Transportation Building Archives - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

The Architectural Influence of the 1893 World’s Fair on “Wicked”
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The Architectural Influence of the 1893 World’s Fair on “Wicked”

NEWS

The Architectural Influence of the 1893 World’s Fair on “Wicked”

Every way That you look in this city There’s something exquisite You’ll want to visit Before the day’s through! —“One Short Day” by Stephen Schwartz The 2024 blockbuster film Wicked takes audiences into the thrilling dreamworld of Oz. While visiting the Emerald City, attentive viewers may catch glimpses of the 1893 World’s Fair. Ever since L. Frank Baum “discovered” the Land of Oz and published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900—seven years after visiting the World’s Columbian Exposition [...]

By Scott|2024-11-24T12:29:48-06:00November 22nd, 2024|Categories: NEWS|Tags: L. Frank Baum, Louis Sullivan, Transportation Building|2 Comments

Greetings from a Transportation Angel
Gallery
Greetings from a Transportation Angel

PRODUCTS

Greetings from a Transportation Angel

We were delighted to hear from several readers about the lovely images featured in our recent post “Angels in the Spandrels: The Winged Decorations of Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building” We’ve made the image available on greeting cards (single, pack of 10, and pack of 20) and a few other items through our Café Press shop at https://www.cafepress.com/worldsfairchicago1893. We greatly enjoy sharing what we learn about the 1893 World’s Fair with other researchers and enthusiasts. This non-profit, educational website is [...]

By Scott|2024-05-29T14:27:40-05:00April 17th, 2024|Categories: PRODUCTS|Tags: Louis Sullivan, Transportation Building|0 Comments

Angels in the Spandrels: The Winged Decorations of Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building
Gallery
Angels in the Spandrels: The Winged Decorations of Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building

HISTORY, RESEARCH

Angels in the Spandrels: The Winged Decorations of Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building

Critics glorified and reviled Louis Sullivan’s renegade design for the Transportation Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. The polychromatic color scheme and the grand Golden Door received the most commentary at the time of the Columbian Exposition, and both elements continue to fascinate students of architecture today. Louis Sullivan’s striking design for the Transportation Building featured a polychromatic façade and majestic “Golden Door” entrance on the east side. [Image from Picturesque World’s Fair. W.B. Conkey, 1894; digitally edited [...]

By Scott|2024-09-06T10:41:43-05:00April 14th, 2024|Categories: HISTORY, RESEARCH|Tags: Golden Door, Louis Sullivan, Transportation Building|1 Comment

25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair
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25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair

REPRINTS

25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair

Toward the close of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, The Critic invited twenty-five notable scholars, writers, and leaders of the day to offer their brief impressions of the World’s Fair. At such a monumental event with so many novelties … what impressed them the most? It is interesting how frequently these contributors sing the same notes as they rhapsodize about the fairgrounds at night and the illumination of the Court of Honor, praise (except for Henry Fuller!) [...]

161. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Golden Door, from the Wooded Island
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161. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Golden Door, from the Wooded Island

REPRINTS

161. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Golden Door, from the Wooded Island

THE GOLDEN DOOR, FROM THE WOODED ISLAND.— Among the great number of photographs, taken from different points of view, of the famous "Golden Door" it is doubtful if any surpassed in charming effect that from which the accompanying illustration is taken. The point afforded on the Wooded Island seems to have been at just the right distance from the Transportation Building and in just the right direction to allow of an absolute presentation of detail, while, at the same [...]

By Randy|2024-03-09T11:12:45-06:00February 18th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Adler & Sullivan, Louis Sullivan, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Transportation Building, Wooded Island|0 Comments

The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 2: In Search of the Picturesque
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The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 2: In Search of the Picturesque

REPRINTS

The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 2: In Search of the Picturesque

Continued from Part 1 [Note: This text includes names and descriptions now considered culturally disparaging. Please see our statement on “Potentially Offensive Text and Images.”] THE FAIR AS A SPECTACLE. How it seemed to a visitor—Strolling and dreaming by day and by night. By Charles Mulford Robinson Part 2: In Search of the Picturesque But in that brief view a lesson was also taught you which you took to heart at once. It was that the charm of the [...]

