Blair Kamin – Page 34

Plan to revive Pilgrim Baptist Church shows promise but faces hurdles

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

Ever since that awful day 11 years ago, when fire gutted Chicago’s Pilgrim Baptist Church, the birthplace of gospel music and a rare surviving religious building by renowned architects Dankmar...

Exterior view of the Trumpf Smart Factory in Hoffman Estates on Nov. 29, 2017.

Along I-90, stylish ‘smart factory’ combines space, structure, salesmanship

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

Along Interstate 90, out there in the land beyond O’Hare and the Schaumburg Ikea store, you’ll find a robust but refined work of modernism that is part showroom, part factory...

William J. Martin, the Cook County prosecutor who convinced a jury to send Richard Speck to the electric chair for the 1966 killings of eight student nurses in Chicago, died on July 7 at Elmhurst Hospital after a long battle with cancer. He was 80. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-william-martin-obit-20170709-story.html" target="_blank">Read more</a>.

Historian had major impact on architecture and cities, including Chicago

December 17, 2018 at 4:31 p.m.

The legendary Yale architectural historian Vincent Scully, who had a profound impact on the world of architecture and the world at large, including Chicago, died Thursday at 97. Scully, a...

<p>The entry way to the former Stony Island State Savings Bank at 6760 S. Stony Island Ave. on November 6, 2015, is now home to the Stony Island Arts Bank.</p>

A glimmer of hope for embattled engine that powers preservation of historic buildings

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

The word “conservative” comes from the same linguistic root as “conserve,” which means to protect an environmentally or culturally important thing from harm or destruction, according to my online dictionary....

The Willis Tower in Chicago on Thursday, May 18, 2017. Note that I am shooting through a window at an earlier assignment. (Jose M. Osorio/baiduhai)

New architecture books with Chicago ties are food for the eye and mind

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

‘Tis the season for eating Thanksgiving leftovers and buying architecture books that delight the eye and engage the mind. Here are three new titles, each with strong Chicago connections: “How...

Ed Uhlir, architect who was key to Chicago’s Millennium Park, dies at 73

May 23, 2019 at 12:12 a.m.

Ed Uhlir, the low-key architect who played an essential, behind-the-scenes role in bringing to life the high-wattage visual spectacle of Millennium Park, Chicago's most acclaimed public space in decades, died...

Architect Helmut Jahn looks over drawings of his State of Illinois Center in 1980.

Fighting to save the Thompson Center with a movie camera

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

If you’re one of the many people who can’t stand the James R. Thompson Center and supports Gov. Bruce Rauner’s shortsighted plan to sell it to a developer who will...

The platform of the newly rehabbed Wilson Avenue "L" station is seen Nov. 9, 2017.

New Wilson station shows CTA’s Red-Purple Line modernization is on track

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

Airy, spacious and wisely preserving a piece of the past even as it anticipates the future, the CTA’s new Wilson Avenue elevated station reveals that the agency’s big upcoming modernization...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Martin Nesbitt, left, chairman of the Obama Foundation, announce on May 12, 2015, that Chicago will be the home of Obama's presidential library and museum.

After months of secrecy, a glimpse of Obama Center’s evolving design

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

Since last May, when former President Barack Obama unveiled conceptual plans for his Chicago presidential center, it has been extremely difficult to follow the progress of the design. The Obama...

White Ballroom of the former Chicago Athletic Association that reopened as a boutique hotel.

Tax code overhaul would bulldoze incentive for restoring historic gems

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

The overhaul of the U.S. tax code unveiled Thursday by House Republican leaders would hit hard at one of Chicago's great cultural assets: its trove of architectural gems. The proposed...

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