Blackstone Branch Library

This library was designed by Solon S. Beman. It was presented as a gift to the residents of Chicago from Isabel Blackstone in memory of her late husband, Timothy Beach Blackstone, president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad. This Beaux-Arts classic, which opened in 1904 as the first branch of the Chicago Public Library, is modeled after the Erechtheion temple on the Athenian Acropolis. It features a central rotunda with a Tiffany-style dome and four lunette murals painted by early 20th-century artist Oliver Dennett Grover. Other architectural details include an upper-level glass floor, stained-glass ceilings, carved marble, walnut wainscoting and mosaic tile floors.

Solon S. Beman, 1902