Situated on Randolph Street and Washington Street between Dearborn Street and Clark Street, the Richard J. Daley Center, with its "majestic" interior spaces, is considered a significant example of modernist Chicago architecture.[4] The main building was designed in the International Style of the Second Chicago School by Jacques Brownson of the firm C. F. Murphy Associates as supervising architects, with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Loebl, Schlossman, Bennett & Dart as associated architects,[5] and was completed in 1965.[3] At the time it was the tallest building in Chicago, but only held this title for four years until the John Hancock Center was completed. Originally known as the Chicago Civic Center, the building was renamed for Mayor Daley on December 27, 1976, seven days after his death in office.[6] The 648-foot (198 m), thirty-one story building features Cor-Ten, a self-weathering steel. Cor-Ten was designed to rust, actually strengthening the structure and giving the building its distinctive red and brown color. The Daley Center has 30 floors above its double height lobby, and is the tallest flat-roofed building in the world with fewer than 40 stories (a typical 648-foot (198 m) building, the height of Daley Canter, would have 50–60 stories).
Building features
The Richard J. Daley Center houses more than 120 court and hearing rooms as well as the Cook County Law Library, offices of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, and certain court-related divisions of the Sheriff's Department. The building also houses office space for both the city and Cook County, of which the City of Chicago is its seat of government. The windows are cor-ten steel and bronze/white tinted.
Daley Plaza
Daley Plaza is the courtyard adjacent to the building, occupying the southern half of the block occupied by the building.
The plaza is dominated by an untitled Cor-ten steel 50-foot (15 m) sculpture by Pablo Picasso (usually called "The Picasso"). Completed in 1967, it was a gift to the City of Chicago from the artist. Though controversial for its abstract form, it quickly became a Chicago landmark. The plaza also features an in-ground fountain and an eternal flame memorial to the dead from World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
The plaza serves as a location for many civic functions including weekly farmers' markets in the summer, regular ethnic festivals, and the meeting place for Chicago's Critical Mass ride.
Farhad Khoiee-Abbasi, a public protester, is a frequent fixture at the southwest corner of the plaza, near City Hall. Khoiee-Abbasi has been photographed here many times, with his well-dressed appearance, his odd signs, and his general refusal to speak or acknowledge those around him making him a minor celebrity.[7][8]
The water in the Daley Plaza fountain was dyed team red in honor of the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup run in 2010.
Christkindlmarket, in 2014. The traditional German market is held in Daley Plaza in December
Richard J. Daley Center and Daley Plaza is Chicago's premier civic center and features a massive sculpture by Pablo Picasso. The modernist skyscraper courthouse is behind the sculpture and to the left is City Hall-County Building
