Hammond, Beeby and Babka designed the Harold Washington Library, the central library for Chicago, completed in 1991.
Large bronze sculptures ornament the Beaux-Art style building design. Tall arched windows punch through the thick brick recalling an industrial-age train station. A central courtyard, the Winter Gardens, is completely covered by glass in metal structure. It’s a recollection of the old Chicago, before the spiring skyscrapers that sprang up after the Great Fire. It cost $195 million.
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