By Scott|2023-07-02T13:10:12-05:00July 1st, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Charles Mulford Robinson, Christopher Columbus (statue by Lawrence), Columbian Guard, Court of Honor, Golden Door, gondolas, Ho-o-den, Japanese Tea House, MacMonnies Fountain, Palace of Fine Arts, rolling chairs, Transportation Building, Woman's Building, Wooded Island|1 Comment

Dec. 2, 2022 – Feb. 1, 2023: A Columbian Exposition quilt on display (Woodland, CA)
Gallery
Dec. 2, 2022 – Feb. 1, 2023: A Columbian Exposition quilt on display (Woodland, CA)

EXHIBITS (current), NEWS, Uncategorized

Dec. 2, 2022 – Feb. 1, 2023: A Columbian Exposition quilt on display (Woodland, CA)

“Expressions in Cloth,” a new exhibition at YoloArts’ Gallery 625 in Woodland, California, includes a beautiful quilt by artist Sherry Werum that features images inspired by the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. World's Fair enthusiasts might see Louis Sullivan's iconic Golden Door entrance to the Transporation Building or William Le Baron Jenney's stunning glass dome of the Horticultural Building among Werum's intricate design. “Expressions in Cloth” runs from December 2, 2022, to February 1, 2023, at Gallery 625 [...]

By Scott|2022-12-04T09:04:02-06:00December 4th, 2022|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS, Uncategorized|Tags: Horticultural Building, Transportation Building|0 Comments

Nov. 3, 2022–Oct. 28, 2023: “The City Beyond the White City” (Charnley-Persky House Museum, Chicago)
Gallery
Nov. 3, 2022–Oct. 28, 2023: “The City Beyond the White City” (Charnley-Persky House Museum, Chicago)

EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)

Nov. 3, 2022–Oct. 28, 2023: “The City Beyond the White City” (Charnley-Persky House Museum, Chicago)

A new exhibition explores the history of race and the built environment in Chicago through archaeology connecting the “White City” of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to the material, spatial, and social histories of two 1892 structures—the Charnley-Persky House and the Mecca Flats—located respectively on Chicago’s privileged Near North and disinvested Near South Sides. The City Beyond the White City: Race, Two Chicago Homes, and their Neighborhoods, sponsored by the Charnley-Persky House Museum Foundation and Society of Architectural Historians [...]

By Scott|2023-11-05T17:55:16-06:00November 19th, 2022|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)|Tags: Nancy Green, Sophia Hayden, Transportation Building|0 Comments

141. Picturesque World’s Fair – Proctor’s Noted Statue of “The Indian”
Gallery
141. Picturesque World’s Fair – Proctor’s Noted Statue of “The Indian”

REPRINTS

141. Picturesque World’s Fair – Proctor’s Noted Statue of “The Indian”

PROCTOR'S NOTED STATUE OF "THE INDIAN." — The most notable adornments of the West Lagoon were Proctor's "Indian" and "Cowboy," which pieces of statuary stood overlooking the lagoon from points near the Transportation Building. It was certainly fortunate that the work of producing the statuary around the main basin and lagoons was left to artists as thoroughly American in choice of theme and manner of treatment as Edward Kemeys and A. Phimister Proctor. By neither of them was anything [...]

By Randy|2022-07-10T09:12:33-05:00July 10th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Alexander Phimister Proctor, Edward Kemeys, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Transportation Building|0 Comments

Sept. 24, 2021: “Romanticism to Ruin: Two Lost Works of Sullivan and Wright” (Chicago)
Gallery
Sept. 24, 2021: “Romanticism to Ruin: Two Lost Works of Sullivan and Wright” (Chicago)

EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)

Sept. 24, 2021: “Romanticism to Ruin: Two Lost Works of Sullivan and Wright” (Chicago)

An exhibit at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago explores two lost architectural masterworks: the Garrick Theatre Building in Chicago designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Building in Buffalo. Curated by John Vinci, Tim Samuelson, Eric Nordstrom, Chris Ware and Jonathan D. Katz, “Romanticism to Ruin: Two Lost Works of Sullivan and Wright” uses fragments, drawings, photography, and narrative to elucidate the life and death of these two iconic buildings. The first section of the [...]

By Scott|2022-03-27T14:30:36-05:00January 11th, 2022|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)|Tags: Dankmar Adler, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Transportation Building|0 Comments