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Federal Center

van der Rohe, 1964/1975

This plaza includes Mies' Dirksen Federal Building and Kluczynski Federal Building (built eleven years apart), with a low-rise post office enveloped in their sleek black lines. But the buildings are not quite as famous as the gigantic red constructivist flamingo statue by Alexander Calder in the plaza in front of the post office. An adventurous raccoon may have set a raccoon world climbing record by reaching the scaffolding on the 36th floor in 2006.

Address: 219/230 S Dearborn St

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Listing from Wikivoyage: Chicago/Loop, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.

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Intelligentsia Coffee
53 West Jackson Boulevard
SeePublic art
Flamingo
Flamingo, a sculpture by American artist Alexander Calder, is a 53-foot-tall (16 m) stabile located in the Federal Plaza in front of the Kluczynski Federal Building in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was commissioned by the United States General Services Administration and was unveiled in 1974, although Calder's signature on the sculpture indicates it was constructed in 1973.
Wheelchair accessible
SeeHistoric buildingLoop
Monadnock Building
Burnham & Root, 1891
Named appropriately for a mountain in New Hampshire, the Monadnock was the last tall building to be supported by its own walls (not a metal frame, although the 1893 addition by Holabird & Roche does use one). It's a masterpiece of simplicity and power in form. The block-long hallway that serves as a lobby has incredible ambiance: it's always kept at a level of brightness that suggests gas lamps, and the small stores on the first floor (a coffee shop, a shoe-shine, a restaurant) are all turn-of-the-century tile-and-polish.
Heritage listed
SeePublic art
The Town-Ho's Story