Things I Like - Chicago

Since its opening in 2004, Millennium Park has become a favorite site for Chicagoans and tourists alike. The Cloud Gate (bean), the Crown fountain, the Pritzker Pavilion, the BP Bridge connecting the park to the lakefront, the promenades and gardens throughout the park, are all so much a part of the city that it’s hard to remember what used to be in this space just 5 short years ago.

Ugly. That’s what used to be there. Parking lots and the Illinois Central Railroad train yards.

From the Millennium Park website:

Construction began on Grant Park in 1917. The first areas to be constructed were the narrow strips between Michigan Avenue and the railroad tracks extending from Randolph Street to 11th Street. The original Peristyle was built at this time at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street.

With the completion of Grant Park, the railroad area remained a blight in its corner. In 1977 four Chicago civic groups proposed the "Lakefront Gardens for the Performing Arts." The proposed park, which included a performing arts pavilion, lacked both a funding strategy and significant government support. Ultimately, the Petrillo Music Shell was built in Grant Park as a compromise between the civic groups and the Chicago Park District.

In 1997 Mayor Richard M. Daley directed his staff to develop plans for a new music venue to be built over the active tracks and surface parking lot. What is now Millennium Park was first conceived in 1998 with the mission of creating new parkland in Grant Park to transform the unsightly railroad tracks and parking lots that had long dotted the lakefront. Over time, with Mayor Richard M. Daley's vision and Frank Gehry's involvement, the project evolved into the most ambitious public undertaking in Chicago's history.
~ Millennium Park

Speaking of the Peristyle – check these out:

The current Peristyle is about 80% the size of the original.
The original rose to 40 feet (12.2 m) and had a diameter of 100 feet. It was made of concrete, which did not stand up to Chicago lakefront weather. In 1953 it was razed to make way for the Grant Park North Garage. Both are nice, but neither one can match the majesty of the Peristyle built for the 1893 World's Fair -

Btw – Millennium Park is also a green roof. That’s right, the 24.5 acre park sits above a parking garage making it one of, if not the, largest green roofs in the world.

Historical Photos from New Eastside