tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109232912024-03-17T15:59:56.898-05:00 ArchitectureChicago PLUS<br>
A daily blog on architecture in Chicago, and other topics cultural, political and mineral.
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Click on the COMMENTS link under each post to join the discussion.Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.comBlogger2723125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-24148332321281743612023-06-14T14:02:00.001-05:002023-06-14T14:05:08.437-05:00Chicago's Greatest Memorial? "Monument to Our Stuff" Rises on Division<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz2vZPZpc6tEY0rlhQVGFj7nn9kIOPBps3q55lZnwoYXOE9KQhEJ0MpEcLensex0OLbBNPDiNABMJXe11qosa0GSdSHkah9a6iUiFpjPa__YFzrt2iLfDT75QDh5-sWOutt_KeaKRlJXeD4noCbKgvEHdYwLjok9qR-gzCcrhFPbDvAVc7FnA/s2000/big%20corner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1330" data-original-width="2000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz2vZPZpc6tEY0rlhQVGFj7nn9kIOPBps3q55lZnwoYXOE9KQhEJ0MpEcLensex0OLbBNPDiNABMJXe11qosa0GSdSHkah9a6iUiFpjPa__YFzrt2iLfDT75QDh5-sWOutt_KeaKRlJXeD4noCbKgvEHdYwLjok9qR-gzCcrhFPbDvAVc7FnA/w640-h426/big%20corner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /> "That's the whole meaning of life, isn't it? Trying to find a place for your stuff."</p><p>- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac" target="_blank">George Carlin</a>, 1986</p><p>George was on to us nearly decades ago, but I'm betting even he would be amazed at how managing our stuff has metastasized into a building boom of previously unimaginable proportion, sometimes called the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warehouse-nation-boom-ecommerce-jobs-2022-10?op=1" target="_blank">Warehouse Nation</a>, a triumvirate of self-storage for all the stuff we no longer have room for, data centers for the endless corridors of servers allowing us to order stuff from our sofas, and, to keep all stuff from the manufacturers at ready for the final drop at our doorstep: warehouses. Since 2011, we've built 2.3 billion square feet of them, which, to put it into perspective, would fill up more than a third of the total surface area within the city limits of Chicago.</p><p>By 2022, Chicago had 44 industrial buildings under construction totaling 23.7 million square feet, with a vacancy rate under 7%. Throughout the metro area, structures over a million square feet have become as ubiquitous as 7-11s.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIfsRff_F-hKFeVhrYDCgblMx7WL7tEcuYEhxHcaXcBYB0BMaAFTsREtsXPRomxR-CN3r67NlzyqXFPVgKf5WxslUUJUsbEf6WFjAuYZyFUcCg2plVNwa5OO_9PHsniai2nKxqAIMHa5P2CjMAV4So6Uty5XQnk2F1P1OJGqQSD54_IC74Ao/s2264/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.37.00%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1758" data-original-width="2264" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIfsRff_F-hKFeVhrYDCgblMx7WL7tEcuYEhxHcaXcBYB0BMaAFTsREtsXPRomxR-CN3r67NlzyqXFPVgKf5WxslUUJUsbEf6WFjAuYZyFUcCg2plVNwa5OO_9PHsniai2nKxqAIMHa5P2CjMAV4So6Uty5XQnk2F1P1OJGqQSD54_IC74Ao/w640-h496/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.37.00%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>To be sure, there have been larger warehouses built, and often, but in some ways, the massive structure rising at 1237 West Division may symbolize some kind of apogee. It's not in the suburbs, but in the city. At over 11 acres and the <a href="https://cawleychicago.com/blog/chicago-top-industrial-projects-under-construction/" target="_blank">third largest industrial construction</a> currently going up in Chicago. it's not just sprawling, but the first new warehouse in Chicago to be double-deckered. Huge trucks will drive multiple 300 to 400 foot long ramps, including one coiling inside a round structure at the corner, to access and depart from a second floor 36 feet up. (You can read the Chicago Department of Planning's full document on the project, with floorplans and illustrations, <a href="https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/zlup/Planning_and_Policy/Agendas/cpc_materials/04_2022/1237_W_Division_4_Plan_Commission_PD_Presentation_Project_draft.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5WCPoG8A-8MfIyx7nPK-ZjeXBhG-4n7qrrjqxl3IJ4qJI1aCz1ab1barBmDM_7vQfssUwiDeVHVq8YPleBVMiorZHUd9tVvgzYIlPYKbzLduS7MCDz7ogSm6fg1ZMLTPjB_gatg0_50Vp-zAMwjQgUsJeN_gzdKE6L-BslNjEcjx36nnChA/s2000/division%20wide.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1246" data-original-width="2000" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5WCPoG8A-8MfIyx7nPK-ZjeXBhG-4n7qrrjqxl3IJ4qJI1aCz1ab1barBmDM_7vQfssUwiDeVHVq8YPleBVMiorZHUd9tVvgzYIlPYKbzLduS7MCDz7ogSm6fg1ZMLTPjB_gatg0_50Vp-zAMwjQgUsJeN_gzdKE6L-BslNjEcjx36nnChA/w640-h398/division%20wide.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The overall dimensions are staggering: a quarter-million square feet on each floor, 28 docks on each, plus two 32,000 square-foot mezzanines. The complex stretches a block and a half down Elston, with a 48,000 square foot office component at the warehouse's southeast corner, connecting via a skybridge to a five-level, 431 stall parking garage at the corner of Cortez. Renderings show the main structure's massive roof also devoted to parking. Owner <a href="https://www.1237wdivision.com" target="_blank">Logistic's Property Compan</a>y <a href="https://www.commercialsearch.com/news/logistics-property-lands-150m-for-chicago-project/" target="_blank">secured $150,000,000 </a>in construction funding for the project. Irving, California based <a href="https://www.waremalcomb.com" target="_blank">Ware Malcomb</a>, with offices in Oak Brook, is the architect.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo2PgK8CodnFYL14LLon5ey1cf4FcVpyVXDinCwzU9yQInghhHmxI5WhqFYw2HoTbU35lLFyWrApVMJIrTeAwFf44UZC3m7V5rTd1b1OwO74T-7o1afwJETmVdykz1Bufjvr_aqgbEy-P77RAPTZVrtC9a6ZiSht43xZC2c2WNmxjWQCTCP_c/s2524/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.27.44%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1340" data-original-width="2524" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo2PgK8CodnFYL14LLon5ey1cf4FcVpyVXDinCwzU9yQInghhHmxI5WhqFYw2HoTbU35lLFyWrApVMJIrTeAwFf44UZC3m7V5rTd1b1OwO74T-7o1afwJETmVdykz1Bufjvr_aqgbEy-P77RAPTZVrtC9a6ZiSht43xZC2c2WNmxjWQCTCP_c/w640-h340/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.27.44%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Soon - if it's not happening already - they'll start pouring the concrete for the second level, but on the day of my visit, the full 70-foot height of the interior was visible as a single volume encased in an intense steel grid. It's a truly overwhelming sight, echos of Escher at pharaonic scale.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisfmp-VtEef42TnVrMLPxFKhZQwL2dSMhX5AvvDmSOqbyajTz1r2n9Nk5VsaxRaH8euajkBTllW1XEtAB1O3oEgVxDjcXI6wdM0AC7VRL2sSn4Vt6Zvx_ncUR3g-37dN7BAmUvZN5KGIu1j0kgrRvC2JhA38pMCvhGcfRYvLM-tqiLMF-AEBI/s2000/inside%20with%20floor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisfmp-VtEef42TnVrMLPxFKhZQwL2dSMhX5AvvDmSOqbyajTz1r2n9Nk5VsaxRaH8euajkBTllW1XEtAB1O3oEgVxDjcXI6wdM0AC7VRL2sSn4Vt6Zvx_ncUR3g-37dN7BAmUvZN5KGIu1j0kgrRvC2JhA38pMCvhGcfRYvLM-tqiLMF-AEBI/w640-h480/inside%20with%20floor.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>The life of the site extends all the way back to 1883, when a precursor of Peoples Gas built a manufactured gas plant there. That lasted until 1962, when gas production ended, with the aboveground infrastructure that supported it dismantled and removed. Thereafter Peoples Gas also used the site for a service center, warehouse, and vehicle repair shop.. The bulk of the property was a surface parking lot. In 2020, the buildings providing utility service were moved to a new <a href="https://www.epsteinglobal.com/news/peoples-gas-north-shop-april-2019-construction-progress-update" target="_blank">Logistics Support building</a>, designed by Epstein, on the old Commerce Clearing House site on Peterson west of Pulaski. Peoples Gas razed the buildings closest to Division and sold the property for $55 million.</p><p><a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0505487#bkground" target="_blank">Remediating the toxic element</a>s that accumulated on the site over more than a century - soil, sediment and ground water contamination - proved a massive project in itself. A 2015 clean-up under the State of Illinois Remediation Program excavated to a minimum depth of 3 feet below ground. About 164,000 tons of material and one million gallons of water were removed and disposed of. Total cost exceeded $25 million before any construction could even begin.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIfsRff_F-hKFeVhrYDCgblMx7WL7tEcuYEhxHcaXcBYB0BMaAFTsREtsXPRomxR-CN3r67NlzyqXFPVgKf5WxslUUJUsbEf6WFjAuYZyFUcCg2plVNwa5OO_9PHsniai2nKxqAIMHa5P2CjMAV4So6Uty5XQnk2F1P1OJGqQSD54_IC74Ao/s2264/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.37.00%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1758" data-original-width="2264" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIfsRff_F-hKFeVhrYDCgblMx7WL7tEcuYEhxHcaXcBYB0BMaAFTsREtsXPRomxR-CN3r67NlzyqXFPVgKf5WxslUUJUsbEf6WFjAuYZyFUcCg2plVNwa5OO_9PHsniai2nKxqAIMHa5P2CjMAV4So6Uty5XQnk2F1P1OJGqQSD54_IC74Ao/w640-h496/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.37.00%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Although the project is at the confluence of three major modes of transport, it's not using either its nearness to the river or adjacency to Metra tracks. On the other side of the tracks, however, is the Kennedy expressway, with full on and off ramps both north and southbound. As always, commissioned studies found that there are no projected problems with either added traffic or air pollution.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNfB0flr2vbfQxgMlmyy6lDiQQqPNDWwqjEuY65BxH6cKodhwViFKvxZzGCEjT05l29JwY1KQjr_5z2tn1JHQCjPy7L-ILUNmG59Fbx4CUxfCBZLBv2iKJ0fUrhQNGJDqQ3HusqAV64_AiFZyxUfBZv-dzwFv4OIjB6iKH_EW18-xNVNKN_Pw/s2324/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.27.23%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1306" data-original-width="2324" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNfB0flr2vbfQxgMlmyy6lDiQQqPNDWwqjEuY65BxH6cKodhwViFKvxZzGCEjT05l29JwY1KQjr_5z2tn1JHQCjPy7L-ILUNmG59Fbx4CUxfCBZLBv2iKJ0fUrhQNGJDqQ3HusqAV64_AiFZyxUfBZv-dzwFv4OIjB6iKH_EW18-xNVNKN_Pw/w640-h360/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.27.23%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>In renderings, the facades are grey and utilitarian to the extreme. The original spandrels and openings in the garage structure have, according to the city's Department of Planning, been replaced with metal screening and "public art", still to be unveiled. The DPD claimed credit for changing the color screen from tan/beige to a "modern, neutral palette." A/K/A: grey. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4o0aQIdrGWG_UbHWIFR-UpxCNKvLAqSPVeX-o-fZ0JCdprkBHXLGX4m5PoT7Yg2VjNBeDti0eWpvtz5Rf7rQYxAzB6DS6SWWi9Xvpquqfz-ZXC_sETy0deua58EYhzdrxvyLGC8XwpGMcFhSda8pBoYGDb3IDNHCgiuX5s8M9bhQuGGXBl0/s2434/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.27.34%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="2434" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4o0aQIdrGWG_UbHWIFR-UpxCNKvLAqSPVeX-o-fZ0JCdprkBHXLGX4m5PoT7Yg2VjNBeDti0eWpvtz5Rf7rQYxAzB6DS6SWWi9Xvpquqfz-ZXC_sETy0deua58EYhzdrxvyLGC8XwpGMcFhSda8pBoYGDb3IDNHCgiuX5s8M9bhQuGGXBl0/w640-h354/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-28%20at%204.27.34%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The only consolation to the crushing drabness on epic scale is that it fits right in with its surrounding industrial neighborhood, where the only relief, across Elston, is the Goose Island Overlook and Azul Mariscos.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlonk8en8oWueYzbEe-ApRhWhGMLwgyczL-Lp89h3w_bIaY7BUoO_Ve51YdmJA_ghpnwpEgv0duYUmxadbhQpPa8TZId8OfPQ0d_COhm3_4HQKquC3_TeqN7rNLNT3OUtnOhuFP3Q6X7_ZdCduV07A88gpyqmeRFpsjvfEaR2ogmsIxxGsMA/s2000/overlookazul.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="2000" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlonk8en8oWueYzbEe-ApRhWhGMLwgyczL-Lp89h3w_bIaY7BUoO_Ve51YdmJA_ghpnwpEgv0duYUmxadbhQpPa8TZId8OfPQ0d_COhm3_4HQKquC3_TeqN7rNLNT3OUtnOhuFP3Q6X7_ZdCduV07A88gpyqmeRFpsjvfEaR2ogmsIxxGsMA/w640-h298/overlookazul.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><b>A Brief History of Stuff</b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4TIPaepw9T7QDsLNVQnru9N7oTRi0lVmjqC_DIYHIAWSbSRVg1pvRsMl1hihy1r9GwjA3Z1cQsHsmCQQYIP122xW5-lYSMrush7Io12VWgG2NOIhKZQaAT2bHw1jGd6ixf-bJqe_8SJ7iBxvKfHXtcuwnRvWTibZSXSguHGzo-qFZzsdZ4r8/s1614/POSTCARD%20-%20CHICAGO%20-%20MARSHALL%20FIELDS%20-%20DELIVERY%20HORSES%20LINED%20UpP-%20EARLY.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1033" data-original-width="1614" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4TIPaepw9T7QDsLNVQnru9N7oTRi0lVmjqC_DIYHIAWSbSRVg1pvRsMl1hihy1r9GwjA3Z1cQsHsmCQQYIP122xW5-lYSMrush7Io12VWgG2NOIhKZQaAT2bHw1jGd6ixf-bJqe_8SJ7iBxvKfHXtcuwnRvWTibZSXSguHGzo-qFZzsdZ4r8/w640-h410/POSTCARD%20-%20CHICAGO%20-%20MARSHALL%20FIELDS%20-%20DELIVERY%20HORSES%20LINED%20UpP-%20EARLY.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy The <a href="http://chuckmancollection.blogspot.com/2006/06/blog-post_114946644817407941.html" target="_blank">Chuckman Collection</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Today, we expect the stuff we order to be at our door the same day, or even within a few hours. It's a back-to-the-future kind of thing. A century ago, a store like Marshall Field's had a fleet of delivery trucks ready to speed purchases to customers' residences. The development of the automobile culture changed this dynamic, as department stores, and later shopping malls and big box stores became the new warehouses. The customer relieved the retailer of the cost and took over the burden and expense of delivery, popping our purchases in the trunk for the quick trip home.</p><p>Then Amazon and the internet age changed the equation again. Once upon a time, salespeople were required to take merchandise from behind the counter for our inspection. Then self-service put it all out front. Once, encounters with other people, often annoying and indifferent people, was considered a normal part of life, whether it was dealing with a crowd in a movie theater, or a check-out clerk who could be indifferent or in a snit. </p><p>For the supply chain was about to change that. Efficiency was all. Manufacturing developed the concept of "<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/just-in-time-manufacturing" target="_blank">just-in-time</a>" delivery, receiving materials and parts only hours before they're actually needed. That would have seemed to eliminated the middleman, with delivery direct from one manufacturer to another, but in reality it often meant more warehouses to bring the parts within striking range for "just-in-time" delivery. It required a perfectly humming supply chain. And then the pandemic tore it all to shreds. Ships backed up for weeks in port, supply chain disruptions, delays, shortages.</p><p>By that time, the internet had changed the consumer equation still again. We no longer have to deal with the "other". We simple fire up our browsers, where algorithms seamlessly guide us from choice to choice, an infinity of selection, of every product, from every store, without ever leaving our computer. And we can get it almost instantly, in a lovely cardboard box, without ever having a physical encounter with another human being. Have a craving for Vanilla Fudge Carmel ice cream or to replenish the liquor cabinet at 2 a.m.? There's an app for that. And an almost unimaginably massive supply chain behind it.</p><p>Once, the retailer was the middleman. Now the warehouse is the middleman, the clearing house where everything from everywhere converges all at once for the final journey to slake our desires.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinouIWurPiE5de1y_7ifpyDWusmoaDqwmtvk3CJv4Fl7RWJCTm0ys-DtGhjWHznfFK_h2Ed7Hc107afArTUFBto14A71cHK02lcRwVHCisdxNwQIV-rn-jwF22R4W9RuUT2R7F3S5PbB8JUl_DmOGnvD1E027Arv7kEpxi3K68O9tVGJpwS8Y/s3220/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-14%20at%201.05.04%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2022" data-original-width="3220" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinouIWurPiE5de1y_7ifpyDWusmoaDqwmtvk3CJv4Fl7RWJCTm0ys-DtGhjWHznfFK_h2Ed7Hc107afArTUFBto14A71cHK02lcRwVHCisdxNwQIV-rn-jwF22R4W9RuUT2R7F3S5PbB8JUl_DmOGnvD1E027Arv7kEpxi3K68O9tVGJpwS8Y/w640-h402/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-14%20at%201.05.04%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>A century ago, in Chicago and any other major city, it was common to find factory and warehouse building of six stories or higher. With suburbanization, the evolution of car culture, and the availability of cheaper land, these became obsolete. The new paradigm was the sprawling one-level structure, with no elevators, stairs or chutes to impede the frictionless flow of goods and material through space</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDR4_2igXYtq1M_yLup4UH_0G8d_052ja01J3PbcmBWIXel0aIHl8t-4D9rgP9svDXBRfyw-zwpEc5Nn73kZwkU8X93KLHBtiHf2khZ_uTAJg2uANZ2dKM-_W-FC642uGPhymwj2mPv2en8mRt88PzVLaEo16-IGgrkMx_TzI-OfSeE_9qtR8/s2000/garage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1669" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDR4_2igXYtq1M_yLup4UH_0G8d_052ja01J3PbcmBWIXel0aIHl8t-4D9rgP9svDXBRfyw-zwpEc5Nn73kZwkU8X93KLHBtiHf2khZ_uTAJg2uANZ2dKM-_W-FC642uGPhymwj2mPv2en8mRt88PzVLaEo16-IGgrkMx_TzI-OfSeE_9qtR8/w534-h640/garage.jpg" width="534" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">"Oh, yeah?" counters 1237, with its proud five levels. But you have to wonder if the Great Gray Whale of Division Street is the kind of over-the-top expression that marks an era's giddy peak. Block Club Chicago </span><a href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/06/14/massive-multi-level-distribution-center-near-goose-island-more-than-halfway-complete/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">reports</a><span style="text-align: left;"> no tenants have yet been signed. Elsewhere in Chicago, Amazon has pulled back on two large facilities it commissioned in Bridgeport and Addison, part of a general national retrenchment. It has also indefinitely postponed a planned 26-acre delivery hub warehouse in West Humboldt Park. It's a <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/09/02/amazon-warehouse-expansion-ends-hiring-workers-andy-jassy/" target="_blank">national trend.</a> Will 1237 be a case of, "Suppose they had a great party, but nobody came?"</span></div><p>Often, buildings are at their most interesting when under construction - the finished product can't compete. I'm thinking that'll be the case with 1237. So if you can free up the time, make a trip to Division and Elston while the wonder of the bare bones can still be seen.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRB4hQWLe6-Z4d93E-D7gKPJe5myXvsGF9Oim9x5tkL3SFDy_yfN5i8Ke50y_7RRZMKUNmuaR1sh1nthRojUmjoDLDr0IoqxMLUSp-9Y9iGbawy80siY_LuFFDsa6KYvkDGwsWvFpfGlutsJrs9K28BRlBTXO8OdUxkYFmXY4ybbzokV-t76M/s2000/crane%20from%20river.