Photo by Rich Hein
For many years, if you stood in Helmut Jahn’s office at 35 E. Wacker and looked out the window, you were confronted with the ugliest building in Chicago: the Sun-Times’ home at 401 N. Wabash, a squat, trapezoidal relic that, next to the Venetian splendor of the Wrigley Building, looked like an overturned gray galvanized metal tub set beside a spun sugar ivory Victorian wedding cake.
Perhaps to block that view, Jahn kept in the window a model of the latest version of his sailing sloop, Flash Gordon, which won the Chicago to Mackinac Race in 1995. Its presence was a violation of his own edict not to keep “personal things” at work; the reverse being true at his home, which was free from images of the stunning buildings he created around the world during his long career.
World-renowned architect Helmut Jahn, whose works include the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago and MetroWest Office Building in Naperville, was killed Saturday in a bicycle crash in Campton Hills.
Architecture Titan Helmut Jahn Killed In Bicycle Accident In Kane County
CBS Chicago 5/10/2021 Syndicated Local – CBS Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) Even if you didn’t know Helmut Jahn’s name, you certainly know the mark he left on Chicago’s skyline.
The architectural titan died this weekend at the age of 81, after he was struck by two vehicles while riding his bicycle.
Police said Jahn was killed in the accident around 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Campton Hills, a Kane County suburb near St. Charles.
Jahn was riding his bicycle north on Old Lafox Road approaching Burlington Road and failed to stop at the posted sign, police said. He was struck by a vehicle heading east on Burlington Road and then struck by a vehicle heading west on Burlington Road.
Shunned here, Helmut Jahn is out to prove he s more than flashy chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.