Site F
Walk south along Dearborn Street to Washington. The McCarthy
Building stands on the northeast corner of the intersection. It
was designed by Chicago's first professional architect, John M.
Van Osdel in 1872, like the Delaware Building, it recalls the pre-Civil
War style of architecture. Van Osdel designed many Loop area buildings
both before and just after the Chicago Fire of October 18u1. During
the eighteen months following the fire, Van Osdel designed about
one and one-half miles of building frontage in Chicago. The McCarthy
Building is one of only two known Van Osdel structures still standing
in the Loop. The other is the Page Brothers Building in 177-91 North
State Street also built in 1872.
The Daley Center Plaza is on the northwest corner of Dearborn
and Washington. This very public space contains the famous Chicago
Picasso (shown at right in 1985). Erected in 1967, this
work is still a controversial piece of public art. In the more
than eighteen years that it has graced the Daley Center Plaza,
the 136-ton work has become a universal symbol of Chicago.
Across Washington Street, in a narrow court, stands the work
of another eminent Spanish artist. Joan Miro's Chicago
joined Picasso's untitled work in the late 1970s.
Site
G
Continue south on Dearborn Street to Madison. The First National
Bank Building and Plaza stands on the block bounded by Dearborn,
Madison, dark, and Monroe. The building was constructed in 1969,
and plaza followed four years later. The 850-foot building sheathed
in gray-speckled granite and bronze-tinted glass. The sweep of
the A-shaped structure immediately captures the eye and draws
it skyward. This plaza its neighbor at the Daley Center, is the
home of and famous work of modern art. Marc Chagall's Four Seasons
mosaic covers the sides and top of a rectangular block fourteen
feet high and seventy feet long. It highlights this plaza, which
is one of the most popular open spaces in the city. Through the
collection of major sculptures by Miro. Picasso, Chagall, and
Alexander Calder, Dearborn Street has become an important repository
for modern public sculpture.
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