[denizen467]

Imagine if the East Side had developed into an office district instead of the LaSalle or Wacker corridors ... the implications are huge. The business district, and hotels and tourist attractions, would have been much closer to the lake. And farther from the train stations. And a "platinum coast" such as we have with LSE today could not have emerged. Etc.

Just to diminish the disappointment though -- there are many examples of massive early-20th-century buildings around the Loop that never survived to this century because they were inefficient. (I think the Morrison Hotel was the tallest example of those demolished.) So who knows whether this would have survived to today anyway. Even if it did, it might be a quasi-white elephant like the main post office, with possibly an eventual destination of death row.