Songs About Buildings and Moods

First Church of Deliverance and Milwaukee's Central Library

The First Church of Deliverance, designed by Illinois' first licensed Black architect, has been instrumental in the dissemination of Gospel music and the Emil Bach house by Frank Lloyd Wright is a perfect example of his signature Prarie style architecture. Milwaukee's Central Library is a monumental structure that transported composer Brian Packham back to his library-filled youth.

First Church of Deliverance and Milwaukee's Central Library

27m 8s

  • Stony Island Arts Bank and Cranbrook Academy of Art: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Stony Island Arts Bank and Cranbrook Academy of Art

    S2 E5 - 28m 29s

    Once a thriving bank that was abandoned by white residents during the Great Migration, the Stony Island Arts Bank has been repurposed and reimagined by Theaster Gates' Rebuild Foundation as a thriving hub for Black culture. The Cranbrook Academy of Art is a stunning mecca of design just outside of Detroit created by renowned architect Eliel Saarinen.

  • Brooklyn Tower and the Wrigley Building: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Brooklyn Tower and the Wrigley Building

    S2 E4 - 28m 25s

    Brooklyn's first super-tall tower looms over one of the most beautiful bank interiors in the country in the Dime Savings Bank which was originally built to serve workers building the first subway tunnels between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Built on five-cent sticks of chewing gum, Chicago's Wrigley Building is an iconic masterpiece that defines Chicago's Magnificent Mile.

  • Biblioteca Vasconcelos and Ohio State Reformatory: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Biblioteca Vasconcelos and Ohio State Reformatory

    S2 E3 - 28m 29s

    Shelves hung from the ceiling give the tens of thousands of books in Mexico City's Biblioteca Vasconcelos the illusion of floating in the air. The library is a thriving culture hub hosting dance, film, music, art exhibits and more. Ohio State Reformatory was a notorious maximum security prison that would later serve as the set for the film The Shawshank Redemption.

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