Blair Kamin
@kaminblair.bsky.social
Fortunate husband. Proud dad. Former Chicago Tribune architecture critic. Pulitzer, Polk winner. 2013 Nieman. Books: “Why Architecture Matters,” “Terror and Wonder,” “Who Is the City For?,” “Gates of Harvard Yard,” “Amherst College: The Campus Guide.”
St. Regis Chicago from McClurg Court.
August 13, 2025 at 11:17 PM
St. Regis Chicago from McClurg Court.
Back from Ireland, where they know how to make stone walls sing.
June 18, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Back from Ireland, where they know how to make stone walls sing.
A peek at the Thompson Center’s new curtain wall.
May 18, 2025 at 3:40 PM
A peek at the Thompson Center’s new curtain wall.
An insightful column by Edward Keegan connects the childhood home and church of the new pope to the ordinary architecture that Chicago does so well—Chicago Tribune. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/18/c...
Edward Keegan: Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home an example of the ordinary architecture Chicago does well
In Chicago, whether it’s architecture or Catholicism, we do ordinary very well. It’s one reason we now call Pope Leo XIV our own.
www.chicagotribune.com
May 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
An insightful column by Edward Keegan connects the childhood home and church of the new pope to the ordinary architecture that Chicago does so well—Chicago Tribune. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/18/c...
How the new Pope Leo XIV's childhood church in Chicago fell into disrepair — and what may lie ahead—Chicago Tribune www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/10/p...
How the new Pope Leo XIV’s childhood church in Chicago fell into disrepair — and what may lie ahead
Many sites associated with past popes have become museums or holy destinations for the faithful. But Pope Leo XIV’s childhood church closed years ago.
www.chicagotribune.com
May 10, 2025 at 4:35 PM
How the new Pope Leo XIV's childhood church in Chicago fell into disrepair — and what may lie ahead—Chicago Tribune www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/10/p...
Congratulations, Alexandra Lange!
May 5, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Congratulations, Alexandra Lange!
A little-known architect, now mayor of Arlington Heights, will lead the effort to lure the Chicago Bears to the site of the former Arlington Park racetrack. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/04/c...
Arlington Park’s rebirth: What closing the deal on a Bears stadium represents for the Northwest suburb's new mayor
The Chicago Bears have flirted with building a stadium in Arlington Heights for more than 50 years. The new mayor aims for a long-term commitment.
www.chicagotribune.com
May 4, 2025 at 1:22 PM
A little-known architect, now mayor of Arlington Heights, will lead the effort to lure the Chicago Bears to the site of the former Arlington Park racetrack. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/04/c...
Eternity in lacy concrete: Baha’i Temple, Wilmette, Illinois.
May 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Eternity in lacy concrete: Baha’i Temple, Wilmette, Illinois.
With security barriers and ticketed events, Millennium Park is failing to live up to its identity as a great public space Ed Keegan in the Chicago Tribune—https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/03/column-millennium-park-chicago-keegan/
Edward Keegan: Millennium Park has failed to live up to its promise
Ticketed events should be the rare exception at Millennium Park. Gates and fences should be eliminated.
www.chicagotribune.com
May 3, 2025 at 1:08 PM
With security barriers and ticketed events, Millennium Park is failing to live up to its identity as a great public space Ed Keegan in the Chicago Tribune—https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/03/column-millennium-park-chicago-keegan/
RIP to a great spiritual leader, Pope Francis, who paid laudable attention to the built and natural environments, preaching the virtues of equity and humanity in urban design. My column about his encyclical on our ‘common home’: www.chicagotribune.com/2015/06/19/p...
Pope Francis is an urban critic
Who knew? Pope Francis is an urban critic — a tad earnest, perhaps, but as lucid and biting as they come. One of the most intriguing aspects of the pope’s new encyclical on climate chan…
www.chicagotribune.com
April 21, 2025 at 2:45 PM
RIP to a great spiritual leader, Pope Francis, who paid laudable attention to the built and natural environments, preaching the virtues of equity and humanity in urban design. My column about his encyclical on our ‘common home’: www.chicagotribune.com/2015/06/19/p...
Edward Keegan in Chicago Tribune on Eero Saarinen’s glorious, and “particularly strange,” Miller House in Columbus, Indiana www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/20/e...
Edward Keegan: Eero Saarinen’s particularly strange house in Columbus, Indiana
The Miller House in Columbus, Indiana, is a challenging piece of architecture that can delight, surprise and befuddle.
www.chicagotribune.com
April 20, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Edward Keegan in Chicago Tribune on Eero Saarinen’s glorious, and “particularly strange,” Miller House in Columbus, Indiana www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/20/e...
Vulgarian at the gates.
April 15, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Vulgarian at the gates.