The most popular views of Chicago's skyline are over Lake Michigan from the east. The CTA Red Line is the best means for reaching most of the viewing points that follow see individual district articles for more detailed directions. Using this guide, you should be able to figure out what buildings you are looking at from any of Chicago's most popular skyline-gazing spots. Following the financial crisis, though, construction on several very high profile buildings ground to an abrupt halt as virtually all sources of credit dried up, rendering some of the most intriguing projects mere flights of fancy, relegated to the dustbin of counterfactual history, including the once highly anticipated Chicago Spire.
The most obvious result of the building spree is the Trump Tower, the fourth tallest building in the U.S., and second in Chicago only to the Sears Tower. Driven by downtown Chicago's residential real estate boom (the hottest in the country prior to the 2007–2008 financial crisis), existing buildings were converted from office space to condominiums and hotels, and builders raced to erect some of the world's tallest buildings, which have radically re-shaped the city's skyline. The third wave of supertall construction hit in the beginning of the 21st century. (It was also during this time - as occurred during the first wave - when a giant swathe of early skyscrapers were recklessly demolished.) It was during this time when Chicago gained its most famous modern skyscrapers, including the three of the tallest: the Sears Tower, the Aon Center, and the John Hancock Center. As a result, while the residential population spread across a wide range of suburbs, commercial activity remained fixed at the center of the city. The answer of Chicago's first Mayor Daley was simple: build, and then build some more. The second wave, oddly enough, occurred during the 1960s and 70s, when urban centers across America were experiencing white flight and severe population decline. Real estate prices and building heights soared in the years that followed, but the boom years of the 1920s financial bubble saw an unprecedented wave of skyscrapers that shattered previous records for size, including the still-extant Mather Tower, Tribune Tower, and later the Chicago Board of Trade. Built in 1885, William LeBaron Janney's 10-story Home Insurance Building was the first to use a steel-frame skeleton to support its walls - at one-third of the weight of a structure using conventional means. Chicago's engineers solved the problem of the load-bearing wall, liberating structures from the limits of what a masonry foundation could support. In the late 19th century, Chicago's downtown was an ideal location for architects of ambition the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 had literally gutted the downtown area, creating a relentless drive to re-build and ample space in which to do it. See Architecture for more on Chicago's skyscrapers and some of their shorter, notable counterparts.
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