(bright inspiring music) - GEOFFREY BAER VO: There are so many astonishingly beautiful treasures in the city and suburbs, big and small, hidden, and in plain sight.

I'm Geoffrey Baer.

In this program, people from all over the city and suburbs take me to the places they find most breathtaking.

They share the stories of these places and why they're so meaningful, and I'll add to the list with some of my own favorites, discovered over a quarter century of exploring Chicago.

You'll see breathtaking vistas and divine details, finely crafted masterpieces, and flights of fancy, castles for commerce, and sacred spaces.

Woven together, it's a tapestry that represents the rich diversity of Chicago.

Join me as we explore the most beautiful places in Chicago.

VO: When I fly, I always like to get a window seat.

That won't be a problem on this flight.

- [Gene] We're gonna get you in.

I'm gonna secure the plane from the outside.

- [Geoffrey] Okay.

Seat backs and tray tables in their upright and locked position.

- [Gene] Correct.

- Yup, hang on.

- [Geoffrey] Really, I'm not worried about a thing.

- [Gene] We're in.

- [Geoffrey] Feeling great!

I hope I remember how to fly this thing.

Just in case.

VO: Our search for the most beautiful places in Chicago starts about an hour before sunset with pilot Gene Woods.

He says if we time this just right, my window seat will reveal a view of the city that never fails to take his breath away.

- [Gene] Dare I say it, we nailed the timing of all this.

- [Geoffrey] I think so.

- [Gene] Because the sun is still up in the sky.

- [Geoffrey] Yeah.

(exciting music) [Geoffrey] And here comes that beautiful sunset shot.

- Oh man, look at that.

- [Gene] Yeah.

It's amazing.

(Geoffrey laughs) - [Geoffrey] Oh gosh.

Is there anything more beautiful?

- [Gene] That's beautiful.

- [Gene] How about it, huh?

- [Geoffrey] Gorgeous!

Man.

- [Gene] I'm glad I'm able to show it to you like this.

- [Geoffrey] I've never seen it this way before.

- [Gene] It's a lot of fun, Geoffrey.

I'm having a lot of fun.

- [Geoffrey] I'm having a ball!

VO: Our dramatic and beautiful skyline got a new jewel in its crown in 2020.

It's St. Regis Tower by renowned Chicago architect, Jeanne Gang, known for using simple, sculptural forms and subtle color to create beauty, and beauty is especially important here, because this is the third tallest building in Chicago, visible from nearly everywhere.

[Geoffrey] Where does your inspiration come from?

Where do you start?

- [Jeanne] I start from thinking from the inside out.

So like how do you get more different kinds of light in an apartment from different directions?

This started a little bit more like, maybe we could taper the building in and out so that the three parts of it could go in and out of phase, and have more corners.

So instead of four corners, the building has eight corners.

VO: The building block that made this possible is called a frustum.

Essentially, it's a pyramid with the top chopped off.

[Geoffrey] A lot of people have talked about it as a popcorn box, right?

- [Jeanne] That's right.

A popcorn box is a perfect shape of frustum.

- [Geoffrey] Has anyone built a model out of popcorn boxes?

- [Jeanne] Well, in fact yes.

That was one of the ways I used to study it when I was just, you know- - [Geoffrey] Really?

- [Jeanne] Yeah.

- [Geoffrey] Oh, that's amazing.

- [Jeanne] Because it's paper, they're inexpensive, but they also give you, you know, you can eat a lot of popcorn, and you can make a model.

(Both laughing) - [Geoffrey] That's good!

VO: All skyscrapers sway a bit in the wind, but the research showed this one would be so tall and slender, that it would have swayed too much.

So Studio Gang left a high double-height floor open to the elements, allowing the wind to pass through the building instead of pushing against it.

[Geoffrey] I can see why they call it a blow-through floor.

It's windy up here.

I'm not gonna get too close.

VO: The rest of the floors, of course, have windows, offering spectacular views for the lucky few who can afford to live here.

[Geoffrey] Oh my gosh.

- [Sean] Welcome to your new home in the sky.

- [Geoffrey] I'll take it!

(both laughing) - [Sean] That's all I'm gonna say.

I'm gonna let you just soak it in for a little bit.

- [Geoffrey] You've done it, you've done it.

So if I had to whip out my checkbook right now, what are we asking here?

- [Sean] Oh, 19 million-ish.

- [Geoffrey] Hey, a bargain!

So, highest unit in Chicago?

- [Sean] Highest unit in the city of Chicago.

