Monthly Archives: February 2026

50 years ago today: Boz Scaggs’ “Silk Degrees” album released (February 18, 1976).

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Feature Image: The 1976 cover of Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees, photographed by Moshe Brakha at Casino Point in Avalon, California, features a pensive, cool, well-dressed Scaggs seated on a jade green and white bench overlooking the sea. In a sun-drenched, somewhat lonely coastal setting, Scaggs is joined by the partial view of a woman’s hand and her high-heeled foot, suggesting a story of lost love or longing. The cover is iconic, not unlike an advertisement for a men‘s fragrance, here of smooth, soulful pop and jazz by Scaggs released on Columbia Records. “Silk Degrees – Boz Scaggs” by Brett Jordan is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The song about a hustler looking for his next big score, Lido Shuffle was the fourth and final single released from Boz Scaggs’ 1976 album, Silk Degrees, in February 1977, about one year after the album’s February 1976 release. It’s Over (No. 38), Lowdown (No. 3) and What Can I Say (No. 42) already had been released as singles from an album that debuted in March 1976 on the Billboard 200 and peaked at no. 2 on September 18, 1976. Though Silk Degrees spun off the chart in May 1978, 115 weeks after it first appeared, Scaggs’ 7th studio album had best-selling staying power, remaining in the top 20 (no. 17) at the end of 1976 and higher at no. 8 at the end of 1977. Before its chart departure, Silk Degrees had been certified Platinum by the RIAA and is certified 5x multi-Platinum today. see – Boz Scaggs | Biography, Music & News | Billboard – retrieved February 18, 2026.

Lido Shuffle is a breezy, upbeat number that hit no. 11 on the Hot 100 in 1977. 
LYRICS Lido missed the boat that day he left the shack
But that was all he missed and he ain’t comin’ back
At a tombstone bar in a jukejoint car, he made a stop
Just long enough to grab a handle off the top
Next stop Chi town, Lido put the money down and let it roll
He said one more job ought to get it
One last shot ‘fore we quit it
One more for the road
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He’s for the money, he’s for the show
Lido’s waitin’ for the go
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He said one more job ought to get it
One last shot ‘fore we quit it
One more for the road
Lido be runnin’, havin’ great big fun, until he got the note
Sayin’ toe the line or blow, and that was all she wrote
He be makin’ like a beeline, headin’ for the borderline
Goin’ for broke
Sayin’ one more hit ought to do it
This joint ain’t nothin to it
One more for the road
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He’s for the money, he’s for the show
Lido’s waitin’ for the go
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
One more job ought to get it
One last shot and we quit it
One more for the road
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He’s for the money, he’s for the show
Lido’s waitin’ for the go
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh…

November 3, 1962: Fats Domino in Amsterdam. “Fats Domino (1962)” by Hugo van Gelderen / Anefo is marked with CC0 1.0.

The idea for, and beat of, pop-rock Lido Shuffle was inspired by songs by Carl Perkins (1932-1988) and Fats Domino (1928-2017) and whose lyrics are about a gambler who left home to chase bets (even to Chicago) and ends up losing more winning.

Carl Perkins. “06 – Carl Perkins” by Bradford Timeline is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Though promising to do better, the big gambler gets wrapped up in bets, so that each time is the last time – until the next time. “He’s for the money, he’s for the show, Lido’s waitin’ for the go.” Spending wildly and getting deeper and deeper into debt, he’s having fun. That is, until the note finally comes due and the big gambler has to go for broke running for the border – or that’s the plan. Because he can neither escape his gambling addiction nor his debts he goes for one more gambling hit “goin’ for broke” expecting a bailout that won’t be coming. Like the American buffalo hunted to extinction so ends up the gambling Lido Shuffle.

A sales turnaround for Silk Degrees started in Cleveland, Ohio. It’s Over, the album’s first, and up to that point, only single, had modest top 40 success and Scaggs had no plans to release anything more. But an enterprising Cleveland R&B radio DJ at WJMO- AM started playing the Steely-Dan-styled Lowdown right off the album to Ohio’s North Coast – and the public response was massively positive. Scaggs’ label, Columbia, sent the song around to other R&B and Top 40 radio stations across the country and released Lowdown as a single in June 1976. By October 1976 Lowdown was no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and, always having had crossover appeal, was no. 5 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Lowdown was no. 1 on the Cash Box Top 100 and sold over one million copies to be certified Gold. It also won that year’s Grammy Award for Best R & B song making 32-year-old Boz Scaggs the first white musical artist to ever win in that award category.

