When it comes to designing buildings, form may follow function, but that doesn’t mean function has to be without form. Geoffrey Baer joins us with the story of the O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant and other ornamented utility buildings. 

Renaming 17 miles of Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first permanent non-Indigenous settler, would be a massive undertaking without precedent in the city’s history, city officials told aldermen Friday.

The owner of Gerri’s Palm Tavern appeared in a few WTTW features over the years, including a 1987 special about 47th Street called “Precious Memories.” We revisit that conversation.

Geoffrey Baer has the story of a famous wagon supply company once based in Chicago. 

A rancorous debate that stretched for more than 18 months ended Tuesday with a unanimous vote of the City Council’s Zoning Committee to reject an effort to landmark more than 900 buildings and murals in Pilsen.

Taking in the city’s expanse via drone, the special explores Chicago’s famous grid system, its industrial legacy, and the natural areas that weave through the dense urban jungle.

Angles, curves, one ways and dead ends. Chicago’s street system has long been a source of pride for the city’s residents. Geoffrey Baer has more on the history and quirks of the city’s street system.

The former Woodlawn home of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, is now in the hands of the nonprofit Blacks in Green. Founder Naomi Davis shares the group’s vision for the historic site.

A shoe store on the city’s South Side is celebrating 50 years as the only independent Black-owned shoe retailer in the country. We go for a visit.

For more than a year, documentary filmmaker Steve James and his collaborators fanned out across Chicago at a pivotal moment. James tells us about the resulting five-part series that premieres this week on NatGeo and Hulu.

A tucked-away street on the city's South Side is a time capsule from the days before the neighborhood was even part of Chicago. Geoffrey Baer explains.

Is the HBO horror series on your binge-watching list? Architecture critic and author Lee Bey unpacks the hidden history of the new show.

Geoffrey Baer takes a look at the redesigned event in the latest Ask Geoffrey.

Geoffrey Baer traces the half-century story that cost at least one preservationist his life, in this week’s Ask Geoffrey.

Efforts to transform a Northwest Side tax program created in the 1980s amid the racist panic that greeted the election of Chicago’s first Black mayor are stalled — nearly two years after new leadership promised a fresh start.

After a developer purchased a neighborhood plaza earlier this year, some residents and business owners are concerned the fabric of the community — known as the epicenter of Mexican culture and commerce for the entire Midwest — could be at risk.