- [Geoffrey] How about that?

Nobody's gonna block your view from here.

How far can you see on a sunny day out there?

- [Sean] On a sunny day, you can see the great state of Michigan.

- [Geoffrey] Unbelievable.

Okay, bathroom with a 14 foot ceiling.

- [Sean] Yes.

(Geoffrey laughs) - [Sean] Let me ask you, are you a music fan?

- [Geoffrey] Yeah.

- [Sean] You could watch Lollapalooza from your bathtub.

- [Geoffrey] The bathtub with the best view in Chicago.

[Geoffrey] So, when you're doing skyscrapers in Chicago, which we like to boast is the birthplace of the skyscraper, what do you think about working in this town?

- [Jeanne] Oh, well I think it's kind of an architect's dream, frankly, because Chicagoans like tall buildings, I think maybe because we don't have a mountain landscape, or some other hills, or things, but the architecture really is the landscape, it's what we're known for in Chicago, and there's that adventurous spirit.

- VO: Jeanne Gang comes from a long line of renowned architects who've made Chicago a global leader in skyscraper design.

From some of the world's very first skyscrapers, pioneered by Chicago architects at the turn of the 20th century to austere modernist masterpieces by Chicago's on Mies Van Der Rohe, who famously said, "Less is more", and transformed architecture around the world.

And highly original gems from every era.

Tribune Tower from 1925 was the winning design in a competition to create nothing less than the most beautiful building in the world.

The paper's grandiose publisher, Colonel Robert McCormick, offered $100,000 in prize money.

More than 200 entries poured in.

Many were startlingly modern, but the winner, by John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood of New York, was inspired by a medieval cathedral.

It was converted to condos in 2021, but it's still a monument to journalism.

Just ask Melissa Hubert-Daigre who greets residents and visitors in the lobby, which still looks just as it did in 1925.

[Geoffrey] Wow.

I'm kind of in awe.

What do you call this space?

- [Melissa] This is the Hall of Inscriptions, where the inscriptions give a nod to the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press.

We have people that come from all over the world who don't have those freedoms, and so we here sometimes take it for granted, but it's really important that we're reminded.

And here it is, inscribed into the walls, since 1925, so it's absolutely fantastic to have it as a reminder of how important that it is.

So one of my favorite quotes is right here, inscripted on the floor.

- [Geoffrey] On the floor?

- [Melissa] Yes.

It's by John Ruskin.

- [Geoffrey] Okay.

- [Melissa] And this beautiful quote admirably explains on why this building is here.

- [Geoffrey] "Therefore, when we build, let us think "that we will build forever, "and let us think as we lay stone on stone, "that a time is to come when those stones "will be held sacred, and that men will say "as they look upon the labor, "and the wrought substance of them, "see this, our fathers did for us."

- [Melissa] Isn't that awesome?

- [Melissa] Cue the violin.

(Melissa laughing) VO: In addition to the inscriptions, the lobby features this enormous relief map.

It symbolizes the Tribune's wide coverage.

But Melissa says it's special for another reason.

- [Melissa] It's not only because of its sheer size, Geoffrey.

It's because of what it's made out of.

- [Geoffrey] What it's made of?

- [Melissa] Yes.

- [Geoffrey] Like how it's fabricated?

- [Melissa] Yes.

It's made out of decommissioned US currency.

- [Geoffrey] What?

- [Melissa] Yes.

Legend has it took over one million single dollar bills to create.

It's paper mache and plaster.

- [Geoffrey] It adds new meaning to the term throw money at it.

(both laughing) VO: Like the Gothic cathedrals it's modeled on, the building is crowned with flying buttresses.

And up here underneath those flying buttresses, this was once a public observation deck, with a pretty good view, too.

VO: And like Gothic cathedrals, the building is ornamented with critters called grotesques.

But these represent journalism, like an owl with a camera, and an elephant holding its nose against scandal.

Framing the main entrance are figures of truth and rumor.

Delightful details like these can be found all over the city.

Right next door, the fun-loving Shriners who built the Medina Athletic Club, today's Hotel InterContinental, ornamented the building with these relief sculptures in a pseudo-Mesopotamian motif.

They glorify the ancient art of building construction.

The Manhattan Building on South Dearborn Street from 1891 doesn't seem very tall today, but in its time, it made people stare up in amazement.

Maybe that's why the architect put these ghoulish faces on the bottoms of the bays, so the building stares back.

At State and Madison, this is almost certainly the most beautiful entrance to a Target store anywhere.