Lowdown is the standout hit on Silk Degrees. Released on June 4, 1976, the smooth, jazzy R&B ballad became the breakthrough hit of the album, peaking at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and winning the 1977 Grammy for Best R&B Song.
LYRICS Baby’s into runnin’ around, hangin’ with the crowd
Puttin’ your business in the street, talkin’ out loud
Sayin’ you bought her this and that
And how much you done spent I swear she must believe it’s all heaven sent
Hey, boy
You better bring the chick around
To the sad, sad truth
The dirty lowdown
(Oohooohooohooo
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who)
Taught her how to talk like that
(Oohooohooohooo
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who)
Gave her that big idea
Nothin’ you can’t handle, nothin’ you ain’t got Put your money on the table and drive it off the lot Turn on that old lovelight and turn a “Maybe” to a “Yes” Same old schoolboy game got you into this mess
Hey son
Better get on back to town
Face the sad old truth
The dirty lowdown
(Oohooohooohooo
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who)
Put those ideas in your head
(Oohooohooohooo
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who)
Yeah
Come on back down, little son
Dig the low, low, low, low, lowdown!
You ain’t got to be so bad, got to be so cold
This dog eat dog existence sure is getting old
Got to have a jones for this, jones for that This runnin’ with the Joneses, boy, just ain’t where it’s at, no, no…
You gonna come back around
To the sad, sad truth
The dirty lowdown
(Oohooohooohooo)
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who)
Got you thinking like that, boy
(Oohooohooohooo
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who)
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who
Said I wonder, wonder, wonder, I wonder who
Oh, look out for that lowdown
(I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who)
That dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty lowdown
(Ooohooohooohooo)
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who
Ooohooohooohooo
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who
Got you thinkin’ like that
Got you thinkin’ just like that
(Ooohooohooohooo)
(I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who)
Lookin’ that girl in the face is so sad I’m ashamed of you
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who

It was Silk Degree’s producer, Joe Wissert, who introduced Scaggs and David Paich of the future Toto, and Lowdown was the first song on the album they wrote together. The song came about when Scaggs and Paich took off to a weekend getaway spot outside L.A. and pounded out song ideas. When they returned to the city, they immediately recorded funk-disco Lowdown with the band. To talk about “the lowdown” is a slang term for “what’s really going on” – what’s factual and not just fancied. In Scaggs’s Lowdown, the singer looks to convey to the man in the song that he face “the sad, sad truth” about his woman. “The dirty lowdown” is that she is “into runnin’ around, hangin’ with the crowd” and not appreciating him or what he gives to her. Though she is “Puttin’ your business in the street,” the singer understands and is sympathetic to what the man wants. He seems to identify with the man’s hope that there’s “Nothin’ you can’t handle, nothin’ you ain’t got, Put your money on the table…Turn a Maybe to a Yes.” But the singer concludes that the man’s rosy outlook, born of overconfidence or desperation, is missing the mark: “Same old schoolboy game got you into this mess…” The singer could legitimately wonder “who got you thinking’ like that” but then iterates the lowdown: “Lookin’ that girl in the face is so sad I’m ashamed of you…”

“WJMO – Radio – 11821 Euclid Ave” by Timothy Culek (photographer) Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections is marked with CC0 1.0.

Following this success that Scaggs admitted was the pure “accident” of a chain of events that had Lowdown released as a single, Lido Shuffle landed on the pop chart within a couple of weeks in March 1977, peaking at no. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1977 (no. 6 on Cash Box) and remaining on the pop chart throughout that summer. Like Lowdown, Lido Shuffle was co-written with David Paich who was featured on keyboards. The track also featured drummer Joe Porcaro and bassist David Hungate, all of whom formed the band Toto later in 1977. Of Silk Degrees Robert Christgau of the Village Voice gave the album a “B PLUS (Later A-)” observing: “Scaggs is criticized for his detachment, but I say it’s subtlety and I say thank god for it. In the past, he’s sometimes bought (not to mention sold) his own lushness, but this collection is cooled by droll undercurrents–white soul with a sense of humor that isn’t consumed in self-parody. Inspirational Verse [from Lowdown]: “Gotta have a jones for this/Jones for that/This runnin’ with the joneses, boy/Just ain’t where it’s at.” See – Robert Christgau: Consumer Guide July 12, 1976 – retrieved February 18, 2026.