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRB4hQWLe6-Z4d93E-D7gKPJe5myXvsGF9Oim9x5tkL3SFDy_yfN5i8Ke50y_7RRZMKUNmuaR1sh1nthRojUmjoDLDr0IoqxMLUSp-9Y9iGbawy80siY_LuFFDsa6KYvkDGwsWvFpfGlutsJrs9K28BRlBTXO8OdUxkYFmXY4ybbzokV-t76M/w506-h640/crane%20from%20river.jpg" width="506" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhur0ht19aOyiapFZbts_1rtuJF6oNatD8w-K4DSjAC_uFc9xc6xlbjp90y86x4Jl2MxsRjyM5c5_-OK1JqGj4ftVbw2LcswUUHEgmrVAhnCcm3Wc-9nWEfX-sTeZlgK1tERP2X2azcdahsZBTURvdTOJ8z1GJVyZPQsJGK-uSXoDxI8ufSTPA/s2000/grid%20corner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1327" data-original-width="2000" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhur0ht19aOyiapFZbts_1rtuJF6oNatD8w-K4DSjAC_uFc9xc6xlbjp90y86x4Jl2MxsRjyM5c5_-OK1JqGj4ftVbw2LcswUUHEgmrVAhnCcm3Wc-9nWEfX-sTeZlgK1tERP2X2azcdahsZBTURvdTOJ8z1GJVyZPQsJGK-uSXoDxI8ufSTPA/w640-h424/grid%20corner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg2Hd2_KODpf_9eT3IrWyRQ8tW8E8dYzSkIEExiMpjCTVX81Ik0ql75_T2Z8_8nzyRrPiN7LCrQJ_P2OjEBWsKNu9gM_j8L35LKFcrEUf8Y8g7CZnCipfpAZ9lWMWKuGeILPjlxWYG8QYW25SURoHW8rp4bNMxpaK2tCEwI_2i-KR2ovIv1ds/s2000/grid%20with%20tree.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg2Hd2_KODpf_9eT3IrWyRQ8tW8E8dYzSkIEExiMpjCTVX81Ik0ql75_T2Z8_8nzyRrPiN7LCrQJ_P2OjEBWsKNu9gM_j8L35LKFcrEUf8Y8g7CZnCipfpAZ9lWMWKuGeILPjlxWYG8QYW25SURoHW8rp4bNMxpaK2tCEwI_2i-KR2ovIv1ds/w426-h640/grid%20with%20tree.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOYzUD6-jJ44QSG_sTb3aAQh_T6fK5-fzRjkOWxR_AK83qren94zIFM88QsI0sCo4NTYSjA_Wh0lwfn5puHkt82xu0jyc8a2b9GiPVSv7GmRMg0kHZ-b9xEQ-xY2HdrrF16plPgxOhS98U8Fdcgyto0VuGZhqUhskOuf5gGqIrFzpwqd7x-U/s2000/beams.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOYzUD6-jJ44QSG_sTb3aAQh_T6fK5-fzRjkOWxR_AK83qren94zIFM88QsI0sCo4NTYSjA_Wh0lwfn5puHkt82xu0jyc8a2b9GiPVSv7GmRMg0kHZ-b9xEQ-xY2HdrrF16plPgxOhS98U8Fdcgyto0VuGZhqUhskOuf5gGqIrFzpwqd7x-U/w426-h640/beams.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpuu_EOEDfyCBB5gUmA43v63qdm4afh7TSET6-m6401t6Y5rfWMtfBEkLkOPV8aGXPZWfTgEEcL6Rv8wmdZXKhwIIvgyNy8vLn5m8afiD7gafVTRbm1nKkOPvYPYQDeQR8ooSYLKT_RiKTGpW4Jowq176sWi1BDU3uAsfWInWuCE_0Kk3rf4/s2000/beams%20and%20crane.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpuu_EOEDfyCBB5gUmA43v63qdm4afh7TSET6-m6401t6Y5rfWMtfBEkLkOPV8aGXPZWfTgEEcL6Rv8wmdZXKhwIIvgyNy8vLn5m8afiD7gafVTRbm1nKkOPvYPYQDeQR8ooSYLKT_RiKTGpW4Jowq176sWi1BDU3uAsfWInWuCE_0Kk3rf4/w480-h640/beams%20and%20crane.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvTD4Sjm9yBDpFUJMPNZAn5SGaWjc-30x47jRsxvN4M9nJ07jlA8McPTBzVJYcrkbEozT_FjBGzx-LjdStjbgcAbLrT2VLBm3n5n7nSNwXYEvdHDp1dx428OV8yXFgQ50CCiGZ0HDd-tAdH7AgYxDfXwtsfoa81_zqHJnyJld1wLclLDW2V-U/s2000/crane%20grid%20and%20tree.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvTD4Sjm9yBDpFUJMPNZAn5SGaWjc-30x47jRsxvN4M9nJ07jlA8McPTBzVJYcrkbEozT_FjBGzx-LjdStjbgcAbLrT2VLBm3n5n7nSNwXYEvdHDp1dx428OV8yXFgQ50CCiGZ0HDd-tAdH7AgYxDfXwtsfoa81_zqHJnyJld1wLclLDW2V-U/w640-h426/crane%20grid%20and%20tree.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-7XkgdwX9MxHmX2cIfo18mjsYamCU7V7R_SA55VBajTGKlw_VUY6fc7jnPF1UGB4wU6Hpd9OdPmzpb-ZUFTsi7eqHACuQeZhB83-QyfaLEfHgeu96BvcxjRfagXHTJoTYzRG5YhaxVJPgsEKSDedY5dbVXjS43xkeaF_rc_xcx6lz4RpJP00/s2000/red%20crane.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-7XkgdwX9MxHmX2cIfo18mjsYamCU7V7R_SA55VBajTGKlw_VUY6fc7jnPF1UGB4wU6Hpd9OdPmzpb-ZUFTsi7eqHACuQeZhB83-QyfaLEfHgeu96BvcxjRfagXHTJoTYzRG5YhaxVJPgsEKSDedY5dbVXjS43xkeaF_rc_xcx6lz4RpJP00/w640-h426/red%20crane.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBPUGAPRcGX80VyTnb6eipTNScJJe7uXeJgsM6Rv2dn1-a2eFEGpoyLVKjjuFeiFLHGHNViJbWW4Y9vRGggk-gH_WPYhkQ8ZWrcD8RSU0cllWVfxo37PONvc9QxpGqOUgOMBhHJOIZ5w_yxBV4QRGGhNgiIifxRlRJsspP1sKuf-gGZINBCc/s2000/round%20metra.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBPUGAPRcGX80VyTnb6eipTNScJJe7uXeJgsM6Rv2dn1-a2eFEGpoyLVKjjuFeiFLHGHNViJbWW4Y9vRGggk-gH_WPYhkQ8ZWrcD8RSU0cllWVfxo37PONvc9QxpGqOUgOMBhHJOIZ5w_yxBV4QRGGhNgiIifxRlRJsspP1sKuf-gGZINBCc/w480-h640/round%20metra.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzCzTK_7LxurOA6AI_STqWVZcpIzlOFkPRqGoRglQdDmDb_nU5JLWwr6mI7ExcPUQii66Hlue1hprMTfJASafKyrjpEe732ajLjiIYdRmBMx5mfhbW0Iy7emKDXOJt5ZwLd0SDG3ZWbsDoltl7btyZTSFSZylzA-Dc5XmuapLLe3DxhPA_JE/s2000/inside%20angled.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1509" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzCzTK_7LxurOA6AI_STqWVZcpIzlOFkPRqGoRglQdDmDb_nU5JLWwr6mI7ExcPUQii66Hlue1hprMTfJASafKyrjpEe732ajLjiIYdRmBMx5mfhbW0Iy7emKDXOJt5ZwLd0SDG3ZWbsDoltl7btyZTSFSZylzA-Dc5XmuapLLe3DxhPA_JE/w482-h640/inside%20angled.jpg" width="482" /></a></div><p><b>Digressive, Depressive Epilogue</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKTrKLNf1b-AT5XZkvJOsMkPtbfZ1TWIYbsBoqCreHtxjJSSqkN6yFCmis7mpQF_liQancU5tbAZForketU1SOL6T-jFfLfxDLcZ2KxPygTkegCQEyeyPp_LprkuZz_Yv2Spw1w1j8VSozobgTZ7RIafhDPd3cg8SqXHBuxwK8jOFvHj7PJ0/s2382/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-30%20at%206.13.40%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1486" data-original-width="2382" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKTrKLNf1b-AT5XZkvJOsMkPtbfZ1TWIYbsBoqCreHtxjJSSqkN6yFCmis7mpQF_liQancU5tbAZForketU1SOL6T-jFfLfxDLcZ2KxPygTkegCQEyeyPp_LprkuZz_Yv2Spw1w1j8VSozobgTZ7RIafhDPd3cg8SqXHBuxwK8jOFvHj7PJ0/w640-h400/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-30%20at%206.13.40%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"Why the hell was it I wanted to buy, I wonder", says James Tyrone in a rare, fleeting moment of self-awareness of his compulsive skinflint ways.</p></blockquote><p>Today, the answer would be: "everything". We spend prodigious megawatt hours in searching for bargains on-line, but we're far from cheapskates. Even in our increasingly virtualized world, we remain ever more fecund in the art of physical accumulation. We fill up our ever larger houses, park in the driveway to free up the garage, and then move the overflow to self-storage units - another booming industry. Why? Because we can! Because we must. Marx was off-point. Man is not an economic animal, but a consuming animal. And a hoarding one. Is it because we think if we save everything, it betters the odds that it'll include that one thing we'll need to surrender to buy off death?</p><p>And so we fill the oceans with trash, draw down the water of our rivers, despoil and deplete the earth mining its treasure, fill the air with exhaust that gets our planet closer to the boiling point. Not sure the ultimate destination, but, as long as it lasts, it's an amazing ride.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiB2NZzKi6uBRqiE0UTJwl_JMED3gGVa2V2gPZMZryD6thJOhRLdDN_L3iihOdmbInxYYU-UuWolocdMLhi7vMWGGOPZQNibGzq5ay8w4J13JKT8eLO8iXANbDZ2GMkm21OJ8LkPT4_UlJxAglf3t5dua5Co8FPZ-Gc006JF-pVtChd89Q_A/s1280/MV5BNGViYWVmZWEtZjAxZC00NzgwLTlkOGItOGQ2NjY0YjdkNThmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI3MDk3MzQ@.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiB2NZzKi6uBRqiE0UTJwl_JMED3gGVa2V2gPZMZryD6thJOhRLdDN_L3iihOdmbInxYYU-UuWolocdMLhi7vMWGGOPZQNibGzq5ay8w4J13JKT8eLO8iXANbDZ2GMkm21OJ8LkPT4_UlJxAglf3t5dua5Co8FPZ-Gc006JF-pVtChd89Q_A/w400-h225/MV5BNGViYWVmZWEtZjAxZC00NzgwLTlkOGItOGQ2NjY0YjdkNThmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI3MDk3MzQ@.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"What the Hell was it i wanted to buy, I wonder" said Tyrone, "that was worth . . ."</p></blockquote>Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-20512598721454828272023-05-15T11:50:00.001-05:002023-05-15T11:50:10.019-05:00Chicago: Where Today is Tomorrow's Paradise Lost<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8F44afV_2iGsnT2A-t-3YZSy6esSEcJiwjPoa0FNLJwo42-icpXdiyICUHNICosJdLOGU7PB2VGkW1SYHn1RRIP1IKS_ozbk6kamHCV10je3DCFhbhsWpu_pnaZ3Gs45am7QmpNpSGbpGyxsCKcKk65dUh7YI9VSUJrGFToW-aVg9I1Q8lE/s3480/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-15%20at%2011.30.15%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2540" data-original-width="3480" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8F44afV_2iGsnT2A-t-3YZSy6esSEcJiwjPoa0FNLJwo42-icpXdiyICUHNICosJdLOGU7PB2VGkW1SYHn1RRIP1IKS_ozbk6kamHCV10je3DCFhbhsWpu_pnaZ3Gs45am7QmpNpSGbpGyxsCKcKk65dUh7YI9VSUJrGFToW-aVg9I1Q8lE/w640-h468/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-15%20at%2011.30.15%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Redefining Redlining, an installation by Amanda Williams of 50,000 red tulips in vacant lots along Prairie Avenue</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <br />Brandon Johnson becomes Chicago's mayor today, and already we're being flooded with facile commentary - especially and reliably in the Trib - that this event clinches the doom of the city, an alarmist narrative bullhorned through social media, where the often fact-free snark once confined to exchanges at the corner tavern are blasted out like a National Enquirer headline twenty times a second, everywhere all-at-once. </p><p>Teens run amuck one Saturday on Michigan Avenue? It's all over! Stores close on Michigan Avenue? The apocalypse! Crime and violence? It's never been this bad! Doom! How far have we fallen from paradise!</p><p>Which raises the questions: when exactly was this Lost Paradise from which we've apparently now irremediably separated? </p><p>The 1920's, the boom and then the bust, bank runs, mass unemployment, a city overrun with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_organized_crime_in_Chicago" target="_blank">gang violence</a> and rampant corruption? That lost paradise?<br /><br />The 50's and 60's, when there were seven department stores on State Street, and numerous local chains like Charles Stevens, Lytton's, Maurice L. Rothschild, Chandler shoes, and Evans furs that employed thousands? That bought the ads that sustained the dailies, and made the contributions that kept numerous civic and cultural institutions viable? </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiR6MUNWsfo8Q0fY4K9qJ3BE_83xc5ieZV1g0yU4Saxvb_mz3rEebi7K0ThcUk7UBL_FFmb-hH59I7W0zp_ztIqF-8HjnugJexjLOk07uJwS1ttS-yvGvuh-2djhMTQbDGAiA8JUUnz9E0MQFS2Z33ZD1NngzcLiDoeTgnFLh2tVsJPEzh5Xv0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="1934" data-original-width="2396" height="517" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiR6MUNWsfo8Q0fY4K9qJ3BE_83xc5ieZV1g0yU4Saxvb_mz3rEebi7K0ThcUk7UBL_FFmb-hH59I7W0zp_ztIqF-8HjnugJexjLOk07uJwS1ttS-yvGvuh-2djhMTQbDGAiA8JUUnz9E0MQFS2Z33ZD1NngzcLiDoeTgnFLh2tVsJPEzh5Xv0=w640-h517" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Library School Dropout on Twitter</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <span style="text-align: left;">Those same 50s and 60's when segregation was rife? When Mayor Richard J. Daley made a deal with the devil in taking the millions of dollars and countless jobs that came with Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System initiative, which, contrary to its name, mostly </span><a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/175/ct-chicago-expressways-vintage-chicago-20220612-oz7yukrexfcydoief3c5za5b3y-story.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">became a giant vacuum</a><span style="text-align: left;"> that sucked hundreds of thousands of middle-class whites out of the city for the short trip to suburbs and the promise of spanking new, single-family houses, broad lawns and few or no minorities? </span><a href="http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/147.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Panic peddlers</a><span style="text-align: left;">' self-fulfilling prophecy that the blacks were taking over and you had to sell now - at whatever price - before it was too late. And then those same panic-peddlers turning around and making more millions overcharging Afro-Americans for what soon too often became overcrowded, overpriced housing with little or no maintenance, thereby creating the very same new slums they were warning the bilked, fleeing whites of. Large swatches of which were then burned down in the </span><a href="http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/riots-chicago-1968-mlk/index.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">60's riots</a><span style="text-align: left;">. That lost paradise?</span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCqkHsn6dSsQCkxqmo9DTpfOn2tpfQ1G79eChYAfXvt_6iGjqRbKcKuqvncrRRiT_tvwMLwCm6ivh-4j3NspaFWwcn4MzTulgulwwADGYhoEVTx5peaxacs_hMks9E2FEGuHBaq92wOkJZjPzzTWqSzhoSg3EIJOBowD8GJV0wljH5GStPu0E" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="1746" data-original-width="2344" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCqkHsn6dSsQCkxqmo9DTpfOn2tpfQ1G79eChYAfXvt_6iGjqRbKcKuqvncrRRiT_tvwMLwCm6ivh-4j3NspaFWwcn4MzTulgulwwADGYhoEVTx5peaxacs_hMks9E2FEGuHBaq92wOkJZjPzzTWqSzhoSg3EIJOBowD8GJV0wljH5GStPu0E=w640-h476" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">after the city demolished all the buildings, including several landmarks, on Block 37 in 1989, it remained a vacant lot for over a decade and a half.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Or maybe the 70's and 80's? Water Tower Place opened, along with luxury and flagship stores all down Michigan Avenue, a sparkling "new downtown", and one safe for white people. Because suburban malls were killing off both the Loop and the neighborhood shopping centers that once rivaled it in sales volume. The department stores closed one by one, the local chains were killed off by huge national discount chains and their generic big box warehouses. Where once every new movie had an exclusive-run in one of the Loop's stunning movie palaces, films now opened in first-run circuits of dozens of theaters all across the suburbs, where population was shifting. Kung-Fu and "blaxploitation" double-bills kept the party going for a few more years, and then the theaters downtown simply went out of business. That lost paradise?</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv0TDNVwUXG0W-FktYhg7rdBDnPs-utk2RFqB8dDb_PTTNQ9pmLfahWVLrnKsn39aWHVhi6eT-XR4dP4Wl8_5cfPqFyLPNerSTDVNu0pGuh-HRGpupyYXAvIjmPF9QA-4jy4dtHIn7kejJ2j-O0PYd0jIJYR9p8cbU_RKBQcQzR8TjqlQnxx0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1638" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv0TDNVwUXG0W-FktYhg7rdBDnPs-utk2RFqB8dDb_PTTNQ9pmLfahWVLrnKsn39aWHVhi6eT-XR4dP4Wl8_5cfPqFyLPNerSTDVNu0pGuh-HRGpupyYXAvIjmPF9QA-4jy4dtHIn7kejJ2j-O0PYd0jIJYR9p8cbU_RKBQcQzR8TjqlQnxx0=w437-h640" width="437" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photograph: It's a Beautiful Day in Chicago on Facebook</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Those touting the "good old days" invariably invoke the eras of the sainted name of Daley as their vanished "golden age" when a safe city prospered under their authoritarian but benevolent thumb. They cite 2021's 797 murders as proof that it's never been this bad, and conveniently forget that the <a href="https://illinoisnewsroom.org/by-the-numbers-chicago-murder-count-through-the-years/" target="_blank">number was exceeded</a> in six of seven of Richard J. Daley's last 7 years in office, and six of Richard M. Daley's first seven, hitting an all-time peak of 974 in 1974. That lost paradise?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9mt-c1sEEZ6lKks601yCZHiKxZg8SuikSF6kalv-NVLmyfbhL-wepnqTbJKRE_sj-79VR1KoaG1tAvhR6Km0ntJD0TdRDt5R9rWLuA7iyLHWzCx5M8YHpHLm_Xgb1S0WFvwo-RW_Li7noplq2bHQLQJGeUcpp0lxI5PnqvMdwWsrvL5Qh5sE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="834" data-original-width="2084" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9mt-c1sEEZ6lKks601yCZHiKxZg8SuikSF6kalv-NVLmyfbhL-wepnqTbJKRE_sj-79VR1KoaG1tAvhR6Km0ntJD0TdRDt5R9rWLuA7iyLHWzCx5M8YHpHLm_Xgb1S0WFvwo-RW_Li7noplq2bHQLQJGeUcpp0lxI5PnqvMdwWsrvL5Qh5sE=w640-h256" width="640" /></a></div><br />Cities have always been built out of conflict, which often turns violent. Nothing new here. There were draft riots in cities all across the north during the Civil War. There have been race riots in cities all across America throughout history, with an especially infamous one in Chicago 1919 after a black kid wandered over into the "whites only" section of Lake Michigan and was stoned to death. 729 people were slain "gangland style" in Cook County from 1919 to 1933. "Gangs of New York" wasn't just a movie.<p></p><p>Yet, no matter what Trump and the MAGAs would tell you, it's not a problem exclusive to Democrat-run "hellholes". In 2021, the vast majority of the twelve states with the highest firearm mortality are red states. The rate in Illinois was less than half that of the most dangerous state, Mississippi. To be clear, violent crime is a major problem in Chicago, but the number of murders declined in 2022, and are declining even more so far this year.</p><p>As the growing rows of products kept under lock and key attest, shoplifting remains a major problem for Chicago retailers, but even Walgreen's recently admitted to their shareholders that they may have oversold that narrative. Crime is usually cited when a store pulls up stakes, but most often it's a last straw rather the decisive one. </p><p>The reality is this: Compared to all other regions of the world, the United States has had a surplus of retail for decades. Shopping and strip malls were massively overbuilt, eventually resulting in mass retrenchments, closures and even demolition. The local department store chains that were the bedrock of each city have all but completely disappeared, closed or absorbed into Macy's or another of a shrinking number of mega-chains. Lord & Taylor pulled out of Water Tower Place seventeen years ago, long before Covid or crime became issues. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiV3LbVh1EirNDvEDwsyQ8HT1hJDlYoCibr8ZTLlWxl5MUNs-Zv3-2VxyU9V1aXSdJd8dsIAJZ9LbFNQs53ImXTWhmv_mM8WCwbv_TQNKjQqfbBAMRtCgnDXrlWSxzH21rRT0JuP29Tzqgksr8q5WXGa1eMYqYGv77BlG3YsXFdOuxr-uUqK_w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="1588" data-original-width="2400" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiV3LbVh1EirNDvEDwsyQ8HT1hJDlYoCibr8ZTLlWxl5MUNs-Zv3-2VxyU9V1aXSdJd8dsIAJZ9LbFNQs53ImXTWhmv_mM8WCwbv_TQNKjQqfbBAMRtCgnDXrlWSxzH21rRT0JuP29Tzqgksr8q5WXGa1eMYqYGv77BlG3YsXFdOuxr-uUqK_w=w640-h424" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Borders Michigan Avenue superstore closes after only 16 years in business</td></tr></tbody></table><br />For a brief period, North Michigan Avenue was heaven for book lovers. In Water Tower Place, there was the iconic Kroch & Brentano's, and the two-level Rizzoli store with its handsome wood furnishings and beautiful art books. Down the street was the idiosyncratic bookstore of Stuart Brent, with his ties to local authors and great selection of stuffed animals in the basement. Britain's Waterstones added a huge flagship just off Michigan. Then, in 1995, a Borders superstore set up shop across from Water Tower in what was originally the Bonwit Teller department store. Within 18 months, all the other bookstores were gone.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgp0_LtR7iEkSDftc_tpQOyTFepfR5li1F0TLAKLfFreR4LqEdfR_cf49hz3faVTO2Zid0Gt0aP8n25n82q5vZ9nq80jSCIyzk6Qnt_A5Lj9Oe6QxNaEIaf10428gnIivVIth7n_YK2EPRyFKjAtVxwxBqbZzxMsaz37uk4Sw2935ZMHp5NHYc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1778" data-original-width="2366" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgp0_LtR7iEkSDftc_tpQOyTFepfR5li1F0TLAKLfFreR4LqEdfR_cf49hz3faVTO2Zid0Gt0aP8n25n82q5vZ9nq80jSCIyzk6Qnt_A5Lj9Oe6QxNaEIaf10428gnIivVIth7n_YK2EPRyFKjAtVxwxBqbZzxMsaz37uk4Sw2935ZMHp5NHYc=w640-h482" width="640" /></a></div><br />This is how it works in this, our age of the supply chain. It's all about consolidation, commoditization, and supersizing. Sears and Wards and their catalogues wiped out thousands of Mom & Pop general stores, just as the great Chicago department stores would wipe out the small retailers along Lake Street. Big box discounters destroyed most department store chains. Louis Sullivan's ornate <a href="https://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2012/07/white-and-red-and-louis-all-over-target.html" target="_blank">Carson Pirie Scott is now a Target</a>. Amazon caught Sears and everyone else napping, and pretty much ate their lunch. Small, quirky bookstores were decimated by the rise of chains like Kroch's, which, in turn, were destroyed by superstores like Borders, Crown and Barnes & Noble. And then Borders collapsed under its own weight, and we're back to quirky bookstores again. And LPs outselling CD's. Go figure.