Originally, the Schlessinger and Mayer department store, and later, Carson Pirie Scott.

Architect Louis Sullivan encrusted it with his signature lavish cast iron ornament.

And he hid his own initials in the designs.

L-H-S. VO: The windowless facade of a ComEd substation across the street from the Picasso in Daley Plaza is livened up with a heroic figure clutching lightning bolts, hinting at the high voltage inside.

VO: Beautiful buildings in Chicago's neighborhoods don't tend to get as much of the spotlight as the architectural superstars downtown.

But architect Juan Gabriel Moreno is determined to change that.

He's designed striking buildings in neighborhoods all over Chicago, like this Northeastern Illinois University facility called El Centro, in the northwest side neighborhood of Avondale.

Many students here are immigrants, and the first in their families to attend college.

- [Juan] All of our communities deserve uplifting architecture, not just, you know, a downtown, or a central business district, that you can create such incredible impact.

Those communities have been forgotten for so long.

VO: El Centro might cause some distracted driving on the Kennedy Expressway, but Juan says it's in that time-honored Chicago tradition.

Form follows function.

Like, that's the highway right there.

What did you think when you first saw this site?

- Candidly, I thought this is the only place it should be built.

- Oh?

- Yeah.

- [Juan] It's a place where the expressway bulges, right?

- Right.

- It's not the most direct line from O'Hare to downtown.

It puts the building in a position where it's so incredibly visible.

Also, because of those numbers of the expressway and a half million people coming in every morning, half million going out, it's a captive audience that we didn't want to ignore, and it's shamelessly this idea that the building is a billboard.

- It's a really challenging site though, right?

- It is, it is.

- Like, what are some of the challenges?

- Well, we're living through it right now.

The sound.

You know, to put a learning institution next to an expressway, not probably where you wanted to start out.

- [Geoffrey] So what did you do to address the sound?

- Well, the acoustics were the biggest issue.

And so you can look at even the base, and the way that the base is canted.

- [Geoffrey] Yeah, it slants inward there.

- - [Juan] That geometry works to our advantage, because the sound hits it and goes into the earth.

- So it reflects the sound?

- It reflects the sound, instead of projecting it upward.

So the earth becomes our friend at that point.

It doesn't send the sound upwards.

- And then you put a hallway kind of as a buffer on the inside, right?

- [Juan] Yeah, and if you put the corridor on the outside, that becomes a sound buffer.

And so when you go in the classrooms, you cannot hear the noise whatsoever, and so you're not compromising the learning experience whatsoever.

I love architecture that jolts you.

That says, you know, there's something positive going on here, not just for people outside of the community, but most importantly, for those that live there, that they feel like something has been almost gifted to them.

I really want everyone to know what's going on in this building.

That here you have a university that's investing in immigrants, inspiring immigrants to attain higher education.

That's a story that needs to be heard.

(gentle uplifting music) (casual upbeat music) Geoffrey Baer VO: The Merchandise Mart is big and famous, but is it one of the most beautiful places in Chicago?

Well, I'd say after dark it is.

That's when the walls come alive with a delightful and ever-changing projected display of digital art by a variety of artists called Art on the Mart.

(playful music) VO: During one two-month period, Art on the Mart featured the work of Chicago multi-media artist, Nick Cave, who's most famous for his sound suits.

(charming music) GEOFFREY BAER VO: What's the story behind these wearable works of art?

I got the answer from the artist himself when I visited a major retrospective of his work in 2022 at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

- [Geoffrey] When you're wearing some of these, can you see out of them?

- All of them.

- All of them?

- Even that one there.

- Oh really?

You put like little holes?

- Well you know, the opening in here is all meshed screen.

- Yeah.

- And so I can see out, you can't see in.

- Yeah.

- And so that's also something I'm interested in, that I can move through the world with this filter.

- [Geoffrey] Cave's sound suits seem playful, but he was inspired to start creating them in response to a horrible event.

- [Nick] The original idea came from the Rodney King incident.

[Nick] And it was really me as a young black man really struggling with trying to sort of reckon with just what I was encountering.

And I happened to be sitting in Grant Park, and I looked down, and there was this twig, and I don't know, I started collecting all the twigs in the park.

And so this twig made me think about something that was dismissed, discarded.

I took these materials home, then made what I thought was a sculpture, but then didn't even think that I could wear it, and then the moment that I put it on my body and moved, it made sound.

- Yeah.