It’s Over is the second track on side two of Boz Scaggs’ 1976 album, Silk Degrees, and was its lead single released in March 1976. Co‑written by Scaggs and David Paich, the track distills Silk Degrees into one smooth hit — a blue-eyed soul, tight R&B, soft-rock glide. Paich, Jeff Porcaro, and David Hungate anchor the groove, the same trio that would launch Toto later that year. It’s Over cracked the top 40 at no. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100.
LYRICS Your baby doesn’t love you any more
Golden days before they end
Whisper secrets to the wind
Your baby won’t be near you anymore
Tender nights before they fly
Send falling stars that seem to cry
Your baby doesn’t want you any more
It’s over
It breaks your heart in two
To know she’s been untrue
But, oh, what will you do?
When she says to you
There’s someone new
We’re through, we’re through
It’s over, it’s over, it’s over
All the rainbows in the sky
Start to weep, then say goodbye
You won’t be seeing rainbows anymore
Setting suns before they fall
Echo to you that’s all that’s all
But you’ll see lonely sunsets after all
It’s over, it’s over, it’s over
It’s over



My Architecture & Design Photography: Details/Particulars, Beaux-Arts elevator bank (1907), Congress Plaza Hotel, 520 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Clinton J. Warren, architect (1893) and Holabird & Roche, architect (1902-1907).

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Feature Image: December 2015. Beaux-Arts elevator bank (1907). Congress Plaza Hotel, Chicago. 6.20 mb DSC_0617 (1). Author’s photograph.

The initial North Tower was built in 1893 during The World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago from May 1 to October 31, 1893. It was built by famed developer R.H. Southgate and designed by Clinton J. Warren (1860-1938), a leading young hotel designer in the city. Warren moved to Chicago from Massachusetts in 1879 and the next year joined the firm of Burnham and Root. When he left the firm in 1886 to start his own firm he designed a long list of Chicago hotels. These included The Virginia Hotel (1889–1890), a ten-story building on the northwest corner of Ohio and Rush Streets, The Metropole Hotel (1891) an eight-story building on the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and 23rd Street, The Plaza Hotel (1891–1992) at 1553 N. Clark Street at the southeast corner of Clark and North Avenue, The Lexington Hotel (1892) at 22nd and Michigan Avenue and The Auditorium Annex/Congress Hotel at 504 S. Michigan Avenue (1893), which is today The Congress Plaza Hotel.  By 1900 Warren returned to Boston, Massachusetts, and died in San Diego, California, in 1938, by then his active years as an architect in Chicago obscured. His obituary in the New York Times failed to mention Warren’s training with Daniel Burnham, his influence on Chicago architecture by way of numerous prominent buildings over two decades in the city nor his work’s association to Al Capone by way of the gangster’s moving his headquarters to the Lexington Hotel in 1928 until 1931. Warren’s NYT obituary reads in full: “Clinton J. Warren SAN DIEGO, Calif., March 17 (AP). – Clinton J. Warren, architect, who designed buildings in Europe, Mexico and Eastern United States, died at his home here last night at the age of 80. Mr. Warren formerly lived in Winchester, Mass. His widow and two sons, Clinton Jay Jr. of San Francisco and John of New York, survive.” see – TimesMachine: March 18, 1938 – NYTimes.com and The Chicago Hotels of Architect Clinton J. Warren – Owlcation – retrieved February 22, 2026.

December 2015. Beaux-Arts elevator bank, 504 S. Michigan Avenue (1907), Chicago. 3.99mb DSC_0958 (2). Author’s photograph.

Originally named the Auditorium Annex it opened in 1893 to swarms of tourists and has remained open in this role continuously since to today (and is famous for its ghost hauntings). The Auditorium Annex became the closest major hotel at the time to two large train stations: Dearborn Station and Illinois Central Station both five blocks away. It was also the southernmost major hotel in Downtown Chicago and just a block and a half away from the elevated train station that took visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds in Jackson Park. The gold elevator bank, featuring ornate gilded, Beaux-Arts styling, is located within the South Tower of the Congress Plaza Hotel, added between 1902 and 1907 designed by architects Holabird & Roche. see – Holabird & Roche. See- Chicago Landmarks – Architect Details – retrieved February 22, 2026.

