The Chicago Spire has also received interest from its original developer, Garrett Kelleher, who still holds title to the property but lost day-to-day control of it to a receiver in 2010.

WSJ: Deal of the Week: Chicago Condo Site Lives Again

From the oddball postmodernism of the mostly conceptual Chicago Spire to the artfully low-slung eves of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Homes, Chicago's buildings do not allow you to pass by without telling their own stories.

BBC: The infamous architecture of Chicago

About five years after construction stopped on the planned 150-story Chicago Spire luxury residential tower, an Irish government agency has put the note formerly held by the defunct Anglo Irish Bank Corp. on the block.

WSJ: Plots & Ploys: Hole-Sale Real Estate

Known for the elegance of his designs, Calatrava discusses the relationship between art and architecture and man's desire to build increasingly higher -- he has recently conceived the proposed Chicago Spire, soon to be the tallest residential building in the world.

CNN: A Quest to build

If it didn't have the spire, One World Trade Center would be shorter than the Willis Tower in Chicago, which stands at 1, 451 feet and currently has the title of tallest building in the U.S., not including its own antennas.

WSJ: Spire permanently installed on WTC tower