Next week, I’ll be in conversation with former Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski about the new edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard.” Please join us at Bookends & Beginnings in Evanston on August 4. bookendsandbeginnings.com/event/2026-0...
Blair Kamin
@kaminblair.bsky.social
Fortunate husband. Proud dad. Former Chicago Tribune architecture critic. Pulitzer, Polk winner. 2013 Nieman. Books: “Why Architecture Matters,” “Terror and Wonder,” “Who Is the City For?,” “Gates of Harvard Yard,” “Amherst College: The Campus Guide.”
What do Lincoln Park’s Shakespeare statue + Harvard’s Johnston Gate have in common? Come find out on 8/4 at Bookends + Beginnings. I’ll be in conversation w/ former Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski about the new edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard.” bookendsandbeginnings.com/event/2026-08-…
“Enter to grow in wisdom,” says the inscription on Harvard’s Dexter Gate—the same words at the entry to Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala. Coincidence? Almost surely not. I’ll discuss this motto + the new edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard” on August 4. bookendsandbeginnings.com/event/2026-0...
Harvard’s majestic Johnston Gate, built with a gift from Chicago businessman Samuel Johnston and completed in 1889, led to a wave of gate-building on U.S. campuses in the early 20th century. I’ll discuss the influential Harvard gates on 8/4 in Evanston: bookendsandbeginnings.com/event/2026-0...
What a blast to be at the American Library Association conference at McCormick Place this morning. So great to meet all the librarians who stopped by to get a signed copy of the new clothbound edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard.”
If you’re in Chicago for the American Library Association convention, please drop by the Harvard University Press booth on Saturday at 10 a.m. I’ll be signing copies of the new clothbound edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard,” a guide to the 25 portals that enclose the Edenic Yard.
Sincere thanks to Harvard Magazine and writer Gabriella Gage for taking notice of the new edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard” in their new issue. www.harvardmagazine.com/arts-culture...
New Books from Harvard Authors | Harvard Magazine
Diets, bull kelp forests, Black creativity, and more
harvardmagazine.com
As much as I’m enormously pleased with the new clothbound edition of “Gates of Harvard,” I want readers to know that there’s also a popular new Kindle edition.
Thanks to Martin Pedersen of Common Edge for allowing me to share observations about the Obama Presidential Center in an interview. My take is mixed: commonedge.org/blair-kamin-...
Blair Kamin on the Obama Presidential Center: “A Huge Improvement to the Public Realm”
A conversation with former Chicago Tribune architecture critic.
commonedge.org
Thanks to everyone who’s made the new edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard” an Amazon new releases best seller. I’m looking forward to the first Chicago signing event for the book this coming Saturday, June 27, at the American Library Association convention at McCormick Place.
Come tour Harvard Yard’s newest gate, which takes playful inspiration from beloved children’s books. Thanks to Harvard University Press, publisher of the new edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard,” for shooting and producing the video. www.instagram.com/stories/harv...
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
instagram.com
Who new? “Gates of Harvard Yard” has been officially declared “hot.”
Thanks to harvarddesignmagazine.org for publishing this excerpt from the new edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard.” It’s my essay about the Yard’s newest portal, the welcoming and whimsical Solomon Gate by Höweler + Yoon. Yes, that’s the Cheshire Cat. www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/articles/the...
Welcoming and Whimsical: The Peter J. Solmon (Class of 1960) Gate
Designed by Eric Höweler of the Graduate School of Design, the Solomon Gate melds contemporary aesthetics and literary traditions.
harvarddesignmagazine.org
Finally! Total is the long-awaited “pub date” for the new clothbound edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard.” It took eight days, and then 13 years, to make this dream happen, as I explain in a new piece for Nieman Reports. Congrats to all who collaborated on the book! niemanreports.org/nieman-harva...
Blair Kamin's curiosity led to the book "Gates of Harvard Yard" - Nieman Reports
Architecture critic and Nieman Fellow Blair Kamin reflects on the 13-year journey behind the new edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard."
niemanreports.org
Looking forward to discussing the new clothbound edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard” on May 6 at the Coop with Sharmila Sen, editorial director of Harvard University Press. Join us as we explore the beauty, history and legacy of the Yard’s 25 gates. RSVP here: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-gates-...
1/2 Look what just arrived in the mail: First copies of the new clothbound edition of “Gates of Harvard Yard,” an exploration in words, photos and sketches of the 25 beautiful, but often-overlooked, portals that enclose the famous heart of America’s oldest university.
Thrilled and deeply honored to have received the Order of Lincoln, Illinois’ highest honor for professional achievement and public service, last night from Gov. JB Pritzker and Todd Shapiro, chancellor of the Lincoln Academy. My remarks from the ceremony are posted on Facebook.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/10/l...
Former Lincoln Yards site to become smaller, walkable residential community, developer says. ‘Bigger is not necessarily better.’
The new 31-acre development, called Foundry Park, will eventually total about two to three thousand units, including single-family homes, condos, rental apartments, townhomes and affordable housing…
chicagotribune.com
Back from Ireland, where they know how to make stone walls sing.
An insightful column by Edward Keegan connects the childhood home and church of the new pope to the ordinary architecture that Chicago does so well—Chicago Tribune. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/18/c...
Edward Keegan: Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home an example of the ordinary architecture Chicago does well
In Chicago, whether it’s architecture or Catholicism, we do ordinary very well. It’s one reason we now call Pope Leo XIV our own.
chicagotribune.com
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/13/g...
Glencoe’s Frank Lloyd Wright cottage fundraising to open architectural gem
Glencoe’s Ravine Bluffs Cottage, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, has had a colorful past — being physically moved twice and last year being renamed because its namesake had an ugly racist history. …
chicagotribune.com
chicago.suntimes.com/obituaries/2...
Marilyn Hasbrouck, co-owner of architecture-themed Prairie Avenue Bookshop, dies at 91
She created a bookstore that was a meeting ground for architects and design devotees, where buyers could find rare works or the latest ones — then kick back in furniture designed by the likes of Mies ...
chicago.suntimes.com