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2 books match the query 'Chester, Ryan'

cover of Chicago Rebuilt: Seeing Yesterday’s City Today

Chicago Rebuilt

Seeing Yesterday’s City Today

Ryan Chester and Vincent L. Michael

University of Chicago Press, 2027

Reveals Chicago’s lost architecture and tells the remarkable stories of their creation and destruction.

As you walk or drive down the street, do you ever wonder what it might have looked like in years gone by? What buildings used to be there? How have the surroundings changed over time?

For the first time, through the skill of Ryan Chester’s drawings, readers can see buildings throughout Chicago that were demolished decades before they ever lived. Chicago Rebuilt explores architectural styles that have been popular over the last two centuries and brings them to life in an entirely new way. Included are forty-four intricate architectural drawings of the city, juxtaposed with archival photographs and materials, as well as informative essays on each building. Together with Vincent L. Michael, Chester illuminates the fascinating histories of who made these structures, why they succeeded or failed, and why each was ultimately lost. 

Enchanting and haunting, Chicago Rebuilt tells the story of a vanished city by conjuring it anew through energetic renderings from one of Chicago’s most masterful architectural and artistic talents.

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cover of Chicago Reflected: A Skyline Drawing from the Chicago River

Chicago Reflected

A Skyline Drawing from the Chicago River

Ryan Chester

University of Chicago Press, 2023

A unique and playful hand-drawn exploration of the Chicago River’s landscape, documented on an eleven-foot-long foldout.
 
In March 2020, architect Ryan Chester began drawing the Chicago River for at least one hour every day. Using only a pen, he moved methodically along a single massive roll of paper. As each chaotic, isolating day of the COVID-19 pandemic passed, he stayed connected with his adopted city by carefully documenting by hand the beautiful intricacies of Chicago’s riverfront architecture, boats, and bridges.
 
As completed, Chester’s two-foot-high, fifty-five-foot-long drawing is a unique vision. In addition to dozens of accurately depicted buildings, Chester included pieces of Chicago’s past, including the Union Station Concourse Building that was demolished in 1969 and the immense SS Eastland, which sank in the river in 1915, killing hundreds of people. Recent architecture is featured as well, including Studio Gang’s St. Regis Chicago tower and the Bank of America Tower by Goettsch Partners.
 
An essay by acclaimed writer Thomas Dyja accompanies the accordion-fold presentation of Chester’s drawing, enhancing this remarkable volume that will delight any fan of Chicago, architecture, or art. Chicago Reflected opens up fresh vistas of the stunning, ever-evolving architectural landscape that can be found only in Chicago.
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