Skip to main content

Artist turns Derelict Bank into Arts Centre

By October 16, 2015August 14th, 2017Arty

Arts Bank, South Side, Chigaco

All the finer stuff in life, arts, books, and even the theatre seems to be suffering in these modern times so when we heard that an artist had bought a derelict old bank and turned it into a world-class arts centre we were interested to hear more!

The 1920s bank on Chicago’s South Side was crumbling from top to bottom when artist and Chicago resident Theaster Gates bought the 20,000 square-foot bank from the city for $1 and then set about funding a project which much have surely been his greatest artistic endeavour to date.

After raising the funding and restoring the bank, sympathetically, mixing the old with the new, the artist has now launched the Rebuild Foundation, a not for profit organisation designed to inject much needed funds into other deprived neighbourhood and the Arts Bank has now opened its doors to visitors.

As the pictures show the building was literally falling down with crumbly paint and parts that were even structurally unsafe, but now art lovers and enthusiasts can take the tour and enjoy everything it has on offer. While the reconstruction and rebuild is complete, the Arts Bank has maintained much of its original paint and crumbling façade to physically merge the past and present, and it works incredibly well offering a truly beautiful atmosphere for all who visit.

You can visit the Arts Bank Tuesday through Saturday, 11am-6pm.

Leave a Reply