Adler Planetarium, Chicago
The hemisphere’s first planetarium – a deco dodecagon of rainbow granite on the lake, zodiac bronzes ringing the dome since 1930.
At a glance
- Type
- Planetarium and astronomy museum
- Period
- 1930
- Style
- Art Deco
- Location
- Northerly Island, Chicago, USA
- Coordinates
- 41.8663, -87.6069
- Architect
- Ernest Grunsfeld Jr.; zodiac reliefs Alfonso Iannelli
Overview
Max Adler’s gift opened May 1930 as the western hemisphere’s first planetarium – Grunsfeld’s twelve-sided drum of rainbow granite stepped to the dome, Iannelli’s bronze zodiac plaques marking the corners, on the lakefill point the Century of Progress fair would surround. The Zeiss’s artificial sky taught Chicago the cosmos through Depression and space race.
History
Adler bought antique instruments wholesale – the Mensing collection’s astrolabes founding a history-of-astronomy treasury; Doane Observatory’s public telescope added photons to projection. The museum campus’ peninsula now stages the skyline’s most photographed sweep – planetarium steps as the city’s selfie meridian.
Architecture and Design
Deco’s granite spectrum bands the dodecagon – each face a zodiac month; the 1991 glass underground wing preserved the silhouette. Iannelli’s signs and the bronze doors’ constellations carry the program’s iconography.
Cultural significance
The Adler is public astronomy’s American cradle and deco civic architecture’s lakeside jewel – first of the hemisphere’s star theatres, National Historic Landmark.
Visiting today
Open daily; sky shows rotate the domes. The steps’ skyline at dusk – Wednesday’s free evenings for Illinois – close the museum campus walk.
Getting there
The 146 bus serves the campus from State Street; lakefront trail cyclists roll to the door.
Sources and resources
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