A CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE TOUR WITHIN A MURAL
Artist Kate Lewis’ ‘The Radiance of Being’ celebrates some of the city’s iconic structures with Art Deco elements, including The Rookery, the Palmer House and the Palmolive Building
Doing research for a mural she was planning to paint celebrating iconic Chicago buildings, Kate Lewis went on a series of architectural tours.
Now, the mural she created on the Riverwalk between Wabash and Michigan avenues is itself the subject of attention from tour groups.
She called it “The Radiance of Being” and drew inspiration from, and included references to, more than a dozen historic structures with Art Deco elements — including The Rookery, the Merchandise Mart, the Palmer House, the Palmolive Building and the Chicago Motor Club building.
Completed in 2020, the mural spans 180 feet and is accented by shimmering gold paint that reflects off the water.
“I wanted to maintain that Art Deco feeling of it and kind of pay homage to these architects from the 1920s,” Lewis says of a sleek architectural style that emerged a century ago.
“Architecture was so much more beautiful in my mind when people were paying more attention to the nuances of it,” says Lewis, 34. “To the motifs and the decorative adornments.”
One part of the mural shows white-robed musicians playing a flute and harp — inspired by sculpted images on the front of the old Chicago Federation of Musicians Building, 175 W. Washington St., built in 1933 and later expanded.
Lewis says she tried to shape the musicians “in a way that made it seem like they were playing to each other.”
Another part of the mural includes images of hawk-like birds — inspired by etchings on bronze elevator doors at The Rookery, 209 S. La Salle St.
The building was designed by famed Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root and opened in 1888. Architect William Drummond added Art Deco touches to the interior in 1931 with the intricate designs on the elevators, among other changes.
The mural also features a fountain and birds, including a crane, that Lewis says were inspired by the ornamentation on the 94-year-old Chicago Motor Club building, 68 E. Wacker Place.
The mural was commissioned by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
Lewis was born in Florida and grew up there. She says she gravitates “toward these sun-stained color palettes because of what I’m used to in Florida. It feels comfortable and warm to me to have these pastel palettes.”
Lewis says a friend suggested titling the mural “The Radiance of Being,” which she says “felt like a perfect representation of how I felt when looking at it.”
After living in Logan Square for seven years, Lewis says she wants to be closer to her family and is moving back to Florida. But she won’t forget Chicago.
“To be able to be a part of such a large project in the city that developed me, I can’t even articulate how incredible that feels,” she says. “It’s a real life fulfillment.”