Images of Chicago's downtown 'Loop' from the late '70s to the early '90s

from The Perfect City by Bob Thall

Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994

all photographs and text are copyright the Press and may not be reproduced without permission, in writing

One of the more remarkably sustained efforts at interpreting Chicago's built environment has been the decades-long photography of Bob Thall. After studying architecture in the '60s, Thall moved into photography, where he has been recognized as a major figure in documentary for some time. His large-format view camera photography of Chicago and its environs has been extensively exhibited, most recently in a one-person show at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1994.

The Perfect City is his first major monograph; it assembles photographs he has made of the downtown area since the late '70s. In these pictures can be found not only the evidence of rapid change, the accelerated process of tear-down and redevelop that characterized the building booms of the Reagan years. The photographs are also the result of an engaged commentator on the urban environment-- they are polemics.

  • "Wacker Drive, view east from Wabash, 1978"

  • "Sherman Avenue at Jackson Street, view north, 1973"

  • "Lake Street at State Street, view east, 1981"

  • "Randolph Street near State Street, view north, 1980"

  • "Demolition of Chicago and North Western Railway Terminal, 1984"

  • "Dearborn Street near Lake Street, view northeast, 1983"

  • East bank of Chicago River between Monroe Street and Madison Street, view south, 1981"

  • "Chicago River at Randolph Street, 1982"

  • "Lake Street east of Michigan Avenue, view north through Illinois Center construction, 1985"

  • "Columbus Drive near East Wacker Drive, view northeast, 1987"

  • "Clark Street at Lake Street, view south, 1983"

  • Canal Street at Van Buren Sreet, view north, 1982"

  • "Clark Street near Randolph Street, view west through State of Illinois Building construction site, 1980"

  • "Lake Shore Drive at Chicago River, view south, 1982"