A quick work trip to Chicago brought me on a run past the Tribune Tower where I noticed a number of strange bricks that appeared to be pieces of famous monuments from around the world. Of course, I snapped some photos and then researched later 🙂
According to Lonely Planet, the story behind the bricks reads as follows:
“Take a close look when passing by this 1925 neo-Gothic edifice. Colonel Robert McCormick, eccentric owner of the Chicago Tribune in the early 1900s, collected – and asked his reporters to send – rocks from famous buildings and monuments around the world. He stockpiled pieces of the Taj Mahal, Westminster Abbey, the Great Pyramid and more than 140 others, which are now embedded around the tower’s base.”
Fascinating history from a fascinating city.
Until next time Chicago.
