Tribune Tower, Chicago

Just a few steps from the Wrigley Building, the Tribune Tower rises like a Gothic cathedral with its flying buttresses and intricate scrollwork. Erected in 1925, this building was conceived as the headquarters for the 'Chicago Tribune', a project backed by the deep pockets of the newspaper's eccentric editor-publisher, Robert "The Colonel" McCormick. The dapper McCormick and his scruffy co-publisher, Joseph Patterson, initiated a contest in 1922 to celebrate the Chicago Tribune's 75th anniversary. They offered a total of $100,000 in prizes to architects worldwide, who would submit designs for the "most beautiful office building in the world".

The winning design came from the American duo, John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood, who drew inspiration from Britain's Arts and Crafts movement, which rebelled against angular, mass-produced decoration. As a result, the tower's ornate details feature a plethora of flora, fauna, and figures from ancient Greek storyteller Aesop's fables intricately woven into the stonework above the main entrance.

Be sure to explore the main lobby, where you'll discover remarkable decorative elements including quotations promoting a free press, etched across nearly every inch of marble. There's a colossal relief map of North America on the main wall, made from a peculiar mix of plaster and old dollar bills; apparently, the original design included a substantial portion of South America, but the intensely patriotic Colonel decided to emphasize the United States by truncating two feet from the bottom.

Ever since the 'Chicago Tribune' newspaper relocated from the building in 2018, the neo-Gothic skyscraper has been transformed into condominiums. This, however, hasn't affected the building's façade. Visitors can still marvel at the fragments from renowned global landmarks embedded therein, including the Parthenon, the Taj Mahal, Westminster Abbey, the Alamo, Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Great Wall of China, and Bunker Hill.