William Holabird (1854-1923) and Martin Roche (1855-1927) of the architectural firm of Holabird & Roche that designed the South Tower of today’s Congress Plaza Hotel between 1902 and 1907. Public Domain.

This addition includes a luxurious banquet hall called the “Gold Room.” By 1908, the hotel had over 1,000 guest rooms and, in 1911, changed its name to the Congress Hotel inspired by its location on Congress Parkway (today’s Ida B. Wells Drive) and across from Grant Park. Several U.S. presidents have stayed in the Congress Hotel and could have used these golden elevators including Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge. See – Congress Plaza Hotel History | Congress Plaza Hotel – retrieved February 22, 2026.

News, Feature, Opinion: FEB. 16, 2026. Actor and filmmaker Robert Duvall died February 15, 2026, at 95, it was announced today.

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Feature image: Dave Kunkel, Steve Lang, Robert Duvall. “Dave Kunkel, Steve Lang, Robert Duvall” by Wicklein Group is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

ROSA LEE: I LOVE YOU, YOU KNOW? EVERY NIGHT WHEN I SAY MY PRAYERS AND I THANK THE LORD FOR HIS BLESSINGS AND HIS TENDER MERCIES TO ME, YOU AND SONNY HEAD THE LIST. Tender Mercies – 11. “Blessings and Tender Mercies” – retrieved February 16, 2026.

Robert Duvall died February 15, 2026, at his home in Middleburg, Virginia, at 95 it was announced February 16. In Tender Mercies, a 1983 American drama film set in Texas, Robert Duvall played washed-up country singer Mac Sledge in a performance that won that year’s Academy Award for Best Actor. In this scene, Duvall’s friend, Wilford Brimley, played Harry, Mac’s former manager, and Tess Harper played a widow named Rosa Lee who develops feelings for Mac. Coming off a bitter break up with his wife Dixie Lee, a superstar country singer, who won’t let her ex-alcoholic husband near herself or their grown daughter, Mac, a once legendary country music star in his own right, lives and works quietly at a gas station operated by Rosa Lee who lives with her young son. As Mac tries to rebuild both his career and life on the Texas badlands, he finds he has keener, if less flashy, success with the latter. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, Tender Mercies also won Oscar for Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen (Horton Foote). In his 60-year film career, Duvall made scores of films, receiving seven Academy Award nominations in the process. Duvall also received four Golden Globe Awards. From his film debut in 1962 as Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird, Duvall appeared in some of the most iconic feature films of his era and in iconic roles both on screen and behind the camera as producer, writer and director. Notable film titles include: True Grit (1969), M*A*S*H (1970), The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Great Santini (1979), Tender Mercies (1983), The Natural (1984), The Apostle (1997), Open Range (2003), and Wild Horses (2015). At 91 years old, Duvall’s final film, The Pale Blue Eye, was released 60 years after his first, in 2022.

Robert Duvall played Lieutenant Colonel William “Bill” Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, a 1979 war film directed by Francis (Ford) Coppola.  Commanding the 1st Battalion, 9th Air Cavalry Regiment during the Vietnam War, Kilgore is depicted as an adrenaline-fueled “gung-ho” officer who embodies the insanity of the war. (6) Apocalypse Now UHD (1979) – Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (1/11) | 4K Clips – YouTube – retrieved February 16, 2026.
Based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) is one of the greatest films of all time. Robert Duvall plays cool-headed Tom Hagen, the Irish-German consigliere and lawyer for the Corleone crime family. Since youth Hagen was unofficially adopted into the New York-based Italian American family by the Godfather, Vito Corleone. Hagen is dispatched to Hollywood by the Godfather to secure a film role for Johnny Fontaine, a singer and Vito’s godson, and produced by Jack Woltz (John Marley). When Woltz refuses Tom Hagen’s first offer for Johnny to star in his picture, and Tom Hagen returns to New York, the Godfather makes the reluctant film producer a second offer he can’t refuse.

My Architecture & Design Photography:  SKYLINE.

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Feature Image: October 2015. Chicago. 5.85mb DSCN1452 (1). Author’s photograph.

October 2016. Chicago 4.90mb DSC_0104 (1)

Chicago skyline from Museum Campus promontory (Northerly Island).

