March 8, 2018: Union League Club of Chicago lecture on “The Columbian Exposition”

The Union League Club of Chicago (ULCC) is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the 1893 World’s Fair with a presentation by Greg Cook titled “The World’s Columbian Exposition and its Transformation of Chicago Architecture” on Thursday, March 8 from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Union League Club (65 Jackson Boulevard in Chicago).

A cocktail reception with a cash bar and light appetizers will start at 5:30 pm and feature a display of the Union League Club’s recently conserved prints from Hubert Howe Bancroft’s The Book of the Fair and other archival artifacts from the ULCC World’s Columbian Exposition Collection. The lecture will start at 6:00 pm. The price is $25 per person, and the ULCC has a business casual dress code.

Cook will tell the stories of how Daniel Burnham’s innovative vision determined the design aesthetic of the World’s Columbian Exposition buildings and site and ultimately the future of Chicago architecture and design.

Union League Club historian Bruce Grant claimed that the first man to suggest publicly that Chicago be the site of a Columbian Exposition was Edwin Lee Brown, one of the first members of the ULCC.

RSVP for the March 8 event through EventBright at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ulc-the-columbian-exposition-its-transformation-of-chicago-architecture-tickets-42946573357

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UPDATE

We greatly enjoyed attending this event. The Union League Club of Chicago displayed several tables of Columbian Exposition books, prints, stereoview cards, and other ephemera from their archives. The Club is working to restore their collection of prints from The Book of the Fair, and displayed several of them on easels. They also were selling a set of postcard prints to raise funds for the restoration effort.

The ULCC kitchen knew their Columbian Exposition history well, as the pre-lecture appetizers included food that debuted at the fair: Vienna Beef hotdogs, tamales, brownies (which looked and tasted like the original Palmer House recipe!), and cupcakes topped by popcorn (perhaps either Cretors or Cracker Jack?).

Greg Cook, principal architect with Holabird & Root, provided an informative lecture on the history of the Columbian Exposition from initial organizational meeting at the Union League Club in the summer of 1889, through the construction and eventual destruction of the fairgrounds. I appreciated his perspective on the the use of architecture as a stabilizing force. The many questions that followed indicated that he had piqued the interest of the audience.

We understand the the ULCC may be hosting another event soon to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Check out our Upcoming Events or calendar pages for updated information.