<p></p><p>Just as in Manhattan, where the Ladies Mile emporiums were replaced by Macy's and Gimbels at Herald Square, Chicago's retail center shifted from the Loop to North Michigan, and - no matter what anyone may claim - no one really knows where it goes next. For what it's worth, the luxury retailers along Oak and Rush appear to be doing fine.</p><p>Transitions in cities are, inevitably, worrisome and painful, nowhere more cogently expressed than in our current disconnect between the city of Chicago getting ready to hand hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks to developers to make apartments out of emptying 1920's towers on LaSalle street, while a completely new city full of skyscrapers rises in Fulton Market. As always, the demand from banks and law firms for offices in sparkling new buildings is usually less a matter of necessity than prestige and vanity. (see: the destruction of Natalie de Blois's 52-story, recently completely rehabbed 270 Park Avenue in Manhattan for Jamie Dimon's $3 billion Ozymandian tower.) </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggNMcjJaCSnxy5QCiSIXZlEFvfmhW2hsFpNSwQ6XYlTFH_FJeTwtcM_cwO67JRWE7RtJvKwbpFYHhwA-HAYMGV7VW52bkkbAq1nXYLJj62-t3waSNXQADURAFXJ0cAWiN0s-oygEn2Tf_IXeWg2n5-dR0_IX018h_VGfDtc2cazTGw2EHRO9s" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="1588" data-original-width="2420" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggNMcjJaCSnxy5QCiSIXZlEFvfmhW2hsFpNSwQ6XYlTFH_FJeTwtcM_cwO67JRWE7RtJvKwbpFYHhwA-HAYMGV7VW52bkkbAq1nXYLJj62-t3waSNXQADURAFXJ0cAWiN0s-oygEn2Tf_IXeWg2n5-dR0_IX018h_VGfDtc2cazTGw2EHRO9s=w640-h420" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photograph: Vanished Chicago on Facebook</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Paradise? I try not to live in the past, but memories endure.. When I was a kid, we lived on Racine near Belmont, in an attic apartment atop a frame three-story. On the first floor were the Lagenbergs, of whom we no longer spoke other than about the parties they used to have in the unfinished basement. On the second was Mrs. Johnson, an elderly Swedish lady who lived there with her son, who after getting kicked in the head in a fight kept pretty much to himself. Nearby, Lincoln & Belmont was our downtown, with Wieboldt's and Goldblatt's department stores, Maurice L. Rothschild, Stylebilt Hilton, and Hirsh, name in huge letters on its vitrolite corner sign. There was a Woolworth and a Kresge's across the street from each other. Once, I decided to run away from home and called our number from the Meyer's pharmacy on Ashland to let my mom know. She never picked up the phone, so I just went back.<p></p><p>While our entire extended family - grandparents, aunts and uncles - made the move to the suburbs, my folks bought a house in Albany Park, where Lawrence Avenue was lined with great deli's, the Terminal movie palace, Dutch Mill candies, Bresler's Ice Cream (run by a lovely older couple for whom the shop was obviously a lifelong dream), Maury's Hot Dogs, clothing stores, Schwartz's girdles. And as soon as we moved in, the Jews began moving out. (I didn't take it personally.) Little by little, all those wonderful places were gone, many moved to Devon Avenue which, after a few decades, they abandoned as well. So it goes.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxGGXm0lGk_h29JSsTnB-Z2kRWfyaLOCVX_tVZdBtJhhjqKY_TbyU8GsdMNMMYb51LpTfpsT8Otz7sTiKCFd7r48zVnQGrJUria7XorKGcqY-2XBlAcL62haxVbQq1PBbQPHiDNt2MXHiMTNROmGtva6p6NqJlxcMSb32URdueJhpaa5ltMfc" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="1308" data-original-width="2388" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxGGXm0lGk_h29JSsTnB-Z2kRWfyaLOCVX_tVZdBtJhhjqKY_TbyU8GsdMNMMYb51LpTfpsT8Otz7sTiKCFd7r48zVnQGrJUria7XorKGcqY-2XBlAcL62haxVbQq1PBbQPHiDNt2MXHiMTNROmGtva6p6NqJlxcMSb32URdueJhpaa5ltMfc=w640-h350" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">still from the 1964 film, Goldstein</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Almost every Saturday I took the L downtown to see a movie at the one of the Loop's incredible palaces. The projectionist's union was strong, so there was always a 9 a.m. show. My grandmother took me to see It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World at the McVickers and I never recovered. The theatre was clean, modern, and luxurious. The seats were reserved and sold in advance. Ushers still guided you to your seat. I waited expectantly for the start, but there was no image, only the sound of an overture with the full L.A. Philharmonic coming through the state-of-the-art stereo system as vividly as if they were in the room. Then, the plush red curtains parted to reveal the bold, saturated colors of Saul Bass's brilliant line-art title sequence filling every inch of the massive, three-panel Cinerama screen, leading into stunning copter shots of a speeding car on a California desert highway. My lifelong love of both The Movies and classical music began on that day.<p></p><p>Paradise is a narcotic, an idealized vision of a perfect past from which we're always in free-fall. Time is like a river flowing endlessly through the universe and, Helen Heraclitus notwithstanding, you can't step into the same river twice. Things change.</p><p>What William Goldman once said about Hollywood - "Nobody Knows Anything" - holds equally true when it comes to Chicago's future. With all we've gone through since our founding, I seriously doubt Brandon Johnson will single-handedly be our final undoing. He's just one part, good or bad, of a much larger, infinitely complex dynamic shaping what's to come, what might be.</p><p>One thing I do know - 100%. There is ZERO value in letting intelligent commentary about Chicago's problems and future drown in the bottomless sea of unrelenting, mindless snark, even if out of such narratives, political movements grow. </p><p>MAGA metastasizes rural America's traditional distrust and hatred of cities. The small-town America Paradise where everyone looks like yourself, and acts like yourself, and differences aren't a problem because they're neither encouraged or even allowed. Spurn the immigrants. Jail the drag queens. Bully the transgenders. Burn the books. We are all alike. We will not be replaced. Chicago is one big shooting gallery; it's emptying out as everybody moves to New Jerusalem Paradise (Florida, Texas, et. al.)</p><p>The polemic spun from such a mindset is not to be trusted. By its very nature, it abhors cities, which, like Chicago, are created to reconcile the irreconcilable: different races, different nationalities, different religions, different genders, different viewpoints, different priorities and goals. Not perfectly, often with brutality, sometimes with violence, but cities contain multitudes. We are not all alike, but we are all together. And that's worth fighting for.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-8kkFBpTQcJ6JeH8tkEFe99btL73OkiVyJqb_nmfrwu4V45WJXmYTURHCX4hyUu_5ilDVr-zQSxpi5hDv58cRdFJjWGM7KxspOueJsXCVzda5gcL3KqA3Hh5T8h2Occ6pNnrukZNL_cwXFVT9JibXbj-op6qTjqYG2fdLqN6UAt4Dxs6htA/s2328/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-15%20at%2011.37.23%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2328" data-original-width="1820" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-8kkFBpTQcJ6JeH8tkEFe99btL73OkiVyJqb_nmfrwu4V45WJXmYTURHCX4hyUu_5ilDVr-zQSxpi5hDv58cRdFJjWGM7KxspOueJsXCVzda5gcL3KqA3Hh5T8h2Occ6pNnrukZNL_cwXFVT9JibXbj-op6qTjqYG2fdLqN6UAt4Dxs6htA/w500-h640/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-15%20at%2011.37.23%20AM.png" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/restoration-artwork" target="_blank">Restoration</a>, a sculpture by Milton Mizenburg Jr. "named in honor of the recent transformation of its surrounding Oakland community."</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p>Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-91156743391866175682023-04-26T14:45:00.005-05:002023-04-26T14:45:39.075-05:00On a Neglected Landscape, Amanda Williams Creates a Powerful, Beautiful Statement - with Tulips<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwIOYYXT3N4gbZ-badCkMJaD2a_GYiNEQUzvHBfXo-kwS_2-f_NGJEZbCCTACFlVgf5BEPtXM8ynyeKu0h2R-OntUU93vBxcNWm5SwFB_UyfSB-sPYHPaG7SXbFT0St971myB8nNkny55_al5VTHDL40fBSepaCNtgP6_DFlJx__Gt-9Srlc/s2000/williams%20aerial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwIOYYXT3N4gbZ-badCkMJaD2a_GYiNEQUzvHBfXo-kwS_2-f_NGJEZbCCTACFlVgf5BEPtXM8ynyeKu0h2R-OntUU93vBxcNWm5SwFB_UyfSB-sPYHPaG7SXbFT0St971myB8nNkny55_al5VTHDL40fBSepaCNtgP6_DFlJx__Gt-9Srlc/w640-h480/williams%20aerial.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Traveling on the CTA's Green Line means looking at greystones and other classic buildings standing amidst vast tracts of vacant lots, most empty since the destruction of the 1960's riots.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3E-oYXwdJ-cjZ_R2GimSPahVlfOS7-8lb_fmRpYQFJ0xHTRusfPytARP93Tmtt2SS-s9i3hOR60jkPjTcit-7SUqw_oD5w2P4LZqG9POehEPJaa99QOl3qmbR2IrkZS0mcBlqXJg8YfKUtNACBdDzxRZlc308UDH-H25RgWOhgyMcw1EXaU/s2000/williams%20apartment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3E-oYXwdJ-cjZ_R2GimSPahVlfOS7-8lb_fmRpYQFJ0xHTRusfPytARP93Tmtt2SS-s9i3hOR60jkPjTcit-7SUqw_oD5w2P4LZqG9POehEPJaa99QOl3qmbR2IrkZS0mcBlqXJg8YfKUtNACBdDzxRZlc308UDH-H25RgWOhgyMcw1EXaU/w640-h480/williams%20apartment.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br />On several of those vacant lots around Prairie and 53rd, Chicago artist Amanda Williams has created a remarkable installation of sprawling beds of 100,000 red tulips. Lovely in themselves, the work's title "Redefining Redlining" tips off its greater meaning, the long era where banks deliberately starved of investment the areas most in need of it.</span><p></p><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEILwE4srFQzLZnmmf3lenqRguzxDxpxS1qvGzQAWBxI0jo1RO3E8B5ifZRRoXDtPecZhdkKFzYAlYi_S-j-fXW2_AIytxea2B_qUoZzn5m7Pyw9rHRFtRYIuZ0kDRux9zcdzFI4IV82sgW-QNoCu9gP7Uhw0yP-2vkt35j3q8JBe6be9-Gwc/s2000/williams%20tulip%20tracks%2020230424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEILwE4srFQzLZnmmf3lenqRguzxDxpxS1qvGzQAWBxI0jo1RO3E8B5ifZRRoXDtPecZhdkKFzYAlYi_S-j-fXW2_AIytxea2B_qUoZzn5m7Pyw9rHRFtRYIuZ0kDRux9zcdzFI4IV82sgW-QNoCu9gP7Uhw0yP-2vkt35j3q8JBe6be9-Gwc/w480-h640/williams%20tulip%20tracks%2020230424.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />"We're planting the tulips in the shape of houses that should exist, "Williams told the Chicago Sun-Times, adding that she also took her inspiration from Dutch tulip mania of the 1600s, a craze in which, at is peak, a single flower sold for the price of a house, before values collapsed.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /></span></span><br /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKX8GP5fc9ww7yztPck3NuUThSiYiXIyxRHupudA6dU0hzybI4M-_Vfjj9Jl5pozpxr4hKG_4vBOpskP2Ax_OKWmrQBvlKJRODVdQbid0B3QL4wivchdmbLaIk3CbtRIDPafDAJ6NF5ltLXUumHf-yY7oIz0y9wGx7iR0Y0Tb4OpOiZXirKUk/s2146/williams%20bethesda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2146" data-original-width="2000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKX8GP5fc9ww7yztPck3NuUThSiYiXIyxRHupudA6dU0hzybI4M-_Vfjj9Jl5pozpxr4hKG_4vBOpskP2Ax_OKWmrQBvlKJRODVdQbid0B3QL4wivchdmbLaIk3CbtRIDPafDAJ6NF5ltLXUumHf-yY7oIz0y9wGx7iR0Y0Tb4OpOiZXirKUk/w596-h640/williams%20bethesda.jpg" width="596" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Yrq4T3hLg_Xk2iLJsInQko0iVhj7_ZxNh7dE4pEVB1nFKiwJBg3ihff-jxJdMNOvBaNuXEmOjgvwOVOSTOx0aD0Sgn_P17nYqyYK5H-nCWWzlrFEkF7JZVoADy3w1-W5JTe4DXaYMWDXjXC9K-rdBqKQdn1w0-n7nPAHHR7YeNYp2LXxktY/s2000/williams%20bethesda%20detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Yrq4T3hLg_Xk2iLJsInQko0iVhj7_ZxNh7dE4pEVB1nFKiwJBg3ihff-jxJdMNOvBaNuXEmOjgvwOVOSTOx0aD0Sgn_P17nYqyYK5H-nCWWzlrFEkF7JZVoADy3w1-W5JTe4DXaYMWDXjXC9K-rdBqKQdn1w0-n7nPAHHR7YeNYp2LXxktY/w640-h480/williams%20bethesda%20detail.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzn2PjPkGo8lfC1OIQd19YrLK-4K9JFjxksWk25VX7_XMGiW4JV1tPDcyYgbU3fuEY5FNAIiZK_pwOjBE4SJSH0wMpNTHlzxtxGgRY7pK12Pw_zJ3vxUieCw7WKSxPxdbWlxcV6hi0nnkKoEyZDK2iR0xOqrF9ORIx6sI2fJKMhd5YF8RemVQ/s2000/williams%20comiskey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzn2PjPkGo8lfC1OIQd19YrLK-4K9JFjxksWk25VX7_XMGiW4JV1tPDcyYgbU3fuEY5FNAIiZK_pwOjBE4SJSH0wMpNTHlzxtxGgRY7pK12Pw_zJ3vxUieCw7WKSxPxdbWlxcV6hi0nnkKoEyZDK2iR0xOqrF9ORIx6sI2fJKMhd5YF8RemVQ/w480-h640/williams%20comiskey.jpg" width="480" /></a></div></div>A few blocks away from the plantings is Alfred Alschuler's 1914 B'Nai Sholom Temple, which became Greater Bethesda Baptist only decades later. Nearby is the George Maher designed mansion that eventually became home to White Sox owner Charles Comiskey.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOJ8Z0QxrH3JaHe4xqV1wfkwhx89FXkhA2RXbU7-p9ZUOHOT7dT59L62PxP18rolzIsnVlXOkUTPFHS0LWvAYTY-UYWPzUZZnGx0jR6yznkgqMekkZTG14OVlalReaHTmNVj2Ds3987LbKwS_Dcf9r_EFGonVJrIjyqcSmgGZqGld2tQIMpU/s2000/williams%20greystone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOJ8Z0QxrH3JaHe4xqV1wfkwhx89FXkhA2RXbU7-p9ZUOHOT7dT59L62PxP18rolzIsnVlXOkUTPFHS0LWvAYTY-UYWPzUZZnGx0jR6yznkgqMekkZTG14OVlalReaHTmNVj2Ds3987LbKwS_Dcf9r_EFGonVJrIjyqcSmgGZqGld2tQIMpU/w480-h640/williams%20greystone.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Good bones" exist in the area's surviving buildings. Slowly, very slowly, new infill construction is filling in the gaps, but the emptiness remains. In Williams's flowerbeds, in its symbolism of past injustice expressed in visual delight, a terrible beauty is born, and a better future foreseen.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" /><a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/4/21/23689614/tulips-redefining-redlining-amanda-williams-artist-washington-park-planted-53rd-prairie">https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/4/21/23689614/tulips-redefining-redlining-amanda-williams-artist-washington-park-planted-53rd-prairie</a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih_epR3iyspo4vvn39u4pY9x3KYYIMGzcyC8LYn_cDyHMwOM1jhUyAXSZGM1ZVC3IwDTmwxEChduw__TFi17gLZ6t7TWzqXBijtxYfDAorqEUVDr4Fnbd1DW1kThyTG8HOgJac4Xqg1ZNmFAZJ6u9sszdm8Sq1CeVmJRhclDgI5UwuyD03pdA/s2000/williams%20cu%20widely%20spacedjpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQ0rUKUOFSVe9FUYRv7QikBWK3N71l3hZARgWMVZwXT6hgp01X0b2O7d1I4csKDWIwFaNCMA_vmaIDcNCtM1ztBwAl0uqa0hEs2dQFAp0OztYqUJHgEC3bpbEeFXAriaeN8YET-pL-tbeA-NkKeFvJf49r6yvxg_tcrhNUHXNAZ_3SytWZmw/s2000/williams%20yellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQ0rUKUOFSVe9FUYRv7QikBWK3N71l3hZARgWMVZwXT6hgp01X0b2O7d1I4csKDWIwFaNCMA_vmaIDcNCtM1ztBwAl0uqa0hEs2dQFAp0OztYqUJHgEC3bpbEeFXAriaeN8YET-pL-tbeA-NkKeFvJf49r6yvxg_tcrhNUHXNAZ_3SytWZmw/w640-h480/williams%20yellow.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-10374809326131072452023-03-29T23:59:00.002-05:002023-04-01T10:59:39.457-05:00On Chicago's Mayoral runoffA very long time ago, I sat in the 39th ward headquarters and watched George McGovern give his last pre-election speech on TV. And I began, inwardly, to cry. Not because he spoke eloquently and from the heart about what was at stake, about the lives lost and mutilated by a senseless war, although he did. I cried because it suddenly hit me. <i>It didn’t matter</i>. Justice, healing, stopping the slaughter – it didn’t matter.<div><br /></div><div>What mattered was that George McGovern had a high-pitched voice and spoke like you imagined a teacher in a one-room schoolroom would. He spoke to the better angels of our nature. He was a loser.</div><div>Richard Nixon was a master in speaking to our fears and appetite for vengence. He was a realist, the emperor of silent majority "normal". He was a "capable administrator." He was a winner. (Like Al Capone and tax evasion, he would be brought down not by his mass murders, but for common grift in violating the niceties of democracy.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Last night I was hit once again by that same emotion as I thought of next week's election. We're afraid of crime. I get it. We're all for the underdog, but uneasy about what might happen if the usual elite isn't in charge. I get that, too. Everyone loves a winner, and a guy only a handful of voters could stomach when he ran for governor has become the Great White Hope now that's he's running one-on-one against an uppity, Afro-American official of a powerful union. I get that, as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>That there are real differences in policy between the two candidates may explain why so many political establishment figures are falling over themselves to get on the Vallas bandwagon, but not the warmth of the embrace. It takes a large dollop of basic dishonesty to make-believe you don't see the facts of a "life-long" Democrat who seems most comfortable exchanging MAGA slurs with far-right radio hosts, or the "able administrator" who tends to leave behind messes each time he jumps from city to city like a traveling salesman keeping one step ahead of a process server, or the "take-charge guy" who says he knows nothing and blames everyone else each time his campaign is exposed endorsing racist and offensive statements. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Paul Vallas supported by public education destroyer Betty DeVos and Trumpist FOP head John Cantazara? The man who called Trump's impeachment a "witchhunt? Hey, that's some other guy. The false Dimitri. </div><div><br /></div><div>We want to be safe. We want to be sure. And once we buy into a pitchman's spiel that his elixir is the only thing standing between us and affliction, we're disinclined to look behind the curtain.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, yeah, I'm betting Vallas will win comfortably next Tuesday. And, yes, a part of me will be relieved Brandon Johnson didn't get in. The rest of me will just be disgusted.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /> <br />
