CELEBRATE CHICAGO ARTWORK
Artist’s Biography
William Furniss is a Hong Kong based photographer and ardent urbanist.Chicago has always been an inspiration for photographers and is one of William’s most inspiring subjects. His architectural abstract images represent Chicago’s qualities of civic and national pride, boldness of character, the respect that great architecture accords its users, and the delightful abundance of choice that a great urban plan allows.
Image caption, as per the artist
The two towers that comprise the Wrigley Building are joined by a bridge on the 14th floor, which keeps the elements at bay and the occupants working efficiently, an innovation that remains progressive even today. Built for chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. in 1920, Chicago’s first air-conditioned building is inspired bytheGiraldatower ofSeville's Cathedraland was designed by the firmGraham, Anderson, Probst & White.
Seemingly emerging right in the middle of North Michigan Avenue when viewed from outside the Peninsula, number 333 is the beacon that leads you down to the Chicago River. 333 North Michigan is an Art Deco classic completed in 1928 by architectsHolabird & Roche.
The Pritzker Pavilion is a Frank Gehry-designed outdoor performance structure in Millenium Park, a 20 minute stroll down the Magnificent Mile from the Peninsula Chicago.Opened in 2004, it hosts the US’s only free outdoor classical music series.Classified as a work of art rather than a building, the Pavilion has the same acoustic performance as an indoor concert hall.
North Columbus Drive Bridge over the Chicago River is one of 18 moveable bridges that span Chicago’s downtown waterway. The river is the essential connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Watershed and a fundamental driver of Chicago's success. Its flow was reversed in 1900 through a major civil engineering project and every St.Patrick’s Day the river is dyed green.
The Chicago Water Tower was built in 1869 by architectWilliam W. Boyingtonand is the USA’s second oldest water tower and famous survivor of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It is the Peninsula Hotel’s next doorneighbour on the Magnificent Mile.
Merchandise Mart and the La Salle Street Bridge (detail) are Art Deco icons.When it opened in 1930, theMerchandise Mart was thelargest building in the world, with 4,000,000 square feet of floor space.
Built byMarshall Field & Co.and later owned for over half a century by theKennedy family, the Merchandise Mart is so large that it has its ownZIP code(60654) and subway station.
Pablo Picasso’s gift to Chicago, located at Daley Plaza, is a wonderful untitled sculpture that is a much loved Chicago Landmark, first revealed in 1967 and indicative of Chicago’s past and ongoing embrace of the arts.