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The Franke Reading Room at the Art Institute of Chicago

of the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries.

Originally two separate libraries, the Ryerson Library and the Burnham Library of Architecture, the two merged in 1957.

The Franke Reading Room, the original Ryerson Library, was designed by the Boston firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, at a former courtyard in 1893.

The skylight was designed by Louis J. Millet.

The decorative color scheme was designed by Elmer Garnsey.

In 1994, the Reading Room went through extensive restoration by the John Vinci.

The names of sixteen significant writers on the history of art and architecture circle the Reading Room in the entablature area below the skylight.

The bronze centerpiece sculpture “Teucer, Brother of Ajaz” [1884] is made by William Hamo Thornycroft.

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