The Dark Knight film locations
Film locations: Chicago; London; Bedfordshire; Hong Kong
The Dark Knight location: the attack on the funeral of the police commission, and the Batman/Joker confrontation: South LaSalle Street, Chicago
The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to Batman Begins, expands Batman’s universe with plenty of real locations in Chicago, Hong Kong and London, and a shift of mood from dark to downright grim. Memories of Adam West and Cesar Romero’s Sixties hi-jinks are banished completely.
The Dark Knight location: the Joker’s crew robs ‘Gotham National Bank’: Chicago Post Office Building, West Harrison Street, Chicago
‘Gotham’ morphs from a Gothic fantasy to a recognisable modern city – mostly Chicago. The robbery of ‘Gotham National Bank’ by the Joker (Heath Ledger), and his band of disposable clowns, is the old Chicago Post Office, 404 West Harrison. The vast and disused building, which also stood in for the exterior of ‘Gotham Police Department’, occupies two city blocks – the Congress Parkway runs straight through the middle.
The Dark Knight location: the interior of ‘Gotham Police Station’: Criterion Restaurant, 224 Piccadilly, London W1
There’s a brief flit across the Atlantic for the restaurant – naturally owned by Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) – in which the multi-millionaire playboy discovers Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) dining with Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). It’s Marco Pierre White’s Criterion, 224 Piccadilly, W1 , on the south side of Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London’s West End (tube: Piccadilly, Piccadilly Line).
Next, to Hong Kong for the meeting with crooked financial magnate Lau, at the IFC2 Building (2 International Finance Centre), 8 Finance Street; at 415m and 88 floors, it’s the tallest building in the city.
The Dark Knight location: arresting Gotham’s mob bosses: The Berghoff, 17 West Adams Street, Chicago
Photograph: The Berghoff, Chicago
Acting on Lau’s information, Lt Gordon (Gary Oldman) is able to arrest 549 mob bosses. The mass arrest, which must have made it into the Guinness Book of Records, is in the marvelously oak-panelled The Berghoff, 17 West Adams Street between Dearborn and State Streets (CTA: Jackson or Monroe Stations; Blue and Red Lines)
The Dark Knight location: arresting Gotham’s mob bosses: The Berghoff, 17 West Adams Street, Chicago
The historic German restaurant (it has occupied this site since 1905) is housed in one of the first buildings constructed in the Loop after the disastrous Chicago fire, and one of the city’s few remaining buildings boasting a cast-iron façade. It briefly closed in 2006 – only to reopen with a smart revamp and an expanded menu.
The Dark Knight location: The Joker crashes Harvey Dentsís fundraiser: Illinois Center Buildings, 111 East Wacker Drive, Chicago
The fundraiser for Harvey Dent, crashed by the Joker, is held at Building 2 of Illinois Center Buildings, 111 East Wacker Drive – a complex of five office buildings and a couple of hotels, connected by an enclosed concourse lined with shops and restaurants, overlooking the Chicago River near the foot of the Michigan Avenue Bridge.
The Dark Knight location: taking down the Scarecrow: 200 West Randolph Street, Chicago
Batman confronts not just the Scarecrow (a brief, but welcome, return by Cillian Murphy) but a host of baddies and a few bogus Batmen, too, in the parking garage at 200 West Randolph Street (the same garage which was the start of the Tumbler’s rooftop chase in Batman Begins).
The Dark Knight location: Bruce Wayneís penthouse: Hotel 71, 71 East Wacker Drive, Chicago
For the first time, there is no ‘Wayne Manor’ (it’s being rebuilt after the fire – remember?). The main living area of Bruce Wayne’s glitzy new penthouse is the lobby of One Illinois Plaza (designed by famed architect Mies van der Rohe), while its bedroom was on the 39th floor of Hotel 71, 71 East Wacker Drive.
The Dark Knight location: the offices of Harvey Dent, the Police Commissioner, and the Mayor plus the boardroom of ‘Wayne Enterprises’: IBM Building, 330 North Wabash Avenue, Chicago
Another Mies van der Rohe building – the IBM Building, 330 North Wabash Avenue on the river between Wabash and State Streets, was used to supply a load of locations – not only the ‘Wayne Enterprises Boardroom’, but Harvey Dent’s office, the Mayor’s office and the Police Commissioner’s office.
The Dark Knight location: the interior of ‘Gotham Police Station’: The Farmiloe Building, 28-36 St John Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1
And once again, as in Batman Begins, the first floor offices of the The Farmiloe Building, 28-36 St John Street, Clerkenwell, in London, were transformed into ‘Gotham City Police Station’.
