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On this page I want to put those pictures I took during the year that were not in conjunction with a particular trip or event.

Chicago as Seen from the Hancock Center

Early in the year (February, I think), I had the chance to go up to the observation deck in the John Hancock Building at night. I tried to take a number of shots of downtown Chicago, but not many of them turned out. Here are a few that did:

This picture looks north. Lake Shore Drive is at right, with the darkened lake to the extreme right. Lincoln Park is in the middle, and the long, straight, lit-up avenue is Clark Street.

This view looks directly south. Lake Shore Drive is at the left, and the still incomplete Standard Oil Building (Chicago's second-tallest) is to its right. The long street heading south is Michigan Avenue, and the lit-up Wrigley Building is in the foreground (on the Chicago River). The Loop is at the right.

This view of the Chicago Loop shows the Wrigley Building in the lower left, the IBM Building (just completed this year) and, in the distance, the Sears Tower- at 1451 feet America's tallest building.

Two Random Pictures

I can't think of a good reason to put each of these pictures in its own section.

One of the first friends I made at the Bank was another auditor, Al Bernard, and on one Saturday when he had some of us out to his house in Oak Park, I happened to take this picture of his cat, Twitch, in his backyard.

One of the first trips I made after getting to Chicago was to my Aunt Marguerite's house over in Muskegon, on the other side of Lake Michigan. I got in the habit of driving over there every couple of months, and on one of those visits I went out to the North Shore of Lake Michigan.

I found this small picnic area just south of the Blockhouse, and right on the lake shore. It made a pleasant place to sit and just enjoy the afternoon.

The Area Around Eugenie Square

I have really enjoyed living high in a high-rise since Ed and I moved in in October. True to his word, Ed is gone a great deal of the time, so during the week I often have the place to myself.

In late November we had a wet snowfall, but there wasn't much accumulation. On Saturday afternoon I went out to walk around the neighborhood to take a few pictures. The view at left shows the front of Eugenie Square, and the picture was taken from over in Lincoln Park. The view looks southwest at the east side of the apartment tower.

Eugenie Square, completed just last year, is one of the tallest buildings in the city- if you go by number of floors. At 42 stories, my guess would be that it is perhaps the 20th or 25th tallest building in the city. But when you go by actual height, it is much further down the list. The reason is that in office buildings, the average floor height is much greater than in a completely residential building. This is because in residential buildings, each floor is basically just a 6-inch slab of concrete, but in an office building, not only are the ceilings a couple of feet higher, but the floors are a sandwich, and contain ducts, electric conduits, water lines for sprinklers, and so on. Eugenie Square's 42 stories take it to a height of some 450 feet, whereas the the office building I work in (200 West Jackson) is only 32 stories but is only a few feet shorter.

Being high up is simply amazing, and I can always amuse myself for a while just sitting in the living room and taking in the views- particularly the sunsets. I can see for many miles to the west, and since most weather comes from that direction, I can see weather fronts and storms coming long before they actually arrive. There is also a building antenna system, so TV reception is excellent.

Here are two more views from my walk this afternoon:

This view looks from Lincoln Park directly south at an area called the Near North Side (from North Avenue down to Chicago Avenue); the Gold Coast is east of it on the lake shore. At right is the tallest building (36 floors) in the Sandburg Village residential complex. The low building just this side of that tower is the Moody Church.

This view looks from the corner of LaSalle and Eugenie directly south along LaSalle Street. You can see the buildings of Sandburg Village on the left side of the street, and of course Eugenie Square at the right. In the far distance, LaSalle Street dead ends into the Chicago Board of Trade at LaSalle and Jackson.

Pictures Not Taken By Me

I have some pictures from this year that I did not take; they were either taken by my Dad or by someone else. I want to include those pictures here.

I don't have an exact date for this picture, but I have inferred that it was taken sometime in this year. That means that Ted is either four or five in this picture, depending on exactly when during the year it was taken.

I assume that the picture was taken at my sister's house, as there is no wall in the house on Somerset Drive that is plain and white like this one. I, of course, am living in Chicago at this time.

From what is written on the back of this picture, it was taken in March, and this is confirmed by the fact that the azaleas and ornamental pear are both in bloom.

The picture shows the front of the Britt's house next door to ours. You can see the north side of our house across the driveway. I can infer that this picture was taken in the morning, as the east sun is illuminating the front of both houses.

I assume that my Dad took this picture to record the spring blooms.

You can use the link below to return to the index for 1973.

Return to Index for 1973