When Anne Ford interviewed Adam Selzer for the Reader in 2014, it was all about his job as a ghost tour leader. You didn’t have to read between the lines to sense that it wasn’t the perfect gig for a truth-seeking research glutton. “No matter how skeptical I tried to be, I felt like I […]
Tag: Helmut Jahn
Posted inOn Culture
Thompson Center survival is glad tidings
Everybody knows, especially at this season of the year, it’s a bad idea to look a gift horse in the mouth. But what if he opens it? What if he flashes you a great big horsey smile? And you just can’t look away fast enough? I’m asking because we got a wonderful gift last week, […]
Posted inOn Culture
The verdict on Chicago’s endangered Thompson Center is imminent
Trudging east on Randolph toward the Siskel Center on a gloomy, COVID-depopulated early evening last week, I heard something that stopped me in my tracks: “Mom, mom, what’s that building?” I turned to see the source. A boy of ten or so was pulling at his mother’s arm as they walked south on Clark. With […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
With the Thompson Center on the block, CAC celebrates its late creator
“Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture” at CAC offers big pictures and tiny buildings.
Posted inNews & Politics
Helmut Jahn is gone, and the Thompson Center is for sale
Can we save his most important Chicago building?
Posted inArts & Culture
Endangered: Chicago’s ‘best’ postmodern building
Endangered: Chicago’s ‘best’ postmodern building
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Amazon won’t save the Thompson Center, but Nathan Eddy might
The Berlin-based documentary filmmaker hopes to rescue a building in danger of destruction.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
How would plans to replace the Thompson Center impact service at Clark/Lake?
Advocates want guarantees that transit access will be preserved.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Ten surprising stories from the year in Chicago culture
From Theater on the Lake to spaceship on the park, 2016 was a weird time in the city.
Posted inArts & Culture
What we learned at the Chicago Humanities Festival
There was a ton of valuable information, but it was received in advance of a bleak future.
Posted inBest of Chicago
The Thompson Center is Chicago’s endangered, postmodern Pantheon
If Governor Rauner has his way, Helmut Jahn’s remarkable creation will be a thing of the past.
Posted inBlogs
Tear down McCormick Place East for the Lucas Museum? Not so fast
Rahm Emanuel’s new idea for the Lucas Museum will run into its own objections.
Posted inBlogs
New draw for Architecture Biennial: See the Thompson Center before we tear it down
Illinois governor Bruce Rauner is putting the Helmut Jahn-designed Thompson Center up for sale and demolition.
Posted inBlogs
The fatal attraction of the James R. Thompson Center
Another suicide at the James R. Thompson Center
Posted inNews & Politics
Hyde Park & Kenwood Issue: Expelled From the Garden
The U. of C. wants to park bulldozers on a Woodlawn community garden, and it won’t take “let’s talk about this” for an answer.