Job 201, Architectural League Exhibit of Chicago World's Fair Projects 1930, 1930

Summary: The Architectural League of New York invited Bel Geddes to present a one-man exhibition of his designs for theater and restaurant groups at the Chicago World's Fair. Geddes's show followed an exhibition by the eight commissioners of the Architectural Commission of the Chicago World Fair, both intended to raise awareness of and interest in the upcoming Chicago World's Fair.

Geddes's exhibition was on display from November 18th to December 6th, 1930. It showcased eight of the sixteen designs he had worked on for the World's Fair: the Aerial, Aquarium, and Island Dance restaurants, the Temple of Music, and the Water Pageant, Repertory, Cabaret, and Divine Comedy theatres. The show included models of all buildings except the Aquarium Restaurant, as well as sketches and drawings. In a review of the exhibition, H.I. Brock wrote, "If not everything that Mr. Geddes is allowed to suggest looks quite practical -- and some of it looks a little mad -- at least we have here experiments singularly untrammeled by reverence for that tradition of the theatre which has been too powerful so far for even our most courageous architects" (H. I. Brock, "Theatres for the Age of the Machine," New York Times Magazine, November 16th 1930).

Hunter Code: XH 2
Hunter Guide: page 249