Chicago Architecture History Hidden In Plain Sight

There are lots of reasons people avoid hospitals.  Superstition. Fear of illness. Feeling guilty about one's own state of health.  But it should be stated that Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Lakeshore campus is among the most inviting medical facilities I've ever been to.

Even if you're feeling fine, there are still two good reasons to stop by Northwestern's Feinberg Pavilion at 251 East Huron Street.  First, it's because that is the location of the only 24-hour Starbucks in Chicago where you are actually likely to be able to get a seat.  And second, because it contains a hidden museum.

On the third floor of the Feinberg Pavilion is the Florence and Ike Sewell Museum. Or at least that's what a plaque in the lobby claims.  I haven't been up there yet, though it is supposed to be open to the general public.

If, like me, you don't make it past the Starbucks stand, you can still soak in some of Chicago's architectural history while enjoying your iced venti tuxedo.  The panels on the walls of the Starbucks seating area aren't just decorations -- they're artifacts.

The limestone panels are part of the museum's collection, and are all that remains of Passavant Memorial Hospital, named for the Lutheran saint William Passavant who founded a number of hospitals and orphanages across middle-America in the 1800's.

Passavant's Chicago hospital was the one of the predecessors of the medical monster that is now Northwestern.  Passavant Memorial merged with Chicago Wesley Memorial to form Northwestern in 1972.

The 325-bed neo-gothic building was designed by legendary Chicago architecture firm Holabird & Root in 1929 to compliment the design of Northwestern University next door.  It was built at 303 East Superior Street, which is now the location of Northwestern Universtiy's Robert Lurie Medical Research Center.

While the hospital is long gone, the panels remain.  They depict the leaves of the acanthus plant, which is often used in stylized forms for architectural details.  In this case, the panels are installed on the walls of the new hospital where they exist in plain sight, but most people don't realize they're there, or their significance.

Status Update: New DuSable Museum

Work continues on the expansion of the DuSable Museum in Hyde Park.  The Roundhouse Project, as it is called, is being built in an 1800's horse stable designed by Daniel Burnham.

Art Institute Expansion Opens Tomorrow. Not Quite Done

The Art Institute of Chicago opens its biggest expansion in years tomorrow.  The new 264,000 square foot modern wing comes complete with a slew of eco-friendly features, a big name starchitect, and a $294,000,000.00 price tag.

It's the first major public project for the Italian architect in Chicago, though as the New York Times notes, the rest of "America has been suffering from Renzo Piano fatigue."  He's been doing art museums in Texas and California since the 80's.

I went down to the museum on Thursday, figuring that if it was going to open on Saturday, it would be finished.  I was wrong.  There was still much frantic dozing of bull, scaping of land, and even some cement work being done.  I did get to watch as a guy folded on his knees on the ground scratched "Renzo Piano" into the cornerstone near the new entrance.  I always thought that sort of work would be done in an artisan's studio, not in the hot sun and dust of East Monroe Street with what looked like little more than a screwdriver, but I'm sure was a much more sophisticated tool than I can comprehend.  I didn't get that good a look at it because some guy in a hard hat and an accent I couldn't quite identify driving a scissor jack yelled at me to get out of his way.  Renzo?  Not likely.  But maybe one of his flunkies.  What an honor to be admonished by the man next to the man next to the guy who gets coffee for the architect who designed a museum in Chicago 20 years after doing the legendary Menil Collection in Houston.  We'd might as well be Winnipeg.

I'm not trying to be critical.  Certainly not.  The building is beautiful, and I hope it stays that way.  There's lots of intricate gleaming white surfaces that will need to be cleaned.  Thanks to Iowa, Chicago's a lot dustier than some cities.  I hope that the building can be kept looking like new.  I think it's a nice building.

It's also important to note that according to its new signs and logos, the joint is now the "Art Institvte" as if we've stepped back in time to ancient Greece and no longer have use of the letter "u."  Funny how the "Modern" wing gets the old alphabet.

