FRK Collection
May 10, 2013
The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago started a Fazlur R. Khan Collection in 1992 when my mother donated some of my father’s papers and slides. There were still other files of his at home, and I looked through these as carefully as I could when I was working on Engineering Architecture. Now that the book is completed, I have decided to donate the rest of his papers so they can all be in one place. I will eventually also donate most of his slides (I want to sort through them and keep personal photos). The Collection does include some personal items, such as my father’s passport from the 1970s, to which a remarkable number of extension pages were added because of his extensive travel, a matted photo of a project given to him by Bruce Graham and signed “Another fine collaboration,” and the transcript of an oral history recording made by him in 1978.
“To Faz, Another fine collaboration,” Bruce” (this image is included in Engineering Architecture on page 255)
Construction’s Man of the Year
January 21, 2013
I have added the full text from Engineering News-Record‘s 1972 article about my father “Construction’s Man of the Year: Fazlur R. Khan” to my website dedicated to him (here is a link).
Cover of Engineering News-Record, February 10. 1972, Construction’s Man of the Year issue
It was during an interview for this article that he discussed his perspective on the role of engineering, saying “The technical man must not be lost in his own technology. He must be able to appreciate life, and life is art, drama, music and, most importantly, people.”
This memorial plaque for the lobby of Onterie Center in Chicago features my father’s statement from the ENR interview
Liberty Island
December 24, 2012
Brick pavers dislodged from Sandy’s storm surge.
From http://www.nps.gov/stli/after-hurricane-sandy.htm
The day after the crown’s reopening on October 28, 2012, Liberty Island was closed to visitors because of Hurricane Sandy. Considerable damage occurred at the island and a date for reopening has not been set. Yet, based on an initial assessment, the National Park Service reported that the statue appears to have withstood the storm without damage. This is especially remarkable considering that the engineers in 1880 had relatively little information about the wind forces in New York Harbor.
Statue of Liberty Reopens
October 27, 2012
This Sunday, October 28, visitors will once again be able to climb the steps inside the Statue of Liberty (now 393 steps) to reach her crown. The statue has been closed for interior renovation since the 125th anniversary ceremonies last October. Scheduled for this Sunday, the statue’s reopening will commemorate her unveiling in New York Harbor 126 years ago.
On the morning of October 28, 1886, people filled New York City sidewalks, crowded around windows and onto balconies, gathered on rooftops, and even perched themselves on lampposts and telegraph poles. A spectacular event was planned for the day to celebrate the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, beginning with a parade down Fifth Avenue, leading to lower Manhattan and Battery Park. The several-mile-long procession moved past Madison Square and the reviewing stand erected for U.S. President Stephen Grover Cleveland, who presided over the day’s ceremonies, then past Wall Street, where young men at the Stock Exchange leaned out the windows and inaugurated what has since become a tradition of the “ticker tape parade.”
Following the parade in Manhattan, attention shifted to the grand statue in the harbor as spectators prepared for speeches at Bedloe’s Island and the unveiling of the statue’s face. As the light raised by this magnificent statue shines on these shores, President Cleveland proclaimed, it will reflect on the shores of our sister Republic across the Atlantic and “pierce the darkness of ignorance and man’s oppression until Liberty Enlightens the World.”
This Sunday the 126th anniversary of the statue’s unveiling will be marked by the reopening of her crown to visitors. Unfortunately I cannot make the climb myself, due to my health. But I encourage anyone who is able to do so. The exhilarating view is unmatched. And, as you look out over the water, you may even sense the expansive vision of enlightenment that shaped this unique national monument, the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World.
American Friends of Lafayette
June 19, 2012
I just returned from the annual meeting of the American Friends of Lafayette, which took me to Washington, D.C. This year’s program was especially exciting for me because we visited a couple of places that I mention in Enlightening the World: The Creation of the Statue of Liberty. We started our tour with a visit to Mount Vernon, where Washington displayed the key to the Bastille that Lafayette sent him after the fall of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. 
Washington’s home was already open to the public in 1871 and Auguste Bartholdi (the statue’s sculptor) came here 
during his exploratory visit to the U.S. and saw both the key and “Lafayette’s Room.”
In the afternoon we were treated to a special visit to the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives to see the portrait of Lafayette by Ary Scheffer. Scheffer gave the portrait to Congress in 1824-25 during Lafayette’s spectacular 13-month-long “guest of the nation” tour of the United States. The House of Representatives commissioned a portrait of George Washington for the other side of the speaker’s rostrum—and the portraits of these two Revolutionary War heroes have hung together in the House Chamber since the 1830s (they were moved into the new Chamber when the House moved in 1858). 
Anniversary of the statue’s arrival
June 17, 2012
On June 17, 1885, the French ship carrying the large wooden crates that contained the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor. The statue had been temporarily erected in Paris, then disassembled and packed into over 200 wooden crates for transport across the Atlantic. Erection of the statue began the following spring (due to construction delays, the pedestal at Bedloe’s Island was not quite ready in 1885) and was completed in October 1886.
American ships rushed out to greet the Isère as it approached the coast, and ceremonies accompanied the arrival of the ship at Bedloe’s Island.
Chicago visit
April 12, 2012
I was in Chicago for my father’s birthday, April 3, and was happy to see that the work at the cemetery has turned out nicely. The groundcover around my parents’ gravestone was very pretty in bloom (a bit more may still be planted on the sides) and the two stones, my parents’ and Bruce Graham’s memorial stone, look perfect together – like partners, each with their own personality.
This felt like a special year. March 27 was the 30th anniversary of my father’s passing.
Bruce Graham's memorial stone was placed next to my parents' gravestone at Graceland Cemetery in such a way that the two stones relate to each other
My parents' gravestone at Graceland Cemetery, April 2012
Fazlur Khan exhibition at Princeton
January 27, 2012
Here are a few photos from the exhibition about my father, “Fazlur Khan: Structural Artist of Urban Building Forms.”
Book signing at Liberty Island last Friday, October 28
November 2, 2011
It was a great day to be at Liberty Island. The weather was perfect and there were a lot of visitors, all happy to be part of the 125th anniversary celebration. I met members of the Statue of Liberty Club, a club I have joined (I was sorry to miss the group photo!), Park Ranger Bill Maurer, who has been a great support, and other rangers, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Ladies Auxiliary, which has a tradition of honoring the Statue of Liberty every October 28, a NYC tour guide glad to learn more about the history behind the statue, and many other people. The concessionaire at Liberty Island and Ellis Island, Evelyn Hill, Inc., designed a beautiful poster for my “book signing” and set up a table for me near the entrance to the new gift pavilion. Because of my slow hand, I had actually signed the books in advance, but everyone was understanding and encouraging. It was a special day.
October 28th at Liberty Island
October 24, 2011
The National Park Service is planning a number of special events for this Friday, the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty’s unveiling at Liberty Island. There will be music and speeches during the day, and fireworks around the island in the evening. I’ll be at the gift pavilion on Liberty Island Friday morning—with signed copies of my book!
