Pictured above is the crew from Central Contractors Service, calmly going about their day from the middle of the sky.
If you didn’t know by now, a tower crane was assembled at 625 West Adams over the past few days. Here now are several thousand photos showing the chronology of that process:
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- It all started on Thursday the 11th, when Central brought this giant street crane to 625 West Adams.
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- Then crane parts started showing up.
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- Crane parts were offloaded…
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- …and the Central crew started to piece together the street crane.
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- Yada yada yada, and this was what greeted me when I got home Thursday night.
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- Friday morning, before the weather turned,
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- The cab.
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- Friday morning.
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- The Central crane, from ground level.
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- Tower crane parts everywhere.
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- There’s the “spire” that will sit atop the main shaft.
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- Waiting in line.
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- Saturday morning, and parts are lined up.
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- More parts are arriving, even as Central assembles what’s on site already.
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- NOPE
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- The man platform is lifted into place.
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- The cab is secured to the main platform.
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- Deadlifts.
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- Sunday morning now, and the spire is lifted to the top of the main shaft.
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- This is when I got queasy. Well, again.
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- My fancy time-lapse set-up.
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- The first, shorter piece of the boom starts to rise.
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- …and comes in for a landing. It looked like the Space Shuttle docking with ISS.
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- The first piece is in place.
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- If you don’t notice the cable he’s holding, it looks like he’s dancing. He is *not* dancing.
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- Double NOPE.
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- Climbing down after a long Sunday shift.
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- The crew reassembles Monday morning.
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- Monday morning, after the climb. The sky crew’s ready.
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- The larger section of the boom is lifted.
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- Forrest Gump sits on a bench in the background, oblivious to the action behind him.
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- Almost…
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- Should you be out there?
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- It’s a tower crane!
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- Tuesday morning, at full staff.
Building Up Chicago 