Making out doesn't make it notable.

March 11, 2008 6:49 PM

Which Chicagoland parking garages are most notable?

Which historical, architecturally-interesting, or culturally relevant parking structures in or around Chicago are missing from this list?

Marina City
(corncob buildings + condos)

The John Hancock Center
(has Guggenheim-style spiral ramp)

Trump Tower
(has a light-from-within sculpture at the base)

Self-Park Garage on East Wacker Place
(by Stanley Tigerman)

Contemporaine
(by Ralph Johnson)

Millennium Park
(is a lid for a parking garage)

Harris Music for Theater and Dance
(looks like a parking garage)

shops at North and Clybourn
(nice view, previously)

111 South Wacker
ramp creates curvilinear pattern in ceiling

Hotel LaSalle (now demolished)
world's first parking garage

The Milwaukee Museum of Art

posted by asuprenant to Travel & Transportation around Chicago, IL (7 answers total)

Best answer: According to my (old, maybe out of date) AIA Guide, the Parking Garage at O'Hare Airport (1973, C.F. Murphy Assocs.) was the "largest construction contract ever awarded by the city and the world's largest garage when built". 79 acres of parking on six levels.

Also in my guide, there's a "parking structure" at 209 S. Wabash (1929, Loebl, Schlossman & Demuth) where a "garage with first-floor shops fits behind a four-story Art Deco facade." More of that "preservation" I've been hearing so much about, I guess.
posted by tew at 7:42 PM on March 11, 2008

Sorry this is not much help but, there is a garage somewhere near Belmont and Clark that used to be a ballroom. The ceilings are still painted in cloudscapes. I wish I could remember exactly where it is located.
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:48 PM on March 11, 2008

I can't prove it, but one/some/many of the buildings down on Jewelers Row have built in car lifts that allow the merchants to drive their cars in and park directly on their floor for security purposes.

And this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KzEAs3Yclg
posted by gjc at 7:58 PM on March 11, 2008

Video of a guy driving down all 19-floors of Marina City's garage.

Another video of the recent Allstate stunt where they drove a car out of the garage... from the 19th floor. Which I think is a remake of a scene from some movie...
posted by wfrgms at 10:57 AM on March 12, 2008

Best answer: The Millennium Park Bicycle Station--excuse me, the McDonald's Cycle Center--is a parking garage for bicycles.

Is a parking lot a structure? The lot at the Chicago Center for Green Technology was designed with a lot of sustainable tech features. Its light color reflects sunlight instead of heating up. It's made from paper industry by-products. If I remember correctly, it's permeable. There are no curbs, so any water that collects will drain to a pond that leeches out toxins.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:45 PM on March 12, 2008

>>Which I think is a remake of a scene from some movie...
wfrgms - that would be Steve McQueen's last movie - 'The Hunter' ... The cornfield scene were the Trans Am explodes was shot in my hometown of Manteno and I know someone who snagged the gascap of the blown up vehicle as a souvenir - good times.
posted by mctsonic at 3:02 PM on March 17, 2008

There's the garage from Ferris Bueller discussed in this article. It's at Madison and Wells.

And I'm pretty sure there's a Steven Segal movie with scenes in the garage at 55 E. Monroe. Googling suggests it's Above the Law.
posted by Xalf at 5:14 PM on March 17, 2008