Announcements
- We are excited to sponsor a bookgroup with a few sections this winter. We will be reading a terrific book, Fallingwater Rising by Franklin Toker copywrite 2003 by Alfred A. Knopf. The book is both a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright and a story of the design and construction of Fallingwater. In the NY Times review they call the book “utterly fascinating…An absolute page turner, thanks not only to Toker’s diligence, but also to his palpable excitement.” Logistics We will meet for 4 sessions the weeks of February 2nd, February 9th, February 16th and February 23rd. Sessions will be offered Tuesday at…
- The Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) and Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center, present ADFF:CHICAGO—an international festival highlighting the best films dedicated to the creative spirit of architecture and design. The festival program showcases films with both a design focus and a human story for a broad audience of industry professionals, design-conscious consumers, and fans of nonfiction storytelling. ADFF:CHICAGO 2025 presents 13 feature-length screenings in two downtown venues—with many screenings including Q&As with the filmmakers. Wednesday, January 29 6 p.m.: Schindler Space Architect (Chicago Cultural Center) Thursday, January 30 7 p.m.: E.1027: Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea (Chicago Cultural…
- This Saturday, January 4th, at 9:30 AM, the March schedule will unlock, but only through March 13th. This temporary adjustment is due to the 2025-2026 schedule still being finalized. Sign-ups will be available on Better Impact as usual, and any updates or announcements will be shared via the Bridge. Please stay tuned for further details about the remaining March dates and the opening of the upcoming schedule. Thank you for your understanding and flexibility!
- We have a very limited number of spots left! Please join us for the 2025 Architecture Tour to Savannah, GA on March 6-9. Savannah is a very historic and walkable city. Our tours will include the Plant Riverside District, LS3P Architects, a presentation from Shamrock Drones, a walking tour of Savannah's historic district, tours of the Mickve Israel Synagogue, the Mercer Williams House Museum, the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, the Telfair Academy, the Jepson Center and Children's Art Museum, the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum and SCAD Museum of Art and the SCAD 4D immersive experience. …
- We’ve got an All-Star lineup of speakers for the Fundamentals of Chicago Architecture training class in 2025, and there are limited opportunities for docents and staff to attend some of the lectures! Since there are limited seats, we ask that you choose your top three options, and we’ll assign seats on a first-come, first-served basis. Advance signup is required - attendees will not be admitted to the lecture hall without pre registration and confirmation from CAC staff. Registration closes on January 3rd and you will receive confirmation by January 10th. Review the line-up below. Express your interest here: https://forms.gle/VbXkub6QAXBp3N3c7 January 18, 10:25 AM…
Features
My Fellow Docents – I hope everyone is having a great holiday season with friends and family. How many movie fans do we have out there in the docent corps? As my last letter as your Docent Council President, I want to reveal the Easter Egg in the titles of my President’s Letters that have appeared on The Bridge these last couple of years. Did anyone catch that they were…
by Chris Pausch, Class of 2019 The CAC’s “Elevated Architecture: Downtown ‘L’ Train” tour provides a history of Chicago’s Elevated System and its impact on development in the Loop. The tour includes four stops on the downtown ‘L’ as docents describe the early history of the system, including the story of the development of the Union Loop. The tour also offers participants a unique perspective from which to view the…
John Blackburn 2017 Hug 1999, Ivory 2023, or Slivka 2023 Historic Treasures of Chicago, December 2024 John was an amazing guide - very well informed and prepared. He made everyone feel very included. I learned so much during the tour. He picked beautiful places - I walked by them so many times and never thought to step in or look up. Chicago has so many treasures. Highly recommend it. Joanna…
By Bob Pratt, Class of 2019 Photographs by the author unless noted A successful Olympics now over, Paris has returned from crowded to merely bustling, as my wife Cathy and I discovered during an eight-day stay in mid November. Olympic improvements remain: not just athletic venues, but freshly decorated, glistening Metro stations with new glass safety doors separating platform from train, new street signage, and scrubbed bridges. The Old French…
By Burt Michaels, Class of 2019 “The carillon is the only instrument that summons its own audience,” claims Jim Fackenthal, carillonneur at St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church on North Dearborn Street, whose 1920s bell tower houses one of only two working carillons in Chicago. The other is at Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago. “You don’t prepare for a carillon concert,” he explains. “It comes to you. You’re just walking…
The talents and creativity of our Docent and Volunteer community know no bounds. To prove that point, here are some stellar recent examples from Jack Brickman, Robin Simon and Karen Clapp. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lego Competition: Tales of Chicago As a former structural engineer, Josh Brickman (Class of 2017) worked on several major skyscrapers in downtown Chicago over the years. On these projects Josh faced the same toolbox of materials – steel,…
by Emily Clott, Class of 2012 It’s always tough to say goodbye to a valued friend and colleague. Hard as it is to imagine Holmes without Watson or Batman without Robin, it’s even harder to imagine The Bridge without Diane Wagner. Yet say goodbye we must, as Diane retires at the end of December from the CAC, the Communications Committee, and from her work on The Bridge. Diane is a…
by Ellen Shubart, Class of 2006 Coming to CAC with a Theatre Management background might not be the way most staff get to 111 E. Wacker Drive, but Madeline Sneed came down that path. And she sees a number of parallels between her training and her job today – “there are lots more performances here,” she jokes. Sneed, 26, is an Ohio native hailing from Oregon, Ohio, near Toledo. She…
by Ron Becker, Class of 2019 Many people try to imagine what it is like to live in a Frank Lloyd Wright house, but I had an opportunity to spend two nights in FLW’s Palmer House in Ann Arbor. The Palmer House is a Usonian design with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It is 2,000 ft2 and situated on a hilly, well-forested two-acre lot in a quiet section of Ann…
By Brent Hoffman, Class of 2005 “I love my city, and I love sharing it,” Bill said. “Doing presentations was a part of my profession that I enjoyed, and being a docent gives me a platform for doing more. Years ago, a friend walked me through the Historic Skyscrapers tour he’d recently taken, and I knew I’d enjoy doing more of that. Since becoming a docent 23 years ago, I’ve…