Chicago
The Windy City collection represents the best of Sue Kerr’s work on her hometown of many years. She paid homage to the Second City by highlighting some of the most well-known and best kept secret locations, from the world-famous Bean in Chicago’s Millennium Park to Frank Lloyd Wright’s incomparable atrium in the Rookery.
Classic Box Sets
Special hand-curated set(s) of cards based on architecture themes and building types.
All of Sue Kerr’s thirty-six drawings of the city are divided into these four gift boxes.
Ten drawings in each gift box, the Skyline in all four.
Click on each box and you will see all the thumbnail drawings, with accompanying descriptions and purchase options.
Featuring the Water Tower, Museum of Science and Industry (façade), The Chicago Athletic Association, The Marshall Fields Clock, The Rookery Façade, The Rookery Atrium, The Board of Trade building, The Wrigley building, The Tribune building, the Skyline
Featuring The Bean, Skyline, the Riverwalk, the Picasso, Buckingham Fountain, Navy Pier, Soldier Field, Wrigley Field, the L, the Hancock Building
Featuring the Chicago Theatre, the Oriental, the Goodman, the Lyric Opera, Pritzker Pavilion, the Cultural Center, the Bowman, the Congress Triangle, the L, the Skyline
Featuring the Art Institute, the Art Institute Lion, Museum of Science and Industry (rear view), Caryatids of the MSI, Museum campus: Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Merchandise Mart, Millennium Monument (Wrigley Square in Millennium Park), the Skyline
Holiday Card Box Sets
Whimsical Christmas and holiday cards for our city-dwellers, with a touch of color and seasonal playfulness.
Tis the season to be jolly! The Christmas collection is here to cheer. My personal favorite is Chicago’s Bean wrapped in a huge red bow.
A mixture of any of ten Christmas-themed cards featuring Chicago, bundled in a red ribbon.
A mix of any of ten cards, bundled by a red ribbon
A bundle of any ten mixed Holiday-themed cards featuring Chicago
Thank You Card Set
Our favortite piece from this city with an extra “Thank You” note worked into the drawing.
Ten cards per box. Each drawing of the city’s skyline
Better than a text or email, a thank you note by its very nature is more heartfelt–unless you’re a kid being forced to do it.* Even then, it may be creating good habits into adulthood.
The skyline includes the Willis (Sears) Tower, Buckingham Fountain, Navy Pier, and the John Hancock Building
*A suggestion: grandparents could gift a box of them to their grandchildren in order to insure receiving thank you notes from them. (Maybe you could include stamps with the gift.)
Explore all Landmarks in Chicago
Browse all drawings for city and buy bulk orders of one card or even prints. Click any drawing to learn more about the location.
1300 S. Lake Shore Drive,
1930, founded by Chicago philanthropist Max Adler
Architect: Ernest Grunsfeld Jr.
Also included in the “Museum” box
12 S. Michigan Ave.
1893, built
Architect: Henry Ives Cobb
Classification: Skyscraper
Also included in the “Historic” gift box
Center of Grant Park
1927, dedicated
Architect: Edward H. Bennett
Statues sculptor: Marcel F. Loyau
On summer evenings, special light and music show on the hour
Also included in the “Tourist” gift box
Sculpted female figures, architectural support rather than columns/pillars
Reproductions from the Greek ruins in Athens
Karyatides, Greek, “maidens of Karyai“, an ancient town of Peloponnese
Also included in the “Museum” gift box
The River: 156 miles of rivers and canals running through Chicago, linking Great Lakes and Mississsippi Valley waterways
The Riverwalk: River-level walkway from Franklin to the lakefront
Also included in the “Tourist” gift box
Chicago—
“The Windy City”
“The Second City”
“My Kind of Town”
“Sweet Home”
“That Toddling Town”
“The Big Onion”
“City of the Big Shoulders”*
“Chicago” poem by Carl Sandburg
1914 appeared in Poetry, first of nine “Chicago Poems”
Sandburg described poem as a chant of defiance by Chicago… defiance of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, London, Paris, Berlin and Rome
The city was at the core of the meat-packing industry and a focal point for the railroad
Then, as now, Chicago is a hub of commodities trading and a key financial center for agricultural markets
One of the city’s many nicknames, “City of the Big Shoulders,” taken from the poem’s fifth line:
HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
*City of the Big Shoulders
Also included in all four gift boxes
800 N. Michigan Avenue
1869, built
Architect: William W. Boyington
1871, survived the Great Chicago Fire
1962, restored
Also included in the “Historic” gift box
The Chicago “L” (Short for “elevated”)
Rapid Transit system serving the city and the suburbs
1892, first “L”, Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad: a steam locomotive pulling four wooden coaches carrying a two dozen people from 39th to the Congress Street terminal, 14 minutes
Today, fourth largest heavy rail rapid transit system in U.S.
