Architecture tours lead the way in bringing visitors to increasingly crowded Chicago River
CHICAGO - New Jersey resident Bob Sickles took Wendella's nighttime architecture boat tour down the Chicago River with his wife last year to see the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, among other architects, tower above the green water.
They came back on a muggy Thursday afternoon this summer for a refresher. "Every year there are new, different buildings," Sickles said.
One of the most popular ways to see Chicago's eclectic, rapidly changing skyline is from the river, where buildings rise like Legos as boatloads of tourists sail past dozens of times each day.
Tour guides point out structures ranging from those currently under construction, such as Vista Tower, with its blue, glass-paneled windows mimicking the river's waves below, to the Prohibition-era Carbide and Carbon Building, with an emerald base and gold leaf roof and resembling a Champagne bottle.
Architecture tours on the Chicago River aren't just an iconic experience; they're a booming business, capitalizing on record-breaking tourism and a commercial renaissance along the once-industrial waterway. New high-rise developments and a revamped Chicago Riverwalk are drawing visitors
