This magnificent translucent dome, 38 feet in diameter and made of Tiffany Favrile glass, whose pieces are cut in the shape of fish scales, is a wonder to behold. At the top of the dome are the signs of the zodiac. Now lit electrically, it was originally illuminated by sunlight. At the base of the dome is a quotation from British author Joseph Addison, “Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.” The dome glass, lighting fixtures, wall sconces and chandeliers were made by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of New York. The glass dome measures 1,000 square feet in area and holds 30,000 pieces of glass. The supporting frame was constructed by the Chicago Ornamental Iron Company. Mother of Pearl mosaics, a Carrara marble lobby are a proper supporting cast to this beautiful Beaux Arts work. This building was originally the main Chicago public library. Now it is called the Chicago Cultural Center and is as much a museum to itself as anything else.
We went to the third and final Ingite! play reading today. It was an adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, Love in the Time of Cholera. I’ll have more to say about this show later. Earlier, Anne and Joanie went to see a traveling museum show called Da Vinci Machines. I had seen this show a couple of years ago, when it first came through town. Instead, I went bicycling in the park and wore myself out too much before a theater sitting.
All this frenetic activity is prelude to tomorrow’s weather. We are forecast to have a blizzard. The initial forecast was for 4″ to 8″, then as what usually happens that initial estimate began to melt away, like to 3″ to 7″. Typically this scenario leads to an eventual light dusting on the grass. Today though this all too familiar trend took a turn. Today’s forecast is for 6″ to 11″. So stay tuned, Sunday may be a wild and woolly day.