Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986 is officially hitting the streets on June 20, but there have been sightings in the wild already. We’ll formally launch it next month–the Chicago Architecture Center is hosting an event on July 11 at 6:00pm that will involve a short lecture, a conversation with CAC Senior Director of Content and Interpretation Adam Rubin, and a book sale/signing. Tickets are $15 for the general public and just $7 for CAC members (which I’m sure most architecturefarm readers are!)

I couldn’t be happier to have this finally out there. It has been a fascinating, richly rewarding adventure, and the research has uncovered plenty of new history to go along with the well-known stories of the city’s postwar architecture. I’ve had a great team of graduate students working on new digital reconstructions that show how these buildings were put together. I’m grateful to archivists, librarians, and company PR departments (including a Kentucky bourbon distillery–I’ll just leave that hanging there) who have helped uncover new photographs and ephemera that help to flesh out their broader contexts. And editors and designers at the University of Illinois Press have done a spectacular job with the raw material we gave them.

Lots more people to thank for making this happen–I’m hoping to have the chance to do that in person with many of you at CAC next month…