October 2015. Chicago. 5.85mb DSCN1452 (1). Author’s photograph.

Wacker Drive and Wabash Avenue looking east, Chicago. From left: Trump International Hotel and Tower, Adrian Smith, architect (2009). Trump Tower Chicago is a 98-story skyscraper at 401 N Wabash Ave, completed in 2009. Rising 1,389 feet with its spire, it includes 486 condos, a 339-room hotel, and ranks as the 4th tallest building in the United States.

Wrigley Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, architect (1921).

Tribune Tower (partially hidden), Howells & Hood, architect (1925).

401 N Michigan Avenue (Equitable Building), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1965/Facelift 1992/Renovation 2016). The plaza (Pioneer Court) of the Miesian 401 N. Michigan draws over 22,000 pedestrians daily from busy Michigan Avenue. Apple’s global flagship store shares the plaza that provides immediate access to the Riverwalk via the Spanish Steps. see – 401 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611 – Office for Lease | LoopNet – retrieved February 13, 2026.

360 N. Michigan Avenue (London Guarantee & Accident Building), Alfred S. Alschuler, architect (1923).

85 E. Wacker Drive (London House).

75 E. Wacker (formerly Lincoln Tower, originally Mather Tower), Herbert Hugh Riddle, architect (1928) and Harry Weese & Assocs. (Renovation/1983).

71 E. Wacker Drive (The Royal Sonesta Chicago Downtown, formerly Executive House Hotel), Milton Schwartz, architect (1959). 71 E. Wacker Drive is the first high-rise hotel in Chicago since the Great Depression. see – Executive House Hotel, 71 E. Wacker, Chicago – retrieved February 13, 2026.

May 2015. Chicago. 99% 7.92mb DSC_0468. Author’s photograph.

Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street looking west on Van Buren, Chicago. Left: Chicago Club, 81. E. Van Buren, Granger & Bollenbacher, architect (1929).

Right: CNA Center (333 S. Wabash Avenue), Graham, Anderson, Probst, architect (1972).

Near background: 333 S. State, DePaul Center (formerly Goldblatt’s, originally Rothschild & Co. Store), Holabird & Roche, architect (1912), renovation 1993.

Far background: Fisher Building (343 S. Dearborn Street), D.H. Burnham & Co., architect (1896) and Northern Addition, Peter J. Weber, architect (1907). Restoration and adaptive Reuse, 2001.

October 2015. Chicago. 4.28mb DSC_0061 (1) Author’s photograph.

Adams and Dearborn Streets looking north along Dearborn, Chicago. Left: 55 Xerox Center, 55 West Monroe, Chicago, Helmut Jahn, architect (1977-1980). Behind (partially hidden): Chase Tower (originally First National Bank of Chicago), Perkins & Will; C.F. Murphy Assocs. (1969).

Right: 33 W. Monroe, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architects (1980). Behind: Inland Steel Building, 30 W. Monroe, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architects (1954-1958).

Background: 2 N. State/1 N. Dearborn Streets (originally, Boston Store), Holabird & Roche (1906; 1917), renovation (2001).

November 2015. Chicago. 3.77mb DSC_0384 (1). Author’s photograph.

Halsted Street between Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard looking east, Chicago. Union Station Tower (MidAmerica Commodity Exchange), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1971). Willis Tower (originally, Sears Tower), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1974).

December 2015. Chicago. 2.40mb DSC_0577 (2). Author’s photograph.

Balbo and Wabash Avenues looking north on Wabash. Left: (with Columbia College wall sign) 33 Ida B. Wells Drive building, Alfred S. Alschuler, architect, (1925/1926). DePaul University College of Law, 25 E. Jackson and, beyond, 230 S. Wabash, a 21-story building built in 1910.

Center: Trump International Hotel and Tower, Adrian Smith, architect (2009).

At right: Roosevelt University: Auditorium Building, Adler & Sullivan, architect (1887-1889) and The Wabash Building, a 32-story zigzagging glass structure, Christopher Groesbeck, AIA, architect (2012). CNA Center (333 S. Wabash Avenue), Graham, Anderson, Probst, architect (1972).

