And so it will happen. This week, powers that be in Chicago will demolish a little work by Mies van der Rohe. A small part of his extraordinarily important campus for the Illinois Institute of Technology will bite the dust.

Another small piece of when Chicago ruled the architecture and...

The highly acclaimed Modern Wing, designed by Renzo Piano, faces the wildly successful Millennium Park. Here's a no-brainer: close Monroe Street that runs between the two!

Truly connect Millennium Park with its sculpture and art to the Art Institute.

This would also be the easiest way to make it easy...

With a stunning addition by architect Renzo Piano -- filled with natural light and beautifully detailed-- the Art Institute of Chicago becomes the second-largest art museum in America. A pedestrian bridge as straight as a Chicago street connects the art museum to Millennium Park and offers great views. Take a...

Remember when this summed up Chicago?

We don't want to be like that anymore. We have learned the value of our history, right? We have a mayor who promotes local culture and beauty and Chicago as a tourist destination,...

The Willis Tower? I don't think so, pal. Some London-based company wants to rename our tower and Mayor Daley is going to let them? What has happened to our city? Do its broad shoulders sag? Oh for the days when Mayor William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson promised Chicago voters that...

First the bad news: the cost of admission to the Art Institute will rise by 50 percent beginning May 23rd. That's one week after the grand new Modern Wing is set to open. Entrance fees rise to $18 per adult, from the current 12 bucks. Students and seniors get in...

Yes Sir, I hear you're coming home! President's Day, eh? So we have a couple of weeks to prepare. Here's what I'd like to do for you:

You know the Charles Lindbergh Beacon atop the Palmolive Building near the Oak Street beach? It's been...

Sing a spiritual for Studs.

I'm so glad I called him the other day and posted what he said here on the Huffington Post. He read your comments and they pleased him. When I spoke with him he sounded so good.

He wanted to live to see Barack Obama...

Hearing that Barack Obama is visiting his ailing grandmother made me think of another old-timer who's hanging in there, hoping to see history made if America elects its first African-American president.

And so I gave him a call. Studs Terkel, now ninety six years old. He's done as much...

The Farnsworth House has reopened for some special access post-flood tours. Remember, last month the glass and steel icon of modern architecture suffered great damage. Well, it's been dried out and cleaned up and in fall, with the light streaming through the windows, it looks just great.

When I was a kid, following the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, and in the tumult that followed, I felt unsettled.

I used to go up to see the half dozen or so houses designed by Frank...

How do we place a value on two similar works of art?

This week, Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House is still flooded

and they're desperately seeking funds to restore and reopen this masterpiece. The National Trust and Landmarks Illinois would...

What was Mayor Richard M. Daley thinking as he sat in the stands in Beijing and watched those dazzling, nationalistic, very expensive, opening ceremonies? I wish NBC had shown a shot of "Mayor Beautify". His jaw must have dropped at the display, mouth wide open enough for a Chinese acrobat...