Model shop that provided the first draft of many great Chicago buildings closes

For 35 years, Columbian Model & Exhibit Works has given the city glimpses of the future.

The River West company designed and built architectural models for developers and architects that provided an advance look — often with astonishing accuracy and detail — of the buildings, neighborhoods, skyscrapers and places planned for the city.

Their vast catalog includes models of the Lakeshore East high-rise development, along the south edge of Wacker Drive just west of DuSable Lake Shore Drive; the Jeanne Gang-designed St. Regis tower, at 363 E. Wacker Drive; and the huge 1/16th depiction of the 20-acre Obama Presidential Center campus.

But that all came to an end this month when the venerable company shut its doors for good.

Columbian Model President Catherine Tinker decided at the beginning of the year to retire. And she said her partners didn't want to continue the company, fearful that technological advancements in creating virtual models would ultimately eat away their business.

"They are concerned that because of the digital revolution, there's not enough work or physical models anymore," she said. "It's difficult. We're cleaning out the shop. It's difficult."

From attorney to model-maker

In the city of "no little plans," physical architectural models were once a big thing.

Former Mayor Richard J. Daley, attempting to show progress, would hold news conferences standing before impressive scale models of a proposed central area with new high-rises and development from 18th Street to North Avenue.

Over the decades, the models were our first look at many well-known projects around town from Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Marina City, Sears Tower, Central Station, the Harold Washington Library entries, Millennium Park and more.

That's less so now.

In addition to tech advancements, Tinker said a tepid Chicago real estate market has caused fewer developers to pay for large models needed to attract buyers and investors.

Model making is also exacting work that requires materials and textures that can mimic the look of steel, brick and stone, while working with an architect to get the scale, color and details just right.

"It has to tell the story that the developer or [whomever] is trying to tell," Columbian Model Senior Designer Bill Bauman said. "But it's at a smaller scale, so the detail has to be finessed. So that you still get the idea without making it identical to full size."

It's a line of work Tinker fell into by chance 35 years ago.

A former trial attorney, she got introduced to model making when she got legal exhibits made for court cases.

She represented Morton Thiokol in a case against the NASA contractor, following the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy. That's when the spacecraft exploded 73 seconds after liftoff when its rocket booster O-rings failed. The shuttle's seven crew members were killed.

"We actually got little models of the O-ring made that we shipped over to England so that we could explain the case to the guys from Lloyd's [of London insurance company] because they were the ones that ultimately were paying for everything," Tinker said.

Tinker said she turned to the model-making business after getting "burned out" with the legal profession — despite having no experience fabricating the objects.

"Originally, I was going to make trial exhibits," she said. "But then the architectural model-making part just sort of grew organically. So we ended up being architectural scale model makers."

A ‘sad’ end

The Obama Presidential Center model is on display at the Obama Foundation headquarters. The work was widely shown and broadcast before the actual campus, scheduled to open in the spring, took shape.

"We were very disappointed that we never got to meet the Obamas," Tinker said. "I really thought they might come over [to the office] but they didn't."

Columbian Model's work also includes the Chicago Architecture Center's huge — 320 square feet — Chicago Model built in 2009.

The work shows 400 blocks of the city and downtown and is detailed with more than 1,000 buildings. It's updated every few months by Columbian Model.

Chicago Architecture Center Chief Marketing Officer Lauren Bakos said, "It made me sad," when she heard the shop was closing.

"I understand that technology has made it easier to do things digitally and use augmented reality and all of that," she said. "But to show off these structures that are being developed in Chicago, I think it's a really beautiful art. And it's sad that it's kind of a dying one."

Bakos said the company left the CAC with a few models to plug into the big exhibit, including one of the revamped Thompson Center.

"So we're on the hunt for someone else who can take over that project," she said.

And Columbian Model is looking for a new home for all its work. Bauman said the company has thrown away some of its models, including a few of the Lakeshore East towers.

"We've lost a lot them, but we still we have a dozen or so," Bauman said.

Tinker said, "There are smaller models that were on shelves that I need find to homes find for."