjunction with the program DVD, you, too, can become an expert Chicago tour guide.

If you love Chicago and want to know every detail about it, this book must be added to your library.

Only one other city is so steaped in architecture history than Chicago and this guide does a commendable job of highlighting the most important Chicago buildings, the synopsis on each building is susinct, the only qualm I have is that there are not more pictures, I also wish the authors had ventured more into the suburbs and commented on some of the great houses in Lake Forest and Highland Park, but that omission does not mar the overall enjoyment of this scholarly guide. If you are interested in architecture at all, I recommend you pick up this book, Chicago is so steaped in architecture history and this is a good guide to the best examples.