Lee Bey is architecture critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. He is also a member of the Sun-Times editorial board, where 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 is also the main photographer of the book. Who is the City For? Architecture, Equity and the Public Realm in Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2022), written by Blair Kamin. Bey’s writing, reporting, and photography on architecture and urban design have been featured in

Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. Its editor in chief is Josephine Minutillo. ''The Record'', as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important ...

, the

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

Crain’s Chicago Business ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is a weekly business newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, IL. It is owned by Detroit-based Crain Communications Inc., Crain Communications. History The first issue of ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is dated April 17, 19 ...

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is f ...

Chicago Public Radio, Fox News Chicago,

Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, Chicago Architect,

Old House Journal ''The Old-House Journal'' is an American magazine that specializes in information about the restoration of old houses. Its first issue was published in 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, as a black-and-white, advertising-free newsletter for devotees of ...

Cite (magazine) ''Cite: The Architecture and Design Magazine of Houston'' is a quarterly magazine published by the Rice Design Alliance, a program of the Rice University School of Architecture. History and profile ''Cite'' was established in 1982. Its topics ...

, Bauwelt, and Modulør. He is also an in-demand speaker and media commentator on the subjects of architecture, urban planning, Chicago history and late 20th century Black history and culture. Bey’s previous positions include stints as director of media and government affairs for the Chicago office of SOM, executive director of the Chicago Central Area Committee, and deputy chief of staff for architecture and urban planning under Chicago Mayor

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

from 2001 to 2004. Bey is also an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture. Among many other awards, Bey is the recipient of the 2021 Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award, and the 2019 Distinguished Service Award by the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Early life

Bey was born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He graduated from Chicago Vocational High School where he prepared for a career as a printing press operator, but decided to go to college and pursue a career in journalism after receiving praise from a teacher about his writing.

Work

As part of the 2017

Chicago Architecture Biennial The Chicago Architecture Biennial is an international exhibition of architectural ideas, projects and displays. It seeks "to provide a platform for groundbreaking architectural projects and spatial experiments that demonstrate how creativity and ...

, Bey created an exhibit titled "Chicago: A Southern Exposure." Housed at the

DuSable Museum of African American History The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, formerly the DuSable Museum of African American History, is a museum in Chicago that is dedicated to the study and conservation of African-American history, culture, and art named after Je ...

, the exhibit was named by

Chicago Magazine ''Chicago'' is a monthly magazine published by Tribune Publishing. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, l ...

one of "Three Must-See Events at the Chicago Architecture Biennial.". Bey developed the exhibit into a full-length illustrated book about South Side architecture published in October 2019 by

Northwestern University Press Northwestern University Press is an American publishing house affiliated with Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It publishes 70 new titles each year in the areas of continental philosophy, poetry, Slavic and German literary criticis ...

External links

LeeBey.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bey, Lee Journalists from Illinois 1965 births Living people Chicago Sun-Times people