Chicago architecture: Hang time

Chicago architecture: Hang time

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(photo by Lee Bey)

I took my three daughters to see the Romare Bearden exhibition at the Cultural Center over the weekend (definitely recommended, by the way).

As we walked down the stairs from the Yates gallery, we saw a man washing the windows that face an open interior space that separates the north and south wings of the 1893 masterpiece at 78 E. Washington.

(photo by Lee Bey)

The kids were transfixed—as was I—as the man with a bucket and squeegee washed windows in midair, held aloft by a few lengths of rope and a harness. In a self-cleaning, automatic, computerized age, it’s interesting to think many downtown windows are are still cleaned this way.

(photo by Lee Bey)

(photo by Lee Bey)

(photo by Lee Bey)

We came to the Cultural Center to see art. And we saw a little artistry as well.

(photo by Lee Bey)