<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">\</div><br /><br /></div></div></div>Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-53119367191300541332022-12-09T14:27:00.000-06:002022-12-09T14:27:04.540-06:00A Letter to the GSA Opposing the Proposed Demolition of the Century and Consumers Buildings<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6_HF9VUII6N2In8ciaqIFRMOBGlNepyMKogyy-DuKQV9px_jWXkLvbqg6eEfHhX4kARXCTtS_hSIAHJtP5VQ48FQddqTW3qnge2SmJ8o1qmU6rsoxZMW6ANo_0DY1JURPt6gNeQqMiCbdnt68gh33-chFSQXmkM85MuEk77xhTBWvQro5N4/s2398/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%202.18.43%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1506" data-original-width="2398" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6_HF9VUII6N2In8ciaqIFRMOBGlNepyMKogyy-DuKQV9px_jWXkLvbqg6eEfHhX4kARXCTtS_hSIAHJtP5VQ48FQddqTW3qnge2SmJ8o1qmU6rsoxZMW6ANo_0DY1JURPt6gNeQqMiCbdnt68gh33-chFSQXmkM85MuEk77xhTBWvQro5N4/w640-h402/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%202.18.43%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <br />I am writing to strongly oppose the proposal to demolish two classic skyscrapers in downtown Chicago. This proposal is unacceptable on several levels.<p></p><p>1. The Consumers and Century buildings are indispensable landmark-quality structures that typify Chicago architecture. The Consumers is from the distinguished Chicago firm of Mundie and Jensen, and is an elegant terra-cotta clad tower that typifies the great Chicago architect Louis Sullivan 's definition of a skyscraper as "a proud and soaring thing". The Century Building is from another historic firm, Holabird & Roche, and marks the transition from the original Chicago School or architecture, to Art Deco. It's Neo-Manueline terra cotta ornament is unique. It holds down its corner with power and grace.</p><p>2. The Security justifications for demolition of these buildings are, to be frank, specious. While one never wants to minimize the concerns of members of our Judiciary, those concerns cannot be allowed to govern policy solely on the grounds, not of reality, but of power.</p><p>The Consumers and Century are claimed to be an existential threat to Federal employees, yet only yards from the Dirksen building stands the Berghoff restaurant building, whose roof would provide a dangerous staging area for those looking to inflict harm. More to the point, directly across the street is the Citadel Center, a glass-clad tower whose south facade opens vistas directly into the windows of the Dirksen Building. As Citadel is winding down its Chicago operations, the possibility of unoccupied floors grows.</p><p>Even more importantly, the range of a common hunting rifle extends up to 400 yards, a long-range rifle double that distance, which means the same threat claimed to be presented by the Consumers and Century is also presented from a large number of tall buildings, privately-controlled, on the periphery of the Dirksen Building, including the glass-facaded former Home Federal Building on State (which ironically would have a clear view of the Dirksen Courthouse should the Consumers and Century be demolished), the Bankers Building (many floors of which are dedicated to transient hotel rooms), the Edison, Marquette and former Continental Bank buildings. This, of course, would also apply to a terrorist seeking to launch an incendiary device.</p><p>The Consumers and Century Buildings have lived in peaceful co-existence for over half a century, ever since the Dirksen building opened in 1964. There has never been, at least in Chicago, a single federal judge or employee killed or injured from a sniper shooting from outside their building. The sad reality is that in the one case where the family members of a judge were tragically murdered, it was not at a work site, but at their residence. In the case of incendiary devices, it should be remembered that Timothy McVeigh did not drive into the Alfred P. Murrah building to destroy it, but simply parked next to it on the street.</p><p>Benjamin Franklin famously wrote that a nation willing to trade away liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither Liberty nor Safety. To apply this to the present case, what is being proposed is trading two essential pieces of Chicago's urban fabric for a "security" that is both illusionary and dangerous.</p><p>3. Both structures are essential contributors to the State Street Streetwall. Although the promise is to replace them with a park, their demolition would be the equivalent to the wholesale damage done to the center cities of the United States by destroying historic structures for parking lots, like pulling front teeth and replacing them only with painted gums. More to the point, the proposal to change the Dirksen Building entrance to one off of that State Street park would destroy the entire concept another famed architect, Mies van der Rohe, developed for the Federal Center, in which all three buildings - the Dirksen Kluczynski and Post Office - revolve around the great plaza on Dearborn Street to create a sustaining civic space.</p><p>4. The GSA was already at the point of approving a developer's plan to restore the Consumers and Century buildings as residential structures, when, inexplicably, the rug was pulled out from under them at the last minute. Despite the GSA's long, often indefensible, laundry list of provisos in its request for comments, I still believe that was a viable plan, with security requiring approval - or even control - by the GSA.</p><p>However, local preservationists have presented proposals that meet all of those provisos, turning the buildings into document archives and other back-office operations, with the GSA in full control of security including removal of windows and other modifications where required that do not vandalize basic design integrity. The GSA should accept these proposals. The $52 million already earmarked for their destruction should more than cover the cost.</p><p>5. Conclusion.</p><p>Even a quick glance at the GSA's massive portfolio of properties demonstrates its proud history of enhancing America's cities with superior buildings, including both Mies's Federal Center, and, more recently the award-winning replacement for the Murrah Building designed by another great architect, Carol Ross Barney. The destruction of the Consumers and Century would stand in stark opposition to everything the GSA's historic legacy stands for. </p><p>We can do better. We must do better. Save, repurpose and restore the Consumers and Century buildings.</p><p>Sincerely,</p><p>Lynn Becker</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Us0_wE4F3eE6ZHgun-uLcSDL-HSl4dM_rTIao1woYFjmaueMSGt0GlsD_s8VMcXe5qvoDIsNI0EVN7_AzcjuD5FyZ0zMwQbv5Rbvi5tUElPyoR0OSwR3kyb-VfIIAjsqOwuxZYkbPGcuOKVgaLPnnMqVdxk5widT31mF0rfMg4jI1I8JwRc/s1828/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-07%20at%2011.18.12%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1828" data-original-width="1788" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Us0_wE4F3eE6ZHgun-uLcSDL-HSl4dM_rTIao1woYFjmaueMSGt0GlsD_s8VMcXe5qvoDIsNI0EVN7_AzcjuD5FyZ0zMwQbv5Rbvi5tUElPyoR0OSwR3kyb-VfIIAjsqOwuxZYkbPGcuOKVgaLPnnMqVdxk5widT31mF0rfMg4jI1I8JwRc/w391-h400/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-07%20at%2011.18.12%20AM.png" title="Illustration #1: Distance between Dirksen and Berhoff buildings" width="391" /></a></div>Illustration #1: distance between Dirksen and Berghoff buildings<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflPOj92o86GdxrAoUwPggWVXMX3ZuKMKZlfizXJMY_nMzWiNCuKxRyssz86MxPKBC4Nh1Az1hjpr7N_eFd9gpVunoN9KUr7kAlQdW-cej5M5T46M4X9R7uXeX1tgnOl5a6klJkMiT-TkEIoDXlPpbukif2qRhGtOlz_4Wmy8L4p83_RmVKJE/s2294/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-07%20at%2011.18.27%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1668" data-original-width="2294" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflPOj92o86GdxrAoUwPggWVXMX3ZuKMKZlfizXJMY_nMzWiNCuKxRyssz86MxPKBC4Nh1Az1hjpr7N_eFd9gpVunoN9KUr7kAlQdW-cej5M5T46M4X9R7uXeX1tgnOl5a6klJkMiT-TkEIoDXlPpbukif2qRhGtOlz_4Wmy8L4p83_RmVKJE/w640-h466/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-07%20at%2011.18.27%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>Illustration #2: distance between Citadel Center and Dirksen Building (Century Building in far distance right)<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div></div>Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-54999444185239697842022-01-28T11:26:00.001-06:002022-02-09T23:38:35.413-06:00It's Delicious! It's Colorful! It's Fun! It's Plastic! Only through Sunday, The Plastic Bag Store comes to the Wrigley Building.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-Vy9YizCWjPu6w1eBUkT1rGHdUlDUbjLrhNGK76me9Vj6rFZCmx9pVEKR_AUEJqRSFjAPennkH1JHOMzo4p1klP7gMBJETmIBbL4NmaEh_DhC5S98yqj47IcWkk1IIQC9mXmORkhnBYrtaVFN4yriRhyESJ3t-B5LoYgYQbC_JCg-mzw2dCA=s2218" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1448" data-original-width="2218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-Vy9YizCWjPu6w1eBUkT1rGHdUlDUbjLrhNGK76me9Vj6rFZCmx9pVEKR_AUEJqRSFjAPennkH1JHOMzo4p1klP7gMBJETmIBbL4NmaEh_DhC5S98yqj47IcWkk1IIQC9mXmORkhnBYrtaVFN4yriRhyESJ3t-B5LoYgYQbC_JCg-mzw2dCA=s600" width="600" /></a></div>You have only through Sunday to see weird, wacky, very fun, but far from frivolous <a href="https://www.theplasticbagstore.com/see-it" target="_blank">The Plastic Bag Store</a> at the Wrigley Building. The "anchor attraction" of this year's <a href="https://chicagopuppetfest.org" target="_blank">Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival</a>, The store is stocked entirely with very real looking fruit, vegetables, fish and pastries, and packaged goods for parody brands - all made of washed and repurposed plastic bags and trash.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoIly8qOn0N5A3grFhVtLqL5IVIhebEXu2MZJnii9s6su7gVg4q2R0kduWgn-_fIx9ZQcfdBKcvIrPPv7t8CnGR6hnMK15UKSD160WsYbikIjp8L0QsHYtFajmJdpdrTJiIUK_Ir8EDFQYdum_sRA-EG-HPwwwu422gEEbsIXqzstL_6oYUu8=s2280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1682" data-original-width="2280" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoIly8qOn0N5A3grFhVtLqL5IVIhebEXu2MZJnii9s6su7gVg4q2R0kduWgn-_fIx9ZQcfdBKcvIrPPv7t8CnGR6hnMK15UKSD160WsYbikIjp8L0QsHYtFajmJdpdrTJiIUK_Ir8EDFQYdum_sRA-EG-HPwwwu422gEEbsIXqzstL_6oYUu8=w640-h472" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The creation of a <a href="https://www.theplasticbagstore.com/artists" target="_blank">team</a> headed by Brooklyn-based designer, puppeteer and filmmaker <a href="http://www.robinfrohardt.com" target="_blank">Robin Frohardt</a>, the installation also includes showing of puppet films - unfortunately sold out - in which an anthropologist far in future works to reconstruct the lost culture of the civilization of "the ancient customers", guided by a note placed in a bottle by Helen, a Met Museum custodian living today, and by the "millions of found artifacts" that are predominantly plastic, which, because plastic doesn't biodegrade, are the most common remnants of our culture to survive.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSwyNZ1LS7i7mafPSH_6H8GHX-PWELtHgWSDZGKC9uU5bn94_ccqi0J7AeW-NaE4-zcNQd5J6eDwZ80QG6wPiikPqX5EjaxAmPzZ7HJx0T6lHbsMUi962LNwfJTvQ5nzwZPDyw1iPaQ-s2ODk65G-MhBGCZ9_cg61Ap-tabHMPe0IShP6UETs=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1566" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSwyNZ1LS7i7mafPSH_6H8GHX-PWELtHgWSDZGKC9uU5bn94_ccqi0J7AeW-NaE4-zcNQd5J6eDwZ80QG6wPiikPqX5EjaxAmPzZ7HJx0T6lHbsMUi962LNwfJTvQ5nzwZPDyw1iPaQ-s2ODk65G-MhBGCZ9_cg61Ap-tabHMPe0IShP6UETs=w522-h640" width="522" /></a></div><br /><div>The Plastic Bag Store that you can visit at the Wrigley is, in concept, that future anthropologists reconstruction of what our society was like.</div><div><div><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B6rF0oYAoT4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><div><br /></div><div>There's also magazines, and a "time machine" that allows you to put in a plastic bottle today and see what it will evolve into in a thousand years. (Spoiler alert: it's the same plastic bottle.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The level of creativity is amazing. The vegetables look just like vegetables, flowers, flowers, cakes and cupcakes, real pastries. There's even a deli counter . . .<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkzfAnPvVeTYwO6xZgryHWHlv0HMO2Vq59NIqFMj6Vetln8J-Fs7-Kc3Q1rm_CaVockxXcWu8eTMO2am4IpKAXhi-EcOeQ6fqcBnGZEd1oKqvOm539IbnXypqUZfoNarHrKKeNfE7nMNMWLuJZ9db3ziRDO2dk94HOH8xpQe8AVmNgtx5acGE=s2244" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1688" data-original-width="2244" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkzfAnPvVeTYwO6xZgryHWHlv0HMO2Vq59NIqFMj6Vetln8J-Fs7-Kc3Q1rm_CaVockxXcWu8eTMO2am4IpKAXhi-EcOeQ6fqcBnGZEd1oKqvOm539IbnXypqUZfoNarHrKKeNfE7nMNMWLuJZ9db3ziRDO2dk94HOH8xpQe8AVmNgtx5acGE=w640-h482" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>... and a prodigious selection of packaged goods (be sure to look at the backs) that is truly impressive and inventive . .</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaSlg5CiAgo0cB333P0WslUqPWZqAf13d0qqxkGT-vDKomgCkO60j0EV_5rMQzWYfpFL8SeJBNoTQ6injrDGLrFdMKLXB6WpIRd--CztqFEpxDLIGjRH6ehyTWSVSBnvAH0JXFq-7JUpKdk-zGsCHyanjKAHF5JJDm-iexUgeSLwdSQpvqmGY=s2054" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2054" data-original-width="1576" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaSlg5CiAgo0cB333P0WslUqPWZqAf13d0qqxkGT-vDKomgCkO60j0EV_5rMQzWYfpFL8SeJBNoTQ6injrDGLrFdMKLXB6WpIRd--CztqFEpxDLIGjRH6ehyTWSVSBnvAH0JXFq-7JUpKdk-zGsCHyanjKAHF5JJDm-iexUgeSLwdSQpvqmGY=w492-h640" width="492" /></a></div><br /><div>It took me back to my childhood, and to the <a href="https://clickamericana.com/toys-and-games/vintage-wacky-packages-candy-1970s" target="_blank">Wacky Packs</a> that were a really big deal among 7-10 year-olds of my generation. <br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmSfwddi17dXybCKrHxztyhWptcmkMkiXanzT8WM7FSXeOJpINKVFODpFglk4J5VSVSlUHZzcVNr6aO7Gdy2tgICUrhxveTETyanSmNR6BKSti5AOxop8RtB2j3wmDw7mWudMgyr6LjERqDKcFkiAyszZeDS1LlQZxOA_AsGd-I_2FPSSC8w4=s1600" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1144" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmSfwddi17dXybCKrHxztyhWptcmkMkiXanzT8WM7FSXeOJpINKVFODpFglk4J5VSVSlUHZzcVNr6aO7Gdy2tgICUrhxveTETyanSmNR6BKSti5AOxop8RtB2j3wmDw7mWudMgyr6LjERqDKcFkiAyszZeDS1LlQZxOA_AsGd-I_2FPSSC8w4=w458-h640" width="458" /></a></div><br /><div>They were inserts trading cards - later stickers - that came with nickel packs of Topps bubble gum that offered up parodies of popular brands and their packaging. For my demographic, they were snarky-fun high-culture.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCSlTx0Qwk5HhiQsEyKy_Dgd1M9rBz-NZ28RExsOPT1BweEZQF80hIkLVB12XXPQV_xOkqxN9sSAHjUxAuqWD5HC6PFmFfgJZ5PBNhaVwjzCn0e5NhLC1wYpIaQXWjwVcOznfRppbEuLN0lvKIaNXCtZJFDhKSVZJnaYmi9HqV3QBkkr0J9MA=s2036" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2036" data-original-width="1586" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCSlTx0Qwk5HhiQsEyKy_Dgd1M9rBz-NZ28RExsOPT1BweEZQF80hIkLVB12XXPQV_xOkqxN9sSAHjUxAuqWD5HC6PFmFfgJZ5PBNhaVwjzCn0e5NhLC1wYpIaQXWjwVcOznfRppbEuLN0lvKIaNXCtZJFDhKSVZJnaYmi9HqV3QBkkr0J9MA=w498-h640" width="498" /></a></div><br /><div>Originally exhibited in Times Square, it took a year to create the over 10,000 objects in the installation. "I collected bags from friends and family members," says Frohardt in her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6rF0oYAoT4" target="_blank">Youtube video</a>. "I had people save things, I rescued bags the street, I pulled bags from the trash, I pulled them from recycling bins. And then we designed all the packaging. We had to wash every bottle, and label them."</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2Uk2ch7BmCHlpijDVHzwbv83qeMr_6OXdhd6hk1NNatXX4zenbReuG5E4aPGmr0UqSQZiy7ITO4CHMCsL_E8v1UYvNxmmnI7XbY9RRG3hjb0OLZXdVish2Y8LSBNo6_3Uolqjc4qmYGXqdQA6JydxnSm43_HnfP8jtH_jHmYRFCaeKyL1TLQ=s2068" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2068" data-original-width="1554" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2Uk2ch7BmCHlpijDVHzwbv83qeMr_6OXdhd6hk1NNatXX4zenbReuG5E4aPGmr0UqSQZiy7ITO4CHMCsL_E8v1UYvNxmmnI7XbY9RRG3hjb0OLZXdVish2Y8LSBNo6_3Uolqjc4qmYGXqdQA6JydxnSm43_HnfP8jtH_jHmYRFCaeKyL1TLQ=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div>"My aim, "she says, "isn't to make people feel bad. My aim is holding up the mirror and highlighting the absurdity of all this, and fueling the fire of public outage over all this."</div><div><br /></div><div>Indeed, you won't find any any numbers or charts at The Plastic Bag Store. "I didn't want to overwhelm with statistics," says Frohardt, "but more just wanted to create a kind of familiar, visually tactile experience that [people] could relate to or understand in a more visceral way than just a bunch of numbers."</div><div><br /></div><div>Still, the facts are staggering:</div></div><div><div><br /></div><div>The world produces <a href="https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/interesting-facts-about-plastic-bags" target="_blank">5 trillion plastic bags</a> a year. No more than 3% are recycled. Plastic doesn't biodegrade. It breaks down into ever smaller pieces of itself, with an increasing toxic effect on living things. Parts of north Pacific are estimated to hold six times more plastic than plankton. Ingested as food, often increasingly scarce, it can kill from blocking the digestive system or poking holes in organs. UNESCO estimates 100,000 <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/whale-dies-88-pounds-plastic-philippines" target="_blank">marine mammals die each year</a> from plastic pollution. Of 61 dead whales found in the Phillipines, 45 of the deaths were traceable to plastic ingestion. One young whale was found to have 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch floating landfill, twice the size of Texas, is mostly made up of plastic.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOQzKJOUqP4yp9a9nATYqn9EpRHfm2lArCk4OD7o-KXQhNYWJEMZklWSfwfmYJLY2ydbR3sKr3Ss7Z7O1cXsMkCs4n5vorYKQqNUN21jmPFQRueYNZEd-wcBovluMxfj78Oc1t3VdxIMQ2S3z9wuAjuU2J8uUJ3IJOFexPt9z5bbKUj6Rl5cE=s2322" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="2322" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOQzKJOUqP4yp9a9nATYqn9EpRHfm2lArCk4OD7o-KXQhNYWJEMZklWSfwfmYJLY2ydbR3sKr3Ss7Z7O1cXsMkCs4n5vorYKQqNUN21jmPFQRueYNZEd-wcBovluMxfj78Oc1t3VdxIMQ2S3z9wuAjuU2J8uUJ3IJOFexPt9z5bbKUj6Rl5cE=w400-h228" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>There are alternatives. I have my own collection of <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/ct-sta-artist-david-csicsko-st-0413-20210412-ijhgkg3wifchpfpkkkiakcwkx4-story.html" target="_blank">David Lee Csisko</a> reusable bags, "made from 100% post-consumer recycled content . . . the equivalent of three plastic bottles" to cut down on plastic bag use, but sometimes I forget to bring one with me, and I'm back to sin. New York City passed a controversial ban on plastic bags in 2020. In Chicago, we have 7 cent "plastic bag indulgences".</div><div><br /></div><div>Will we ever get our act in order? Doubtful. Remember that decades ago we had a perfect recycling system for pop - glass Coke, Pepsi, etc. bottles that you paid a deposit on, and returned to the store for a refund, but we were too cheap and lazy to lug the bottles back and forth once we could get our beverages in eternally polluting plastic. "Efficiency," they said. "More hygenic," they said. And we said, ".... yeah, why not!" <br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dug-G9xVdVs" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So, in summary, we're killing our fellow animals, the environment, the planet, and, eventually, ourselves. But what a way to go!<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQsdPuVKeSa5XaEakPfH2FYVS7-QlPUJKnKU_eE-NBU7ARfgICs1nTfVUdkDXaMIEgRmMly0QmZg-TBSb3Jr61A1dF-mF-WJV7MiCGLCrJl5XsXgWpvX15KDFs3i2AYykcwMllaL_eeug3h0Z6JkIbPZfhue18Cq70KdVzLkzl5wTpDjUAvlE=s1914" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1914" data-original-width="1534" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQsdPuVKeSa5XaEakPfH2FYVS7-QlPUJKnKU_eE-NBU7ARfgICs1nTfVUdkDXaMIEgRmMly0QmZg-TBSb3Jr61A1dF-mF-WJV7MiCGLCrJl5XsXgWpvX15KDFs3i2AYykcwMllaL_eeug3h0Z6JkIbPZfhue18Cq70KdVzLkzl5wTpDjUAvlE=w512-h640" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div>Again, you have only through this Sunday, January 30th, to see the spectacular <a href="https://www.theplasticbagstore.com/see-it" target="_blank">The Plastic Bag Store</a> at the Wrigley Building. Frohardt and team will show you a really good time, and you won't even have to think about the sobering implications of her non-guilting, deliciously colorful fun-ride. But plastic leaves an aftertaste, and odds are, sometimes afterwards, you will.