Blair Kamin – Page 6 –

The Gary Comer Youth Center on Chicago's South Side.

Column: Can architects help revive Chicago’s South and West Sides? Maybe. Just don’t expect miracles.

July 24, 2020 at 12:21 p.m.

Can architects help Mayor Lori Lightfoot rewrite Chicago's depressing, Dickensian "tale of two cities" narrative? Can the designers of structures overcome decades of structural racism, from substandard housing to mass...

A woman argues with bystanders before crews removed the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park on July 24, 2020.

Column: Should Columbus be knocked off his Chicago pedestal? Don’t let a mob decide the answer.

July 22, 2020 at 9:57 a.m.

It's surely not fashionable or politically correct to say so, but I've long admired the Grant Park statue of Christopher Columbus that protesters unsuccessfully tried to topple last week. The...

The National Trust for Historic Preservation provided a grant last week to help restore the Muddy Waters House in the North Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago.

Column: Push to turn Muddy Waters’ house into museum gets boost with grant

July 20, 2020 at 3:59 p.m.

Plans to restore the house of Chicago blues icon Muddy Waters and turn it into a museum got a boost last week when the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced...

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Booth Cottage is moved to its new home in Glencoe on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

Column: Frank Lloyd Wright-designed cottage in Glencoe, once threatened with demolition, will be wheeled to new location Tuesday

July 20, 2020 at 11:20 a.m.

It's a small victory for Frank Lloyd Wright fans, but a victory nonetheless: A Wright-designed cottage, previously threatened with demolition, will be moved — wheeled, actually — to a new...

Visitors to the Riverwalk find paths filled with tables, chairs and barriers signaling a closed off Riverwalk along the Chicago River in Chicago on July 9, 2020.

Column: City expands reopening of Riverwalk, restoring path to full, daylong use

July 9, 2020 at 8:02 p.m.

Since it reopened in June, Chicago's popular downtown Riverwalk has operated under rules that limited when and where people could use the path but let restaurants and bars expand their...

President Donald Trump stands at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 3, 2020, near Keystone, South Dakota.

Column: There’s a place for Trump’s proposed ‘National Garden of American Heroes’ — on the scrap heap of history

July 8, 2020 at 7:53 a.m.

President Donald Trump's proposal for a "National Garden of American Heroes," is a ludicrous, transparently political stunt. It's also his latest ill-considered salvo against modern art and architecture. Back when...

Students from Western Avenue Elementary School in Geneva tour the Farnsworth House in 2014.

Column: A different view of the masterful Farnsworth House — hers, not his

July 2, 2020 at 10:31 a.m.

The Farnsworth House, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's modernist masterpiece in Chicago's far southwest suburbs, needs no introduction. As graceful as a Greek temple and as serene as a Shinto...

Column: A modernist masterpiece, the Farnsworth House, reopens for tours, weeks after floodwaters hit

July 1, 2020 at 12:34 p.m.

Weeks after being seriously threatened by floodwaters, the Farnsworth House, a modernist masterpiece in Chicago's far southwest suburbs, will reopen for public tours Wednesday, with a temporary exhibit devoted to...

The Shedd Aquarium seen from Roosevelt Road.

Column: Jeanne Gang-designed, soon to open Vista Tower adds to Chicago’s impressive gallery of ‘down-the-alley’ views

June 23, 2020 at 8:59 a.m.

In Chicago, a certain view of buildings — long, head-on and thrillingly dramatic — is as rare as a warm day in February. This is not Washington, D.C., where the...

Maurice Cox, Chicago Commissioner of Planning and Development, pictured atop Chicago City Hall on October 23, 2019.

Column: Amid crises of racial unrest and coronavirus, Chicago’s top planner sees opportunity to revive South and West Sides

June 19, 2020 at 4:14 p.m.

"I love a challenge. I have been known to always run toward the fire. This is a pivotal moment for the city and I'm thrilled to be in a position...

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