The Cultural Center houses the city's official reception venue, where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed presidents, royalty, diplomats, and community leaders.

Each year, the Chicago Cultural Center features more than 1,000 programs and exhibitions covering a wide range of the performing, visual and literary arts.

The building was designed by Boston architectural firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge for the city's central library, and Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) meeting hall and memorial in 1892.

Key points of architectural interest are as follows: The Chicago Cultural Center underwent an extensive[4] renovation during 2021–2022[5] with the goal of unearthing the original beauty of the building.

The detailed restoration of the art glass dome and decorative finishes in the Grand Army of the Republic rooms, a Civil War memorial, was made possible by a grant of services valued at over $15 million to the City of Chicago.

The scope of the project[7] included recreating long-lost light fixtures, cleaning and polishing old marble, restoring mahogany doors, installing new glass, and removing layers of paint in the historic rooms.

[9] Crossroads: Modernism in Ukraine, 1910–1930 was a display of art by Ukrainian artists, such as Sukher Ber Rybak, Vsevolod Maskymovych, and Oleksandr Bohomazov, to name a few.