The
Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a
Chicago Landmark building that houses the city's official reception venue where the
Mayor of
Chicago has welcomed Presidents and royalty, diplomats and community leaders. It is located in the
Loop, across
Michigan Avenue from
Millennium Park. Originally the central library building, it was converted in 1977 to an arts and culture center at the instigation of Commissioner of Cultural Affairs
Lois Weisberg. The city's central library is now housed across the Loop in the spacious, post-modernist
Harold Washington Library Center opened in 1991.