Chicago Public Library, Central Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Chicago Landmark
Chicago Cultural Center
Location:	78 E. Washington St. Chicago, IL 60601
Coordinates:	41°53′2″N 87°37′30.02″W / 41.88389°N 87.6250056°W / 41.88389; -87.6250056
Built/Founded:	1893
Architect:	Coolidge,C.A.; Spencer,Robert C.
Architectural style(s):	Other
Governing body:	Local
Added to NRHP:	July 31, 1972
Designated CL:	November 15, 1976[1]
NRHP Reference#:	72000449 [2]

Healy and Millet stained glass dome in the Grand Army of the Republic rotunda at the Chicago Cultural Center

Grand Staircase and Preston Bradley Hall, with view of the Tiffany dome

The Chicago Cultural Center is a Chicago Landmark building that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor has welcomed Presidents and royalty, diplomats and community leaders. The building is a testament to the foresight of Chicago's turn of the (20th) century cultural leadership. Originally the central library building, it was converted to an arts and culture center at the instigation of Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Lois Weisberg.

As the nation's first free municipal cultural center, the Chicago Cultural Center is one of the city's most popular attractions and is considered one of the most comprehensive arts showcases in the United States. Each year, the Chicago Cultural Center features more than 1,000 programs and exhibitions covering a wide range of the performing, visual and literary arts.

According to Crain's Chicago Business, the Chicago Cultural Center was the fifth most-visited cultural institution in the Chicago area in 2007, with 821,000 visitors.^[3]

[edit] Architecture

The building was designed by Boston architectural firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge for the city's central library and Grand Army of the Republic Museum, and completed in 1897 at a cost of nearly $2 million. It is organized as a 4-story north wing (77 East Randolph entrance) and a 5-story south wing (78 East Washington entrance), 104 feet tall, with 3-foot thick masonry walls faced with Bedford bluestone on a granite base, and designed in a generally neoclassical style with Romanesque revival elements. It is capped with two stained-glass domes, set symmetrically atop the two wings. Key points of architectural interest are as follows:

• Randolph Street entrance and stairway - Greek revival entrance with doric columns, mahogany doors, and entry hall with coffered ceiling and walls of green-veined Vermont marble. The curving stairway is faced with Knoxville pink marble, and features mosaics and ornate bronze balusters.

• Washington Street entrance, lobby, and grand staircase - Arched Romanesque portal, bronze-framed doors, and a 3-story, vaulted lobby with walls of white Carrara marble and mosaics. The staircase is also of white Carrara marble, set with medallions of green marble from Connemara, Ireland, and intricate mosaics of Favrile glass, stone, and mother of pearl. The stairway to the 5th floor was inspired by Venice's Bridge of Sighs.

• Grand Army of the Republic Memorial - A large hall and rotunda in the north wing. The hall is faced with deep green Vermont marble, broken by a series of arches for windows and mahogany doors. The rotunda features 30-foot walls of Knoxville pink marble, mosaic floor, and a fine, yellow-toned stained-glass dome in Renaissance pattern by the firm of Healy and Millet.

• Sidney R. Yates Gallery - replica of an assembly hall in the Doge's Palace, Venice, with heavily ornamented pilasters and coffered ceiling.

• Preston Bradley Hall - A large, ornately patterned room of curving white Carrara marble, capped with an austere 38-foot Tiffany glass dome designed by artist J. A. Holtzer. The Cultural Center states this to be the largest Tiffany dome in the world.

[edit] Past exhibitions

Crossroads: Modernism in Ukraine, 1910-1930 was a display of art by Ukrainian artists, such as Sukher Ber Rybak, Vsevolod Maskymovych, and Oleksandr Bohomazov to name a few. Crossroads was organized by the Foundation for International Arts and Education with the National Art Museum of Ukraine. It is presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Kyiv Committee of the Chicago Sister Cities International Program. The exhibition ran from July 22nd, 2006 - October 15, 2006.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chicago Cultural Center

• Chicago Cultural Center home page
• Chicago Public Library/Cultural Center page of the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division
• 360 degree View of G.A.R. Rotunda © 2007-2009 by Robert Harshman All rights Reserved.
• 360 degree View of Preston Bradley Hall, pre-renovation, © 2007-2009 by Robert Harshman All rights Reserved.

[edit] Sources

• "Chicago's largest tourist attractions, ranked by 2004 attendance," Crain's Chicago Business, May 2, 2005
• "A Self-Guided Tour of the Chicago Cultural Center", brochure, Chicago Department of Public Affairs, February 2005

[edit] See also

• Chicago architecture

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