New Entrance to Chicago Icon Generates Controversy

KEY POINTS  

• Chicago's Griffin Museum of Science and Industry is revamping its north entrance with an above-ground portico Welcome Hall, 458 feet long and 30 feet high.

• A 124-foot glass walkway would cut through the building's historic outside staircase and limestone cladding. Architecture firm RAMSA designed it. The museum says the design simplifies access while centering the historic facade.

• Sun-Times critic Lee Bey and cultural historian Tim Samuelson call the design damaging and overpowering. Landmarks Illinois, which wrote a letter of support but had no say in the design, says it reintroduces the historic arrival experience and balances preservation with public access.

What is Changing at the Griffin Museum

Chicago's Griffin Museum of Science and Industry is radically revamping its north entrance portal, a change that has put some critics' teeth on edge.

The museum stands alone in Jackson Park, several miles south of the Loop in Hyde Park and beside Lake Michigan, a majestic yet massive (at 400,000 square feet) classical Greek Revival edifice with two wings and topped by domes. It is home to one of the world's largest collections of industrial artifacts and interactive exhibits.

What is the Building's History

The building was constructed for the city's 1893 World's Columbia Exposition as the Palace of Fine Arts and had several museum iterations before becoming a museum devoted to industry in the early 1930s.

The building traditionally had north and south entrances, but it has always been more convenient for patrons to use the north entrance from 57th Street, the south entrance overlooking the park's water basin.

Until now, entrance was underground through a subterranean parking garage, built 30 years ago to reclaim an expansive front lawn.

What the New Entrance will Include

The museum now wants to make the entrance more accessible by creating an above ground portico Welcome Hall at a length of 458 feet and 30 feet in height.

It would be connected by a 124-foot glass walkway that will gouge through the center of the building's historic outside staircase, leaving the surrounding stairs intact but cutting through an historic limestone cladding.

A rendering shows a straight on view of the entrance through the museum’s planned new north entrance. Image: Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

Who Designed It

The design is the work of New York architectural firm RAMSA of the late Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

Said the museum in announcing the project: “The vision behind the Welcome Hall is to make the guest experience more accessible and enjoyable by creating a simpler path into the building while centering the historic facade as part of the arrival experience.”

The museum added it engaged widely with community, accessibility and historic preservation groups.

Why are Critics Opposed

But two high profile critics have slammed it.

Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey called it "ungainly and unattractive" and that it "overpowers" the historic entranceway, looking like a "carbuncle."

And the city's cultural historian emeritus Tim Samuelson labeled it "damaging" and displaying "disrespect for a masterpiece of classical composition" in which "all parts must precisely relate to the whole."

The museum didn't respond to requests for comment.

Who Supports the Plan

But an equally high-profile classical architecture expert fully backs the scheme.

Kendra Parzen, director of preservation services at Landmarks Illinois, told the Daily Commercial News her organization supplied a letter of support to the museum but did not have any official say in the design.

She said visitors historically "have not engaged at all with that main entrance (and) in that sense the new portico is reintroducing the experience of entering the building in the way that visitors would have done historically, for the first time in several decades."

Parzen said the Griffin indeed is "absolutely one of our most iconic historic buildings. I think that's the reason these changes have touched a nerve, is because it is such a beloved institution. The experience of coming off of Lakeshore Drive and approaching the building and seeing it loom over the north lawn is an iconic Chicago experience."

But Parzen said, the new plan "does a good job of balancing historic sensitivity with opening new areas of the museum to the public and refocusing that entry experience."

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