Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building … in Green

Finding references to the 1893 World’s Fair–especially in unexpected places–can be a delight. All the more so when images of the White City show up in the context of another personal passion. A few weeks ago, the yellow brick road led to the White City.

The Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois, offered a marvelous production of The Wizard of Oz in their 2018-19 Broadway series. Amid the technicolor spectacle was a hint of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Projection designer Kevan Loney build his Emerald City backdrop image out of parts of Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building. Audience members able to take their eyes off the captivating performers and gorgeous costumes and sets could have spotted the unmistakable Golden Door and the central cupola of the Transportation Building … though in a brilliant green rather than Sullivan’s maverick polychrome hues.