Fine Arts Building

Frontal view of the north entry portico; The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) is located in Chicago, Illinois in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood. It is housed in the only in-place surviving building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the former Palace of Fine Arts (also known as the Fine Arts Building). The Palace of Fine Arts was designed by Charles B. Atwood, and unlike the other 'White City' buildings was constructed with a brick substructure under its plaster facade. After the World's Fair, it initially housed the Columbian Museum, which evolved into the Field Museum of Natural History. When a new Field Museum building opened downtown in 1920, the museum organization moved and the former site was left vacant. Art Institute of Chicago professor Lorado Taft led a public campaign to restore the building and turn it into another art museum, one devoted to sculpture. After a few years, the building was selected as the site for a new science museum. The building's exterior was re-cast in limestone, retaining its 1893 Beaux Arts look, while the interior was replaced with a new one in Art Moderne style designed by Alfred Shaw. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 5/29/2008