Arts Club of Chicago Model

Following a passionate, yet unsuccessful campaign to save the Art Club of Chicago’s 1951 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe interior from demolition, Chicago architects were invited to submit proposals for a new, stand-alone building for the club. Ronald Krueck and John Vinci were chosen as finalists out of more than 40 submissions, amid a storm of press coverage. Both firms submitted multiple proposals, and while Krueck chose to work in a contemporary mode, Vinci’s winning scheme skillfully adapted the proportions, materials, and detailing of the earlier club space in a serene masonry building with a sensitive relationship to the street (shown here with an alternate scheme). Vinci has had a long career as a preservation architect and advocate, and he incorporated the club’s famous steel and travertine staircase as a permanent installation and centerpiece of the new gallery space.