Friday, May 10, 2013

Southern Excursion - a Journey through Chicago Architecture

click images for larger view
Madeleine: ...And what do you do, John?
Scottie: Oh, just wander about.
Madeleine: That's a good occupation.
A beautiful spring day in Chicago is pointless to resist, and so I found myself on my way to Ping Tom Park, my only deliberate destination.  Beyond that, I wandered, letting the streets with the great names  - Emerald, Normal, Lumber - angling and meandering along the river, lead me through a complex city, a working city.  Not the carefully contrived center, but a less planned, more organic architectural chronicle of birth, development, decay, and death or resurrection - pick your door and take your chances.  There's more true history in Bridgeport and Pilsen than in the Loop - they're at a sweet spot remove where developers less often see dollar signs in their eyes contemplating high-rises where old buildings now stand.  No empires are being built here, just life lived day-to-day, in an urban fabric that's endlessly diverse and fascinating, and, at places raw or refined, poignantly beautiful.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lynn: Would you consider tagging the location of these pictures? Some places I can identify, but others I can't place. All of them are intriguing, and I'd like to know more about them.

Lynn Becker said...

image locations:
1. Ping Tom Park
2. Chinatown Square (Harry Weese)
3. Chinese American Service League
(Studio/Gang)
4. Industrial ruins, 18th Street
west of river
5. 18th Street Bridgehouse
6. Administration Building,
Schoehofen Brewery
7. 1826 South Normal
8. Railroad track leading to sofa,
Lumber Street
9. Spindles, Stevenson Expressway,
Cermak underpass
10. Halsted Street bridge
11. Iron Mountain storage facility,
Halsted street
12. Saint Barbara's seen from
Palmisano Park
13. Palmisano Park at
Stearn's Quarry
14. Chicago skyline
15. McGuane Park fieldhouse
16. Car One at 31st street
17. Monastery of the Holy Cross
18. Holden School
19. Lyman Street off of 31st
20. DeHealy Building, Archer Road