Grand Army of the Republic Rooms
Opened in 1897, the Chicago Cultural Center was designed by the Boston architectural firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge as the city’s central public library and a memorial hall for Civil War veterans. The building was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1976 and serves to this day as one of the city’s premier cultural destinations, hosting exhibitions, performances, and public programs.
Its richly decorated interiors showcase extraordinary craftsmanship, including elaborate marblework, gilded ornament, decorative finishes, and stained glass by the celebrated Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company.
EverGreene’s involvement began with historic finishes investigations and restoration mock-ups in four spaces: the Entry, Theatre, Domed Lobby, and Memorial Room. Working from a historic finishes report prepared by Building Conservation Associates (BCA), conservators created exposure windows to identify original colors, glazing techniques, and decorative treatments.
The team developed detailed mock-ups incorporating paint, aluminum leaf gilding, and custom-mixed glazes. Each treatment was carefully matched to the original finishes in color, opacity, texture, and application technique. These investigations informed conservation recommendations and established a foundation for the subsequent restoration.
EverGreene returned to undertake the comprehensive conservation of the Grand Army of the Republic Rooms, including Memorial Hall, the GAR Lobby, and Entrance Hall. Conservators carefully removed layers of overpaint to reveal the original decorative schemes, stabilized and conserved exposed historic finishes, replicated missing decorative treatments, and restored gilded ornamental surfaces. The work also included inpainting repairs to the Tennessee Pink marble walls.
The larger restoration project included the conservation of the monumental 40-foot-diameter stained-glass dome, composed of approximately 62,000 pieces of art glass, allowing natural light to illuminate the rooms once again after being obscured by renovations in the 1930s. Historic lighting fixtures were recreated using archival photographs and original architectural drawings.
