The Art Institute of Chicago Building Contract and Completion Details from 1892.

The contract for construction, signed on February 6, 1892, for the Art Institute Building was awarded to Jonathan Clark and Sons Company. The amount specified in the contract was $325,000 ($9,362,000 today) although the total expenditure for the building approached nearly three times that amount. 

The Art Institute nears completion as the Illinois Central Railroad continues to surround it with coal smoke. The photo was taken from the 17-story Auditorium Building, the tallest building at the time.

The contractor stated that in the upcoming weeks the razing of the Interstate Industrial Exposition building would begin. The demolition was expected to end sometime around March 15, 1892. Funds for the new building came from three sources. 

The sale of the Art Institute’s former building had brought in $275,000. The World’s Fair Directory put in the sum of $200,000, and Charles L. Hutchinson, President of the Art Institute, had raised $55,000 through private subscriptions. 

The contractor was under considerable pressure to complete the building with dispatch. According to the contract, it must be ready by May 1, 1893, or the World’s Fair Directors are released from their contractual obligation to pay any amount of the $200,000 they have pledged. The contractor was under “forfeiture bonds” amounting to $100,000 if the building was not finished by the specified date.

The World Congress Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition occupied the new building from May 1 to October 31, 1893, after which the Art Institute took possession on November 1, 1893. The Art Institute was officially opened to the public on December 8, 1893.

The World Congress Auxiliary opened its doors a few days after the opening of the World's Fair on May 13, 1893.

Additional Reading: The History of the Lions at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.