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Chicagoans know Robert A.M. Stern better than they might realize; his ubiquitous designs for bus stop shelters and other street furniture for JC Decaux have graced streets throughout the city since 2002.

The noted New York-based architect passed away on Thanksgiving at the age of 86.

The bus shelters are an amalgam of varied historical influences and reveal a bit of the contradictory forces that shaped Stern’s most intriguing work. The structures deploy largely traditional columns that support shallow arched roofs above glass partitions — save for a single wall that always holds the ever-changing supersized advertisements that financially supported the wholesale replication of the structures at most CTA stops. They are memorable while being q

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