Farnsworth Alfresco with Schulze, Windhorst and Jacobs; Williams and Tsien on (and at) their new Logan Center for the Arts, John Van Bergen month - more for October

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Chicago has so many great architectural tours, we don't even try to list them in our October Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events, but there's an exceptional tour this Saturday for which, at this writing, there's still tickets available.  Farnsworth House and Docomomo Chicago Midwest is offering up Farnsworth House Alfresco this Saturday, October 6th.

And, yes, there is a picnic lunch included, but the real draw is the participation of the Franz Schulze and Edward Windhorst, co-authors of the highly anticipated New and Revised Edition of Mies van der Rohe, A Critical Biography, due out next month; plus Tom Jacobs of Krueck+Sexton, the project architect for recent restoration work on the historic home.  The $100 ticket price also includes bus transportation to and from CAF downtown, with a drive yourself ticketing also available. The actual event runs from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m, with bus pickup at CAF at 10:30 a.m., returning at 4:30 p.m.

Read our own piece recounting the history of Mies's masterwork, and the battle to save it, Glass House Struck by Gavel.

As a run-up to this years Open House Chicago, we've also added a Friday, October 12th lecture, Beware the Stairs Are Always Moving: a conversation with architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, 6:00 p.m. in the Performance Hall of the new Williams/Tsien designed Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts on the University of Chicago campus.  It's part of Logan Launch Fest, a three day festival celebrating the building's official opening, over 40 free events, from music, to film, to poetry, theater and more, showcasing the dizzying array of performance spaces incorporated in the building.

We should also mentioned a new exhibition at the Highland Park, which has declared October John van Bergen Month.  Events include an exhibition of photographs and artifacts of the work of the famed Prairie School architect at the Highland Park Historical Society, with a panel discussion on Prairie Architecture at the Highland Park Public Library on October 14th, and a house walk October 21st.

Among the over a dozen items this week, new IIT Dean of Architecture Wiel Arets lectures at Crown Hall Wednesday at 6:00 p.m., Related Companies discuss the resuscitation of the stalled Waterview Tower as 111 West Wacker, Thursday lunchtime for Friends of Downtown at the Cultural Center, the same day Commission of Chicago Landmarks fails to discuss the subject of Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Hospital still again, Seaside Award-winning architect Scott Merrill lectures at the Driehaus Museum, and Chris Ware talks about and signs copies of his new book, Building Stories, at Unity Temple.  And if you can't make it to Farnsworth on Saturday, you can head over to the Art Institute, where Clare Lyster will be leading an "Archi-Salon" on the topic architecture’s external influences, such as transportation networks, within the exhibition space of the spectacular new show, Building:  Inside Studio Gang Architects.

Check out all seventy-plus great items on the October Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Last Weeks for Must-See Exhibition, Louis Sullivan's Idea

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Okay, you've had almost a year - it opened last June - so if you miss the best architectural exhibition I've seen in ages, you've got no one to blame but yourself.  One final warning:  The extraordinary Louis Sullivan's Idea, at the Chicago Cultural Center, closes Tuesday, May 2nd.

An inspired collaboration between City of Chicago Cultural Historian Tim Samuelson and graphic artist Chris Ware, it offers an eloquent selection of artifacts and photographs,  a strong and convincing viewpoint, and a compelling story.  Ware makes full use of the double-height galleries with large photographs that give you a clear idea of Sullivan's work both in scale and detail. 

And the story Tim Samuelson recounts is a true epic, from the dismissal of the early work of Sullivan and his Jewish partner Dankmar Adler by Chicago's first architect, John Van Osdel as "architecture run crazy.  It's an experiment in Jewishness like we have never seen before," to the crucial influence on Sullivan of the free-thinking, now almost forgotten John Edelmann, foreman of William LeBaron Jenney's office when Sullivan came to work there, who "regarded human beings as inseparable, integral parts of the natural order," and whose image was captured by Sullivan in the sketch you see above.   It carries Sullivan through to his greatest triumphs, and to his troubled final years, when his indomitable spirit carried him through abject poverty and rapidly declining health to produce his last two gifts to architecture, the books The Autobiography of an Idea, and A System of Architectural Ornament.

This fall there will be the highly anticipated exhibition of the work of Bertrand Goldberg at the Art Institute, and it has its worked cut for it in meeting the raised bar that Louis Sullivan's Idea presents.  You can see more images of the exhibition and my original report, including a video of Tim Samuelson talking about the show here, but really, Louis Sullivan's Idea is like a great building; it's not meant to be read about, but to be seen and experienced.

Between now and May 2nd, the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph, is open every day of the week, Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m, Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 6; and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Enter on Randolph, walk up the staircase winding around the outdoor garden, go through the doors on the 2nd floor landing and turn to your right, and enter into the life and thought of one of history's greatest architects.

New - Free Louis Sullivan Tours with Sam Guard
And yes, you actually get awarded for your procrastination, starting Monday, April 25th, construction engineer, historian and story-teller par excellance Sam Guard will be offering special three-hour tours (no cracks about the SS Minnow, please) that begin at the Cultural Center and then spill into the streets of Chicago to encounter the real thing, Adler & Sullivan's Carson Pirie Scott store, the Gage building and ending up at the Auditorium.

Guard is scheduling the tours, all beginning at 1:00 p.m.,  for Monday 4/25, Wednesday 4/27,  Friday, 4/29, Saturday 4/30, and Sunday, 5/1. "These are free of charge, only your full attention is required."  Space, however, is limited, so rsvp to Mr. Guard via email (samguard@sbcglobal.net) to reserve your place.