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Monday, January 17, 2011
Modern Struggles, Modern Design - Dr. King and the story of Chicago's Liberty Baptist Church
On the day we celebrate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we recount how some of Chicago's most important civil rights battles centered around one of the city's most strikingly modern churches. Read the story and see all the illustrations about this little-known gem here.
RE Liberty Baptist Church, I'd like to know if Wm Alderman, or Tideman & Connel had done synagogues during the 50s. The sensibility, materials, and much of the detailing are in the same groove as a lot of 50s American synagogue architecture.
William Nelly Alderman was my grandfather, though he died when my mother was in college and I know very little about him. I was fascinated by this article as I have never seen the church, and though I knew he'd done some churches, could not name them. I will ask my mother if she knows about synagogues. I do know that my grandfather worked with Tallmadge. Soon after Tallmadge died he signed up for WWII and worked designing air bases (?) on Pacific Islands. He contracted an infection that antibiotics would have treated today, and returned home but was ill until he died years later. He still worked, but often with less formal arrangements. Architects would consult with him at home. He also sold many of his designs to others so his name did not end up on the projects. My mother saw a PBS show on Chicago architecture and recognized a number of these architectural sketches as her father's, which she had seen before they were sold.
5 comments:
thank you!
Thank you Lynn, for this important story.
RE Liberty Baptist Church, I'd like to know if Wm Alderman, or Tideman & Connel had done synagogues during the 50s. The sensibility, materials, and much of the detailing are in the same groove as a lot of 50s American synagogue architecture.
William Nelly Alderman was my grandfather, though he died when my mother was in college and I know very little about him. I was fascinated by this article as I have never seen the church, and though I knew he'd done some churches, could not name them. I will ask my mother if she knows about synagogues.
I do know that my grandfather worked with Tallmadge. Soon after Tallmadge died he signed up for WWII and worked designing air bases (?) on Pacific Islands. He contracted an infection that antibiotics would have treated today, and returned home but was ill until he died years later. He still worked, but often with less formal arrangements. Architects would consult with him at home. He also sold many of his designs to others so his name did not end up on the projects. My mother saw a PBS show on Chicago architecture and recognized a number of these architectural sketches as her father's, which she had seen before they were sold.
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