Emmy Award-winning host and producer Geoffrey Baer takes folks on an adventure in a program premiering Tuesday, March 7, at 7 PM on WTTW called The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago.
Being a melting pot of people, a city of architects, a sprawling suburban landscape, and 77 neighborhoods, Chicago has robust beauty. Baer says he knew he would stir up some controversy when he started the show. “Everyone has their own favorites. Would my list really be the most beautiful places? (Spoiler alert: I know there are far more than we could ever fit into one show),” he says.
When I ask Baer how he chose these locations, he says, “First, I thought about so many places that have dazzled and amazed me over more than 20 years of making shows about Chicago architecture and history for WTTW. And I thought about more places I know from 30-plus years of volunteering as a docent [tour guide] for the Chicago Architecture Center.”
From there, he reached out to his contacts. “There are gems all over Chicagoland,” he says.
His first interview is in the St. Regis, formerly known as the Vista Tower, which stands along the river in three tiers and has a slight wave. Standing at 101 stories, the Studio Gang-designed building is the third tallest in Chicago. Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang founder and architect of the building, chats with Baer about her inspiration of light, popcorn boxes, and movement. Chicago is known as the birthplace of the skyscraper, so it makes sense that the program starts with a building resembling the wind and the water within the city of big shoulders. Gang says in the program that working in Chicago is an architect’s dream.
After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, the city rebuilt itself with the grid that we all largely know today. In the 1800s, steel-frame construction was pioneered in the city, and Chicago would eventually, by 1884, have the world’s tallest skyscraper—a ten-story building on LaSalle and Adams. The buildings, small and large, are the city’s hills and mountains.
The classics are mentioned in the program—Baer doesn’t miss out on the Chicago Tribune Tower, where he interviews lobby greeter Melissa Hubert-Daigre about her love for the quotes found inscribed around the building—but something I really appreciate are spaces I wouldn’t have assumed would be mentioned.
As a Bridgeporter, the inclusion of Palmisano Park—or Mount Bridgeport, for locals—gets me interested in reading about the green space more. I walk almost every day up Halsted to this park, which includes a quarry and a hilltop reaching 33 feet above street level, where I get my daily steps. In the program, Baer walks through the park with Ernie Wong, the landscape architect who transformed the 27-acre, 380-feet-deep limestone quarry turned landfill into a green space.
Wong reintroduced native prairie plants that save 10.5 million gallons of potable water and redistributed the construction debris in the landfill—concrete, boulders, etc.—as sidewalks throughout the city. With wetlands and prairielands being the most endangered ecosystems in the world, Wong’s vision for Palmisano improved Bridgeport’s community, as it was one of the neighborhoods with below-average green space in Chicago.
While watching the program, I learned that I’m clearly a Wong fan, as he also transformed and designed my favorite park in Chicago—Ping Tom Park in Chinatown, which includes an amazing view of the skyline, a Chinese pavilion, and Chicago Water Taxi access on an old rail line.
Baer tackles Steelworkers Park, on the far southeast side, where he interviews a former steel mill employee, Roman Villarreal, who also lived across the street from the noisy mill. Villarreal explains how the mill brought money to the community; over 20,000 employees would work at the mill at its peak. People were able to buy cars and homes. Villarreal says in the program, “I always tell people we almost got to middle class,” before the mill ultimately closed in 1992.
Today, the park has a rock climbing wall, art exhibitions, walking paths, and a sculpture by Villarreal himself. Villarreal says the park is meaningful because it means the steelworkers were there. People believed in the steel dream, he says. The program explains his artwork, which is found at the park, and what it means to him as an artist.
The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago
Premieres 3/7 at 7 PM on PBS
Streaming on wttw.com/beautifulplaces and the PBS app
Moving throughout the program, Baer converses with local guides and architects about the design and the history of many other buildings, like the Unity Temple and the Marshall Field building (now occupied by Macy’s) downtown. From Barack and Michelle Obama’s wedding location to Hindu places of worship, around the city to the suburbs, Baer’s journey grazes only the surface of a web of architecturally beautiful spaces in the area.
What stands out in the program isn’t the tourist go-to guide that details certain buildings or spaces. In fact, it’s the people Baer interviews—from the north side to the south side, he touches all areas and communities that make up the city. “This was maybe the thing I enjoyed most about this project,” he says. “The warm and wonderful people I interviewed expanded our definition beyond visual beauty to the meaning of these places for those who love them.”
While the program could have included 100 more locations, the strength in diversity is ideal for a first-timer visiting Chicago or someone learning about spaces outside of their neighborhood or direct community.
The website for Beautiful Places includes a collage of 25+ parks, buildings, temples, and works of art. There is also an audio tour available for those planning to visit these spaces, extra bonus videos, as well as an option for viewers to submit their own beautiful places.