(WTTW News)

The Binny’s Beverage Depot at the intersection of Clark Street and Wellington Avenue in Lakeview is marked by its medieval exterior. The design isn’t a creative technique to make the liquor store stand out among other retailers in the area, but a reminder of the building’s history, which spans as far back as the 1920s.

A battery of Nike missiles was installed at Belmont Harbor in the early 1950s. (WTTW Archive)

Geoffrey Baer joined “Chicago Tonight” for this week’s Ask Geoffrey, about old Nike missile bases in Chicago.

(WTTW News)

The Wrigley Building celebrates its 100th anniversary. The latest edition of “Ask Geoffrey” explores how the Chicago icon transformed Michigan Avenue.

The coats of arms and flourishes like bells and statuettes on the façade of the Klas Restaurant make it feel like something you’d stumble upon in a little village in Eastern Europe. (Courtesy of Chuckman’s Collection)

The Old World meets the new at a legendary Cicero restaurant that’s long served as an anchor for Chicago’s expansive Czech community. But now, its legacy is under threat.

The Francis Apartments were designed in 1895, early in Frank Lloyd Wright’s career. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Today we know Frank Lloyd Wright as one of the most influential American architects, but early in his career he designed projects you might have trouble recognizing as his — even if you lived in the building.

The overhauled base of the Willis Tower (Credit EQ Office)

You may have been stuck at home the past 15 months, but Chicago’s ever-growing skyline didn’t skip a beat. New buildings have sprouted up all over downtown Chicago, including some projects that might surprise you.

There have been several attempts to establish Chicago’s anthem, none have stuck. (Courtesy Chicago Tribune)

A contest meant to inspire civic pride gets knocked off course after accusations of political scheming. But hey, this is Chicago.

German star-architect Helmut Jahn is best known in Chicago for designing the Thompson Center. (Credit Ingrid Von Kruse)

German architect Helmut Jahn died Saturday after being struck by a car while riding a bicycle in the western suburbs. Geoffrey Baer takes a look at Jahn’s work and his legacy in a special edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Opened in 1917, the Norske Club was a gathering place for events and parties, exhibits, musical and theater performances and dinners celebrating Norwegian heritage. (WTTW News)

What can an apartment building that once hosted royalty tell us about Chicago’s Norwegian American community? Geoffrey Baer has the story of this former social club designed by a pair of famous Chicago architects.

At about 59th Street, just north of where the Skyway splits off from the Dan Ryan, motorists pass beneath a bridge that carries the Green Line seemingly way, way up in the air. (WTTW News)

On Chicago’s South Side, there’s a bridge spanning the Dan Ryan expressway that looks more like a Disney World monorail than part of a working CTA train line.

(Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum)

A piece of Civil War history is being restored in one of Chicago’s most well-known public buildings. But what was it doing there in the first place? Geoffrey Baer has the answer.

(Credit: Chicago History Museum)

For decades, they acted as the city’s front door, where people from all over the country arrived seeking out a better life – or just the thrills of the big city. Geoffrey Baer takes us back to the golden age of rail travel.

What does a 20th century electricity baron have to do with a spitting llama at a suburban petting zoo? Geoffrey Baer is here with the story of the Hawthorn Mellody dairy farm in this week’s Ask Geoffrey.

(WTTW News)

A collective groan may or may not have been heard around Chicago when the city awoke to find it was snowing — again. Geoffrey Baer explains how this recent blast of snowy weather stacks up against Chicago’s most infamous winter storms.

(WTTW News)

Bicycle sales in Chicago have surged over the past year as the pandemic has forced more and more people outside for exercise and recreation. But it’s hardly the city’s first “bike boom.” Geoffrey Baer takes us back to when Chicago was called “the Detroit of bicycles.” 

(WTTW News)

Geoffrey Baer explores the past, present and future of a historic West Side garden in North Lawndale.

Ask Geoffrey a question