Fountain of the Great Lakes, by Lorado Taft, 1913. Located in the South Garden of the Art Institute of Chicago.

“Fountain of the Great Lakes is an allegorical sculpture by Lorado Taft. As the name suggests, this fountain represents the Five Great Lakes – Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. The five women are so arranged that the water flows through them in the same way water passes through the Great Lakes.

“‘Superior’ is on the top and ‘Michigan’ on the side both empty into the basin of ‘Huron,’
who sends the stream to ‘Erie’ whereas ‘Ontario’ receives the water and gazes off as it flows into the ocean.

“The fountain is Taft’s response to Daniel Burnham’s complaint at the Columbian Exposition in 1893 that the sculptors charged with ornamenting the fairgrounds failed to produce anything that represented the great natural resources of the west, especially the Great Lakes. The fountain depicts five women that represent the five Great Lakes, and the water flows through them in the same way water passes through the Great Lakes.

“This garden surrounding the fountain was designed by the Office of Dan Kiley, who was a renowned late 20th Century landscape architect.” (Public Art in Chicago.com website)

Table of Contents

ADVOCACY

1. WIN: Pullman Historic Clocktower Renovation Breaks Ground
2. WIN: Emmett Till Home Designated Preliminary Chicago Landmark
3. WIN: Deal Likely to Buy Emmett Till House for Museum Use
4. THREATENED: Public Comment Encouraged for North Lake Shore Drive Rebuild
5. WIN: Old Post Office Opens The World’s Largest Private Rooftop Deck
6. WIN: Rescued from Demolition, Perkins-Nordine House Landmarked
7. THREATENED: Crumbling Infrastructure in Grant Park and Jackson Park
8. WIN: Roberts Temple Church Recognized by National Trust for Historic Preservation
9. WIN: Preservation-Sensitive Jefferson Park Firehouse Redevelopment Plan Survives Counteroffers
10. WIN: Long Vacant Frank Lloyd Wright Foster House Sold to Preservation-Oriented Buyer
11. WIN: Rescued from Demolition, Daniel O. Hill House to Be Adaptively Reused
12. THREATENED: After 101 Years, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church Holds Final Mass
13. THREATENED: St. Adalbert Church Redevelopment Deal Falls Through (Chicago 7 2014, 2016 & 2019)
14. THREATENED: Francis Parker School Consolidates Control Over Historic Belden Courtyard Buildings
15. WIN: Possible Chicago Visitor Center for Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park
16. THREATENED: Will The Palmer House Survive?
17. LOSS: After 98 years, Southport Lanes Has Closing
18. WIN: Adaptive Reuse of Armitage Theatre Building as Brewery and Co-Working Space
19. WIN: Laramie State Bank Selected for Design Competition ICAA (Chicago 7 2019)
20. LOSS: Questionable Circumstances Surrounding Emergency Demolition of Contributing Building in Chicago Landmark District
21. LOSS: Problematic New Precedent After Wells Street Horse Stable’s Landmark Status is Removed to Allow New Construction
22. BUYER WANTED: 4706 Malden Needs a Preservation-Oriented Buyer!
23. BUYER WANTED: 4607 N. Magnolia Avenue Needs a Preservation-Oriented Buyer
24. THREATENED: 90-Day Demolition Delay
25. LOSS: Spotlight on Demolition (81 demolitions in Chicago during September 2020)

PRESERVATION IN THE NEWS

• DOCUMENTARY: WTTW Chicago, The Great Chicago Fire: A Chicago Stories Special
• PRINT: Chicago Tribune, The cow didn’t start the fire, but the story of Mrs. O’Leary and Holy Family Church ring true today
• VIDEO: Pullman, 10 Towns That Changed America with Geoffrey Baer on WTTW Chicago
• PRINT: Chicago Tribune Column, Let’s toast the architecture of Chicago’s beer buildings, even if this isn’t happy hour for some of them
• VIDEO: WTTW Chicago, Is Chicago’s Historic Building ‘Bible’ Out of Date and Out of Touch?
• VIDEO: WTTW Chicago, Ask Geoffrey: Seawall or Railway Tracks
• PRINT: Metropolitan Planning Council, It’s time to get serious about preserving Chicago’s 2-4 unit apartment buildings

EVENTS

• Preservation Chicago presents Chicago’s Historic Preservation Marathon! October 11
• The Open House Chicago Schedule Is Here. Get Ready to Pound the Pavement. October 16 to 25
• Investment Through Preservation In Roseland at Open House Chicago 2020: October 20
• Central Park Theater and the Dawn of a New Era at Open House Chicago 2020: October 23
• The Great Chicago Fire Documentary: A Behind-the-Scenes Preview & Discussion. October 8

BOOKS

• Preservation Chicago 2020 Chicago 7 Most Endangered Book, now on sale!
• Chicago Apartments: A Century and Beyond of Lakefront Luxury by Neil Harris and Teri J. Edelstein
• Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929–75 by Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino
• Walking Chicago: 35 Tours of the Windy City Dynamic Neighborhoods and Famous Lakeshore by Robert Loerzel
• Chicago’s Mansions Self-Guided Cycling Tour – North Side Edition by Biketropolis and Arcadia

SUPPORT

• Help Restore Louis Sullivan’s Holy Trinity Cathedral
• Support Glessner House & Receive William Morris Face Mask
• Raise the Roof! Fund The Forum! Campaign