The building is constructed of tan Roman bricks adorned with terracotta designs.
This is
a close-up of about one-third of one of the pillars. Each
pillar consists of three sets of the same designs, stacked atop each
other. The details show what appear to be two caricatures.
The one on the bottom appears to be
William Rainey
Harper, the first president of the University of Chicago.
There used to be a hornet perched on the nose of
the figure above William Rainey Harper, stinging it and making it swell.
George Ellery Hale considered the swollen nose to be "somewhat grotesque"
and around 1900 requested that all of the hornets be removed, possibly
because they suggested that a University benefactor was being stung for
money!
More
views of pillars. Note the celestial motif.
Additional views of celestial detail on the pillars - do you
recognize the zodiac signs?
Even the less ornate columns are still beautiful.
This is the edge of the roof. The circular window opens into a set
of rooms inside the observatory, originally a dormitory for the
astronomers (who sleep during the day, and thus don't need a lot
of light). Because of the shape of the windows, these rooms are
referred to as "The Battleship."
Various views of
of the outer wall with ornate patterns of dragons, bulls, and
other constellation mythology.
This griffin
and his brothers around the rest of the structure watch over the
astronomers at the Observatory.
Various views
of the detail
from the edge of the 40-inch dome. Note the dolphins frolicking
under scallop shells and bells beneath the catwalk that rings the
outside of the dome.
These representations
of celestial spheres are not often seen up this close.
(This picture was taken from the roof.)
This is Rich Dreiser
(our fearless tour guide -- you'll see more of him later)
showing us a plaster owl inside the observatory's
entry rotunda.
This is a better view of the owl. Photo by Dale Sandford.
For more views of inside the observatory, come inside!
Come inside and look around or
back up a step to explore outside again.
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