Jay Pritzker Pavilion

A couple of steps away from the famous Bean stands another of Millennium park’s major works: the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. It’s a huge bandstand designed by the renowned architect Frank Gehry, who is best known for equally strange and memorable structures such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the  Louis Vuitton  in Paris. The pavilion is named after Chicago-born billionaire Jay Pritzker, owner of the Hyatt luxury hotel chain, who donated $15 billion to the project, which represents about a quarter of the total budget. The giant bandstand can accommodate 11,000 people, and its dozens of suspended loudspeakers provide remarkable acoustics. The concert hall is the permanent home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra Chorus, as well as the Grant Park Music Festival, an annual celebration of classical music. It also hosts a wide range of performances from major rock bands to yoga sessions. Reviews of the pavillon have been both good and bad, and controversies abound. Firstly, there’s controversy surrounding its construction, which, in order to bypass legal height restrictions for buildings, was classified as an artwork rather than a performance venue. Secondly, there’s controversy regarding its name. Indeed, the new pavilion was built to replace the old Petrillo Music shell, a bandstand that had hosted free concerts for decades, and was named in honor of James Caesar Petrillo, a trade unionist who initiated the first free concerts in Grant Park. His family was understandably unwilling to see his name disappear. Also, when the initial project for the concert hall was launched, it was advertised that to attend the Grant Park Music Festival no one would ever need a ticket to attend a concert, however from 2005 onwards, the municipality decided to charge for seats on the lawn. Controversy aside, Gehry’s work was showered with praise. Especially for its unique silhouette, its  acoustics and accessibility. We’ll let you be the judge.