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-73063024601665381142021-06-17T14:28:00.005-05:002021-06-17T14:33:52.149-05:00The Nine Lives of St. Boniface - Historic Church Architecture at the Crossroads<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVk33uBQNALfpmMVEbiUqGKskt8kAqYZqEoHf4aKdk4PXoncm3uIyBhjy0bpmiMbAIwqO4SkNsJi-TEcE_Ef-Bw9iMLwVxaPxUdoFHk9kHa36PudvMYIbmNJ0onEcjo5kl5f3P-Q/s2000/boniface01+enter+20210612.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="684" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVk33uBQNALfpmMVEbiUqGKskt8kAqYZqEoHf4aKdk4PXoncm3uIyBhjy0bpmiMbAIwqO4SkNsJi-TEcE_Ef-Bw9iMLwVxaPxUdoFHk9kHa36PudvMYIbmNJ0onEcjo5kl5f3P-Q/w515-h684/boniface01+enter+20210612.jpg" width="515" /></a></div><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: left;">(Note: to just flip through the pictures in large view, simply click on any one of them.)<br /><br /><b>S</b></span><b>aturday, June 12th</b>, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">developer Zev Salomon</a> gave the Noble Square neighborhood a last chance to view the ruined interior of <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">St. Boniface</a> before it's gutted to create <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">The Boniface</a>, 18 condo units within the church's structure.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8snOM7iUWW1wpTynLaBohiSpIuW1R_R6L2Kt_8gpfCgQRJZF47MFpr1K4NTQpgqFoOs0sww2gdCevI_Xe-FYQthNo4ADj9Nxs6a9kPqCmbVdxQ_cPNfdhRQQROXFKS1L7uXNpA/s486/boniface06+Screen+shot+2014-09-13+at+8.17.23+AM.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="381" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8snOM7iUWW1wpTynLaBohiSpIuW1R_R6L2Kt_8gpfCgQRJZF47MFpr1K4NTQpgqFoOs0sww2gdCevI_Xe-FYQthNo4ADj9Nxs6a9kPqCmbVdxQ_cPNfdhRQQROXFKS1L7uXNpA/w502-h640/boniface06+Screen+shot+2014-09-13+at+8.17.23+AM.jpg" width="502" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Founded by German immigrants, St. Boniface started with a small wooden church in 1864, graduating to the grand new building designed by prominent church architect <a href="http://heitzman.org/tour.html" target="_blank">Henry J. Schlacks</a>. It offered its first Mass on Christmas Day, 1903, with construction completed the next year.</div></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkIk9NagnxFPsSqPZepXSYSUK25IBX5iOjci9ynLUydkTbGhYC2PZJ_2X6h9gxuTK2ukQ2_AuQenTAgBTwGyoXEGPnVkb_Eo5evk13A_3SMmjZksGAVinVvUDvNZwhXqGjyoPsA/s737/boniface7+Chicago.StBonifaceRC.1908HannWanger.20161127.203213.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="549" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkIk9NagnxFPsSqPZepXSYSUK25IBX5iOjci9ynLUydkTbGhYC2PZJ_2X6h9gxuTK2ukQ2_AuQenTAgBTwGyoXEGPnVkb_Eo5evk13A_3SMmjZksGAVinVvUDvNZwhXqGjyoPsA/w476-h640/boniface7+Chicago.StBonifaceRC.1908HannWanger.20161127.203213.jpg" width="476" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy Alex Fries, Pipe Organ Database, https://pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/50501</td></tr></tbody></table><p>In 1990, St. Boniface was among the 28 parishes closed by the Archdiocese of Chicago. The windows were boarded up, the 1908 <a href="https://pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/50501" target="_blank">Hann-Wangerin-Weickhardt</a> organ removed.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQbZNAr9NzhIY1leSn27suGwrkLD_YdVLSIEnNL2HhyDqqHFcS5UL24j_BtKhfol0tlMVbOsifpOdaBdQIt-bwJRS35GmkE2SaQ3ylXDm506hrHyN1XA16YRpnwkd-fhRUG4Ofg/s744/boniface09+Chicago.StBonifaceRC.1908HannWanger.20161127.203059.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="744" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQbZNAr9NzhIY1leSn27suGwrkLD_YdVLSIEnNL2HhyDqqHFcS5UL24j_BtKhfol0tlMVbOsifpOdaBdQIt-bwJRS35GmkE2SaQ3ylXDm506hrHyN1XA16YRpnwkd-fhRUG4Ofg/w587-h404/boniface09+Chicago.StBonifaceRC.1908HannWanger.20161127.203059.jpg" width="587" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy Alex Fries, Pipe Organ Database, https://pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/50501</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>The history of the next 30+ years was a roller-coaster leading nowhere, extensively documented on the Saint Boniface Info website <a href="https://www.saintbonifaceinfo.com/timeline.html" target="_blank">here</a>. The building was under the jurisdiction of two successive aldermen. It was listed as a "Most Endangered" structure by both Landmarks Illinois (<a href="https://www.landmarks.org/preservation-programs/success-stories/st-boniface/" target="_blank">1999</a>) and Preservation Chicago (<a href="https://preservationchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/userfiles/file/2003-Chicago-7-St-Boniface-Church.pdf" target="_blank">2003</a> and <a href="https://preservationchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/userfiles/file/2_st_boniface.pdf" target="_blank">2009</a>), who teamed up with community groups in ongoing efforts to save the building. </p><p>In 1999, the Archdiocese announced plans to demolish the church. 250 people showed up in the rain at a "Stop the Demolition" rally, organized by The Coalition to Save Saint Boniface. A hold was put on demolition. An ordinance for the city to buy St. Boniface goes nowhere. In 2002, the Archdiocese announces its attention to sell the property. They demolished the parish school and put the facade into storage. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqU9K0PxOgJQId2bvu9SJlBfyluDhp-u6vVkeWowIHyvRo6CzEsBsDXCaBcrvhDzfRpd1iQDQaQ-txc9YRnO88lOqrsI-y4tMuSg3GsegmHQLAQ6sUeM80nPI2VYu6jkbgYRKo_A/s360/blboxwidebigc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="360" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqU9K0PxOgJQId2bvu9SJlBfyluDhp-u6vVkeWowIHyvRo6CzEsBsDXCaBcrvhDzfRpd1iQDQaQ-txc9YRnO88lOqrsI-y4tMuSg3GsegmHQLAQ6sUeM80nPI2VYu6jkbgYRKo_A/w584-h387/blboxwidebigc.jpg" width="584" /></a></div><br /><p>In 2003, The Archdiocese holds a <a href="https://lynnbecker.com/repeat/boniface/boniface.htm" target="_blank">design competition</a> with submissions from such prominent Chicago firms as Booth Hansen, A. Epstein, Brininstool+Lynch, and Studio/Gang, whose concept coupled new residential towers on the side of the now demolished school with saving the actual church space as a meetings and event space.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_KAg3t2UcBWnuwXhOun0u6bWzXVShl3zNHyDn4HKTp-jkkrDI4Q_V09knl0Vj-EeTMiX-dhW-H2Ng4qM7IadZcgo0KMONZz-VCgSUtc_STwuOj0d5lQkU4qwnRAm57XxzGVaoVA/s288/gangchestnutc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="288" height="511" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_KAg3t2UcBWnuwXhOun0u6bWzXVShl3zNHyDn4HKTp-jkkrDI4Q_V09knl0Vj-EeTMiX-dhW-H2Ng4qM7IadZcgo0KMONZz-VCgSUtc_STwuOj0d5lQkU4qwnRAm57XxzGVaoVA/w584-h511/gangchestnutc.jpg" width="584" /></a></div><br /><p>At a 2005 reunion mass and dance, an Archdiocese representative declared none of the competition's entries were viable, no money would be spent on St. Boniface, and community organizers could have it if they'd just cut a check for $3,000,000.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxz5IxKd-yekVI8IqJgUhTsp3clQek8EwhyphenhypheniA4PL3vGS3gnGQwtwrPWamExqdZSwm_uMCDGeI_oyKzIX9iM3scSNpk5mLDR6yieuur43e9h_H1FnfNSNjIXjXaGrTd5sPXY27ug/s2000/boniface12+ribs+20210612.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1430" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxz5IxKd-yekVI8IqJgUhTsp3clQek8EwhyphenhypheniA4PL3vGS3gnGQwtwrPWamExqdZSwm_uMCDGeI_oyKzIX9iM3scSNpk5mLDR6yieuur43e9h_H1FnfNSNjIXjXaGrTd5sPXY27ug/w458-h640/boniface12+ribs+20210612.jpg" width="458" /></a></div><br /><p>Later in 2005, Smithfield Properties unveils a plan that would involve building a high-rise on the school site. Representatives of the Coptic Church reveal interest in the property. They are allowed to tour St. Boniface, but two years later in 2007, after being unsuccessful in communicating with the Archdiocese, a letter is sent to Cardinal George asking for action on the Coptic Orthodox Church's proposal. It is responded to with a <a href="https://www.saintbonifaceinfo.com/letter-to-george.html" target="_blank">pre-printed form</a>. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEto3f1HLiruWW9hl0ThrmWMuyHsStKgTHso-Ksa8uE2CI9mChafuwecWU5nXWLfHisw3X97ThXRy14S0rqQJi_BR9nXsc108nm6WpVFaNhdxGgDYgNBZLzJSmtmTGc3vnOL2PFw/s2000/boniface14++saints+20210612.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEto3f1HLiruWW9hl0ThrmWMuyHsStKgTHso-Ksa8uE2CI9mChafuwecWU5nXWLfHisw3X97ThXRy14S0rqQJi_BR9nXsc108nm6WpVFaNhdxGgDYgNBZLzJSmtmTGc3vnOL2PFw/w480-h640/boniface14++saints+20210612.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p>A year later, in December of 2008, the Archdiocese rejects the Coptic Orthodox Church's proposal, and applies for a permit to demolish the church. As St. Boniface is listed "Orange" in the city's <a href="https://webapps1.chicago.gov/landmarksweb/web/historicsurvey.htm" target="_blank">Historic Resources Survey</a> of potential landmark buildings, a 90-day hold is put on the demolition request. At the end of that period, a demolition permit is issued, but the city continues to negotiate.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11L2a1_bNWJD5YWzVV6j0k63qFxNohbbMLoA1UEX-BK9LFtwRD1gtda3ln5RltFGtplgExE9Q1PckC8fx-m_AW9SjuRcOl-8OBf-t6YkAJLtL0uBtJ8bhG3YFQK9oaFUuMqBJEA/s800/St.+Boniface+-+West+Elevation+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="800" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11L2a1_bNWJD5YWzVV6j0k63qFxNohbbMLoA1UEX-BK9LFtwRD1gtda3ln5RltFGtplgExE9Q1PckC8fx-m_AW9SjuRcOl-8OBf-t6YkAJLtL0uBtJ8bhG3YFQK9oaFUuMqBJEA/w640-h372/St.+Boniface+-+West+Elevation+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />In 2010, a deal is reached where Institutional Project Management will build senior housing within the facades of the church. Storage of elements of the demolished school's facade are now warehoused by IPM, but will not be used<p>Four years later, in 2014, after developers are unable to obtain tax credits from the state and city, the senior living proposal is declared dead. The following year, Carefree Development announces a plan to build 56 one and two bedroom rentals within St. Boniface's facades. Another request for a demolition permit is made, and put on automatic 90-day hold, which is extended by the city.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rPYhdf_NuNNmtsu7pBBsXHL7JGlXrXSOcsbPdM0P-XGMa1_g0PBWZ7wuEiHuTsnOZWn6Zx1lfqkEqulomQm8bFGIWumfkJNjQQkrY-9dB9xv7gZhD9L38GQrjzVh282pbDbvFA/s620/boniface+chicago+academy.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="620" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rPYhdf_NuNNmtsu7pBBsXHL7JGlXrXSOcsbPdM0P-XGMa1_g0PBWZ7wuEiHuTsnOZWn6Zx1lfqkEqulomQm8bFGIWumfkJNjQQkrY-9dB9xv7gZhD9L38GQrjzVh282pbDbvFA/w640-h426/boniface+chicago+academy.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>In 2016, the developer announces a 10 story tower to be built on the site of St. Boniface. In April, the hold on the demolition permit is continued as the Chicago Academy of Music presents a plan to use St. Boniface as a music school and performance center. In October, the Academy enters a deal with Stas Development to purchase St. Boniface. It includes landmarking the church and converting it to 15 condominiums. The proposal is approved by The Chicago Plan Commission in April of 2018.</p><p>For the balance of 2018, and 2019, and 2020, mostly the sound of crickets.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8bBS5m0BXqxnRVACEoVRGIndvtjMzDRrYmjaCXfC9O7kxLRnaUPMix3ZWLwYy9nD3zCCls9DjTIjEpaKFxO5YxlW7-sPK3Bkj0fir1egvdT1ZHMn08vQuq0P-JVVB0AFyxbysvw/s2000/boniface05+easels.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1324" data-original-width="2000" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8bBS5m0BXqxnRVACEoVRGIndvtjMzDRrYmjaCXfC9O7kxLRnaUPMix3ZWLwYy9nD3zCCls9DjTIjEpaKFxO5YxlW7-sPK3Bkj0fir1egvdT1ZHMn08vQuq0P-JVVB0AFyxbysvw/w640-h424/boniface05+easels.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Last April, <a href="https://www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-real-estate/stalled-st-boniface-residential-conversion-new-hands" target="_blank">it was announced</a> that Zev Salomon's <a href="https://www.zsdcorp.com" target="_blank">ZSD Development</a> had bought St. Boniface. On June 12th, they opened the church to let neighborhood residents in to get a last look at the interior, cleaned up of the debris and much of the graffiti that had accumulated down through the decades. (There was also free ice cream, very welcome on a very hot day.) Representatives were on hand and renderings and floorplans on display for potential buyers of the condos of <a href="https://theboniface.com" target="_blank">The Boniface</a>, which will range from $750k to $1.5 million. The open tops of the bell towers will become private terraces for the pricier units. Reps said 3 units had already been sold.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrVwreVcJPibYqTFNmfoahA_V_14kgitKY7ztqLN1q0-_w2wadkGf3nw5PBvtqv9ddNHYfpGZOhx1tWUNTLkB3cRU3KZdoa0qJAFgyxvw_vuf9IiJx_uohsC1rwNrsaqeouoV_sA/s2000/boniface+rendering.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1984" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrVwreVcJPibYqTFNmfoahA_V_14kgitKY7ztqLN1q0-_w2wadkGf3nw5PBvtqv9ddNHYfpGZOhx1tWUNTLkB3cRU3KZdoa0qJAFgyxvw_vuf9IiJx_uohsC1rwNrsaqeouoV_sA/w634-h640/boniface+rendering.jpg" width="634" /></a></div><br /><p>Construction starts this week</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkdNrVf3en22MxthliadnxV2gltGp5cykXqdasYNqxwkFVHbo3eJkOWBc7ccLAIs043XHYxRrY1bhZ5yrxIhg_nvpJfCNy4aTXF2GcIfCl-PO6xQ5K8Vd8278eDijxbd3Of1fiLg/s2000/boniface03+ext.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkdNrVf3en22MxthliadnxV2gltGp5cykXqdasYNqxwkFVHbo3eJkOWBc7ccLAIs043XHYxRrY1bhZ5yrxIhg_nvpJfCNy4aTXF2GcIfCl-PO6xQ5K8Vd8278eDijxbd3Of1fiLg/w480-h640/boniface03+ext.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p>It's no small miracle that St. Boniface survived these three, troubled and contentious decades to finally be saved, if not as a community and spiritual resource, then at least as an outstanding architectural marker of its time and place.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AZVKNsqqvLk_ugRSzBqjJkxqTt_0jgXo6mAfK2Wtc2DDm1zNSVe3hCvLNU5esx1cHkXOm7CC2-iTWLpUNlIOZQwI5dfN49Vz-1RNTPgba9hwl01A25G8f_fgXlZxjCPHCFTu1w/s2000/corpuschristi.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AZVKNsqqvLk_ugRSzBqjJkxqTt_0jgXo6mAfK2Wtc2DDm1zNSVe3hCvLNU5esx1cHkXOm7CC2-iTWLpUNlIOZQwI5dfN49Vz-1RNTPgba9hwl01A25G8f_fgXlZxjCPHCFTu1w/w640-h426/corpuschristi.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corpus Christi Church, 4900 South King Drive, Joseph W. McCarthy, architect, 1916</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>As church attendance and the number of priests continue to decline, consolidations, abandonment and demolitions continue. In January, the Archdiocese announced a new round of closures, including St. Alselm, St. Ambrose and the spectacular <a href="https://openhousechicago.org/sites/site/corpus-christi-roman-catholic-church/" target="_blank">Corpus Christi</a> (shown above), whose <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/6/13/22532233/bronzeville-hosts-reunion-mass-corpus-christi-catholic-church-chicago-archdiocese-close" target="_blank">last mass</a> will be later this month. Whether Chicago will ever find a viable solution or continue to allow our architectural heritage of historic churches to simply vanish remains an unanswered question, but that's a story for another time.</p><p>For now, here's some links, and more last images of St. Boniface's interior before it disappears.</p><p><br /></p><p>August 29, 2003: <a href="https://lynnbecker.com/repeat/boniface/boniface.htm" target="_blank">Sins of Demolition, The St. Boniface Architectural Competition</a></p><p>September 14, 2008: <a href="https://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2008/09/archdiocese-puts-st-boniface-out-for.html" target="_blank">Archdiocese puts St. Boniface Out for Bid</a></p><p>January 21, 2009: <a href="https://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2009/01/archidiocese-to-st-boniface-die-die-die.html" target="_blank">Archdiocese to St. Boniface: Die! Die! Die!</a></p><p>April 11, 2010: <a href="https://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2010/04/st-boniface-saved.html" target="_blank">St. Boniface: Saved?</a></p><p>January 7, 2013: <a href="https://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2013/01/heavens-to-purgatory-imploding-churches.html" target="_blank">Heavens to Purgatory: Imploding Churches Flatten Chicago</a></p><p>St. Boniface, Our Lady of urban photography explorers, <a href="https://thechicagoambassador.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/st-boniface-our-lady-of-urban-photography-explorers/" target="_blank">photographs of Brian Bobek</a></p><p><a href="https://www.mattwilhelm.com/riding/behind-scenes-st-boniface-church-photoshoot/" target="_blank">Behind the Scenes of St. Boniface Church Photoshoot</a>, Matt Wilhelm</p><p><a href="https://ebow.org/artwork/1855988-Broken-Repetition.html" target="_blank">Saint Boniface Church, Eric Holubow</a>: urban exploration photographer</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgET46QsU0o5GdAUv34vlQfvBxBcxN1mjXJ3ydAc-S7ORrpyoWYiYSJiytKQV53QD2X9c5cK3nSZUhXiA_AxGGh1rZtlJSL-AvD-G6I4wWBCLj_uQok9LapU_IehMQpuPbMv6HVpw/s2000/boniface02+wide+to+apse+20210612.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgET46QsU0o5GdAUv34vlQfvBxBcxN1mjXJ3ydAc-S7ORrpyoWYiYSJiytKQV53QD2X9c5cK3nSZUhXiA_AxGGh1rZtlJSL-AvD-G6I4wWBCLj_uQok9LapU_IehMQpuPbMv6HVpw/w480-h640/boniface02+wide+to+apse+20210612.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz2FP5qV5Mzq3gok-QwXkioKK_DTuGe4ou8lBjxqrxYoj3KKaerESN_l9RQDbQQwBfK747U8-JHULlBEIcQgT8doOOawjKA2Ck1kKJuqnBRwCJkD5ivLu5nB7ZN2pv3dJRbKBuBA/s1920/boniface+bobek+alter.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz2FP5qV5Mzq3gok-QwXkioKK_DTuGe4ou8lBjxqrxYoj3KKaerESN_l9RQDbQQwBfK747U8-JHULlBEIcQgT8doOOawjKA2Ck1kKJuqnBRwCJkD5ivLu5nB7ZN2pv3dJRbKBuBA/w640-h426/boniface+bobek+alter.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph courtesy Brian Bobek, https://thechicagoambassador.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/st-boniface-our-lady-of-urban-photography-explorers/</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-91926518407341832552018-09-23T13:19:00.002-05:002018-09-23T13:44:15.337-05:00Bobbing for Mies - Robert Venturi at IIT<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">n the fall of 2005, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Robert Venturi came to modernist shrine Crown Hall to out Mies van der Rohe as a closet symbolist and attempt to define the architecture of our time. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Originally published in abbreviated and far better edited form under the title, <i>Live by the I Beam, Die by the I Beam</i> in the December 16th Chicago Reader.) </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>“There will be nothing new in what I say, but maybe it will have a new twist” </i></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Robert Venturi, speaking at Crown Hall</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Robert Venturi, the architect who launched the post-modernisn assault on Miesian glass-box <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiON6LG7Qzv0ldtB7Q-YptBph_LJkgISzneSSIgutRIg92V8Kw-mfNYqr0icI9HsLsPHANB_F6eevChPZdZPM6w2gzBr6H0QrU3e0s6zfeF_LtrDQeehnI8g6pipCGIWRSAcqJ3VQ/s1600/venturipodium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiON6LG7Qzv0ldtB7Q-YptBph_LJkgISzneSSIgutRIg92V8Kw-mfNYqr0icI9HsLsPHANB_F6eevChPZdZPM6w2gzBr6H0QrU3e0s6zfeF_LtrDQeehnI8g6pipCGIWRSAcqJ3VQ/s1600/venturipodium.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
