Why Can’t We Leave Beautiful Things Alone?

One of my earliest memories took place in a science museum.

I grew up on the North Side of Chicago, but because my immigrant parents went out of their way to send me to the best school in the city, I commuted down to the South Side every morning to attend the University of Chicago’s grade school in Hyde Park — the neighborhood most famous for its ties to the Obama family.

I’m grateful to the university for sparking my intellectual curiosity from a young age, but my favorite part about growing up with a bunch of nerds was heading to the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI).

When we weren’t driving past it on the way to school, we were cooped up in its Space Center or admiring its Fairy Castle. When I was six years old, the museum acquired the U-505 — a Nazi U-Boat captured by the U.S. Navy in 1944 — and my first-grade teacher took us out on a field trip to see the acquisition before they transported it to the museum’s permanent collection.

Credit: Liza Libes

Suffice it to say, the museum meant quite a lot not only to me but also to the entire University of Chicago community. It’s the first building to welcome you to Hyde Park as you drive in from Downtown, and it might just be the neighborhood’s most beautiful landmark. Designed by Charles Atwood for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the museum is famous for its neo-classical Ionic columns and its tribute to Roman temple architecture. In many ways, it’s a bastion not only for science but also for history and beauty.

But maybe not for much longer.

This past week, the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) — also known as the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry since the billionaire acquired it in 2024 — unveiled a $22 million renovation that will not only obstruct the building’s beautiful façade but will permanently alter the museum we’ve known and loved for over a century.

The museum’s planned renovations will add a futuristic-looking lawn and a glass pavilion that seem so out of line with the building’s neoclassical design that they almost seem envisioned to spite Mr. Atwood and his illustrious creation. The Chicago Department of Planning and Development claims that the redesign will “preserv[e] historic architectural details,” but I’m not so sure.

Hyde Park’s Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive, was approved for a new welcome hall by the Landmarks Commission’s Permit Review Committee today. The project will create a new primary entry for visitors while preserving historic architectural details. https://t.co/LJ7IQjmMBr

— Chicago DPD (@ChicagoDPD) September 10, 2026

According to Dr. Chevy Humphrey, the museum’s president and CEO, the name of the game is “accessibility.” The renovations include a café accessible to non-ticket holders and a long-awaited wheelchair-accessible entrance. These changes build on the MSI’s goal to “create more opportunities for the public to experience the museum for free or at a reduced cost.”

As a culture, we have become so obsessed with “accessibility” that we’ve forgotten that making something “accessible” does not necessarily mean making it better — and more importantly, that accessibility does not have to stand in the way of beauty. We can build wheelchair ramps in accordance with an old-school, neo-classical style — just ask the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. We can also open up a museum to more people by, perhaps, putting the $22 million spent on renovations towards making tickets cheaper for the general public.

Unfortunately, however, we seem to have developed a pathological inability to leave beautiful things alone. Every one of our institutions today seems embroiled in a sort of space race to destroy the old with an atrocious contemporary structure.

In a word, seeing these new plans made me feel like my entire childhood was being ripped to pieces, and I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. These renovations have unsettled the entire Hyde Park community because there is value in preserving beautiful things — and, as a society, we have a duty to do everything in our power to uphold the artifacts of the past.

When the Obama Center moved into Hyde Park earlier this year, we were appalled not because we don’t like Obama (though many of us don’t) but because his library was a middle finger held up to the face of beauty. And while the MSI’s planned renovations aren’t quite as egregious, they remind us that today, in a culture obsessed with demolition and destruction in the supposed name of progress, we have a duty to preserve not just beauty but also memory. Because when I look at the MSI, I don’t just see a beautiful building — I see an enchanted fairy castle and a German U-Boat inspiring my unadulterated awe.

Beauty matters not just because it’s pleasing to look at, but because it reminds us of what we stand for as civilization. It reminds us of our roots, our shared histories, and the value of preservation.

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Liza Libes is a writer and the founder of Pens and Poison. She holds degrees in English from Columbia University and writes about literature and culture at pensandpoison.org. Follow her on X @pensandpoison.

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