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353 North Clark under construction (click images for larger view)
Friday October 4th is this year's SteelDay, the American Institute of Steel Construction's annual celebration of all things carbo-ferrous. In Chicago, it's being observed with a Shop Model Review and Approval and tour of Northwestern's new Outpatient Care Pavilion. And then at 4:00, Charlie Carter talks about The Life of the K Factor at the Pritzker Military Library in the Monroe Building.
Did you know that Saturday the 5th is the 7th annual National Tour Day? Me neither, but docomomo is observing it in Chicago with a walking tour (bring sensible shoes) of many of the most prominent works of architect Harry Weese, including 227 East Walton, the Time-Life, Swissotel and Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist. I've never quite figured out if you can attend as a solitary guest, or you have to be a guest of a docomomo member, but we've got a link on the calendar so you can check it out for yourself.
On Monday the 7th at the Wicker Park Field House, William Tishler discusses his new book, Jens Jensen: Writing Inspired by Nature. On Saturday the 12th, Design Evanston is offering a tour of Graceland Cemetery by Craig Soncraft of Wolff Landscape - the firm that has been Graceland's landscape architects for over 20 years - including a discussion of the original design by Ossian Cole Simonds. As part of this year's Open House Chicago, the Guild Literary Complex is featuring Applied Words: Re-Built with Sandra Seaton, Saturday the 19th at the original Sears Tower on Homan. On Tuesday the 22nd, BIG's Kai-Uwe Bergmann will delivering the keynote for the Association of Licensed Architects 15th Annual Architecture Conference and Product Show, at the Drury Lane Conference Center in Oak Brook.
And this is just the new stuff. Seriously, there's so much going on, I'm just going to go lie down. You, dear reader, are no doubt made of sterner stuff, so check out all 60+ great events still to come on the October Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.
Adrian Smith+Gordon Gill Architecture (click images for larger view)
Architecture, no matter the focus on exterior form, is not a wrapper, but an environment. And while we usually experience architecture by walking by or standing in front of it, on October 15th and 16th, you can soak it in, both inside and out. The Chicago Architecture Foundation's extraordinary event, openhousechicago, will let visitors enter into some of the city's most distinctive and compelling interiors.
And they need your help. Jump to the bottom of the post for more info, but first let me show you some of the wonder with which you'll surround yourself.
Some of the 126 buildings, from Rogers Park to Hyde Park, Garfield Park, downtown and all points in between, are "walk-by" only, but the vast majority offer rare opportunities to experience some of Chicago's greatest spaces. You can tour online, with photographs, the full roster of locations here, but among the highlights are the architectural office of Goettsch Partners, Perkins+Will, Adrian Smith+Gordon Gill, and VOA Associates. There's Corpus Christ Church . . .
. . . the 1897 Grant Memorial AME Church, Dankmar Adler's last commission, the 1899 Isaiah Temple (now Ebeneezer Missionary Baptist church),The Chicago Motor Club and its 29-foot wide John Warner Norton mural, a historic courtroom at 26th and California, the Del Prado Hotel, Frank Lloyd Wright's Emil Bach house, and the interior of the auditorium space at the Abraham Lincoln Center, the Art Noveau murals of the Fine Arts Building, the spectacular Sears Roebuck Power House that is now the Power House High School . . .
. . . an empty floor of the Inland Steel building, Alfred Caldwell's rooftop garden at Lake Point Tower . . .
. . . the Martinez Funeral Home, Meyers Ace Hardware (the former Sunset Cafe where Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Earl 'Fatha' Hines played in the 1920's), the 1912 Monroe Building and new Pritzker Military Library, the private pool of Jens Jensen's Park Castle apartment building . . .
. . . KAM Temple/Rainbow PUSH, the Art Moderne 2nd Federal Savings . . .
. . . Krueck and Sexton's Spertus Institute, the Gustavus F. Swift mansion . . .
. . . the Michigan Room overlooking Millennium Park in the University Club, Helmut Jahn's South Campus Chiller Plant at U of C, the 1893 Samuel Karpen mansion (now Welcome Inn Manor).
You get the idea.
As you might imagine, covering 126 sites all across the city, takes a lot of volunteers . . .
In order to make this weekend a success, we need many volunteers to play a variety of roles. Volunteering for OHC is simple and the benefits are pretty great. We're looking for volunteers to provide visitor welcoming assistance at all OHC2011 sites. Volunteers will also help control admission to sites and track visitor attendance. You can volunteer for one 4 hour shift on either Saturday or Sunday, or both. Either way, volunteers receive a commemorative shirt, a discount at the CAF shop, a free walking tour pass and priority access to all OHC 2011 sites.
You can get more information on how you can volunteer here, or contact openhousechicago's volunteer coordinator, Patrick Miner, via email.
A major 1994 renovation resulted in several larger rooms, including the great Palm house, being reglazed a stronger, laminated glass that withstood the storm.