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modernism by countering Mies van der Rohe's famous dictum, “Less is More” with his own “Less is a Bore,” was at IIT's <a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/mies/miesresurrected.htm" target="_blank">restored Mies masterpiece Crown Hall </a>last month to talk about “Mies is More: Learning from Mies,” part of the 2005 <a href="https://www.chicagohumanities.org/" target="_blank">Chicago Humanities Festival.</a> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Lest anyone think the 80-year-old <i>enfant-terrible</i> was growing soft, however, Venturi's major thesis was to unmask Mies, known for minimalist structures free of the type of applied ornament that Louis Sullivan loved, as a bit of a hypocrite, not above choosing symbolism over substance when it came to creating an architecture that expressed the industrial age of his time. “Ultimate irony,” observed Venturi, “Mies, like other modernists, enjoyed abstraction as an aesthetic, yet also employed symbolism as an aesthetic.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">For Mies, that meant keeping structure visible and exposed, but Chicago's strict building code requires that the steel frame of multi-storied buildings be fireproofed within a concrete casing. When you look at a classic Mies skyscraper like the <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2013/05/apotheosis-of-skyscraper-rise-of-mies.html" target="_blank">IBM Building</a> at Wabash and the River, the exterior may appear to be structure, but the structural steel is actually buried in concrete fireproofing, and what you're actually seeing are the anodized aluminum plates covering that concrete. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRpKuR45a0TPNeyYVKUztg51lbOIVt-xY-sGMmisHmO1pQZ3-2RdM3F7hPEPVcvmRolDQJgDAWFWIgjKabs_dVdS46-qQ-6cGu3OusFx2GY3QDM9KnEDouvwX_NtV9Jop1TPjGww/s1600/ibmclouds3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="828" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRpKuR45a0TPNeyYVKUztg51lbOIVt-xY-sGMmisHmO1pQZ3-2RdM3F7hPEPVcvmRolDQJgDAWFWIgjKabs_dVdS46-qQ-6cGu3OusFx2GY3QDM9KnEDouvwX_NtV9Jop1TPjGww/s400/ibmclouds3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IBM Building, now 330 North Wabash</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">To call Mies's bluff on another affection - the vertical steel I-beams that he loved to use as mullions between the continuous strips of windows on his buildings - Venturi quoted Tom Wolfe's diatribe against modern architecture, </span><i style="color: #676767; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://stoutbooks.com/products/from-bauhaus-to-our-house-14097" target="_blank">From Bauhaus to Our House.</a></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> “Sticking things on the outside of walls,” Wolfe wrote, “wasn't that exactly what was known in another era as applied decoration?” </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTicTF7dE7LkbncS7xAwqNPY_p5tJNbsI-nTY83Htf-WQd61ZW-NXNMM1GdAF6Yp8b_ljmJLNvJCLTqFBIp9LxMpKv5WzA0tJU2x_wy-Q14UPgrG_cFzcClqW4Hr_3BDSCgGNtqA/s1600/crown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="211" data-original-width="288" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTicTF7dE7LkbncS7xAwqNPY_p5tJNbsI-nTY83Htf-WQd61ZW-NXNMM1GdAF6Yp8b_ljmJLNvJCLTqFBIp9LxMpKv5WzA0tJU2x_wy-Q14UPgrG_cFzcClqW4Hr_3BDSCgGNtqA/s400/crown.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crown Hall, IIT</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Ironically, the building in which Venturi made these observations is the one place where Mies was able to express his aesthetic without subterfuge. </span><a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/mies/crownlegacy.html" style="font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Crown Hall,</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> because it's a one story building, didn't have to be fireproofed. The steel you see is not what Venturi calls an “appliqué”, but the actual structure. It was sandblasted down to the bare steel during this summer's restoration, and painted a revelatory deep and glossy black that observers who were there for the 1956 opening say replicates the building's original appearance. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Venturi put up a slide with his comparison of “Mies” and “Bob”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mies Midcentury</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Post Mid-Century</span></b></span></div>
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<tr valign="top"><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Classic</span></td><td><div align="left">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Eclectic</span></div>
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<tr valign="top"><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Symbolic (industrial)</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Symbolic (iconographic)</span></td></tr>
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<tr valign="top"><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Not acknowledged</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Acknowledged</span></td></tr>
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<tr valign="top"><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Minimalism</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Complexity and Contradiction</span></td></tr>
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<tr valign="top"><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Not aesthetically expressed</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Aesthetically expressed</span></td></tr>
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<tr valign="top"><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Aesthetic cover-up</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Aesthetic celebration</span></td></tr>
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<tr valign="top"><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">not mannerist</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">mannerist</span></td></tr>
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<tr valign="top"><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Less is more</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">less is a bor</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">e</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">To Venturi, simplicity is an iron maiden; mannerism a sign of life. The fact he finds Mies a closet symbolist is, to Venturi, a good thing, but the fact that Mies wouldn't acknowledge it himself disqualifies him form the mannerist pantheon. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">“I think that the job of the architect is to create shelter,” said Venturi, “and to give a space a <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBp2xTIhayirNQ4nW_G1VeFbQlzUNZiZJhjKgflwK1-wcjNTrHCq_AeoAmqH7vIkHBwiusNVj2tgEhfJmio80tr_ef7H2Ga7DBV44Zh7FW4ujgCtZwxRPVF6mZQOlxX0CNakBsw/s1600/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="324" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBp2xTIhayirNQ4nW_G1VeFbQlzUNZiZJhjKgflwK1-wcjNTrHCq_AeoAmqH7vIkHBwiusNVj2tgEhfJmio80tr_ef7H2Ga7DBV44Zh7FW4ujgCtZwxRPVF6mZQOlxX0CNakBsw/s400/books.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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kind of symbol.” He spoke of some of themes of Venturi and Scott Brown's latest book, <i><a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674015715" target="_blank">Architecture as Signs and Systems : For a Mannerist Time.</a></i> “All architecture of the past,” he observed, “had symbolism and signage except for this 20th century past. The hieroglyphics all over the architecture of ancient Egypt . . . the buildings were signs as well. You read the hieroglyphics. The architecture in the pediments of Greek and Roman temples had statue figures in them . . . essentially explaining to you about the Gods that who were being honored and worshipped. The early Christian architecture . . . the basilicas, and the same with the Byzantine architecture had all the mosaics - all of that was signage explaining what it was.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">“There's been a book [<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Place-Narrative-Decoration-Churches-431-1600/dp/0226469603" target="_blank"><i>The Place of Narrative: Mural Decoration in Italian Churches</i>]</a> out recently by a great art historian - Marilyn Lavin . The thesis is that we look at Italian Renaissance and the Baroque era murals , we look upon them as art. They are only incidentally art, according to her thesis. They were essentially there for the message given. The content was important. They taught you about Christianity and they did it in such an artful way that they are art. But they were incidentally art. They were essentially done as signs.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">“The idea of using symbolism and signage is a constant one in the history of architecture. The Gothic church, the façade at Amiens or Rouen, it is a three-dimensional billboard. The Sphinx in ancient Egypt had a great meaning independent of art. At the time, most of people couldn't read.” </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFA8syXyq3rmhSqnAZ53nWV590w1JImLnNU-VfN5IlXGZkfxHNcM0zpaMwY_ueunNmGSSs2pkFT2IHig0Mt4O_VqO-_603x7eirb3udliVMJp6GB4D-K_Uw_2k-dEfda86qfs5w/s1600/Franklincourtghoststructure960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFA8syXyq3rmhSqnAZ53nWV590w1JImLnNU-VfN5IlXGZkfxHNcM0zpaMwY_ueunNmGSSs2pkFT2IHig0Mt4O_VqO-_603x7eirb3udliVMJp6GB4D-K_Uw_2k-dEfda86qfs5w/s640/Franklincourtghoststructure960.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Franklin Court ghost structure, Robert Venturi, William Rauch and Denise Scott Brown<br />
National Parks Service photo</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Venturi essentially sees mid 20th-century modernism as an aberration in architecture's long history. “We're no longer in the industrial age,” he says. “We're in the information age. We're also in the electronic age, . . . and to make architecture look like industrial buildings and to make architecture be abstract is no longer appropriate. The architecture that's being built today is this awful historical revival, the neo-modern modern revival. They're being just as historical in their revival as they would be if they were reviving Renaissance architecture or Gothic architecture.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Venturi looks to the restoration of symbolism for today's electronic age. ““How about,” he suggests, “electronic pixels as applied ornament rather than the industrial rivets as applied <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHiwmhh_zLjvDoqL20khpAnsFG5d-Ze1med5J-KdL-LI_by_P414TS1UhChRhQ9RLmw-dXXydp5pyXdeGNVBGUJF7vczPiD7pk_aX_iOPN6olRMci0GvQCBkaJn8QM1aZ5KnZww/s1600/shanghai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="324" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHiwmhh_zLjvDoqL20khpAnsFG5d-Ze1med5J-KdL-LI_by_P414TS1UhChRhQ9RLmw-dXXydp5pyXdeGNVBGUJF7vczPiD7pk_aX_iOPN6olRMci0GvQCBkaJn8QM1aZ5KnZww/s400/shanghai.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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ornament that are fashionable today?” At least some of the architects he would seem to fall place his modernist revival category, however, appear to be way ahead of him. For his elegant new Deutsche Post tower in Bonn, Helmut Jahn collaborated with lighting artist Yann <a href="https://www.archlighting.com/projects/a-facade-for-the-future_o" target="_blank">Kersale to create a changing color sequence</a> of red blue and yellow that plays across over 55,000 square meters from dusk to sunrise and accentuates its dual-skin design. It doesn't really seem all that far from a project for a pair of skyscrapers in Shanghai, designed by Venturi in collaboration with his life and work partner Denise Scott Brown, which look rather Miesian except for the strips of red LED's forming a grid overlaying much of the façade. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">What Venturi describes as the information age that I've written about as exemplified by Frank Gehry in a possible new era that could be called the <a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/Gehry/gehrybaroque.htm" target="_blank">Techno-Baroque</a>, where content is king. In the 1920's, the great German critic <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674015886/qid=1134707022/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/102-1699083-2537729?s=books&v=glance&n=283155" target="_blank">Walter Benjamin wrote</a> of German literature that, “'Baroque' is the only fitting way to describe the heaped-up crassness of its subject matter . . . the predominance of content.” Content over form. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">The age of content raises as many challenges for architects as it does for a Newscorp or Viacom struggling to fill an almost countless array of cable, internet and new media channels. Venturi's Shanghai towers, which appeared in the renderings he presented at the lecture to transmit nothing more than light, may already be retro. Perhaps the best expression of the content aesthetic can be found in an updated perennial, New York's Time Square, where <a href="http://www.signindustry.com/led/articles/2003-02-28-LB-LED-Zippers.php3" target="_blank">high-tech signage</a> is an integral part of the architecture, in the form of ever-larger “reader boards” that include everything from a massive electronic stock ticker on the Morgan Stanley Building, and nine bands of electronic color above ABC's street-level studios carrying both text and video. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">For an architect, the issue of obsolescent content has the potential to age a building far <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWhA-AMkzyKEByv2LMYNUdzcN7jpD4CTR33YkG18AozZkFc_5w3PJSwqf8LM69hB4VIlr5wS4quCRQtNIgC6esvDq43uxEsOlNdc3P34y1lT-i-JfA96pZglRP_WajT7OAqwPlQ/s1600/fountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="214" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWhA-AMkzyKEByv2LMYNUdzcN7jpD4CTR33YkG18AozZkFc_5w3PJSwqf8LM69hB4VIlr5wS4quCRQtNIgC6esvDq43uxEsOlNdc3P34y1lT-i-JfA96pZglRP_WajT7OAqwPlQ/s320/fountain.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
faster than any physical decay. How long until visitors to Millennium Park's <a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/Gehry/sculpture.htm" target="_blank">Crown Fountain</a> began to get bored with the same 1,000 faces projected digitally on the fountain's two towers? In the future, will a building be viable only so long as it has access to fresh content for its digital displays? Taken to its logical extreme, facades of traditional glass, steel or stone may become obsolete - all materials will come to incorporate light-emitting elements. “Modernizing” a building will no longer mean changing its physical structure. By simply changing the feed to the digital boards, a building's appearance will be completely transformed. The fact that this will be no easy feat is reflected by Venturi/Scott Brown's own website. It's an engaging- and award-winning -construct of distinctive typography, whimsical symbols and day-glo colors, but its projects timeline doesn't appear to have been updated since the year 2000. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Venturi and Scott Brown have created some the past century's most essential texts in understanding the architecture of their time. His IIT lecture indicates that he's a point where he's gotten out the revelation business, and more into an autumnal refinement of his basic concepts. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdUhReHdr1wtTc0MJve4WmBuezAlMxZSwYhLKuwK6GO3iCeYLkpj_5CGrKKnkqUYgpwXPhYCHcF8bZAQJ-cVh-TYCLyt3Cm79d0e-bKeX9LtmoKmPaA-1M-yz3M3ntUGQmmMDC8A/s1600/pritzker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="324" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdUhReHdr1wtTc0MJve4WmBuezAlMxZSwYhLKuwK6GO3iCeYLkpj_5CGrKKnkqUYgpwXPhYCHcF8bZAQJ-cVh-TYCLyt3Cm79d0e-bKeX9LtmoKmPaA-1M-yz3M3ntUGQmmMDC8A/s640/pritzker.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Venturi, of course, is the guy who championed the idea of buildings as “decorated sheds,” and in response to a question he fielded after his lecture, he said he saw Frank Gehry's </span><a href="http://www.lynnbecker.com/repeat/Gehry/gehry.htm" style="font-family: Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Pritzker bandshell</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> in Millennium Park as carrying on “the idea of the great American loft tradition. His buildings . . . are essentially a loft with applied ornament, which are these potato chips,” Venturi said, referring to the billowing metallic forms that mane the stage. “So I feel at home when you acknowledge that his architecture is not only the potato chips, but the potato chips applied to a loft, and Frank was more than happy when I said that. “ J</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #676767; font-family: "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> © Copyright 2005 Lynn Becker All rights reserved.</span><br />
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Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-163965658577732002018-07-09T22:22:00.000-05:002018-07-10T06:49:13.688-05:00Six Bad Arguments for the Exploding Costs of CTA Stations<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMnLPx4bEKXixy_kT0MDVlUOaoDc3WCQpHIq0WqK5EostkZTxGqxJU9T-qg0U1lJy78wstz9OTLV7aMg8SXhuIKTZpP7T8FdltRkefPqLCmAC2km7HaziyNNtYyuqZOL2bUFwDzw/s1600/damen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="1050" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMnLPx4bEKXixy_kT0MDVlUOaoDc3WCQpHIq0WqK5EostkZTxGqxJU9T-qg0U1lJy78wstz9OTLV7aMg8SXhuIKTZpP7T8FdltRkefPqLCmAC2km7HaziyNNtYyuqZOL2bUFwDzw/s640/damen.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CTA Damen Green Line Station, Perkins and Will</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The blowback – largely <a href="https://twitter.com/LynnBecker" target="_blank">on Twitter</a> – to my post about the $60
million cost of the new Damen and Lake station on the CTA green line is a dispiriting
demonstration on how politicians play us like a violin. The discussion revolves around a
few basic arguments:<br />
<br />
<i><b>"Even if the stations could be built more economically, it doesn’t matter because infrastructure
is expensive."</b> </i>Tell that to those on
the short end of the giant TIF con, in which phony-baloney TIF's carved out of
affluent areas generate – and retain - billions of dollars to make them even
denser concentrations of wealth, while TIF’s
in capital-starved neighborhood generate crumbs far insufficient to their needs. Well-managed cities have capital plans. Irredeemably corrupt ones have TIF's.
