A city pack for the Moonlit Atlas book

Chicago

The city that went up after the fire, on one shelf: the black Willis Tower and the X-braced Hancock over Marina City's corncobs and an L train on its green girders. Put it in your Moonlit Atlas, press the brass button, and Chicago stands up under the moon.

The Moonlit Atlas book, closed: 8.1 × 6.7 × 2.5 in. With this pack, Chicago is what folds flat inside it. Scroll to open it at sunset, as the lights of the Loop come on.

Press the brass button. Two torsion springs lift the lid, a gear damper keeps it slow, and three rows of the city stand up with it, upright at 90°, the two white antennas of Willis Tower highest of all.

Willis Tower: black steel tubes stepping back as they rise to two white antennas, the tallest building in the world for nearly a quarter of a century. Beside it the Aon Center, a plain white slab ribbed from top to bottom.

To the right, the cream Tribune Tower under its Gothic crown of buttresses and pinnacles, the dark John Hancock Center tapering under its stacked X-braces, and the white Wrigley Building, its clock face all tick marks and two hands.

One row down, Marina City: two round towers ringed with scalloped balconies like corncobs, over a spiral parking ramp. A silver L train runs on its green steel viaduct, and the castle-like Water Tower, which outlived the Great Fire, stands in front.

On the street, low brick and cream buildings with fire escapes and green awnings, a newsstand, benches, street lamps and a yellow cab at the curb, all kept low so the towers behind stay in view.

At the front, the river fills the tray in blue. Navy Pier reaches out with its Ferris wheel of red, yellow and blue gondolas, a white tour boat glides past, and the silver Bean sits on its plaza at the right.

Lights out. The windows of Willis Tower and the Hancock, the Wrigley clock, Marina City's balconies, the L train, the shop windows, the wheel's rim and the boat all glow, and the moon and stars come out over Chicago. They glow in the dark: no batteries, no wires.

The four pieces of the Chicago set out of the book, seen from the front right and a little above: in front, the blue river plate with white waves, a tan pier with two brick-red towers under teal roofs and a long hall, a white Ferris wheel with red, yellow and light-blue gondolas, a white tour boat and a silver bean on a gray plaza with small trees; behind it the street row with low brick-red and cream shops under green awnings, fire escapes at both ends and a yellow cab; then the middle row with two round tan towers ringed with balconies, a green elevated railway with a silver train and a small cream stone tower with turrets; at the back a black stepped tower with two white antennas, a white ribbed slab, a cream tower with a Gothic crown, a black tapering tower braced with X's and a white clock tower — The four pieces of the set out of the book: the river nearest you, Willis Tower and the Hancock at the back.

After the Great Fire

The city that went up

When the Great Chicago Fire burned the heart of the city, the limestone Water Tower was one of the few buildings left standing. It stands in this set too, in front of the L. Everything around it is what Chicago built next, once it had learned to build in steel and to build high: the Wrigley Building and the Tribune Tower by the river, Marina City's corncobs, the X-braced Hancock and the black Willis Tower, for years the tallest building in the world.

The river and Navy PierBlue water with white waves, Navy Pier and its Ferris wheel, a white tour boat and the silver Bean on its plaza.
The river streetLow brick and cream buildings with fire escapes and awnings, a newsstand, lamps, benches and a yellow cab.
Marina City and the LMarina City's twin corncob towers, an L train on its green viaduct and the old Water Tower.
The skylineWillis Tower, the Aon Center, the Tribune Tower, the X-braced Hancock and the white Wrigley Building.

Drag to turn the book. Tap a number for its story.

12 landmarks, from the antennas to the river

Walk the set the way the film did, from the tips of Willis Tower down to the Bean by the river. Pick a landmark to see where it stands and what the model shows.

Up close

Black steel, the green L and the silver Bean

The skyline of the Chicago set under a large pale moon and cream stars on a dark indigo panel: at the left a black stepped tower with lit windows and two white antennas, the tallest; a plain white ribbed slab with lit window strips; a cream tower with a stepped Gothic crown and arched windows; a black tapering tower with faint X-braces, a lit band under its roof and two white antennas; at the right a white clock tower with a pale clock face marked with ticks and two hands, between lower white wings; slim brick-red and cream towers between them; at the bottom left the tops of two round tan towers ringed with balconies — The skyline: the two antennas of Willis Tower, the white Aon Center, the Tribune's Gothic crown, the Hancock and the Wrigley clock.

The middle row of the Chicago set: at the left two round tan towers ringed with scalloped balconies, their edges lit, on a brick-red podium with arched lit windows; a green steel elevated railway with lattice girders on arched legs, carrying two silver train cars with a blue band and lit windows; a small cream stone tower with turrets and a slim spire in front of it; round green trees; behind, black, white and cream towers with lit windows and a white clock tower; below, the street row with brick-red and cream shops under green awnings, lamp posts, trees and a yellow cab — Marina City's corncobs, the L on its green viaduct and the old Water Tower, with the river street below.

The river plate of the Chicago set in the cream tray of the open book, seen from the front left: blue water with white wave strokes; at the left a tan wooden pier with two brick-red towers under teal pyramid roofs and a long brick-red hall, and a white Ferris wheel with red, yellow and light-blue gondolas; in the middle a white tour boat with lit windows; at the right a silver bean with an arch underneath on a gray plaza between small trees; behind, the street row with brick-red and cream shops, green awnings and a yellow cab — The river in the tray: Navy Pier and its Ferris wheel, a white tour boat and the silver Bean.

The open Moonlit Atlas book with the Chicago pack standing on a writing desk — At home: the Chicago pack in the book, on a writing desk.

The open book with the Chicago pack on a bedside table in a dark bedroom, its moon, stars and windows glowing — Lights out at bedtime: the moon, the stars and Chicago's windows glow.

Already have the book?

New York off, Chicago on

Say your book holds New York. Each row clicks onto its frame with two magnets and two V-keys. Lift it straight up and it comes free.

Once New York's three rows are off, lift its harbor plate out of the tray.

Drop in the Chicago plate: the blue river, with Navy Pier's Ferris wheel, a tour boat and the Bean.

Set the Chicago rows on, back to front, Willis Tower and the Hancock first. The magnets pull each row home. New York goes back on the same way whenever you want it.

What's in the Chicago pack

The set

Three building rows and a river plate that drop into your book and click onto its frames with magnets. No batteries: after a lamp has charged them, the windows glow brightest for 30 to 60 minutes.

Weight: about 4.5 oz
Made from: PLA
Building depth: up to 0.47 in, so the rows fold flat

The closed Moonlit Atlas book: navy cover, cream page block and a brass button

Add-on: needs the Moonlit Atlas book

Chicago needs a book to stand in

This pack is the city only. It stands up inside the Moonlit Atlas book, which is sold separately. The rows click onto the book's frames, so Chicago swaps with New York or any other city set in seconds.

See the Moonlit Atlas book