The restoration of the world’s largest Louis Comfort Tiffany art glass dome — located in Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington Street — has been completed with awe-inspiring results. An initiative of the City of Chicago, which owns the landmark Cultural Center, the project restored the dome to Tiffany’s original vision and allows it to be seen as it was in 1897, when the building opened as the first Chicago Public Library.
Approximately 38 feet in diameter, the Tiffany dome spans more than 1,000 square feet. It contains approximately 30,000 pieces of glass in 243 sections within an ornate cast iron frame. The body of the dome has a “fish scale” pattern. The center, called the oculus, shows the signs of the zodiac. The interior stained glass dome originally was protected by an exterior translucent glass dome, which allowed much-needed natural light into what was then the library’s general delivery room. The lower portion of the room is covered with white marble and glistening mosaics, also designed by Tiffany.
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Restoration of Cultural Center's Tiffany Dome Complete -- It's Dazzling!
City of Chicago - Cultural Center
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