Magnificent Mile

The Magnificent Mile is the shopping and boulevard in Chicago, Illinois. It is located between the Chicago River and Lake Shore Drive and forms the northern part of Michigan Avenue.

The street is a wide boulevard with exclusive shops, museums, restaurants and elegant hotels. Luxury stores include Bloomingdale's, Saks Fith Avenue, Tiffany & Co. , Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani and Chanel. 900 North Michigan Shops and the Water Tower Place are huge shop-in-shop buildings with retailers, theaters and dining. The former houses about 70 stores, the latter over 100 stores, including Marshall Field's and Lord and Taylor department stores.

The street's rise began after the construction of the Michigan Avenue Bridge in 1920. The once residential street transformed into a commercial strip and has been lined with skyscrapers ever since. Among the first were the 30-story Wrigley Building (1920), the adjacent 22-story London Guarantee Building (1923), the 109-foot-tall Allerton Hotel (1924), the 141-foot-tall Chicago Tribune Tower (1925), the 143-foot-tall Medinah Athletic Club (1929, now the Inter-Continental Hotel), and the 172-foot-tall 919 North Michigan Avenue commercial building (1929).

A new building boom added the 100-story, 344-meter John Hancock Center to the street in 1969 and the 262-meter Water Tower Place in 1976. In 1989, the 264-meter-high 900 North Michigan Building was opened, and in 2000 the 257-meter-high Park Tower (→ see here: List of the tallest buildings in Chicago).

On North Michigan Avenue stands one of Chicago's oldest buildings, the Old Water Tower, built in 1869. Reminiscent of a 13th-century castle, the limestone building is a Chicago landmark and now houses Chicago's tourist information office. Just a few steps away is the Water Tower Campus of Loyola Catholic University. It houses the departments of business administration and law.

Because the direction of the Chicago River was reversed to keep the river clean and fed with clean water from Lake Michigan, the level of Michigan Avenue was raised one story. Some mass transit runs under the street, and many homeless people spend the night there.