10/15/2026
We’re joining Open House Chicago on Sunday, Oct. 18, with free entry and an architectural scavenger hunt!
Long before it housed Griffin MSI, this building was the Palace of Fine Arts, designed by architect Charles B. Atwood for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Like the rest of the fair’s “White City,” it was built in the Beaux-Arts style, drawing on ancient Greece and Rome. Look for the Ionic columns, garlands and our caryatids, the draped female figures that stand in for columns.
So how is it still standing more than 130 years later? Most fair buildings were covered in “staff,” a temporary mix of plaster, glue and h**p fiber. But because this one held priceless artwork, lenders insisted on a fireproof steel-and-brick structure underneath.
Come take a closer look at the place we’re proud to call home!