- And so then that led me to think about protest, in order to be heard, you gotta speak louder.

- What does that feel like, to see your art occupy two and a half acres?

- [Nick] I think for me, I'm thinking more about the accessibility of it, that I'm always thinking about ways of getting the work into the world.

I think that becomes this beacon for the two and a half months that it's up.

This is for the community.

- [Geoffrey] So much of your work is imbued with social justice, and really, these really difficult issues in our society, racism, and yet they seem so joyful.

- [Nick] I think that that's life.

And how do you balance that?

In spite of the despair, and the sort of injustice, there's also optimism, and hope.

I'm still dreaming.

VO: Some find an awesome kind of beauty in this region's history as an industrial powerhouse.

Where heavy industry has declined, some industrial remains have been reborn to beautify Chicago.

This former quarry and landfill in Bridgeport is now Palmisano Park, named for the proprietor of a local bait shop.

Designing the park was a new challenge for renowned landscape architect, Ernie Wong.

- [Geoffrey] What was this place before it was a park?

What's the history?

- [Ernie] The history of this place, it used to be a limestone quarry.

So this was really a hole 300 feet deep.

That was how deep it is.

- 300 feet?

- 300 feet deep.

It was a sheer wall, just straight down.

And it was absolutely incredible.

And then when the city ended up taking it over, they ended up using it as a landfill for construction debris, clean construction debris.

- So not like banana peels?

- Not banana peels, and that kind of thing.

- [Geoffrey] Like construction?

- [Ernie] Yeah, construction material.

And they kept on filling it and filling it and filling it for almost 20 years until we got hold of it, and we created a park.

- And so, was everything kind of arranged this way, or did you shovel some stuff up?

- Oh, there was a lot of grading, yeah.

- So what'd you do?

- [Ernie] We kind of quartered it off into different sections of the park.

There's an athletic field up top.

And knowing full well that there's such grade changes throughout here, we formulated this mound.

- [Geoffrey] So you made that mountain?

- [Ernie] Yeah, we made Mount Bridgeport.

- [Geoffrey] And that's construction debris under there?

- [Ernie] That is construction debris under that.

And then kind of tapered it out, so there is a wetland that goes from Halsted Street down to this pond, so it takes the water, and we terrace it all the way down here.

- [Geoffrey] I can see the water flowing down.

- [Ernie] Exactly.

And then the mound itself is mostly prairie, so it's this environmental park, on top of a landfill.

(both laughing) - [Geoffrey] What does that mean to be able to take an old industrial site, and repurpose it?

- [Ernie] It's actually very invigorating.

I think it's really important.

And it builds community.

- [Geoffrey] Do you ever come out, or have you come out, and seen how people use the park?

- Absolutely.

- What do you learn from that?

What do you think?

- It's always an adventure.

We never know how people are going to use the park.

Any of the parks.

And so when we talk about desire lines, and how people move through the park.

- [Geoffrey] Wait, what'd you call that?

- [Ernie] Desire lines.

- [Geoffrey] Desire lines.

- [Ernie] Or cow paths.

(both laughing) - [Geoffrey] Oh, you mean people forge their own paths?

- [Ernie] Forge their own paths throughout the park.

And it becomes a trail, and it just becomes part of how they own the park.

And I think it's wonderful to see that.

VO: In Chinatown, Ernie transformed another abandoned industrial site, a former rail yard along the Chicago River, into Ping Tom Park.

It brings open space and a beautiful natural area to a community that had no parks for generations.

The community wanted the park to remind them of their Chinese heritage, which gave Ernie a chance to connect with his own roots.

So what is this structure that we're standing in?

- So this is a Chinese pavilion.

Actually, after going to China for the first time in my life in the 1990s, this was really inspirational for me to see that classical Chinese architecture, and to embody that within this park, as part of embracing this community.

And so this was really something that really made me think about who I am as a Chinese-American, what my heritage is, what I came from.

I think there's a lot of pride with this community of, they're away from home.

There's a huge immigrants' community.

And when they come to this park, they feel this is part of home, and where I feel comfortable.

- [Geoffrey] But when Ernie showed the park to his father, the noted Chinese-born modernist architect, Y.C.

Wong, well, I'll let Ernie tell you how that went.

[Geoffrey] And what did your father think of it?

- (laughing) My father was not very happy about this.

He had spent his entire life in China, understanding this classical Chinese architecture, but coming to America to learn something new from Mies Van Der Rohe.

- [Geoffrey] Modernism.

- [Ernie] Modernism, exactly.