More than 224 miles of track
Also included in the “Tourist” and the “Theatre” gift boxes
S. Michigan Ave. (100 E) & E. Congress Pkwy. (500 S)
1928 “The Bowman and The Spearman”
Sculptor: Ivan Mestrovic
2004 “Magdalene”
Sculptor: Dessa Kirk
Also included in the “Theatre” gift box
1200 South Lake Shore Drive Chicago
1930, opened
Chicago architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
Also included in the “Museum” gift box
“The Mart”
222 W. Merchandise Mart Plaza, Near NOrth Side, junction of Chicago River’s branches
1930, opened, 4,000,000 square feet
Art Deco Style, Architects Graham, Anderson, Probst and White
Built by Marshall Field & Co., later owned more than 50 years by Kennedys
Designed to be a “city within a city”: Centralized Chicago’s wholesale goods business
Late 2000s, leading retail and wholesale destination, hosting 20,000 visitors and tenants per day
Also included in the “Museum” box
5700 S. Lake Shore Dr.
1893 former Palace of the Fine Arts building, World’s Columbian Exposition
1933 reconstructed, opened for Century of Progress Exposition
Architects,: Charles B. Atwood; Graham, Anderson Probst & White; Shaw, Naess & Murphy
Also included in the “Historic” gift box
5700 S. Lake Shore Dr.
1893 former Palace of the Fine Arts building,
World’s Columbian Exposition
1933 reconstructed, opened for
Century of Progress Exposition
Architects,: Charles B. Atwood; Graham, Anderson Probst & White; Shaw, Naess & Murphy
Also included in the “Museum” gift box
600 E. Grand Av. at Lake Michigan
1914, built
Architect Charles Sumner Frost
Employed by the U.S. military during WWI and WWII, housing Red Cross units
Also included in the “Tourist” gift box
55 N. Michigan Ave
Also known as Pritzker Pavilion or Pritzker Music Pavilion
Bandshell in Millennium Park
Architect: Frank Gehry
Classified as a work of art
Designed with large fixed seating area, a Great Lawn, trellis network to support sound system and signature Gehry stainless steel headdress
2004, opened
Home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Grant Park Music Festival
The nation’s only remaining free outdoor classical music venue
Hosts wide range of music series and annual performing arts events
Also included in the “Theatre” gift box
Lake Shore Drive on Chicago’s Near South Side
1924, Opened
“DEDICATED TO THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE ARMED FORCES”
Home to the NFL‘s Chicago Bears
Also included in the “Tourist” gift box
1893, built
Architects: Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge
The Lions of the Art Institute of Chicago
Two bronze lion statues
flanking the Institute’s main entrances
Sculptor Edward Kemeys
1893, created
Also included in the “Museums” gift box
Center of Millennium Park, Michigan Avenue at Randolph
Sculptor Anish Kapoor, called it “Cloud Gate”
2006, dedicated
Also included in the “Tourist” gift box
Intersection of Congress Drive and Michigan Avenue in Grant Park
Bronze equestrian sculpture standing as gatekeeper in Congress Plaza
Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović
1928, installed
(Other sculpture, The Spearman. Both sculptures missing weapons, the bow and arrow and the spear)
Also included in the “Theatre” gift box
141 W. Jackson Boulevard
Skyscraper at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon, in the Loop
1882, construction began at present location after the Chicago fire
1885, opened
Designed by William W. Boyington, best known today for his work on the Water Tower
1925, Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) commissioned Holabird & Root to design current building
1930, opened
Art deco style
1977, designated Chicago Landmark
1978, added to National Register of Historic Landmarks
Originally built for CBOT
2007, merged CBOT and Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Also included in the “Historic” gift box
78 E. Washington St. and Michigan Avenue
Boston architectural firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge
Neoclassical architecture
1897, opened as central library building and meeting hall and memorial for Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)
1977, converted to and arts and culture center
Houses city’s official receptions, Mayor of Chicago welcoming Presidents, royalty, diplomats and community leaders
Chicago Landmark
Also included in the “Theatre” gift box
North State Street, Chicago’s Loop
Originally the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre
Oldest surviving grand movie palace
1921, designed by primary architects Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp
Neo-Baroque French–revival style–oldest surviving example of this style in Chicago
1925 to 1945, dominant movie theatre enterprise
1979 National Register of Historic Places
1983 listed as Chicago Landmark
Distinctive marquee, “an unofficial emblem of the city”
Appears frequently in film, television, artwork, and photography
1986 renovation completed
1994 marquee replaced, retaining look of original
2004 original marquee donated to the Smithsonian Institution
Also included in the “Theatre” gift box
- 209 S. La Salle St. located in Chicago’s Loop
