Visit
A Home for Poetry in Chicago
The Poetry Foundation’s building houses:
- a 30,000-volume poetry library
- an exhibition gallery
- a performance space for free public events
- the Foundation’s offices
Group Visits
All groups of more than 10 people must register before visiting the Poetry Foundation.
If your group plans to visit the building, please contact [email protected].
Private Meeting Space for Nonprofits
The Poetry Foundation makes its Pegasus Room available to nonprofit cultural and arts organizations for private internal meetings on a limited basis. Review the space use details and request the meeting space here.
5/11/2023
COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidelines
Masks are optional but encouraged. Masks will be available at check-in for those who would like to wear one. Please note that some event performers may choose to perform without a mask.
The Foundation reserves the right to update this policy if community levels of COVID-19 increase significantly. Read our full COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines.
Subscribe to our Events Newsletter for updates and more information, including free online events.
Visit Us
Chicago, IL 60654
Please Note
Guest Requirements:
Guests who wish to enter the Poetry Foundation building will be required to follow the policies outlined in our COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines.
Hours
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday: closed
Wednesday: 11 AM - 5 PM
Thursday: 11 AM - 5 PM
Friday: 11 AM - 5 PM
Saturday: 11 AM - 5 PM
Directions to the Poetry Foundation
Our building is located at the corner of Dearborn Street and Superior Street. The entrance begins by the ramp or steps at the corner where the tree lined courtyard opens, part of the building’s slowly-unfolding spatial sequence revealed space by space, not unlike a poem is revealed line by line. Walking through the tree lined courtyard leads past the performance space and gallery, to the doors which are just before the library.
If traveling by bus or train:
The Poetry Foundation can be reached via CTA: the Chicago Avenue stops on the Red Line or Brown “L” Lines (the Red Line is closest); or, CTA Bus Route 22 to Huron and Clark (Southbound) or Huron and Dearborn (Northbound).
If traveling by car:
The nearest parking garages include InterPark Parking Garage, located at 750 N. Dearborn St., and Standard Parking located at 1 W. Superior St. Discounted parking is available at 1 W. Superior for Poetry Foundation guests. Purchase your parking here using the access code PF. Metered street parking is also available in the vicinity of the building.
Accessibility
Ramp access is available on Dearborn Street. All public spaces, including an all-gender restroom, are accessible, and located on the ground level. For questions, please call (312) 787-7070.
About the Building
The first space in Chicago dedicated solely to the art of poetry, the Poetry Foundation building realizes Harriet Monroe’s dream, set out in her very first editorial, that the magazine would help poets pursue their art, increase public interest in poetry, and raise the profile of poetry in our culture. It also is Poetry magazine’s first permanent home in its 100-year history. Designed by the Chicago firm John Ronan Architects, the building helps the Foundation to carry out its mission: to discover and celebrate the best poetry and place it before the largest possible audience. Since its opening in June 2011, it has been praised widely; the November 2011 issue of Architectural Record notes, “In keeping with the art form it serves, the new Poetry Foundation is a respectful, restrained building that employs an economy of means and methods, just as a good poem employs an economy of language.” The building complies with the Silver Level of the US Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System.