The Gray City: Architectural Drawings of the University of Chicago

August 27–November 24, 1991

The stark contrast between the monumental Neo-Classical constructions of “the White City” – the epithet of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition – and the newly-risen Neo-Gothic structures of the fledgling University of Chicago across the midway earned for the imposing gray Indiana limestone buildings the moniker “the Gray City.”

The original quadrangles were designed by Henry Ives Cobb in 1892 after the buildings of Oxford and Cambridge in England, and medieval cathedrals in France. Since that time, the University has undergone successive changes. Some architects have adhered to the Gothic style while others have strayed as far as possible from its associated rigidity.

This exhibition, in addition to displaying Cobb’s original designs for the quadrangles, features the drawings for the School of Social Services Administration by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the Administration Building by Holabird, Root and Burgee. The exhibition also explores the evolution in technique through the years from traditional pencil drawings with watercolor to reverse mylars, markers, colored pencils, and Photostats, which are often influenced by contemporary art.

Curator: Richard Bumstead, University Planner, Office of University Facilities Planning and Management, coordinated with the University of Chicago Library and the Office of Facilities Planning and Management in celebration of the University of Chicago’s centennial.

The exhibition was funded in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.