The Convention Hall of the West Building, McCormick Place, 2301 South Indiana Avenue, the convention centre complex south of Chicago (Metra: McCormick Place; from Chicago Millennium Station) became the vast warehouse of Wayne Enterprises’ ‘Applied Science Division’.
The Dark Knight location: the Batpod chase: Metra station, Millennium Park, Chicago
And the sinuously curving passageways of the newly remodelled entrance to the Metra station at Millennium Park itself were used for the start of the Batpod chase.
‘Gotham General Hospital’, blown up by the Joker, was the old Brach's Candy factory, which stood at 401 North Cicero Avenue. If you’ve seen its demolition on YouTube, you’ll know that it’s no longer there.
The Dark Knight location: the confrontation between Batman and the Joker: South LaSalle Street, Chicago
The memorial service for the slain Police Commissioner, and the first confrontation between Batman and the Joker both take place on South La Salle Street, with its vista leading down to the Chicago Board of Trade Building (which was the HQ of ‘Wayne Enterprises’ in Batman Begins).
And that’s no CGI effect – the production really did flip over an 18-wheel truck in the heart of Chicago’s prestigious financial district, after extensive tests to ensure the stunt wouldn’t cause structural damage. The iconic view down the LaSalle Street Canyon is also seen in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables.
The huge explosion, which – well, no spoilers – marks a major turn in the story was filmed at London’s long-deserted Battersea Power Station, on the south bank of the Thames. While its sister station, Bankside, has found enormous success as the Tate Modern gallery, the previously more famous Battersea stands an empty shell – though that’s allowed it to be a frequent film location – seen in Richard III, 1984 and recently, Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla.
While locals whose houses overlooked the site held balcony parties to watch the spectacular explosion, the advance warning didn’t seem to have reached everyone. Emergency services were flooded with panicked calls reporting a terrorist attack on the beloved landmark.
The Dark Knight location: Harvey Dent, barman: the Twin Anchors, 1665 North Sedgwick Street, Chicago
The bar, in which Harvey Dent turns up after his nasty accident, is – appropriately – the Twin Anchors, 1665 North Sedgwick Street in Chicago’s Old Town. Check out the scars left on the bar top after repeated takes for the scene.
The Dark Knight location: Harvey’s dents: bar at the Twin Anchors, 1665 North Sedgwick Street, Chicago
Founded in 1932, it’s one of the oldest restaurant/bars in the city, and was a favourite of Frank Sinatra when he was in town.
The Dark Knight location: the evacuation of Gotham: Navy Pier, Chicago
As the Joker wreaks havoc throughout the city, he panicky evacuation of Gothamites onto ferries is at Navy Pier, east of the Streeterville district. This 3,000 foot pier, built in 1916 when Lake Michigan was used for commercial shipping, fell into decline, until major renovations in 1976. The pier entrance is on Streeter Drive at 600 East Grand Avenue near lake Shore Drive just north of the Chicago River. It previously featured as an ‘Atlantic City’ location in Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money.
The Dark Knight location: the offices of Harvey Dent, the Police Commissioner, and the Mayor plus the boardroom of ‘Wayne Enterprises’: IBM Building, 330 North Wabash Avenue, Chicago
The climactic hand-to-hand face-off between Batman and the Joker is a conflation of two separate locations: the exterior is Chicago's Trump Tower, 401 North Wabash Avenue, which was in the under construction during filming. For the actual fight, the interior was re-created in England, in Shed 2, one of the two gigantic airship hangars at Cardington, a couple of miles southeast of Bedford in Bedfordshire (rail: Bedford, from London Euston or King’s Cross), now converted into a soundstage (part of Batman Begins was also filmed here).
All material Copyright ©2008 The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations
Designed by Intelligent Designing
The Dark Knight, 2008
Director
Cast
- Christian Bale
- Heath Ledger
- Michael Caine
- Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Morgan Freeman
- Gary Oldman
- Aaron Eckhart
- Cillian Murphy
visit the film locations
Chicago: Flights: O'Hare International Airport
CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) maps
Chicago: eat at The Berghoff,17 West Adams Street between Dearborn and State Streets (tel: 312.427.3170) (CTA: Jackson or Monroe Stations; Blue and Red Lines)
Drink at: the Twin Anchors, 1665 North Sedgwick Street in Chicago’s Old Town (tel: 312.266.1616) (hopefully Two Face won’t be tending bar)
Stay at: Hotel 71, 71 East Wacker Drive.
London: Flights: Heathrow Airport; Gatwick Airport
Criterion, 224 Piccadilly, on the south side of Piccadilly Circus, specialising in French cuisine (tel: 020.7930.0488 ) (tube: Piccadilly, Piccadilly Line)
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