A Place Away From Tech

 

The Fine Arts Building

Last week, I partook of the second Fridays open house in the The Fine Arts Building, ten floors of offices all related to the arts and creatives in some way. Art studios of all kinds, from fine art to photography, music instrument sales, repairs and instruction, an opera company and various music ensembles, puppetry, jewelry makers, authors, interior decorators, a store that sells music scores on paper and an independent books store, and much more. 

On the evenings of the second Friday of the month, the building has an open house, so you can visit the art studios and hear some music performances in small studios. You can stop by the Exile in Bookville bookstore and have Keir Graff sign a copy of his recent coffee table book about the building. 

The building started as the Studebaker building in 1885 as a factory and showroom for horse-drawn carriages. By 1896, the Studebaker family converted the building to studios for artists, architects, musicians and others and has more or less remained that way ever since. The big theater in the building, recently renovated, still bears the family name.

As a one-time tuba player, I appreciate that Arnold Jacobs, principal tubist of the Chicago Symphony for 44 years and perhaps the greatest to play the instrument, taught tuba from an office in the building.

Marker for Arnold Jacobs' Studio

The building is so low tech, it has the last remaining manually operated elevators in the city. It's not that everyone is anti-technology. Most studios have a computer to keep up with finances, emails, web pages and social media. But that's tech in the background. In a world focused on technology, nice to see a building in Chicago devoted to those who still create in a magical place that stands the test of time.