Marina Towers

CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!

Chicago's world-famous Marina Towers have put an exclamation point on the city's architecture for the last half a century. As a kid, I was always fascinated with these twin buildings as they towered over the Chicago River.

The Marina Towers — and the array of attached buildings called Marina City — were built during an urban decline in the city as Chicagoans started flooding the suburbs. At 65 stories tall, they were the tallest residential buildings and the tallest reinforced concrete structures in the world. Interestingly, they were built at a cost of $36 million, financed largely by a union of janitors and elevator operators as a last-ditch effort to convince people to stay in the city at night (source: Wikipedia). 

Chicago's architects have never stopped innovating and there are functional works of art all over the city but these twin buildings have earned their spot in history for their unique design and construction techniques.