- 1871, after the Great Chicago Fire, building used as an interim City Hall
- “Rookery” nickname alluded to both birds inhabiting exterior and
- shady politicians of former City Hall building on same land
- 1888, opened
- Architectural styles: Queen Anne style architecture, Prairie School
- Façade contains decorative late Roman, Venetian, Moorish and medieval-European elements
- Architects Daniel Burnham, John Wellborn Root
- 1970, added to National Register of Historic Places
- 1972, designated Chicago Landmark
- 1975, named National Historic Landmark
- 1987, featured in the film The Untouchables as police headquarters of Eliot Ness
- Also included in the “Historic” gift box
1400 S. Lake Shore Drive
1921, built
Architect: Daniel P. Burnham
Also included in the “Museum” gift box
170 N Dearborn St, Chicago’s loop
Professional theater company, major part of Chicago theatre scene
Chicago’s oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization
1925 founded as a tribute to Chicago playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman
2000 company moved into the Dearborn building in Chicago’s theater district
Also included in the “Theatre” gift box
875 North Michigan Avenue, Streeterville area of Chicago
100-story, 1,127-foot (344 m) tall skyscraper
Architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Chief designer Bruce Graham, structural engineer Fazlur Khan
1964, development began
1967, interrupted
Engineering problem resolved by Raymond Concrete Pile Co.
1969, completed
One of the most famous buildings of the Structural Expressionist style, the skyscraper’s distinctive X-braced exterior shows that the structure’s skin is part of its ‘tubular system’
Also included in the “Tourist” gift box
20 N Upper Wacker Drive, in Chicago’s Loop
1929, housed in Civic Opera Building, Art Deco structure
One of the leading U.S. opera companies
1954 founded in Chicago under the name ‘Lyric Theatre of Chicago’
1954 Maria Callas debuted in U.S.
1956 re-organized under its present name
World-famous artists performed, including opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti
Rudolph Nureyev debuting in U.S. at the Lyric
George Balanchine creating choreography for the Lyric
2020, Opera house became new home for Joffrey Ballet
Also included in the “Theatre” box
Marshall Field and Company Building or Macy’s at State Street
Known for its clocks, weighing about 7.5 short tons each
The southwest clock, on State and Washington, known as the Great Clock
1897, installed
Marshall Field envisioned store as a beacon, as a meeting place
Clock installed as southwest corner of store became a popular meeting place
People began leaving notes for one another on the Marshall Field’s windows.
Clock was an attempt to end this practice and encourage punctuality
1978, building declared a National Historic Landmark
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
2005, designated a Chicago Landmark
Also included in the “Historic” gift box
24 W Randolph, Chicago’s loop
1926, opened
Architects Rapp and Rapp
Decor inspired by Indian architecture
Initially, movies and vaudeville acts
1930s primarily a movie house,
1934, at 12, Judy Garland’s debut appearance–with her sisters–as Frances Gumm
1998, theatre restored and reopened
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Also included in the “Theatre” box
50 W Washington
Sculptor Pablo Picasso
1967, dedicated
Also included in the “Tourist” gift box
209 S LaSalle St, Chicago, IL 60604
1886 Architect John Root designed copper-plated ironwork
1907 redesigned by Frank Lloyd Wright,
maximizing amount of light and air in the building,
sheltered by glass ceiling
Also included in the “Historic” gift box
Designated “In an Attitude of Defiance”
1893, bronze statue created for the Art Institute’s opening at current location
Sculptor, Edward Kemeys
(The north lion, “On the Prowl”)
Also included in the “Museum” box
Contains rock fragments from around the world
Architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood
1925, completed
Also included in “Historic” gift box
400-410 North Michigan Avenue
1920-21, built
Architectural firm: Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
Also included in the “Historic” gift box
“The Friendly Confines” 1060 West Addison Street
1914, opened Architect: Zachary Taylor Davis
Home of the Chicago Cubs Baseball team
1908 and 2016 World Series Champions
Also included in the “Tourist” box
Northwest section Millennium Park, Historic Michigan Boulevard District of Chicago’s Loop
1917, original peristyle designed by renowned Chicago planner Edward H. Bennett, Daniel Burnham‘s partner in the Plan of Chicago, also known for designing Buckingham Fountain
1953, original, made of concrete, razed
2002, Public park/Town Square, limestone replica of the semicircle of paired Roman Doricstyle columns
Hosts cultural events
Included in the “Museum” gift box
Are you looking for something else?
If you desire to customize, contact us. For example, you might want to buy a gift box with ten cards of only one drawing. Or you might want to order 100 or more cards without boxes.