Certain elements of the Chicago skyline have become such fixtures that it's difficult to imagine the city without them. But believe it or not, those 65-story corn cobs at State Street and the river haven't been there forever. On this day in 1960, sometime between the invention of lasers and Nixon's sweaty upper lip costing him the presidency, architect Bertrand Goldberg's vision for River North started becoming reality. Mayor Richard J. Daley, joined by Goldberg, Archbishop Sheil and a handful of suits, flashed a ceremonial shovel for the cameras, and president-elect Kennedy got on phone to give Marina City his blessing. Half a century later, the twin high-rises remain relevant. People still want to live in those oddly-shaped cement pods; insurance companies still heave cars off the parking deck; and design students still devote their energy to re-imagining the buildings. For a full time line of groundbreaking and construction, head over to Marina City Online. Later today, the site will unveil a re-digitized version of This Is Marina City, a 16 mm film that documented the construction of Marina City.
· Marina City celebrates 50th anniversary of its groundbreaking [Cityscapes]
· City Within a City: The Biography of Marina City [Marina City Online]
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