Almost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the thorne rooms. Housed in the children's galleries of the Chicago art institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930...Almost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the thorne rooms. Housed in the children's galleries of the Chicago art institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by mrs. James ward thorne.