Some usual suspects but also real treasures as WTTW brings us some more ‘Beautiful Places’

Near the end of a fine WTTW-Ch. 11 program called “The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago” that first aired in early March and remains available online, host Geoffrey Baer said, “There is more beauty in Chicago than is possible to fit into one program.”

True enough, or so he has us believing with his delivery of “The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago 2” at 7 p.m. Dec. 4. It comes with his typical curiosity, enthusiasm and boosterism, a combination he has been using effectively ever since starting his television career more than 20 years ago.

He is the writer/host/producer of this program, which takes us to many places, some familiar and some not at all. He spends valuable time at the Chicago Cultural Center, that glorious building that rose as the main branch of the Chicago Public Library in 1897, was saved from demolition by the quiet but persuasive efforts of Eleanor “Sis” Daley (wife of Richard J. and mother of Richard M.) and in 1991 became the Cultural Center.

With architect and restoration expert T. Gunny Harboe by his side, Baer gives us a fairly extensive and enlightening tour of the building. It is wonderful to see the world’s largest Tiffany stained glass dome there as well as the restored Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall and Rotunda (but a bit of hopeful hyperbole to have Baer comment that people walking through the space can “feel the sacrifice of those who fought slavery.”)

There is a lot packed into this hour. We visit a Lake Shore Drive underpass stunning in artistic style and historical import, with an “Indian Land Dancing” mosaic, from creators Chris Pappan and Debra Yepa-Pappan and the Chicago Public Art Group’s Tracy Van Duinen. In Pilsen we encounter muralist Mauricio Ramirez, explaining the lively art of the area, such as an Aztec eagle warrior adorning a brick wall.

On the Far South Side, author and architecture critic Lee Bey is wonderfully passionate as he explains the quiet art deco majesty of his alma mater (and also that of the late Dick Butkus), Chicago Vocational High School. He also comments on the inequities that exist in the fact that the twin Prairie-style high schools designed by Dwight Perkins are not accorded similar stature, with the Northwest Side’s Carl Schurz High School widely admired and honored while the South Side’s James H. Bowen High School is not. (Bey’s “Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side” from Northwestern University Press, 2019, is an essential addition to any Chicago bookshelf).

What distinguishes this show is the depth and personalities of those interviewed by Baer. There is charming ecologist and conservation biologist Deja Perkins on a walk through Jackson Park; increasingly prominent historian and tour guide Sherman “Dilla” Thomas showing and explaining a Bronzeville building with a stunning mural created by William Edouard Scott in 1936.

We are introduced to time-lapse aerial photographer Peter Tsai, who takes photos from the top of what was called the Hancock Center, capturing a city skyline poking through the clouds. We take a quick visit to Glessner House, the Romanesque mansion on Prairie Avenue. (Now a museum, it is especially welcoming to and decked out for visitors during the holidays). And you will marvel at the Edgar Miller-made interior of the Glasner Studio in Old Town, and the unique round Ruth and Sam Van Sickle Ford House in Aurora, built by a self-taught architect named Bruce Goff from some highly unusual materials, such as coal.

The show is beautifully filmed, and nature is given its due, especially as it has benefitted from collaborative efforts of landscape architects Fredrick Law Olmsted, Calvert Vaux, Jens Jensen and Alfred Caldwell. These men — any one of whom would make a fine hourlong show — created small wonders in Jackson Park, Washington Park, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park and the Caldwell Lily Pool by the Lincoln Park Zoo.

I was disappointed but not surprised that the program ends with a visit to Millennium Park, with its oh-so-familiar bandshell, Crown Fountain and Lurie Garden. Visual clichés for me.

Still, the show is a winner and as in the past, this program will be embellished by a companion website that will offer all manner of extras, such as photos, facts and video. I have no doubt, and I actually hope, that there are more beautiful places to discover and show us.

It’s fitting, I think, to end this story the way I ended the review of the first show: “I know that not all people live within sight of beautiful places and so for them, watching this program may seem a bit like seeing a show about the French Riviera. But perhaps just knowing such spots are out there might be of some comfort. Or hope.”