State Street, that great street
Thursday, I took a detour on my way home from work. I took the 126 bus and exited at State Street. I wanted to see the holiday decorations. After listening to Christmas music all day at work - yes, I am one of those - I was in a very festive frame of mind.
The first building of note I came to was the old, Louis Sullivan designed former home of Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Company. The beautiful ironwork-adorned department store now houses a Target. Sigh.
My next stop was the old Marshall Field’s store. It’s been a Macy's since 2006 and I’m still upset about that. Macy’s is not Chicago. No offense, New York, but you can have it.
Field’s was a very classy, very beautiful department store. Gorgeous wood and plaster details on eight floors of merchandise. The drinking fountains were brass. The elevators had marble tile floors and brass medallions. The pièce de résistance was the Walnut Room on the seventh floor. This restaurant was a tradition for me and my grandmother. She’d take me shopping and we’d lunch in this magnificent room and I could pretend I was all grown up.
The Walnut Room was especially beautiful at the holidays. They had a tree so tall, it went clear to the ninth floor. Every year it was decorated differently. It was so thrilling eating lunch next to this beauty. Oh. The food was good, too. Chicken Pot Pie. Yum.
On the outside, the store windows were decorated for the younger patrons. And the displays were animated! So festive and pretty. Little ones’ heads (and eyes!) were filled with much more than visions of sugar plums. It was a yearly ritual to walk past all the windows and oooo and ahhhh. This had to take place after dark. It was more magical that way. Of course, the older kids and adults were ooooing and ahhhhing, too.
Visiting Field’s yesterday (I cannot bring myself to call her Macy’s), all the old, fine architectural details are still there, the drinking fountains remain brass, the Walnut Room’s tall tree stands, and even now, the windows have animated scenes. But the tree’s decorations are a bit less shiny and grand and the display windows are a bit less exceptional.
Am I misremembering? Are my fond memories colouring the old realities? Am I missing the old days with my grandma? Perhaps. But Christmas does that to me. And I think it’s perfectly alright once a year.
The first building of note I came to was the old, Louis Sullivan designed former home of Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Company. The beautiful ironwork-adorned department store now houses a Target. Sigh.
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| Louis Sullivan ironwork detail main entrance of the department store formerly known as Carson, Pirie, Scott ©Trish Korous |
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| side panel detail Louis Sullivan's ironwork Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company building ©Trish Korous |
Field’s was a very classy, very beautiful department store. Gorgeous wood and plaster details on eight floors of merchandise. The drinking fountains were brass. The elevators had marble tile floors and brass medallions. The pièce de résistance was the Walnut Room on the seventh floor. This restaurant was a tradition for me and my grandmother. She’d take me shopping and we’d lunch in this magnificent room and I could pretend I was all grown up.
The Walnut Room was especially beautiful at the holidays. They had a tree so tall, it went clear to the ninth floor. Every year it was decorated differently. It was so thrilling eating lunch next to this beauty. Oh. The food was good, too. Chicken Pot Pie. Yum.
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| Walnut Room Christmas Tree 2017 ©Trish Korous |
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| display window Marshall Field's Department Store Building ©Trish Korous |
Am I misremembering? Are my fond memories colouring the old realities? Am I missing the old days with my grandma? Perhaps. But Christmas does that to me. And I think it’s perfectly alright once a year.
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| A very good read with lots of old photographs of State Street in its heyday. Available at Barnes and Noble |
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