<br />
<br />
<i><b>“Added cost = good design”</b></i> Really? Reasonable (and often unreasonable) constraints are the mother’s milk
of creative architecture.
<br />
<br />
<b><i>"It’s still cheaper than New York City’s new
subway stations.</i> </b> Yes, but then so is just about everything short of the Burj Kalifa.
<br />
<br />
<i><b>“We deserve it.”</b></i> A perfect expression of the kind of civic balkanization the TIF system encourages.
<br />
<br />
<i><b>"Other things - Jane Byrne interchange, O'Hare expansion, etc. - cost so much more!"</b></i> So if we can't come to our senses, let's repeat the mistake as often as possible at slightly smaller scale.
<br />
<br />
<i><b>"We need this - the CTA tends to be so shabby." </b></i>Shabby indeed, but . . .
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
a. A station on a tighter budget does NOT have to be shabby. That's the talent good architects bring to the equation.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW_NzXTGfw94u8tfJAC6qgFtWc7z66la8IVyQaSCXXO5squnophmh-JJrkdraSPxppk_QWcjbjDVtD_FbaMmd-MlhCRb7SPvMXLIHR5FZN6bx7x5mkEkHGVdZFjnAs6-pRy0g8Zg/s1600/cta+state+lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="669" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW_NzXTGfw94u8tfJAC6qgFtWc7z66la8IVyQaSCXXO5squnophmh-JJrkdraSPxppk_QWcjbjDVtD_FbaMmd-MlhCRb7SPvMXLIHR5FZN6bx7x5mkEkHGVdZFjnAs6-pRy0g8Zg/s400/cta+state+lake.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">State and Lake, Loop L</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
b. If we overspent less on the pork barrel stations, we’d have more for basic maintenance. While Red Line-Wilson got over $200 million,
the Sheridan station – which boards slightly more passengers – has been allowed to be a decrepit mess for decades, just as for decades State and Lake has been a civic disgrace of peeling paint, creaking floorboards, curated pigeon droppings and general slummery
even as $75,000,000 was found to build a new Washington and Wabash station to support about the same number of boardings. The fact that rehabs for those stations only now have been announced doesn't make up for decades of willful neglect.</blockquote>
<br />
We think of ourselves as rational, progressive people, but
at heart, we’re kittens distracted by a piece of string, the latest pretty
bauble that bewitches and clouds our intellects. It's big! It's shiny! It’s expensive! Ergo, it must be
good; it must be swallowed without a second thought. Except, there is no good architecture without fitness to purpose.
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqCdVIDCAxG1ZiQGHmdknty07LVic05HP1VFV0CC1EqW8TxtEj1ZyhzoWnQznQDvBDro3KoN7n3-WoOLWIksgF8haIbDK2pTx3CSIB8s-Tr5U8PXl0kNx2Q1sGqBA65hG3TK0jw/s1600/cta+cermak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="1152" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqCdVIDCAxG1ZiQGHmdknty07LVic05HP1VFV0CC1EqW8TxtEj1ZyhzoWnQznQDvBDro3KoN7n3-WoOLWIksgF8haIbDK2pTx3CSIB8s-Tr5U8PXl0kNx2Q1sGqBA65hG3TK0jw/s640/cta+cermak.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cermak, Green Line</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The new Cermak Green Line station is visually spectacular,
and the poster child for construction overkill.
Costing $50,000,000, it was to be the new gateway to McCormick Place and
an emerging Motor Row, but so far it remains lightly used, generating less than
a <a href="https://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/6/2017_CTA_Annual_Ridership_Report.pdf" target="_blank">half million boardings a year</a>.
Multiply that by 50, for a projected 50 years until the next necessary major rehab, and it still
comes out to $2.10 – more than the CTA’s basic fare – each time a passenger enters.
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhioUCsitSVkwzbFpeIaWBH43Ns9AI40CKoPypGUY0ciPeXMJVN6R2OLfxDxIACwCMRM4YZnFnSXnfLt8tKUCABftNUqvh81q1L3DSJ11vt2Ysp8pJl-ytB4imZqQzETgVUM5xaGQ/s1600/cta+fullerton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1152" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhioUCsitSVkwzbFpeIaWBH43Ns9AI40CKoPypGUY0ciPeXMJVN6R2OLfxDxIACwCMRM4YZnFnSXnfLt8tKUCABftNUqvh81q1L3DSJ11vt2Ysp8pJl-ytB4imZqQzETgVUM5xaGQ/s400/cta+fullerton.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original Fullerton Red/Brown Line station</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I never thought I’d write anything nice about Charles Yerkes
and the other traction crooks, but they understood budgets. The stations they built were cheap and aggressively efficient, but often not only simply but graciously designed. They were
not mini-Grand Centrals, but they had newsstands, a washroom – often even
shops. And in most cases, they supported equal or even larger passenger loads than the CTA handles today. Many of these original stations have
been preserved as important pieces of architecture, standing in constrained,
silent contempt of the bloated counterparts that took their place.
<br />
<br />
To be sure, those original stations had drawbacks - not the least of which access for the physically challenged - that newer stations - <i>all</i> newer stations - must and should address. Elevators, wide platforms, <i>longer</i> platforms to accommodate longer trains, are among functional improvements that are a welcome addition to all new and rehab construction. Unwarranted, relentless monumentality, perhaps not.<br />
<br />
We need a forensic breakdown on the costs of these mega-stations. How much for the basics - structural support, platforms, stairways and elevators - and how much for all the bling?<br />
<br />
If we're going to spend money on gateways, structures that define and help develop their communities, why would we be putting the big bucks into those that people spend only seconds rushing in and out of, and most of their time on the platform immersed in their smartphones waiting for the train to arrive? Wouldn't it be better to spend more of that money on signature public spaces where people are actually encouraged to linger, enjoy and interact with the neighborhood around them?<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJzk28KM4VN8VD8PAE7GAbV1rThyq0jo-mv4gm6W1zSJFImlPMi3Nd0_joSr9LmiK6do08V18sFqBdHWA6-oTyQXOpFxszvWnEvgL5UluxZi_rIftX0pTBtQmLRjfcFUmwyBecQ/s1600/cta+morgan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="1152" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJzk28KM4VN8VD8PAE7GAbV1rThyq0jo-mv4gm6W1zSJFImlPMi3Nd0_joSr9LmiK6do08V18sFqBdHWA6-oTyQXOpFxszvWnEvgL5UluxZi_rIftX0pTBtQmLRjfcFUmwyBecQ/s640/cta+morgan.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morgan Street, Green Line</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As a lover of architecture, I delight in the design of
Morgan, Cermak and Washington (Wilson, not so much). They're among the few bright spots in a city where the mediocrity of more and more new construction threatens to make a cruel joke of our reputation as a city where architecture matters. As a
citizen of Chicago, however, I can’t walk by without smelling the reek of pork - fat
contracts for the connected, even as greater needs are left to starve.
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhloYRX4b273DNLls3AHMVe5XExolGbWt3ePaFUSsHDFTBhvQcADYgSQVuFdXZQn3JbrmZans9gv-FtG37IODoJtKh-eugg_Wvd02Ut5U1uqxFpE-Q5SN6vD6h3DFwRqFzcV5HsKg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-07-09+at+9.35.30+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="583" height="449" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhloYRX4b273DNLls3AHMVe5XExolGbWt3ePaFUSsHDFTBhvQcADYgSQVuFdXZQn3JbrmZans9gv-FtG37IODoJtKh-eugg_Wvd02Ut5U1uqxFpE-Q5SN6vD6h3DFwRqFzcV5HsKg/s640/Screen+Shot+2018-07-09+at+9.35.30+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We've gone from $38,000,000 for Morgan Street, to $50,000,000 for Cermak to $60,000,000 for Damen, a 58% inflation in just 8 years.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmmVyFKQ59TdITDPMzWiCQYEC3aQwudaGn9opy_HRMYwBLs-QLYQOH0fUC4FvoCOwVVI_xugNFRP4ABWBMlnBEXkv22giRCuSWnYS3KnHSIiXoQgi9OefW5WCBhHwL0x2y6edMg/s1600/cta+wilson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1152" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmmVyFKQ59TdITDPMzWiCQYEC3aQwudaGn9opy_HRMYwBLs-QLYQOH0fUC4FvoCOwVVI_xugNFRP4ABWBMlnBEXkv22giRCuSWnYS3KnHSIiXoQgi9OefW5WCBhHwL0x2y6edMg/s640/cta+wilson.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wilson Station, Red Line</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We’re in thrall to a binary system. Dazzling displays of spending to give the beaming
politicians ribbons to cut, or chronic neglect of facilities used by millions
more but lacking in press opportunities. Shabby and/or derelict, or blingful and extravagant. There has to be a middle way.<br />
<br />
Less is more. Ever hear of it?
Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-25588945621429489662017-07-18T05:20:00.004-05:002017-07-18T05:22:02.333-05:00A New Website Showcases Chicago - its architecture, vistas, events and people. Introducing Lynn Becker Gallery<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/Gallery/lynnbeckergallery.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1098" data-original-width="1152" height="610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWU9U0KZGBjr7ln5ewjX4UWMAEAxbjFbp2QqVV-O5wzTrteGMVx38LQYL_lr2Uqy6lNSyj36ht_76LF9QqgfV_1J29DJjx-kOVRr4-tlhdtTRtPN_G1xSv-9ZsjCP5R_5R3jExA/s640/father+time+20100918.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/Gallery/lynnbeckergallery.html" target="_blank">[September 18, 2010] Father Time</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Over the past fifteen years, I've taken over 175,000 images, mostly of my thumb.<br />
<br />
Some
are of San Francisco, even fewer of Washington and other cities, but
almost were taken in Chicago. Slowly, I've been going through those
hundreds of thousands of photographs and picking out or my newest website,<b> <a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/Gallery/lynnbeckergallery.html" target="_blank">Lynn Becker Gallery</a>. </b><br />
<br />
Here you'll find the images in a large, full-page format, far more expressive than the sizes to which I'm restricted to in this blog and on social media. Often, they'll be accompanied by a short essay providing the story behind what's in the day's photograph.<br />
<br />
I'll
be adding new pictures several times each week, and just to get started,
daily this week, with a bonus image on this original post.<br />
<br />
I hope you'll find them enjoyable, and <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=10923291&postID=5278621699901382779" target="_blank">I welcome your comments</a>.<br />
<br />
For your troubles, today's bonus image:<br />
<br />
(April 10, 2010) Drummond Place stalked by purple dinosaur.<br />
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<a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/Gallery/lynnbeckergallery.html" target="_blank"><img alt="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/Gallery/lynnbeckergallery.html" border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="1152" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMOqO9zoMzbEHtkPGVbBTgwnnydvt8I6MttLNwjqqGBggN7kde7oz8hXJhDjt3Ezc7GKlWhY4njSkF53qsgt2BZZ1DgLYQ7ZcagZJ707HhVwqIdswqKJREO0GKLSrrnD1qmr5Ow/s640/barney+attacks+20100410.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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© Lynn Becker, 2003-2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited.<br />
<br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-36135273926073274512017-07-07T14:36:00.000-05:002017-10-13T15:08:34.275-05:00Spartacus, Newly Relevant in the Time of Trump, two rare 70mm showings at the Music Box<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Spartacus in 70mm will be shown twice at the <a href="http://musicboxtheatre.com/" target="_blank">Music Box Theater</a>, Saturday, July 8th at 6;00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m., Thursday, July 13th.</i></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;">"<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">As those slaves have died, so will your rabble... if they falter one instant in loyalty to the new order of affairs. Arrests are in progress. The prisons began to fill. In every city and province, lists of the disloyal have been compiled. Tomorrow, they will learn the cost of their terrible folly."</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> -</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Marcus Licinius Crassus</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span></span></blockquote>
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It's not only the most overtly political of the great Hollywood epics, it's also newly relevant - a film created in the shadow of McCarthyism, being revived in a time of authoritarian restoration via the alt-right and its bouffanted Crassus, the current President of the United States.<br />
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When the Kirk Douglas/Stanley Kubrick film <a href="https://musicboxtheatre.com/films/spartacus" target="_blank">Spartacus returns to Chicago</a> as part of this year's edition of the Music Box Theatre's always incredible <a href="https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/the-music-box-70mm-film-festival" target="_blank">70mm Film Festival</a>, it will to the best of my knowledge be the first time it's been shown in 70mm here since the picture's original 1960 release. (A short run of the restored version ran at Piper's Alley in the 1990's, but not in 70mm.)<br />
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I was lucky enough to be in L.A. back in 1991 when the <a href="http://www.in70mm.com/news/2009/spartacus/" target="_blank">million dollar restoration</a> premiered, and was able to see it with a demonstrably appreciative audience at a Century City cinema. Before the 1960 release, censors had forced numerous cuts, and even more were made for reissues and television. The original negatives had decayed to the point of being useless, and the restoration had to be created from color separations.<br />
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The 2010 Blue-ray transfer was infamously flawed. A 2015 4K version supervised by Robert A. Harris appears to be much better, but here's a chance to see it - maybe for the last time? - in the original 70mm. Why pass it up?<br />
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As with Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus is made up of two very distinct halves. The first is largely made up with extended set pieces - Spartacus becoming a Gladiator, the climatic match between Spartacus and Draba, the takeover and escape from the compound, the assembly and training of the slave army. The emphasis is on action.<br />
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The second act, again as with Lawrence, is much more telescoped, with a strong counterpoint between the march of the slave army and the politics in Rome, reaching a climax in cross-cut scenes of Olivier's speech his character Crassus has been made dictator by a fearful Rome, and Spartacus addressing his followers on the eve of battle. Crassus speaks in the Forum, with all the pomp and architectural Rome as his backdrop. Spartacus speaks from a bluff overlooking a seemingly boundless array of people in which Kubrick's sure use of 70mm makes the crowd not anonymous but a sea of individuals.<br />
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Saul Bass not only designed the film's striking title sequence, but also served, as he often did with Hitchcock, as the film's visual consultant, designing the gladiator school and storyboarding the climatic final battle between the armies of Spartacus and Rome. The massing of the opposing armies across a vast physical expanse can truly only be fully appreciated in 70mm. The ultra-wide shots of the movement of clotted masses of humanity seen from a great distance rare a visual representation of the appreciation of abstraction that both Bass and Kubrick shared.<br />
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It is the political maneuverings of the second half of Spartacus that give it its lasting character. The book on which the film was based was written by Howard Fast, whose renunciation of his flirtation with communism did nothing to dim his radical sensibilities. Very early on, when it became apparent that the screenplay Fast was hired to write was essentially unfilmable, Dalton Trumbo was brought on as a rush replacement. Trumbo would write <a href="https://indiegroundfilms.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/spartacus.pdf" target="_blank">the screenplay</a> under the name Sam Jackson, one of a series of pseudonyms he used to continue a (diminished) living as a blacklisted radical banned from working in Hollywood (including, as Robert Rich, winning an Academy Award he couldn't show up to collect for 1956's <i>The Brave One</i>.) . It was Trumbo's <i>Spartacus</i> script the helped Douglas get the cast of British acting royalty he was looking for - Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, and Peter Ustinov. (In the original concept, the slaves would all have American accents, the Roman patricians would all be - and sound - British.)<br />
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But there were still more changes to the script to come.<br />
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In an interview for Criterion Collection, Ustinov - who would be the only person ever to receive an Oscar for acting in a Stanley Kubrick film - says Olivier joined the shoot a week before the others, and had used the time to coral Douglas into rewrites. When everyone assembled for the first table read, Ustinov and Laughton found themselves acting out a script far different from the one they had originally been given. Laughton, believing that his part was being diminished, was enraged. He threatened to sue Douglas, and Ustinov says he walked through the production essentially "waiting to be offended."<br />
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As a placation, Ustinov and Laughton were allowed by Kubrick to rewrite the scenes in which they appeared. Steven Spielberg has said those scenes are his favorite part of the picture. And they define the political content. "<span style="background-color: white;">"I'd rather have a little Republican corruption, with a little Republican freedom," Laughton's Gracchus proclaims to a Senate contemplating giving Olivier's Crassus dictatorial powers, "than rule by Crassus and no freedom at all!" It is not the strongman Olivier but the amiably corrupt Gracchus - corpulent, indecently wealthy, indulgent of his own appetites and those of others, and comfortable with the mechanics of power and persuasion, who, second only to Spartacus himself, is the hero of the piece. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">If you have not seen Spartacus, do yourself a favor. Stop reading here and go so it. If you already seen it, proceed on.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Indeed, the Laughton/Ustinov back end resolves into comedy, not comedy in the sense of a bundle of laughs. </span><span style="background-color: white;">No, comedy in the sense of things resolving in a graceful manner, even in the face of gravest tragedy. To me, this is what makes Spartacus a very special film. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Ustinov comes to Laughton after he's been whipped and cast out by Olivier, who has has found Spartacus's wife, Jean Simmons, and taken her and her newly born son into his palace. Laughton, surmising Crassus has fallen in love with her, suggests to Ustinov the best revenge against Crassus would be "hurt him where we will feel it most, in his pride" and "steal this woman." "But surely, you're not suggesting," replies Ustinov, "that <i>I</i> steal her." "Add courage to your new found virtues," says Gracchus, plying him with bags of gold. "A round million!" Ustinov finds the feared Crassus dwindling in his mind. "With such a sum," he says, "I could bribe Jupiter himself." "With a lesser sum," replies Laughton, "I have."</span><br />
