Gothic Campus

I’m sorry there was no post yesterday. I am currently in Chicago for work and I have limited time and computer access. I promise I will make up for the omission on a future weekend.

Summer Ivy on the University of Chicago Quads

Being in Chicago, specifically being in Hyde Park, reminds me (as though I could ever forget) of how much I love gothic architecture—and indeed all things “Gothic”. Several of my recent posts have related to gothic art and gothic objects. I am going to begin a wide-ranging “Gothic” category (to which I will add these older posts) in order to explore the concept and the meaning of the word. As a starting point I am including some photographs of the University of Chicago.

The Harper Library Reading Room photographed by Justin Kern (I'm actually writing this post from Harper Library during my lunch break)

There has been recent internet buzz about these lovely photographs taken by fellow alum Justin Kern of “Chicagwarts”. Roger Ebert used the photos to illustrate an opinion piece in which he (Ebert) takes modern architecture to task for ugliness. Ebert’s article oversimplifies modernism and dismisses the cost and difficulty of making beautiful gothic buildings by hand, however I think he is quite right to prefer the University of Chicago’s eccentric splendor to Mies Van der Rohes’ heartlessness. Similar sentiments underpinned the origination of the widespread nineteenth century gothic revival movement in architecture—to which the University of Chicago and many other exquisite buildings owe their appearance.