Holy Egg-Throwing Apes! The Story of Harry Caray's Dutch Masterpiece

And gangsters, too.

Each week, discover an historic Chicago landmark and meet the people who built the Windy City. Includes audio recorded by Jim Goodrich.

The first time you see the building at the southeast corner of Kinzie and Dearborn, you'll do a double-take. Then a triple.

You'll realize you’re staring.

“There’s a whole lot going on,” you'll think, what with those red bricks and white accents, an exuberant number of dormers and stepped gables and a steeply pitched roof.

There are quoins and voussoirs and all sorts of other architectural elements that combine to create a distinctive and complex exterior.

The Chicago Landmarks Designation Report states there’s a “nearly hedonistic pleasure in decoration,” yet the architect displayed a “controlled sense of craft.”

You agree with that assessment.

If you think there’s a lot happening on the outside, just wait until you find out what happened inside, underneath, and before the building even existed.

Bootleggers, tee-totalers, insects frozen in amber and vaults encased in walls, hidden tunnels, future presidents, and egg-throwing apes all played a part in the history of what is now Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse.