Chicago Union Station Google Virtual Tour

Chicago Union Station Google Virtual Tour

I was fortunate to be selected to shoot panoramas of Chicago Union Station’s event spaces for their Google Maps 360 virtual tour. It’s such an iconic place and I am so honored to be able to document it. Some of the views are single panoramas in the middle of the room, while others have a few panoramas connecting them. The Great Hall (shown above) was renovated to restore the historic building’s beauty and grandeur. It was so cool to shoot this area…and also somewhat challenging as this is a bustling area where travelers are constantly moving throughout – and also resting during their travels. I shoot multiple exposures when creating panoramas and I try to shoot when there’s little to no people moving throughout so as to avoid blurred subjects. That isn’t an option in a train station. So I relied on post production to mask out people who were rushing through the space. In the Great Hall section, there are 5 panoramas that connect together so visitors can go from the balcony on one side, down onto the main floor, across it and up to the balcony on the other side. The space allows traveler’s a moment to rest and admire the impressive architecture and is used for private events.

The event spaces below are not areas where the general public pass through, so they were easier to shoot. Plus, I got to have them all to myself for a bit – that’s something I absolutely love when shooting virtual tours. It’s often just me and the space and in this case, I got to be in these gorgeous architectural spaces and imagine what it must’ve been like in them when they were first built in the 1920’s.

The Burlington Room
This used to be the women’s waiting room and beauty parlor, now it’s used for private events.

The Barber Shop
This space is so neat because it has mementos of yesteryear built into the walls. Seeing the images on the walls really gives perspective on time, and you can practically imagine what this barber shop was like on a bustling day.

The Founders Room

Check out how they used the Google virtual tours in their website, here!

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Do you have an event space that needs a virtual tour? Let’s connect!