Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places, Day 25: Libraries as Art

The opening reception of the Shakespeare Association of America Conference was at the Chicago Cultural Center. This building housed the first public library in Chicago, and the architects were eager to prove Chicago as a cultural metropolis through both their design and materials. (If your interested in reading how Chicago architects tried to prove their Midwestern worth as they rebuilt after the Great Fire, I highly suggest Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City - a fascinating history of the 1893 World's Fair interspersed with a little true crime.) This building is beyond beautiful. The reception was crowded - academics are not known to turn down finger food and an open bar, but I was able to find a few quite corner where I could snap a few shots.

Luckily, Justin Kern, a far more accomplished photographer than I, has some amazing shots of the Cultural Center on his blog The Windy Pixel. He graciously lets people re-post his photos, but I highly recommend you also take a gander at his site.