Back in 2014, Donald Trump wrote an op-ed for this newspaper titled “Why I love Chicago and My Sign.” Trump was fighting back against Chicagoans who objected to five massive letters affixed to Trump’s International Hotel and Tower, viewing them as an affront to the city’s architectural glory. The letters, T-R-U-M-P, ruined the view of the city, especially when looking north up Wabash Avenue.
The newspaper’s then-architecture critic, Blair Kamin, waged an intense fight against this visual pollution on our pages. But anyone who has blinked at downtown of late knows who won.
Trump.