- [Geoffrey] This is not modernism.

- And this is not modernism.

He was not particularly happy.

But it is what the community wanted.

- Yeah.

Yeah, and have you seen them embrace it?

- [Ernie] This is now the site of many weddings, because people come here to get their pictures taken.

They feel that this is the quality of who they are as Chinese-Americans in Chicago's Chinatown.

(bright exciting music) VO: On the far South Side, this sprawling parcel of vacant lakefront land was home to a steel mill called South Works, from the 1800s until it closed in 1992.

On a small part of the site, a new park gives residents in the community of South Chicago access to our beautiful lakefront for the first time in more than a century.

This sculpture on the site honors the union steelworkers who labored here and their families.

The artist who created it, Roman Villarreal, was once a steelworker himself.

- [Roman] I came to work in the mill in 1967, - [Geoffrey] And so you were, I mean this was a steel mill?

- Oh yeah.

Like right now- - [Geoffrey] Like, can you show me, like point to where you used to work?

- I used to work on the docks, which basically was behind us.

The boats would come in from that angle over there.

[Roman] My job, at the time, I was a laborer, and my job was basically to keep it safe, clean the area.

So it was interesting.

But my father put me in there because I was having too much fun in the street.

He said, "You gonna work."

- How old were you?

- 17.

- You came here at 17?

- [Roman] Well, at 17, 16, if your parents signed you, you could come to work in the mill, three to 11.

That was the main shift for us at that age.

And we lived across the street from the steel mill.

I remember always noise.

Noise was a very dominant thing in this community.

Clanging, banging.

I mean, the trucks were constant.

- [Geoffrey] But it was a positive world in the community too, right?

The mill?

- [Roman] Oh of course, because that was money.

It was one of the main things that everybody in this community had pocket money.

So it was a different atmosphere, because everybody had money.

There was no, it was always a happy time.

And people started buying cars.

Started buying homes.

I always tell people that we almost got to middle class.

- [Geoffrey] Almost?

- Almost.

Then it hit the fan, and everybody else, next thing you know, foreclosure.

They came for your car.

- [Geoffrey] The mill closed.

- [Roman] The mill closed, and it just, the world changed for everybody, you know?

- [Geoffrey] What does this park mean to the community?

Or what does it say about the future, or where the community might be going?

- Well, the main important part of this park above all is that we were here.

The steelworker.

In other words, there was a group of people that came here and believed in the steel dream.

That was their whole world, this mill.

This mill was their bread and butter.

This was their retirement.

This is what they were proud of.

See, you could be an average person out there, but the minute you stepped in the mill, you were somebody important, because you were the steel worker.

- [Geoffrey] So how did you land on this idea for the sculpture?

This design?

- My idea for the sculpture was when the mill closed, I always wanted to leave a mark.

- [Geoffrey] So what does it say?

What does it mean to you?

- [Roman] Well, the steelworkers always to me was family.

I could have gone over here and did a steelworker with a sledgehammer, and somebody working on it, but that's really not what the mill was about.

The mill was family.

Because every man that worked in the steel mill was a family man.

VO: The only remnants of the enormous steel mill that once stood here are these towering ore walls, where ships once unloaded raw materials for steel making.

They were just too big to tear down.

They're like manmade mountains, complete with beautiful mountaintop views, as long as you're a mountain climber.

- [Geoffrey] Why do I need special shoes?

- [Joel] Geoffrey, they're not necessarily special shoes, but you can see all the grip, not just where you're used to seeing it underneath, but on the outside, so it just creates way more surface area for you to be able to- - [Geoffrey] I'm all about surface area.

- [Joel] Twist and turn your feet there to get a good grip there.

So they're pretty easy to put on.

Again, they might be a little snug.

- [Geoffrey] Okay.

- [Joel] Maybe even a little more- - [Geoffrey] Good grip sounds good to me.

- [Joel] A little tighter than you're used to, but they shouldn't hurt.

- [Geoffrey] All right, let's see.

Oh yeah, they are tight.

That's good.

The tighter the better.

- [Joel] So we're gonna have that nice and tight.

- [Geoffrey] Okay!

Nice and tight there.

Yeah.

- [Joel] Yeah, so we want the helmet to be on just snug enough that it shouldn't come off if you were to go upside down the way you just did.

- Go upside down?

- [Joel] Yeah, well just- - I'm going upside down?

- [Joel] Just the way you did now.

- I don't intend to go upside down.

I didn't really like what he said a upside down.

(Joel laughing) It doesn't look this tall until you get up here.

(bright uplifting music) [Geoffrey] Woo-hoo!

(soft inspiring music) GEOFFREY BAER VO: The Rookery Building in the heart of Chicago's business district has a surprise inside.

On the outside, it's all heavy stone.

But after you enter, and pass the elevators, you emerge into a beautiful space so light and airy, you almost feel like you've gone back outdoors.

There are all sorts of reasons to make a place beautiful.

Here, at least part of the idea behind the beauty was the bottom line, according to Pulitzer Prize winning architecture critic, Blair Kamin.

- [Blair] When you have these big floors, you really need to bring natural light and air into the building in order to make it rentable, in order to make money.

In the mid-1880s, electric light and gas light were very primitive.

So that's the functional reason behind this space, but obviously, the original architects, Daniel Burnman and John Root, then later, Frank Lloyd Wright, elevated that functional need into something truly extraordinary.

- [Geoffrey] So above this ceiling is sort of a hollow space so that the interior offices get light.

- [Blair] Yeah, light and air.

- [Geoffrey] And air?

- [Blair] Don't forget air.

No air conditioning in those days.

You know, air conditioning doesn't really become a factor in office buildings until after World War II.

So if you wanna rent space and make money, you've gotta deal with those practical things.

I mean, art, artful architecture is nice, but the bottom line counts too.

- [Geoffrey] Yeah, well I think you're making a point there, that there's something very Chicago about the practicality behind all this beauty, right?

- [Blair] Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, that is the story of Chicago architecture, elevating the pragmatic into the artistic.

That's what Chicago architects are so skilled at doing.

- VO: For busy office workers who didn't want to wait for the primitive elevators, architects Burnham and Root elevated the utilitarian spiral stairway into a work of art.

The Rookery might have seemed beautiful in 1888, but less than 20 years after it opened, it was already looking dated.

Bad for business.

- [Blair] Originally, this is like a Victorian bird cage that John Root of Burnham and Root designed.

- VO: By 1905, tenants were looking for the next big thing, so the Rookery hired hotshot architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, to give the lobby a facelift.

- [Blair] You really see Wright's hand here, and the way he modernized the space while being respectful to Roots' original.

Wright added characteristic Wrightian touches.

Urns.

Brendan Gill, the critic, once accused Wright of Urnomania.

(Geoffrey laughs) - [Geoffrey] He loved urns.

- [Blair] He loved urns.

And he brings nature into the space on top of the urns, right?

So that's Wrightian.

But also, he uses the marble incised with gold, with the Arabic motif, to lighten and animate.

Wright is simplifying, and he's making it geometric, and it connects to the past, and yet it also anticipates the future.

Wright was brilliant.

And what he did elevated the space even further.

It made it, it accentuated its lightness, its airiness, its ethereal qualities, its contrast with the exterior.

It brought it into the 20th century, literally.

(soft music) - VO: Another place where beauty was meant to attract and keep customers?

Marshall Field's legendary State Street Store, now Macy's.

Soaring above the cosmetics counters is the world's largest Tiffany mosaic.

Completed in 1907, this iridescent 6000 square foot vault with more than a million pieces of dazzling glass took a team of artisans 18 months to complete.

At the Elks Memorial in Lincoln Park, the beauty was meant to honor members of this fraternal organization who lost their lives serving their country in battle.

It's like stepping into a time machine and emerging inside the Pantheon in ancient Rome.

Except the adjoining room is full on Louis XIV Versailles.

South Shore Cultural Center was created to surround members of this former exclusive country club in opulence.

It was designed by the architect of the Chicago elite and high society party animal, Benjamin Marshall.

The club excluded Jews, Blacks, and others, even as the neighborhood became a Jewish enclave, and then majority Black.

After the club closed, the Chicago Park District converted it to a beloved resource for all to enjoy.

Including Barack and Michelle Obama, who held their wedding reception there.

Many religions use transcendent beauty to inspire faith, like here at the stunning B.A.P.S.

Hindu house of worship called a mandir in west suburban Bartlett.

- [Geoffrey] So what's a mandir?

- [Payal] So a mandir is a Hindu spiritual place of worship, and mandir literally translates to where the mind becomes still.

- [Geoffrey] I know if maybe I were Hindu, my mind would be still, but right now, my mind is going in a million places.

I mean, there's so much to look at.

- [Payal] There's a lot to look at.

