Elmhurst Art Museum’s year of celebration to shine light on first solar architects

A year-long 25th anniversary celebration will showcase the Elmhurst Art Museum’s three major hallmarks of its mission, beginning with architecture, followed by education this summer and art in the fall. It launches in the museum galleries with the new multimedia exhibition, “Houses of Tomorrow: Solar Homes from Keck to Today,” open from Feb. 5 to May 29.

Also featured is an accompanying, light-based installation by Chicago-based artist Jan Tichy within the historic McCormick House on the museum campus.

Admission is free to a preview open house from 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 4. Guests attending the sneak peek will receive a free gift, and reservations are not required.

The museum also announces a wealth of exhibition-related programming, including an artist talk led by Tichy, a panel exploring today’s sustainable practices, docent-led tours curated in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Mies van der Rohe-designed McCormick House, hands-on STEAM activities for children and more. Tickets and details for the year of special offerings are available at elmhurstartmuseum.org.

“Houses of Tomorrow” follows the evolution of Chicago architecture firm Keck & Keck – created by brothers George Fred Keck and William Keck – who designed modern, award-winning, affordable homes throughout the Midwest from 1935-1979. For Chicago’s Century of Progress World’s Fair in 1933, George Fred Keck designed the “House of Tomorrow,” the first glass house in America with groundbreaking domestic amenities.

The “House of Tomorrow” showed millions of World’s Fair visitors a technology-driven vision of what domestic life could be in the future, as it featured many new ideas from the first GE dishwasher to a personal airplane hangar. It was through the house that the Kecks found a new way to harness solar energy, leading them to make energy-efficiency breakthroughs throughout their career.

After the creation of the house, the Keck architecture firm built mid-century homes that now stand as early precursors to today’s sustainable building practices. The exhibition explores how the Keck brothers became the first “solar architects,” and displays historic photos, architectural artifacts, design diagrams and the commissioned artist interpretation by Tichy centered on glass and light.

Art installation

Tichy’s immersive installation, “Reflectance,” invites visitors into the historic McCormick House to explore its domestic space as an environment of movement, light, activity and wonder. With an emphasis on solar explorations, Tichy’s work will respond to the house’s south-facing windows and other architectural elements along with additions of various architectural fragments, found objects, mechanical and electronic components and photographic materials. His site-specific installation will show the McCormick House as a living, breathing and interactive architectural structure.

Registration is required for exhibition-related programming, which is free with museum admission unless otherwise noted.

The Feb. 4 kickoff open house is followed by a members-only reception that evening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Related programs continue from 7 to 8 p.m. Feb. 7, with a lecture exploring the exhibit and modern, green building possibilities and limitations, co-organized with the Elmhurst Public Library. It is offered at the library and virtually.

At 1:30 p.m. Feb. 19, Todd Zeiger, director of the Northern Regional Office of Indiana Landmarks, explores future restoration plans for the “House of Tomorrow.” The building was moved to Indiana after the world’s fair.

And at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 26, the first of the 70th anniversary McCormick House tours is planned.

About Elmhurst Art Museum

The museum is at 150 S. Cottage Hill Ave. in Elmhurst. The McCormick House, a single-family home designed in 1952 by Mies van der Rohe, is one of only three residences designed and built by him in the U.S.

Museum hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday; and every second Friday of the month from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Visit www.elmhurstartmuseum.org.