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The Chicago Seven

Tigerman Roast at AIC (August 1984) James Nagel, Tom Beeby, Rhona Hoffman, Larry Booth, Stanley Tigerman, James Alexander

Photo: Stanely Tigerman

Tom Beeby, John Burgee, Stanley Tigerman, Helmut Jahn, Philip Johnson, Peter Pran, Stuart Cohen, Margaret McCurty at UIC

Photo: Stuart Cohen

Ben and Cynthia Weese

Photo: Cynthia Weese

Tom Beeby, Stanley Tigerman and Kirstin Beeby

Photo: Stanley Tigerman

Tigerman Roast at AIC (August 1984) Larry Booth, Tom Beeby, Rhona Hoffman, Stanley Tigerman, Jeff Osborne, Helmut Jahn, Robert Stern, James Nagle, Bruce Graham, James Alexander and Charles Moore

Photo: Stanley Tigerman

Photo: Gene Summers

In 1976, a group of Chicago architects joined forces to start a postmodern group in protest of a Miesian architectural movement taking over Chicago. Believing an art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, One Hundred Years of Architecture in Chicago, distorted reality because of the strong emphasis on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the architects began planning their own exhibits and shows. This proved to be the impetus for their national recognition. The Exquisite Corpse exhibition showcased the architects’ abandonment of modernist rules and resulted in the production of variations of Chicago townhomes.

The Exquisite Corpse

Thomas Beeby entry in Exquisite Corpse

Helmut Jahn entry in Exquisite Corpse

Stanley Tigerman entry in Exquisite Corpse

Cynthia Weese entry in Exquisite Corpse

Over the years, additional architects joined the Chicago Seven movement (Halmut Jahn, Gerald Horn, Kenneth Schroeder, and Cynthia Weese). Beeby once said of this group however: “They didn’t agree on anything.”

Along with Thomas Beeby, here is the original Chicago Seven:

Stanley Tigerman

A founding member of the Chicago Seven, Stanley Tigerman is best known for his work on the Illinois Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, The Five Polytechnic Institutes in Bangladesh, and the POWERHOUSE Energy Museum. Tigerman studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Chicago Institute of Design, and Yale University.

Stuart Cohen

Photo credit: Stuart Cohen, FAIA

Photo credit: Stuart Cohen, FAIA

Stuart Cohen is best known for his residential work and has received numerous awards and accolades. Cohen is a graduate of Cornell University.

Larry Booth

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Art, Harvard University, and Stanford, Booth believes: “spirited, meaningful, and useful buildings can be realized with an organized and open creative process.”

Ben Weese

Photo credit: Ben and Cynthia Weese

Photo credit: Ben and Cynthia Weese

Harvard Graduate and Certificate of Scholarship winner at the École des Beaux Arts, Fontainebleau, France, Weese’s major projects include the Latin School of Chicago, Lake Village Townhouses and Apartment Tower (Chicago), Allerton Hall Renovation, and the Williams College Library (Williamstown, Massachusetts).

James Ingo Freed

The only original Chicago Seven member born outside of the United States, Freed’s body of work includes The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City and the United States Air Force Memorial. Freed is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology.

James Nagle

A graduate of Stanford, M.I.T., and Harvard, Negle’s work includes the Greyhound Bus Terminal (Chicago), Kinzie Park Tower (Chicago), the Homan Square Housing (Chicago), and the Dallas Courtyard House (Dallas).