December 2015. Chicago 3.60mb DSC_0986 (2)

From left: Old Colony Building, 407 S. Dearborn Street, Holabird & Roche, architect (1894), Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center, 71 W. Van Buren Street, Harry Weese & Associates (1975), Fisher Building, 342 S. Dearborn Street, D.H. Burnham, architect (1896) and Northern Addition, Peter Weber, architect (1907) and Sears Tower, 233 S. Wacker Drive, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1974).

July 2016. Chicago 5.33mb DSC_0743 (1)

Lincoln Park looking over South Pond towards downtown. At left: (partial view) Water Tower Place, 845 N. Michigan Avenue, Loebl, Schlossman & Hackl, architect (1976); John Hancock Building, 875 N. Michigan Avenue, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1969); 900 North Michigan Avenue, Kohn Pedersen Fox, architect (1989); Park Tower, 800 N. Michigan Avenue, Lucien LaGrange & Assoc., architect (2000); The Aon Center (formerly, Amoco Building; originally, Standard Oil Building), 200 E. Randolph Street, Edward Durell Stone; Perkins & Will, architects (1973); Trump International Hotel and Tower, Adrian Smith, architect (2009); At right: James House, 1560 North Sandburg Terrace, Solomon Cordwell Buenz, architect (1971).

July 2016. Chicago. 3.28 mb DSC_0045 (1)

Looking north on Wabash Avenue from Randolph Street, the Chicago elevated train follows a north-south route along Wabash Avenue and has been part of downtown since the late 1890’s. The “Kemper” sign is on the relatively dull modernist Kemper Building, now One East Wacker, Shaw, Metz & Assoc., architect (1962). Followed by 35 East Wacker Drive (formerly Pure Oil Building; originally, Jewelers Building) with its distinctive dome, Glaver & Dinkelberg; Thielbar & Fugard, Assoc. Archs., architect (1926). Partial view is Trump Tower. 

September 2016. Chicago.3.89mb DSC_0740 (1)

Right to left: The 233 E. Wacker Drive building (known as Columbus Plaza) in Chicago is 48-story apartment building, Fujikawa Conterato Lohan and Associates, architect (1978-1980).
The 111 E. Wacker Drive building (known as One Illinois Center) in Chicago, is a 30-story Modernist building featuring bronze anodized aluminum and dark-tinted glass, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in association with Joseph Fujikawa, architect (1967-1970).
The Swissôtel Chicago at 323 E. Wacker Drive, is a 45-story, triangular, all-glass luxury hotel, Harry Weese and Associates, architect (1989).  
The 345 E. Wacker Drive building (known as Coast at Lakeshore East) in Chicago is a 40-story residential apartment tower, bKL Architecture LLC, architect (2013).

September 2016. Chicago. 4.93mb DSC_0745 (1)

From the Riverwalk looking north along N. St. Clair Street: at right, the 27-story spandrel glass and metal panel 633 N. St Clair St. building, Loebl Schlossman [later; Dart] & Hackl, architect (1991).  
At left, the 63-story pinkish, rose-hued Swedish granite 161 Chicago Avenue East building (known as Olympia Centre) is a mixed-use retail, office, and residential skyscraper, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1984-85).
At right, the 74-story gray marble facade Water Tower Place, the first vertical shopping center on Michigan Avenue (8 floors), also includes the Ritz-Carlton hotel, luxury condos, and office space, Edward D. Dart (Loebl Schlossman Bennett and Dart), architect (1975).
The John Hancock Center—now officially 875 North Michigan Avenue—is a 100‑story, tapered mixed‑use skyscraper known for its iconic X‑bracing. Often described as a “vertical city,” it is considered one of the first major mixed‑use skyscrapers in the world and includes office space (floors 13–41), about 700 condominiums (floors 44–92), and the highest indoor swimming pool in North America on the 44th floor. Its 94th‑floor observation deck offers panoramic views of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Bruce Graham of the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect (1969). It was engineered by Fazlur Rahman Khan, who pioneered the tubular structural system used in the tower.

September 2016. Chicago. 5.06mb DSC_0756 (2)

The Carbide and Carbon Building rises from 230 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago like a gleaming Art Deco toast to the Jazz Age, Burnham Brothers, architect (1929). The 37‑story tower is instantly recognizable: its base wrapped in polished black granite, its shaft clad in deep green terra cotta, and its crown shimmering with 24‑karat gold leaf. Legend has it the architects shaped the building to resemble a champagne bottle — a fitting symbol for a city that never stopped celebrating its own ambition.