Christopher John Chamales was born in Chicago and studied at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and the Fontainbleau School of Fine Arts, receiving a master's degree in
architecture from the former. He was asked by the government of Greece to design a master plan
for Athens and its port, Piraeus, and then studied city planning under Eliel Saarinen before
completing this commission. In Chicago he worked for industrial designer Raymond Loewy and
the architectural firms of Holabird & Root and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill before organizing his
own firm. As an architect and city planner, Chamales successfully opposed a proposed overpass
between Michigan Avenue and the Outer Drive at Oak Street in Chicago. He was a fellow of the
International Institute of Arts and Letters.
Christopher Chamales is the subject of one of the oral histories of Chicago architects in the
collection of the Department of Architecture of The Art Institute of Chicago. Click here for
link.
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