In other parts of the complex, however, the glass is up to half a century old, and the much thinner panes sustained the bulk of the damage. One estimate reported that up to 70% of the panes in the Fern room were damaged. That room, and in the Show House, Desert House and nine propagation houses, which provides thousands of plants annually to Chicago parks, are, according to the Conservatory's website, "covered with broken glass, and shards of glass hang dangerously from the roofs. Until the roofs are repaired, rain will cause the ponds to overflow, and direct sunlight will destroy and kill the plants that have been so carefully and lovingly conserved for so many years."
Joseph Ebentraut of the Huffington Post pegged the cost of the cleanup, exclusive of construction and repair, to be upwards of $2 million. Insurance is expect to cover some of the cost, estimated on one video at $250 per pane, but not all. You can contribute to the restoration directly on the Conservatory's website. Right now, For a Better Chicago is matching on-line contributions up to $10,000. (At the beginning of August, they were at $6,000 towards that goal.)
In addition, there are a number of benefits being held to support the cleanup.
This Sunday, August 21, from 12 noon to 4:00 p.m., Big Star Taqueria and Bar at 1531 North Damen will be holding a Everything but the Kitchen Sinksidewalk sale selling used and undamaged dishware, furniture and kitchen supplies from the Blackbird group of restaurants, including Blackbird, Publican, Violet Hour, Big Star and Avec.
Thursday, September 1st, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m., Lincoln Park Zoo's Wine and Wildflowers event will also benefit the restoration of the Garfield Park Conservatory, and will feature Chicago Park District historian Julia Bachrach. Tickets, which must be reserved by August 29, are $95.00, and they can be purchased on-line.
And tomorrow evening, Thursday, August 18th, Lincoln Hall, 2424 North Lincoln, will hold an 8:00 p.m. Garfield Park Conservatory benefit (tickets $20.00) featuring Bobby Conn, Del Rey, Sunken Ships, Bare Mutants, Rivals of the Peacemaker, and DJ Scary Lady Sarah, which, remarkably, are also all the names of varieties of orchids.
One last addition to the July calendar - on this Thursday, July 29th, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., the Häfele Chicago Showroom, 154 W. Hubbard will be offering a seminar on Acetylated Wood: Durable, Stable, Sustainable Wood for Windows, Doors & Siding, by Robin Whitehurst and Greg Williams. There are six more events still to come on the July calendar. Check them all out here.
And then a heads up on what looks to be two great August events:
Jens Jensen Birthday Celebration Tour of Chicago Parks. On August 28th (and then again on September 25th,) the Chicago Park District and Parkways Foundation are sponsoring a day-long bus tour, 10 a.m., to 3 p.m., led by Park District historian Julia S. Bachrach, of parks designed by landscape architect Jens Jensen, including "the Humboldt Park prairie river, Douglas Park's formal gardens and his masterpiece, Columbus Park."
click images for larger view
The tours are among a number of special events marking the 150th anniversary of Jensen's birth. You can find them on the website of the Jens Jensen Legacy Project, which also includes a brief biography of the architect, a selection of his drawings, a number of essays by Bachrach, including a fine history of Columbus Park, mutilated for the construction of the Congress expressway. (And, strangely, a "Park Photos" page that appears to be completely uncontaminated by photographs, but why be churlish?) The cost of the tours is $30.00. To reserve your space, email Teishetta Daniels or call her at 312/742.4947.
Spertus Architecture - Inside and Out is the name of a tour of the Spertus Institute's spectacular new, award-winning building by Krueck & Sexton, taking place August 8th at noon, and then again September 19th at 1 p.m., and November 17 at 5:30 p.m. "This behind-the-scenes tour lets you learn about the building’s environmental sustainability, how its contemporary design found a home in South Michigan Avenue’s historic district . . . Also, discover how ideas central to Judaism’s religious and intellectual traditions are woven into the building’s design."
Since the Spertus has dramatically cut back its hours, this is a rare opportunity to see this exceptional structure. The cost is $18.00 for adults, $10.00 for students and seniors, and $8.00 for Spertus members. You can buy tickets on-line, or call 312/322.1773.
On Monday the 7th at the Wicker Park Field House, William Tishler discusses his new book, Jens Jensen: Writing Inspired by Nature. On Saturday the 12th, Design Evanston is offering a tour of Graceland Cemetery by Craig Soncraft of Wolff Landscape - the firm that has been Graceland's landscape architects for over 20 years - including a discussion of the original design by Ossian Cole Simonds. As part of this year's Open House Chicago, the Guild Literary Complex is featuring Applied Words: Re-Built with Sandra Seaton, Saturday the 19th at the original Sears Tower on Homan. On Tuesday the 22nd, BIG's Kai-Uwe Bergmann will delivering the keynote for the Association of Licensed Architects 15th Annual Architecture Conference and Product Show, at the Drury Lane Conference Center in Oak Brook.