There's really intricate carvings, and of course in the center, where your focus really comes to, is towards the shrine of Baghwan, or God, and his ideal devotee.

So an ideal devotee is a devotee who is closest to God.

And we try to live our lives according to his actions, his values.

- [Geoffrey] What are those, just in brief?

- Service, unity, humility, prayer, and constantly thinking about ways to improve yourself and live your best life.

- And do you do that?

- I try to.

We're all human, but we certainly get inspired by our spiritual leaders.

We believe that God manifests through these images.

They're not just pictures.

They're not just images of stone.

And we really believe that God is live and here, amongst us.

- [Geoffrey] And so you're sort of surrounded by holiness?

- [Payal] We are.

We try to see God in each other too, right?

We see the light in each other.

(devotional chanting) [Payal] This mandir is built on the Shilpa Shastras, which is the ancient Hindu scripture of the art of architecture.

And so- - Oh, I like that.

The art of architecture.

(Payal chuckles) - [Payal] It's an engineering marvel.

- [Geoffrey] Yes!

- [Payal] And so no steel has been used, but all these pieces have been interlocked like a jigsaw puzzle, and this one stone helps support, it's the final piece that goes into- - [Geoffrey] Oh, like a keystone?

- [Payal] Like a keystone.

And it holds and supports the rest of these pillars.

- [Geoffrey] And this was all hand carved?

- [Payal] Yes, hand carved in India.

- In India?

- [Payal] In India.

- And shipped here?

- Yes, and shipped here.

- And how many people did it take to carve all of this?

- Thousands of artisans who are skilled in this arm form, for decades.

(bright inspiring music) VO: Spectacular or subtle, beauty is an element of virtually every sacred space.

The lacy dome of the Baha'i House of Worship in north suburban Wilmette is so intricate and delicate, it's hard to believe it's made from concrete, infused with sparkling quartz.

Baha'i, embracing faiths worldwide, was introduced to America at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

VO: This breathtaking Byzantine style synagogue is home to Chicago's oldest Jewish congregation, Kehilath Anshe Ma'arav, or KAM, founded in 1847 just 10 years after the city was incorporated.

KAM merged with Temple Isaiah Israel in 1971, and moved into Isaiah Israel's magnificent building dating from 1924, designed by prominent Chicago architect Alfred Alshuler, who was himself Jewish.

The architect used bricks of different shades and colors to suggest old sunbaked walls according to the AIA Guide to Chicago Architecture.

(reading in Hebrew) (gentle piano music) VO: In west suburban Streamwood, Baitul Ilm mosque serves a community of predominantly Shia Muslim families.

The design of the building, which opened in 2011, takes its inspiration from an Islamic narrative that God loves beauty.

In fact, one of God's names, Jameel, means beautiful.

The beauty begins right at the front entrance with its intricate tile work, and continues into the breathtaking domed prayer space.

(devotional singing) Human images are not used to ornament Islamic houses of worship.

Instead, Quranic verses and the names of God's messengers in highly artistic calligraphy adorn the interior.

VO: Images of biblical figures and events are central to Eastern Rite churches, like Saints Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church in West Town.

These sacred images called icons are not considered works of artistic expression.

Instead, they serve as a bridge between the earthly and the divine.

The devout iconographers who create them adhere to a thousand year-old tradition of design and never sign their work.

The design of the church building itself is symbolic, with the western end representing the darkness of the unredeemed world and the east filled with light, beneath the dome and the crown-like chandelier, with a glorious carved oak screen at the altar called an iconostasis.

VO: It's not always easy to keep a place looking beautiful.

This is one of nine Tiffany windows at Second Presbyterian Church in the South Loop being removed for restoration a few years ago.

Careful, guys!

Second Presbyterian is renowned for its collection of exceptional stained glass windows.

Its a legacy from the days when this congregation included wealthy Chicago families, with names like Pullman and Armour, who live just blocks away on the street of millionaires, South Prairie Avenue.

After a devastating fire destroyed the neo-Gothic interior of the church in 1900, architect Howard Van Doren Shaw rebuilt it in the cutting edge Arts and Crafts style of the day.

And I'm happy to report that Tiffany's so-called Peace Window now glows like new after a painstaking $320,000 restoration, thanks to a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving and restoring this National Historic Landmark building.

VO: Our Lady of Sorrows in East Garfield Park completed in 1902 is one of three basilicas in Chicago's Catholic archdiocese.

A basilica is a church designated by the Pope for its historical, artistic, or religious significance.

