William Le Baron Jenney

The Chicago Orchestra’s 1892 Premiere of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite”
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The Chicago Orchestra’s 1892 Premiere of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite”

HISTORY

The Chicago Orchestra’s 1892 Premiere of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite”

One of America’s most beloved holiday artistic traditions originated in imperial Russia and came to the United States through Chicago at the time of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. On October 22, 1892, an audience of Chicagoans—joined by distinguished guests in town for the World’s Fair Dedication Day exercises—gathered in the Auditorium to hear a concert by the Chicago Orchestra conducted by Theodore Thomas. During the third piece on the program, songs of waltzing flowers, terpsichorean reeds, and a [...]

By Scott|2025-12-02T09:28:00-06:00December 2nd, 2025|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Auditorium, Bertha Palmer, Clarence Eddy, Daniel Burnham, Dedication Day, Edward Potter, Electricity Building, Exposition Orchestra, Festival Hall, George H. Wilson, Harry G. Selfridge, Joffrey Ballet, John Philip Sousa, Louis Sullivan, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Marshall Field, Music Hall, Russia Day, Theodore Thomas, Walt Disney, Walter Damrosch, William Le Baron Jenney, Woman's Building|0 Comments

Modeling an 1893 World’s Fair Building in Silver Filigree
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Modeling an 1893 World’s Fair Building in Silver Filigree

HISTORY

Modeling an 1893 World’s Fair Building in Silver Filigree

Visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair encountered several models of notable buildings. A miniature U.S. Treasury building constructed from half-dollar Columbian souvenir coins caught the attention of those who passed through the rotunda of the Administration Building. Lever Brothers displayed an impressive model of Windsor Castle in the British section of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, and the Pullman Palace Car Company’s exhibit in the Transportation Building featured a model of the entire company town of Pullman, Illinois. [...]

By Scott|2025-09-08T08:46:27-05:00September 25th, 2025|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Horticultural Building, William Le Baron Jenney|1 Comment

The Making of the White City (Part 2)
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The Making of the White City (Part 2)

REPRINTS

The Making of the White City (Part 2)

[Continued from Part 1] A great stage decked with ambitious scenery Perhaps the first thing that would strike a stranger entering the World’s Fair grounds in the summer of 1892 would be the silence of the place, the next the almost theatrical unreality of the impression by the sight of an assemblage of buildings so startlingly out of the common in size and form. When I speak of the silence, I mean the effect of silence. There are seven [...]

By Scott|2025-07-23T10:15:53-05:00February 13th, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, Daniel Burnham, Electricity Building, Fisheries Building, Francis Millet, Frederick Law Olmsted, Golden Door, Henry Codman, Henry Ives Cobb, Horticultural Building, Illinois State Building, illumination, Jenny, Karl Bitter, lagoon, Machinery Hall, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Mines and Mining Building, Palace of Fine Arts, Peabody & Stearns, Philip Martiny, Richard Hunt, Solon S. Beman, staff, Statue of the Republic, telephone, U.S. Government Building, Van Brunt & Howe, William Le Baron Jenney, Woman's Building|0 Comments

Progress of the Century: The Celebrated Agave Plant of the 1893 World’s Fair
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Progress of the Century: The Celebrated Agave Plant of the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

Progress of the Century: The Celebrated Agave Plant of the 1893 World’s Fair

Uncle John rose with the morning sun on April 23, 1893 and made a bee-line for the Horticultural Building on the fairgrounds of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park, Chicago. The opening of the Fair—when President Cleveland would push the button to unfurl the flags along the White City rooftops and release the water to the glorious fountains—was still nine days away. Today, however, the Chief of the Horticultural Department was expecting a throng of visitors to his [...]

By Scott|2023-03-11T16:15:10-06:00May 7th, 2021|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Horticultural Building, John Thorpe, pulque, William Le Baron Jenney|0 Comments

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Horticulture Building (p. 50)
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Horticulture Building (p. 50)

REPRINTS

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Horticulture Building (p. 50)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 50 – THE HORTICULTURE BUILDING THE HORTICULTURE BUILDING.—It is doubtful if among all the views taken upon the World's Fair grounds one has been secured which in beauty and general interest surpasses that given here. It is from the top of the Government Building looking west over the Wooded Island and commanding the whole splendid frontage of the Horticulture Building, a view which, from the nature of things, could [...]

By Randy|2021-05-05T14:20:54-05:00May 17th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Festival Hall, Horticultural Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, William Le Baron Jenney, Wooded Island|0 Comments

Happy Birthday to Architect Robert Peabody
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Happy Birthday to Architect Robert Peabody

HISTORY

Happy Birthday to Architect Robert Peabody

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Robert Swain Peabody on February 22, 1845. Peabody was a cofounder of the Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns, designer of Machinery Hall (also known as the Palace of Mechanical Arts) and the Massachusetts Pavilion for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Architects invited by Daniel Burnham to contribute building for the World's Columbian Exposition gathered in Chicago on January 10, 1891. Robert S. Peabody traveled from the east [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T08:35:09-06:00February 22nd, 2018|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Abraham Gottlieb, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Charles McKim, Daniel Burnham, Dankmar Adler, Frederick Law Olmsted, George Post, Henry Codman, Henry Ives Cobb, Henry Van Brunt, Jackson Park, John Root, Louis Sullivan, Machinery Hall, Massachusetts State Building, Peabody & Stearns, Richard Hunt, Robert S. Peabody, Rookery Building, Solon S. Beman, William Le Baron Jenney|0 Comments