It's not exactly daring or groundbreaking or anything like that, but it's new.  I like new.  It turns out, it's not supposed to be cutting-edge.  Again, to quote the Times:

...The subdued nature of his designs — sophisticated but not too threatening or unfamiliar — which seem tailored to ease the insecurities of museum boards. Some envy his elegance, which makes him seem equally at home in corporate boardrooms and lofty cultural circles.

It’s hard to know how these qualities will play out amid the gloom and doom of the new economy. In some ways Mr. Piano’s refined, risk-averse architecture may be more appealing than ever. He is not out to start a revolution. His designs are about tranquillity, not conflict.

Tranquility is good.  Especially when you're trying to immerse yourself in a great piece of art and some little brat who's way too old to still be pushed around in a stroller is screaming at the top of her lungs for no apparent reason other than people are looking at something other than her.  I believe that art museums (along with airlines and restaurants) would find that there are millions of people willing to pay a premium for child-free access to their facilities, even if only for a few hours a week.

Of course, there are already people who pay for premium access to the Art Institute.  They're called "members."  I was one when I first moved to Chicago, but didn't renew my membership because the museum sold my information to every charity from here to Peoria.  I value my privacy a little more than the Institute does.

Regardless, there were plenty of members on hand on Thursday, as it was a member preview day.  They got to go inside and marvel at the space, and the art, and the new garden of serenity, and crawl all over the new Nichols Bridgeway (we'll have an article on that on Monday).  They also got to watch some girl carrying a green flag run up and down the new bridge over Monroe while being timed by a man with a stopwatch.

In all, I think the new wing will be a success.  I'll be among the throngs of people shoving their way in on Saturday -- the first official day the unwashed masses get a crack at it.  If nothing else, the extra space will at least thin out the herds of tourists who flood the Art Institute every day, keeping the locals out of the facility that is partially funded with their tax dollars ("Locals Day," anyone?).  I will go.  I will acknowledge the splendor of it all.  I will mark it off my list of things to do in Chicago.

Status Update: ARTIC Modern Wing

As good downtown neighbors and proper Loop boosters, I know we're supposed to be all excited about the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, but I just can't seem to get there.

To me it looks more like an aircraft maintenance hangar than a museum.  For all that I've read about dramatic angles, prophetic use of space, and the intricacies of manipulating natural light it still just looks like another midwestern glass box to me.

I've heard from some people who've been inside.  Real people, not toffee-nosed architects or pointy-headed academics.  They assure me that it is truly a breathtaking experience.  I'll have to take their word for it until I, and the rest of the public, can get in there later this month.

Sure, it's got a Renzo Piano stamp on it, but I can't help but feel like the "starchitects" we looked to in the 80's and 90's for inspiration have gone off their feed.  Gehry's become a one-trick pony.  Hadid churns out fantasy after fantasy but hardly any get built.  And did I.M. Pei go into Witness Protection or something?

Freedom Museum Leaving Michigan Avenue

Over the weekend the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum announced that it is closing the doors on its Michigan Avenue home.  The not-quite-three-year-old museum spent $10 million to convert the Hammacher Schlemmer store adjacent to the Tribune Tower into a showplace for the notion of freedom of the press.

Regardless of what you think of the museum's content, it was an unusual choice.  It's quite possible that the former McCormick Tribune Foundation may have been able to arrange favorable rent from the Tribune Company at the time of its opening.  But times have changed.  Tribune is now bankrupt, and the foundation has dropped the Trib's name from its title.  It seems like as good a time as any to move on.

With Sam Zell running things at Tribune these days, we can only hope that the soon-to-be-vacant storefront will attract a high-profile tenant.  The space is not without its problems, though.  It has an unusual number of columns to support the weight of the building above it.  These columns are essential to the building and cannot be moved.  This is one of the reasons that WGN television was never able to open a streetfront studio in what would seem to be the perfect location.  There simply isn't enough column-free space for a modern television studio.

As a side note, the Trib Tower annex that the Freedom Museum is leaving is actually called the WGN-TV Building, as noted on its cornerstone.  WGN television moved out of the building in the 1960's to its new home in the little known North Central neighborhood , better known as "the neighborhood next to Roscoe Village."