Best Building for Wandering Around in Before Security Asks What You’re Doing There, Reader's Choice: Lane Technical High School (murals)

Courtesy of the Chicago Conservation Center

Reader’s Choice

Lane Technical High School

You don’t have to wander very far to be bowled over by the stunning WPA and progressive-era murals at this sprawling north-side high school—66 in all. As Heather Becker, CEO of the Chicago Conservation Center and author of Art for the People, points out, “Seven of them . . . a particularly enchanting series celebrating Native American life done in 1913 . . . are installed right in the first floor lobby.” So just pretend you’re going to the front office. And try not to miss my favorite: the showstopping 40-panel series called The States, originally produced for the General Motors Pavilion at the 1933-’34 Century of Progress Exposition. It’s distributed throughout the school’s first floor, and it will blow your mind.  2501 W. Addison, 773-534-5400, lanetech.org. —Lisa Skolnik

Readers’ Choice

The Rookery

 209 S. LaSalle.

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