Sun-Times architecture critic. Author of Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side.
Chicago
Joined October 2008
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chicago.suntimes.com/2026/10…
My job is to poke around buildings, yet I’ve often taken a busman’s weekend at OHC to see even more, or to check out old favorites. Here are the places I'd like to see.
My architecture column today.
"The groundbreaking comes weeks after the museum announced plans to construct a two-story tall, 458-foot wide Welcome Hall in front of the building’s North Portico main entrance off 57th Street. chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
My architecture column today. "To see it from the street, it looks like poetry," Landmarks commissioner member Suellen Burns said of St. Simeon Church.
chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
My architecture column today. chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
Also in today's @Suntimes, the winners of last night's AIA Chicago Designight 2026 award ceremony. chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
My architecture column today. "Built in 1927 as the Avalon Theater, the building was designed by John Eberson, who modeled the work after an intricate metal Persian incense burner he found in a Royal Street antique store in New Orleans’ French Quarter."chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
In a letter to the editor in today's Sun-Times, the distinguished author and city historian Tim Samuelson said the MSI's "current proposals to significantly alter both the building’s north and south elevations display gross disrespect for a masterpiece." chicago.suntimes.com/letters…
The architecture beat has me hopping this week. "Landmarks Illinois and Preservation Chicago told officials Monday that the designation is needed to protect the vacant O’Leary Mansion from demolition."chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
My architecture column today. "The new hall would be almost 30-feet tall and a whopping 458-feet — nearly three-quarters of a city block — in length: A big old wide-brimmed hat blocking the screen at the movie theater." chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
Today's architecture column. Google HQ plaza to get a Sanford Biggers sculpture to replace the Dubuffet, and the tech giant releases new renderings and details of the renovated atrium as the renovation project continues. chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
After a month off, Bey is back! With a column about the winners announced today of World Business Chicago's design competition.
chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
Lee Bey retweeted
Don't miss Trygve Thoreson, author of DANIEL BURNHAM AND LOUIS SULLIVAN: Personal Histories of Two Icons of American Architecture in conversation with @LEEBEY of @Suntimes, at @PrintersRowFest (Center Stage) on Sun, Sept 13, 2026 at 4pm CT!
printersrowlitfest.org/sched…
The 1976 movie Monkey Hustle, filmed in Woodlawn and on 63rd St between Cottage Grove and Dorchester, a strip that was demo'd in the 1980s and 1990s. Everything in this scene from the building they're in to buildings outside --including this section of the CTA Green Line -- gone.
A little bit of architecture today. (Wrote this before taking the month off.) chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
My architecture column today. "What we now see of the 857-foot tall glass building is what we’ll get. Crews are now building out the interior and surrounding grounds."
BTW: I'm taking a month off to work on some stuff. My column will return in September. chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
My architecture column today. "Built in 1973, St. Mark AME Zion Church is one of the finest works of pioneering Black architect Wendell Campbell’s distinguished 50-year career." chicago.suntimes.com/archite…
Lee Bey retweeted
I saw this Chicago Sun-Times article on the Chicago Sun-Times app and thought you’d be interested.
From Chicago Sun-Times - Joining mayor's race, Giannoulias casts himself as a coalition builder, says Johnson ‘has not met the moment’
chicago.suntimes.com/electio…
