Do We Dare Squander….

When in Chicago I visited the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

If you love cities and architecture that is a great place to spend time. They have a Cityspace Gallery with their Chicago: You Are Here display that “provides a tour of the spaces, places, and structures that define Chicago. It highlights the people who built the city, from the Sears Tower to the Illinois and Michigan Canal.”

The Foundation also currently has a display entitled Do We Dare Squander Chicago’s Great architectural Heritage . The title is taken from a sign that photographer and preservationist Richard Nickel first carried in a 1961 protest to save the Garrick Theater in Chicago.

Nickel became the focal point of the preservationist movement in Chicago in the 60’s and 70’s when many of the city’s old theatres and office towers were being torn down. Ironically, he was killed by a staircase that fell from the semi demolished Chicago Stock Exchange building while photographing and collecting artifacts.

The Do We Dare Squander display was not just visual. A series of public lectures, tours, videos etc. are part of it as well. Here’ an overview from the Chicago Tribune.

I felt inspired to be in a place that celebrated and embraced its built environment like that.

Sadly in Winnipeg, which has a large collection of Chicago school buildings left, we will still gladly tear one down when a parking lot is called for.