Louis Sullivan at 150 - a new Chicago History Museum website lists over 50 events in a six-week celebration of the great architect's birth

Architect Louis Sullivan, had he lived, would have turned 150 on his upcoming September 3rd birthday. Working with other arts and architecture organizations in Chicago, the newly renamed Chicago History Museum has just put up Louis Sullivan at 150, a website on all things Sullivan, with a calendar listing the numerous tours, seminars, lectures and films that will take place over six plus weeks beginning on September 2nd in honor of the legendary Chicago architect.

Among the highlights are a number of tours of the Charnley-Persky House, as well as a series of Louis Sullivan: Lost and Found Loop walking tours, on Wednesdays and Saturdays over five weeks, under the auspices of the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

On September 17th from 1:00 to 4:00, a Richard Nickel Bus Tour will be led by his biographer, Richard Cahan. On September 18th, there will be tours of the Auditorium Building, as well as "The Parthenon of Modern Civilization: The Restorations of the Auditorium Theatre" a panel discussion with Ben Weese, FAIA, Jack Hartray, FAIA, Laurence Booth, FAIA and Daniel P. Coffey FAIA; moderated by Rick Kogan. There will also be concerts in Ganz Hall.

On Monday, October 9th, Lost Chicago author David Garrard Lowe will present a lecture on
Louis Sullivan & the Beaux Arts. The Newberry Library will offer up a ten week seminar by scholar-in-residence Diane Dillion on The Architecture of Louis Sullivan.

CAF tours of Holy Trinity Cathedral on September 9, 23 and 30, where, on September 24th, there will also be a fundraiser to benefit the church's restoration with historian Tim Samuelson and the Pan Orthodox Choir. On October 4th, another seminar, Chicago's Great Heritage: Preserving the Work of Louis Sullivan" will feature Mary Brush, Gunny Harboe (who recently completed the restoration of the long-missing cornice on Sullivan's Carson Pirie Scott store on State Street), and Vincent Michael. October 12th will bring the first Chicago screening, at the Graham Foundation, of a new half-hour documentary: The Small Town Banks of Louis Sullivan, followed by a discussion that will include the film's producer and director, Joe Federici. The celebration will end with a three day symposium, Louis Sullivan at 150, October 13 through the 15th at the Chicago History Museum.

The Louis Sullivan at 150 website includes over 50 events spread on 29 separate days, and also offers up an extended biography of Sullivan, his partnership with Dankmar Adler, his work, life and writings. There's a very generous complement of photographs of Sullivan's buildings and ornament. It's a site that draws you in with its depth of interesting content, and if the various events live up to the same high standard, we're in for a great celebration.