South Loop/Prairie District Events

I got an e-mail today from the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance that has a couple of items in it worth passing along:

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Frank Lloyd Wright and the Fine Art Interior

Friends of Historic Second Church is pleased to announce the second lecture of the 2010 Evening Lecture Series: 

Date:   Thursday, May 6, 2010
Time:   6:00pm reception / 7:00pm lecture
Place:  Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60616
Cost:    $5
For more into email historic2ndchurch@yahoo.com or call 800-657-0687.

In 1898, Frank Lloyd Wright opened his Oak Park studio with the intent of revolutionizing American architecture. His furniture designs and interior compositions were vital to the unified environments he created for each commission. He hired artists, sculptors, and skilled craftsmen, such as Richard Bock, Orlando Giannini, and George Mann Niedecken, to assist in achieving his vision. As a result of these collaborations, living rooms were filled with Wright's straightforward furniture mingling effortlessly with reproduction Hellenistic sculptures and vibrant contemporary murals; sunlight streamed through elaborate art glass windows to light entryways; and color and pattern could be found not only on the walls but in custom-designed rugs and fabrics. Together the overall effect led to a new era of progressive residential design. 

Brian Reis, Assistant Curator at the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, will present the second lecture of Friends of Historic Second Church's 2010 Evening Lecture Series.  The 2010 Evening Lecture Series has been generously funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

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Reminder - New Docent Training to begin in April


Tours of the stunning art and architecture of Second Presbyterian Church are vital to the mission of Friends of Historic Second Church, which is to educate a worldwide audience about the building's historical and cultural significance. The backbone of the tour program is the well-informed corps of docents who graciously share their time and knowledge with thousands of tour guests.

Schedule: Four 1-1/2 hour sessions beginning at 6:30pm will be held on the following Wednesday evenings: April 28, May 5, May 12, and May 19.

Enrollment: Friends invites your participation in the docent training and requests that trainees commit to attend all four training sessions, as make-up sessions will not be offered. Those interested in learning about the art and architecture but who do not wish to become docents are also invited to enroll. There is a $10 materials fee payable on the first night of training. If you wish to sign up, please send an email to historic2ndchurch@yahoo.com and an enrollment form will be emailed back to you. 

Three Lectures Upcoming in the Prairie Avenue District

Got this e-mail today from the people down at the Glessner House (1800 South Prairie Avenue).  It's a list of their upcoming lectures.  Looks like good stuff.

Winter and Spring Lectures

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The Autobiography of Irving K. Pond

Lecture by David Swan

Wednesday February 24, 2010 at 7:00pm

Irving K. Pond was a distinguished Chicago architect, author, gifted storyteller, and national president of the American Institute of Architects. His richly anecdotal autobiography, published for the first time in 2009, gives us an irreverent account of Chicago architecture and its architects at the turn of the last century. It should be read alongside the autobiographies of Sullivan and Wright to remind us that seminal developments in architecture, like those of the Italian Renaissance, emerge from a collaborative environment, and are not the product of an individual genius working alone. The lecture is presented by Chicago architect David Swan, who along with Terry Tatum (Supervising Historian and Director of Research for the Landmarks Division, City of Chicago) edited the text of the autobiography and gathered several hundred photos and line drawings that accompany it. Copies of the book will be available for sale following the lecture.

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Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home

Lecture by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams

Wednesday March 24, 2010 at 7:00pm

Edgar Miller was a Chicago artist who used recycled material to turn old homes into works of art. He called it a "social adventure." His four apartment complexes in the Gold Coast have changed over the decades, but much of Miller's work and the spirit he brought to each home remains. They offer lessons about beauty, creativity and honesty. Now, for the first time, Miller's life and the homes that he built are documented in a 400-page book by architectural historians Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, with stunning photography by Alexander Vertikoff. The book carefully details the forces that shaped an artist who was called "the blond boy Michaelangelo" in the 1920s, "a new luminary" in the 1930s, and "one of the most versatile artists in America" in the 1940s. The illustrated lecture will shed light on "Chicago's forgotten Renaissance man" who is a legend in the Chicago architectural community. Copies of the book will be available for sale following the lecture.

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White House Interiors, 1865 - 1902

Lecture by Robert Furhoff

Tuesday May 11, 2010 at 7:00pm

Robert Furhoff, a nationally recognized expert on historic interiors will guide us through the constantly changing interior of the White House during the last half of the nineteenth century. Using his extensive personal collection of stereoview images, Furhoff will discuss how the interior continued to evolve through various administrations, and how these changes reflected and influenced popular taste at the time. The lecture begins with the post-Lincoln era, the first time the interior of the White House was extensively photographed, and concludes with the McKim, Mead and White remodeling in 1902, during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt. A fascinating journey for anyone with an interest in 19th century interior design.

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Lectures are $10 per person, $8 for members of the museum. All lectures will be held in the East Gallery, please use the front entrance on Prairie Avenue. For reservations or further information, please call 312.326.1480.

New Book About Historic Chicago Architect Irving K. Pond

I got an e-mail flyer today from the good people down at the Glessner House Museum (1800 South Prairie Avenue) in the Prairie Avenue District.  They're having a presentation February 24, 2010 at 7:00pm about a new book about Irving K. Pond, a prominent architect during the one of Chicago's architectural heydays -- the late 1800's.

Here's the info they sent over:

The Autobiography of Irving K. Pond provides an important addition to our understanding of the field of architecture in Chicago during its zenith in the late 19th century, by exploring an important but often overlooked figure. Irving K. Pond was a distinguished architect, gifted storyteller, and national president of the American Institute of Architects. His richly anecdotal autobiography, published in 2009 for the first time, gives us an irreverent account of Chicago architecture and its architects at the turn of the last century. It should be read alongside the autobiographies of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, to remind us that seminal developments in architecture, like those of the Italian Renaissance, emerge from a collaborative environment, and are not the product of an individual genius working alone. 

The program is presented by architect David Swan, who, along with Terry Tatum (Supervising Historian and Director of Research for the Landmarks Division, City of Chicago) edited the text of the autobiography and gathered the several hundred photos and line drawings that accompany it. 

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

Admission is $10 per person, $8 for members of the Museum. Please call 312.326.1480 to make reservations or for further information.

If you have an upcoming event, be sure to let me know and I'll pass it along to the thousands (yes, hard to believe -- thousands) of people who read this blog.  Just e-mail it to editor@ChicagoArchitecture.info.