Program Description
Barbara Ballinger Lecture
Each fall, we gather to celebrate and recognize former head librarian Barbara Ballinger and her 32 years of dedicated service to the library and to Oak Park. Listen to Barbara's story told in her own words »
Event Details
Celebrate this year's Barbara Ballinger lecture with speaker Lee Bey, the architecture critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and a member of the Sun-Times editorial board. Introduction by Sarah Holian, Curator and Director of Interpretation at the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.
Books will be available for purchase through the Book Table. This event is presented in part by the generous support of the Friends of the Oak Park Public Library.
More about Lee Bey
In his role at the Chicago Sun-Times, he writes editorials on city governance, neighborhood development, politics, and urban planning. Bey is the author of the much-praised book Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side (Northwestern University Press, 2019), which showcases his architectural photography and social commentary. He also hosted the public television special Building Blocks: The Architecture of Chicago’s South Side, which aired on WTTW in 2023, and is currently the Architecture Critic for ABC7 News. Bey earned a 2023 Midwest Emmy nomination for his work on the program. Additionally, Bey is the main photographer for the book Who is the City For? Architecture, Equity and the Public Realm in Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2022), written by Blair Kamin. He is currently working on a book about the architecture of Chicago’s West Side. Lee Bey lives in an 1893 rowhouse in Chicago’s historic Pullman community.