CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — This week's Made in Chicago examines how a Bridgeport warehouse that dates back more than 100 years has continued to be a fixture in its community — and now houses the Bridgeport Art Center (BAC).
“The building itself looks pretty much as it did in 1911,” said Jeff DeLong, the director of marketing and programming for the BAC.
Like many, DeLong said he's fascinated by the history and evolution of the sprawling warehouse located at the corner of 35th Street and Racine Avenue.
“We started out in the manufacturing district for the Albert J. Pick Company, and then it was a warehouse for Spiegel, which was a beloved brand in catalog in the ’70s and ’80s, and now is the home for new things, art, events, weddings — you name it — goes on here at the Bridgeport Art Center,” he said.
BAC is now home to more than 100 different artists and three galleries, but that's not all.
“We’ve got professional organizations, from therapists and engineers and everything in between,” DeLong said.
The BAC is open seven days a week. Its galleries, DeLong said, are always free to attend, and many of the artists want to share their talents.
“You can take sewing classes here, and we have a ceramic center,” he said. “Some of the folks in the fashion design center offer pattern-making, so whatever you’re looking for, you will find it here.”
That includes stunning indoor and outdoor event spaces.
“‘Wow’ is the thing that you hear,” DeLong said. “People come around the corner and they see this vast, light-filled space that was an industrial space back in 1911, and it’s now been transformed into a place where memories are made.”
(9:10 mai question: what do you think the people who built it back in 1911 would say if they saw it today?)
Asked what he thought the original builders from 1911 would say if they saw the current space, DeLong said he imagined that they would be “astonished to see how far we’ve come.”
“That this industrial building, [which] was used for making daily objects — China and silverware — is now a center where people are making creative things that express their spirit,” he said.
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