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This great building in downtown Chicago on the Magnificent Mile is the way skyscrapers should be built; right up to the street with shopping on the first floor. None of that "tower in a park" crap that got so popular in the Twentieth Century. Note the decorative brickwork on the side of the building; while it is relatively simple, it dresses up the otherwise blank party wall.
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The wonderful Gothic Revival details perhaps could be criticized for looking backwards while the technology of the building was pushing forward with steel skeleton construction.
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The Hershey's store is on the ground floor; I know, not exactly local business, but better than it being empty. Perhaps national chains wanting to come to a city without having to be begged is a good sign.
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In fact, 100 years ago in American downtowns, national chains meant that your city was thriving.
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