Museum of Science and Industry
- Architect
- Charles B. Atwood
- Year
- 1891
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- City
- Chicago, IL
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The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry occupies the Palace of Fine Arts, the sole surviving major building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, designed by Charles B. Atwood. Sears, Roebuck and Company president Julius Rosenwald endowed the museum with backing from the Commercial Club of Chicago, and it opened inside the old exposition hall in 1933, during the Century of Progress World's Fair. In 2024 it was renamed for benefactor Kenneth C. Griffin.
the building
A world's fair survivor. Atwood designed the building as the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; nearly every other structure from that fair's White City was temporary and came down within years. This one endured, and after Rosenwald's 1933 endowment it reopened as the Museum of Science and Industry.
What's inside. The museum's collection includes the captured German submarine U-505, a United Airlines Boeing 727, the Pioneer Zephyr — the first streamlined diesel-powered passenger train in the United States — the Apollo 8 command module, a full-size replica coal mine, and a 3,500-square-foot model railroad.
the style
Beaux-Arts (c. 1880–1930): Gilded Age grandeur: paired giant columns, rough-cut stone bases, rooftop sculpture, and monumental stairs.
More on Beaux-Artsthe architect
Charles B. Atwood designed the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. It is one of the few structures from that exposition still standing, and now the last of the White City's grand exhibition halls to survive in place.
significance
The Museum of Science and Industry was designated a Chicago Landmark on November 1, 1995. It stands as one of the last remaining structures of the World's Columbian Exposition's White City, and was renamed for benefactor Kenneth C. Griffin in 2024.
nearby
- Woman's Building
- Promontory Apartments
- Jackson Shore Apartments
- Shoreland Hotel
- Frank R. Lillie House
- University Apartments