The Chicago Public Library, in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center, will host an online presentation on “Building Chicago’s Public Spaces” by Chicago parks historian Julia Bachrach. The talk on Wednesday, December 2, from 6-7 pm, is free but registration is required: https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/5f9c4a02e085ab5c2caf057d

Bachrach will highlight two major architectural themes in park history: the Museum of Science and Industry—built as the Palace of Fine Arts for the World’s Columbian Exposition—and the fieldhouse, an influential building type invented in Chicago. She will discuss the original drawings by architects Daniel H. Burnham and Charles B. Atwood, which have rarely been seen by the public before.

These original drawings and more are currently on display in anew exhibit From Swamps to Parks: Building Chicago’s Public Spaces at the Harold Washington Library Center 9th floor Exhibit Hall.

A bird-eye view of Jackson Park. [Image from The World’s Columbian Exposition Illustrated, February 1891.]