The Chicago Architecture Center called this Renaissance Revival church maybe the grandest in Chicago.

VO: Some have called Unity Temple in Oak Park Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece.

Wright wowed visitors from the moment they entered with an age-old architectural trick called compression and release.

- [Heidi] We entered the lobby from outside, and we're already being compressed down into the space.

- [Geoffrey] Look how low that is.

- [Heidi] Now as we're entering the cloister, the ceilings get lower and darker.

- I can almost touch it.

- Yeah, and it's compressing you down.

And then go ahead.

- Okay.

- You get released into the sanctuary.

- [Geoffrey] Oh my gosh.

Wow!

- [Heidi] And Frank Lloyd Wright called this his Noble Room.

So you're being risen up almost to nobility.

And it just opens right up, and so much to look at.

- The Noble Room?

- The Noble Room.

- That sounds like Frank Lloyd Wright.

- It does, yes.

It does.

- Modesty.

- Very modest man, yeah.

- [Geoffrey] And what year was this built?

- So it was finished in 1908.

And he designed it more in 1906.

- So let's put that in context.

What do houses of worship look like in 1908?

- [Heidi] Well, probably what a lot of them look like today, more Gothic, more traditional steeples, heavy stone and mosaics but the minister at the time, he wanted something different, and to reflect the Unitarian values and ideals of community.

- [Geoffrey] So how does this reflect Unitarianism?

- Well, as you can see, we are here in the round.

The seating is not your traditional church seating of front to back pews.

So that way, you can see people that you're communing with.

And community is really important in Unitarianism.

- [Geoffrey] So talk about the materials in here.

It's not a typical color palette for a house of worship, I don't think, right?

- [Heidi] Here he really wanted to bring nature in, and he said he wanted the sanctuary to feel like it was a happy cloudless day at any point in time.

The soft yellow that he brings in really reflects the light, and I love how he brings the light in, because we don't have any windows that are at human eye level, so with the clear story windows, you get a lot of indirect light.

- [Geoffrey] Up at the top.

- [Heidi] And then of course the beautiful stained glass windows in the ceiling.

There's 25 of them, filter light down.

And that's supposed to represent nature in an abstracted flower, so while you're standing here, you can almost feel like you're sitting underneath a field of flowers.

- [Geoffrey] So the outside of the building is made of?

- Concrete.

- And that was very revolutionary, right?

- It was.

Unity Temple's one of the first public buildings to use concrete in this way.

It was poured in place, and then when we moved to the inside, there is some concrete, but also plaster.

And there's a whole technique that he used of creating texture in the plaster, and when he painted it, you could see, especially when you get up to the ceiling, lights and darks, and kind of a stippled finish, and it really is almost suede like.

- [Geoffrey] Even in the skylight wells there, you can really see it.

- [Heidi] Absolutely.

VO: Wright lived and worked in Oak Park for 20 years.

The village has more Wright buildings than any place in the world.

His prairie style matured here, as did his reputation for arrogance.

He could rightfully claim to be the greatest architect of his day.

But not the greatest at engineering durability into his designs.

The years took their toll on Unity Temple.

By 2000, it was named one of the 10 most endangered buildings in Illinois.

- [Heidi] This building is pretty difficult to maintain, like a lot of large buildings, but being that this- - [Geoffrey] A lot of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.

- [Heidi] A lot of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, yes.

In fact, I think it was a few years before the restoration, a big section of the ceiling had fallen, so there was a lot of patching.

And then more aesthetically, a lot of the paint wasn't quite right.

All this beautiful stippling, and the texture have been painted over so many times.

- [Geoffrey] What was done in the course of the restoration?

- Yeah, if you can imagine, this whole building was wrapped in plastic, and scaffolded everywhere.

Every single piece of trim work was removed, and cataloged, and refinished, and reinstalled.

It ended up being about $25 million to do the full comprehensive restoration.

VO: With restoration completed, Unity Temple was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with seven other Wright buildings across the country, putting it in a league with the Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of China, and the Vatican.

(soft inspiring music) GEOFFREY BAER VO: Whether its the clean, modern lines of Frank Lloyd Wright and Jeanne Gang, or the over the top opulence of styles from history, there's more beauty in the Chicago area than we could possibly fit in one program.

From artfully crafted landscapes, to surprising hidden gems, to breathtaking views of arguably the most beautiful skyline in the world.

So get out there and do your own exploring, and let us know your picks so we can add them to our list of the most beautiful places in Chicago, and share them with the world.

(bright inspiring music)