Great Ornament at the Shedd

Forget the slimy aquatics at the Shedd Aquarium; Check out the Grand Ornament. Dan Mitsui over at the Lion and the Cardinal has some great shots of the Graham Probst Anderson's Shedd Aquarium showing fine ironwork and other bastions of traditional architecture (vs. Dirk Lohans tumorous 1991 addition). I always cringe at the Second City inferiority complex of claiming such buildings are "Beaux Arts". Chin up Chicago Cultural Establishments, the building is Chicago Style and awesome, needing no Frenchified qualifiers.

Here is a shot or two. Dan has more on Flickr.

Here is John Shedd's (2nd President of Marshal Fields) Mausoleum from a comment section on Dan's Blog

John Murphy Auditorium setting for Driehaus Prize (2)

You might ask: We can see the exterior walking over from St. James Cathedral. What about interior?


















Do not fret! Mr. Driehaus has worked a miracle. He has turned his hard earned money into public art that really asks nothing in return except your enjoyment. This Graham Anderson Probst (Readers, please check that, GAPW did the restoration, but were they the original architects?) structure is truly awesome and noble setting for the Prize.

Update: Per Lynn Becker's fine blog, the Murphy Auditorium was designed by theater architects Marshall and Fox.