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I<span style="background-color: white;">n short order - with remarkable economy, we never see how he does it - Ustinov returns to Laughton with Simmons and her baby. Laughton passes the certificates of freedom he's created his retinue of female slaves, for Simmons, and "a smaller one for the child." He gives Ustinov even more money, and waves him aside when Ustinov asks where he himself will be going. "Come with us," Ustinov urges. "Make sure I don't mis-spend the money." "Don't be ridiculous," Laughton replies. "I'm a Senator." He sends them on their way, selects the right dagger ("Prettier"), goes to his bath and draws the curtains behind him to commit suicide and deny Crassus still another victory.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">After the captured slaves refuse to identify Spartacus, Crassus orders them all crucified. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Kubrick hatred the film's moralizing and sentimentally. He initially cut from the film the close-ups of Spartacus on his cross. Kirk Douglas attacked him with a chair. The shots remain.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I'm sure Kubrick hated it, but to me it's one of the most moving sequences in film, especially so in our current environment, when hope often seems vanquished.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Ustinov, Simmons and her child exit the gates of Rome in a wagon, onto a road that is lined with the crucified slaves. As a guard orders Ustinov to come down and show his papers, Simmons catches sight of Spartacus dying on his cross. Ustinov looks at her, then towards what she's seeing, and then sees Spartacus as well. "Not a word," he implores Simmons. "Not a word." As Ustinov talks with the guard, Simmons climbs down from the wagon, walking towards the cross. She holds the baby up to Spartacus, "This is your son . . . he's free. He's free."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Ustinov pulls up her beside her, "For the love of mercy, get in the wagon." Watching them ride off, Spartacus dies.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">That is the final scene. Down a road lined with a seemingly endless procession of crosses bearing the tortured, executed bodies of the vanquished slaves, a small wagon recedes from our view, carrying a former slave seller, a liberated slave, and her tiny child into freedom's exile.</span><br />
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<br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-21340622340928895902017-07-01T22:32:00.002-05:002017-07-03T09:08:20.463-05:00For a 100th Anniversary, Chicago becomes the Lions den.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Note: to see the photographs in full size, click the first one below. You will then be able to use the thumbnail bar at the bottom of the window to move through the pictures, either by clicking or using your right arrow key.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">When I heard the music coming from the street below, I had no idea what was going on. By the time I got downstairs, I was immersed in one of the most amazing parades ever. <a href="http://lcicon.lionsclubs.org/EN/index.php" target="_blank">Lions Club International </a>was holding its annual convention in Chicago, where it was founded by insurance agent and Business Circle activist Melvin Jones at the LaSalle Hotel in 1917, and celebrating its centenary in a big way.</span><br />
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23 marching bands joined an estimated 24,000 Lions Club members representing over 100 countries and an overall membership of nearly 1,500,000 people constituting was claimed to be the world's largest service organization..<br />
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The result was an incredible pageant of visitors from throughout the U.S. and all around the world, often in colorful native dress. The Lions last met in Chicago ten years ago. After operating out of Melvin Jones office, it moved to the six-story post-fire building at the northeast corner of Michigan and Lake, which was remodeling in the early 1920's by Jarvis Hunt, and then again with its facade getting a <a href="http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/eiu_postc/id/6183" target="_blank">concrete modernization in the 1950's</a>. For twenty years, the Lions purple and gold emblem placed on the blank southern facing wall proclaimed the Lions presence, until the organization sold the building to Metropolitan Structures and moved to a new headquarters in Oak Brook in 1972. The structure was demolished to make way for Fujikawa Johnson's 205 North Michigan, the easternmost component of the massive Illinois Center development constructed on the Illinois Central's old railyards.<br />
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Jones set the mission of the Lions in service for others, saying "You can't get very far until you start doing something for somebody else," a commonsense statement under mounting assault in a current society that seems evermore obsessed with greed and cruelty.<br />
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According to an <a href="http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lions-clubs-celebrate-th-anniversary/article_09273298-0cc3-5cb9-94bd-e771383e96ef.html" target="_blank">article by Joyce Russell Joyce</a> in the Times of Northwestern Indiana, this mission found focus after Helen Keller addressed the 1925 convention, heeding Keller's call for the group to become "knights of the blind" their mission. It's said a Lions member created the first white guide cane, and in 1939 members of the Detroit Uptown Lions opened one of the first schools for training guide dogs. The Lions collected prescription eyewear for redistribution, and sponsored a series of vans and buses for vision testing.<br />
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I remember encountering volunteers on the street for Lions Candy Day, collecting contributions and passing out rolls (now pouches) of Lifesavers. The tradition continues to this day, and accounts for a large portion of Lions operating income.<br />
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Membership in the Lions remains by invitation only - you have to be sponsored by an existing member. Women were not admitted as members until 1987. (The majority of the Worcester England club resigned in protest.) Judging from Saturday's parade, they've made up for lost time. Similarly, while it took 14 years before an annual convention took place outside the United States, and until 1969 before a convention was held on the Asia continent, Japan, Korea and China today constitute the Lions fastest growing areas. Since 2002, conventions have been held in Osaka, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Busan and, last year, Fukuoka.<br />
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Saturday's parade was sprawling, marching from Wacker all the way down to Van Buren, with staging areas all along Wacker, to Franklin on the West and Wabash on the East. While Chicago has a habit of inflating crowd estimates, the Tribune reported the 1967 Chicago gathering as even larger - 50,000 Lions and 18,000 in the parade marching before a quarter million spectators. Mayor Richard J. Daley watched from the reviewing stand on State Street just north of Balbo. Scheduled for 4 hours, the parade actually took five and a half to finish.<br />
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Today the Lions claim to be represented on every continent accept Antarctica, in over 200 countries and geographical areas. The emphasis on vision remain, but the Lions mission has expanded to such issues as youth mentoring, protecting the environment, and disaster relief. This year there are new programs addressing diabetes awareness and education.<br />
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While countless "Lions" were on view, actual "lions" appeared to be limited to participants such as these.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EYR5uBgdRJk6gSbtsJOZPVSikfzeFdU5xet8ob4z89EhYLk6cil3219KAgJwTlQ3pNxiekJksPJRQD6UDZ5yi9P6UvRJXgmQt9vJ7XmIssBCAHedcxzpEj5cxKvYR36UJJlsfA/s1600/51lionswaterbottle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="1152" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EYR5uBgdRJk6gSbtsJOZPVSikfzeFdU5xet8ob4z89EhYLk6cil3219KAgJwTlQ3pNxiekJksPJRQD6UDZ5yi9P6UvRJXgmQt9vJ7XmIssBCAHedcxzpEj5cxKvYR36UJJlsfA/s640/51lionswaterbottle.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com91518N N State Rd 19, Akron, IN 46910, USA41.077143252361758 -86.04492187517.058808252361757 -127.353515875 65.095478252361758 -44.736327875tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-52786216999013827792016-09-14T21:49:00.000-05:002017-07-18T04:58:21.780-05:00Lynn Becker Gallery commentsComments hereLynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-68573998933244105262016-01-14T20:07:00.000-06:002017-01-19T06:24:09.933-06:00Why Lynn Becker is about to disappear<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMYrXl-1P1eLA-YBE10w1jK81B2RpnT6HsgDAyvbMv413HWlR3XINTVUhNNO5J0KrGmC3qxdNNvyToNkvfrMbKsQH3G72WzyvNsLUk5jTMaoaDV8hSHlzjmE-n_2_F_EKGYM9EA/s1600/mbwide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMYrXl-1P1eLA-YBE10w1jK81B2RpnT6HsgDAyvbMv413HWlR3XINTVUhNNO5J0KrGmC3qxdNNvyToNkvfrMbKsQH3G72WzyvNsLUk5jTMaoaDV8hSHlzjmE-n_2_F_EKGYM9EA/s400/mbwide.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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This week marks the 12th anniversary of my first article being published in Chicago Reader. What better time to call a time out?<br />
<br />
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money," Dr. Johnson
famously observed. I have become that blockhead.<br />
<br />
So
I'm taking a hiatus to vegetate and experiment - fiction, poetry,
screenplays, prescription drug disclaimers - so many choices, so little
time between naps.<br />
<br />
At least until March 1st, I'm also engaging in the radical experiment of swearing off social media.<br />
<br />
No Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram.<br />
<br />
No posts.<br />
<br />
No reading of posts. <br />
<br />
Is this even possible, in a time when seemingly every last one of us has been sucked like Alice through the Looking Glass down into our smartphone screens?<br />
<br />
Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.<br />
<br />
When I look at my life, all my misfortunes are pretty much self-made; the wonderful things the gift of others. I'm going to do a Trumbo and not name names, but you know who you are. Except for you, I would have been a irredeemably dull boy, making his home in a box on Lower Wacker. <br />
<br />
And thanks to you, my readers and followers, for your patience, generous if misguided attention, and eloquent engagement.<br />
<br />
If you should need to reach me, I'll still be checking e-mail. I'm not a <i>total</i> idiot. Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-60111822501075206322016-01-02T08:32:00.000-06:002017-07-03T10:41:46.108-05:00Afters its close, an assessment of the First Chicago Architecture Biennial<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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First things first. Sunday, January 3rd is closing day at the Cultural Center for the First <a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/" target="_blank">Chicago Architecture Biennial</a>. If you haven't seen it, make the trip. The Biennial has not been universally loved, but I'm betting that unless you're Zaha Hadid, you'll find things that intrigue and perhaps even amaze you.<br />
<br />
For an opening salvo for what is hoped to be a continuing event, the Biennial can be judged a major success. According to official sources, by the time it closes, it should have drawn nearly a quarter of million people to the Cultural Center (no, I don't know how they count them either, and as critic Edward Keegan has noted that's only 38% over what the CCL drew in the same period the year before.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Ronan at the Chicago Architecture Biennial</td></tr>
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Beyond the body counts, the Biennial drew major press attention globally, and spurred a great deal of discussion, laudatory and otherwise. The event included a wealth of related events, including signature addresses from the likes of John Ronan, and other lectures, panels and presentations which seems to have included the participation of just about every Chicago architect of note, as well a wide roster of distinguished visitors.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3WqUAWQAkvlgS6dT08DgaAdcH1oIGli3Mep3w_AyiOG23ztEWTXkgoGbXGPIw8EBEtLvX4Kk6W2OTr4J8Klw46fETriTw2mIiMnzshdM0_9b239QSSNvNHNbfLEhzHSpEFcF6Q/s1600/summervaultsolid%2527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3WqUAWQAkvlgS6dT08DgaAdcH1oIGli3Mep3w_AyiOG23ztEWTXkgoGbXGPIw8EBEtLvX4Kk6W2OTr4J8Klw46fETriTw2mIiMnzshdM0_9b239QSSNvNHNbfLEhzHSpEFcF6Q/s320/summervaultsolid%2527.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">S<a href="http://www.archdaily.com/775737/summer-vault-independent-architecture-plus-paul-preissner-architects" target="_blank">ummer Vault</a> - Independent Architecture<br />
and Paul Preissner Architects</td></tr>
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The Biennial went beyond the confines of the Cultural Center to create <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2015/10/little-houses-on-lakefront-four-kiosks.html" target="_blank">four temporary kiosks</a> for locations at IIT, the Museum Campus, and Millennium Park. One, located on the Museum campus, was the result of an international competition; the other three were created in partnership with the city's architecture schools at IIT, UIC, and the School of the Art Institute. They were all outshone, however, by the opening of the <a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/exhibition/venues/stony-island-arts-bank/" target="_blank">Stony Island Arts Bank</a>, created out of a South Side classically-styled, long-abandoned building by Theaster Gates, who, much like Ai Weiwei, is becoming an international superstar for his merging of architecture and design with social activism.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW46EKzx1PMvF7zZsjxl48fU_8hg6JtSPKWg0B7aKCNZlOdyurRXSS724qrD62vhZFot4b_z71fff3EQuansUfj4c7SiWrWpXofEBvhGAyb7KX1-0B1Rjs6aIzZIhdbY7ilxjYEw/s1600/cabstonyisland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW46EKzx1PMvF7zZsjxl48fU_8hg6JtSPKWg0B7aKCNZlOdyurRXSS724qrD62vhZFot4b_z71fff3EQuansUfj4c7SiWrWpXofEBvhGAyb7KX1-0B1Rjs6aIzZIhdbY7ilxjYEw/s400/cabstonyisland.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph courtesy: <a href="https://rebuild-foundation.org/" target="_blank">Rebuild Foundation</a></td></tr>
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The Arts Bank is an example of how the Biennial was enriched by a wide range of events other institutions mounted in co-ordination with its run. Most prominent of these was the Art Institute's major retrospective, <i><a href="http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/david-adjaye" target="_blank">Making Place: The Architecture of David Adjaye</a></i>, which also closes this Sunday, and a smaller show, <a href="http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/seen-exhibitions-made-architecture-and-design-history" target="_blank"><i>As Seen: Exhibitions That Made Architecture and Design History</i></a>, which runs through May, and may be particularly relevant to the Biennial as it examines "the influence of architecture and design exhibitions years after their closing." <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMtX0gJ-yviSKQaM8eGC_wL0BEScJwZOOHfb4D4-8f3H_wsVw23EZqIVecH3-m1DL9Vu7i4jeEiMejVvMK25ksfEbKcWCwyObCsH1sB6XmAywdE8KsDBTHNp2iu4ZDQXI3CBOdg/s1600/165hero-683x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMtX0gJ-yviSKQaM8eGC_wL0BEScJwZOOHfb4D4-8f3H_wsVw23EZqIVecH3-m1DL9Vu7i4jeEiMejVvMK25ksfEbKcWCwyObCsH1sB6XmAywdE8KsDBTHNp2iu4ZDQXI3CBOdg/s400/165hero-683x1024.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grid | River | Landmark, first prize,<br />
Perkins+Will DLC Design Competition<br />
Yanwen Xiao and Silas Haslam</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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When you consider the influence of this First Chicago Architecture Biennial, a lot of the real meat came not from the "official" events, but from the partnerships that went beyond the usual suspects. Perkins+Will scheduled its in-house DLC Design Competition, <i>Projects Imagine Sustainable Design Along the Chicago River</i>, to coincide with the Biennial, with the awards ceremony held at the Cultural Center.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgKV0WjLCX8M6xoDbR2mdP6wiGDHmKgn6XFrjamwXvfB2UHl9zn7iXMHTFl9iCh1sPl72y3zTGyLnjmmvQ0CJ_OPiUBVV1LKLHqA-kNHaDCQxCu_BtA9fPMtin5uEed6pWEVcAg/s1600/sbbosch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgKV0WjLCX8M6xoDbR2mdP6wiGDHmKgn6XFrjamwXvfB2UHl9zn7iXMHTFl9iCh1sPl72y3zTGyLnjmmvQ0CJ_OPiUBVV1LKLHqA-kNHaDCQxCu_BtA9fPMtin5uEed6pWEVcAg/s400/sbbosch.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim Samuelson and Tom Burtonwood<br />
photo courtesy Thorsten Bösch.</td></tr>
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Pecha Kucha had <a href="http://www.pechakucha.org/cities/chicago/events/55d8acaabfb6ff4daa000002" target="_blank">an evening in Preston Bradley Hall</a> with, excepting myself, a particularly rich roster of presenters, culminating with a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnRapsAjTUE" target="_blank">demonstration by Tom Burtonwood and Tim Samuelson</a> of making affordable replicas of Louis Sullivan's ornament in a bound set created by 3-D printing. The <a href="http://www.chicagoarchitecturalclub.org/" target="_blank">Chicago Architectural Club</a> mounted both a competition and a <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2015/10/bombs-away-stanley-tigerman-unveils.html" target="_blank">series of events centered</a> on Chicago architecture's eminence grise Stanley Tigerman, who was both perhaps the Biennial's most vocal booster and an indefatigable participant in many of its events and panels.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLnW23ORTR1dao0nOoWeW0vZEo5thlBiPvQf8wrFuS9IM42BDFw09ajv_7Ri4kEJJLs87r5-lEOSsuzA9njdMK7nnJWoh098kDlnZsDLyq0rd49xXhk7o_FlsY33WYEi6jhYzfw/s1600/port.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLnW23ORTR1dao0nOoWeW0vZEo5thlBiPvQf8wrFuS9IM42BDFw09ajv_7Ri4kEJJLs87r5-lEOSsuzA9njdMK7nnJWoh098kDlnZsDLyq0rd49xXhk7o_FlsY33WYEi6jhYzfw/s400/port.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Big Shift</td></tr>
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Indeed, one of the most interesting part of Biennial inside the Cultural Center, was a co-exhibition <a href="http://www.mas-studio.com/work/bold-alternative-scenarios-for-chicago/" target="_blank"><i>Bold: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago</i></a>, curated by architect Iker Gil, whose most ambitious proposal came from <i><a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/exhibition/participants/port/" target="_blank">Port Urbanism: The Big Shift</a></i>, which envisions transforming Millennium and Grant Parks into a variation of Central Park by enclosing it from the lake with a wall of skyscrapers built on new landfill. Tigerman labeled Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin "an asshole" for not supporting what Tigerman sees both as the kind of audacious vision we need, and inevitable. I have to admit that, while I do admire the breadth of vision - and especially the excellent and informative video Port Urbanism made documenting the development of the downtown lakefront - I am as confident as Tigerman, but that the proposal, to the contrary, will never be built and is, in essence, a really bad idea, shafting the larger public by trading the great sweep of Grant Park to the Lake Michigan for a fringe of parkland fronting still another enclave for the super-rich. (But think of the tax revenue it will raise!)<br />
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Given Tigerman's commitment to making architecture something more than just "designing houses for the rich", his enthusiasm for <i>The Big Shift</i> is a bit of a puzzler. If we are going to create more landfill downtown, it should be more in line with Daniel Burnham's vision - shifting the huge boat parking lots that now dominate the lakefront to a new island or islands to free up the actual lakefront for beaches and greenspace, with maybe a tower or two in the mix.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG4tdMJoZWfMicpLFkkL60SLZnrerUeCdTK8sv8mn4cDzknEQBi_h9IkZ-CzlUlW8OSwPzsHuPZQOJp5ltPFEGBlERn61g6jP4tUQu6e9mRLiAWYB2z-XvjolnUQjbjencIt0Qgw/s1600/somgibson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG4tdMJoZWfMicpLFkkL60SLZnrerUeCdTK8sv8mn4cDzknEQBi_h9IkZ-CzlUlW8OSwPzsHuPZQOJp5ltPFEGBlERn61g6jP4tUQu6e9mRLiAWYB2z-XvjolnUQjbjencIt0Qgw/s400/somgibson.jpg" width="287" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The High Life</td></tr>
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Far more provocative to me were <i><a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/exhibition/participants/som-camesgibson/" target="_blank">The High Life</a></i>, a collaboration between Grant Gibson and SOM envisioning a new tower that allows for maximum differentiation among individual residents, and, most especially . . . <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKu2BgFGAmEe1o79V2gyzeBvDHLhU5MYdyGCvnHSvL8rRqpvnH_sl03l6Z29_w78AZ0Sf58yZXszb_3jTedTlIRbHWny1XJD5MugIxWP-z1FTsTgOI0yBIAkuR8rs-_bfhnYCKag/s1600/boldpanel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKu2BgFGAmEe1o79V2gyzeBvDHLhU5MYdyGCvnHSvL8rRqpvnH_sl03l6Z29_w78AZ0Sf58yZXszb_3jTedTlIRbHWny1XJD5MugIxWP-z1FTsTgOI0yBIAkuR8rs-_bfhnYCKag/s400/boldpanel.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3D Design Studio entry for The Available City</td></tr>
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. . . David Brown's continuing development of <i><a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/exhibition/participants/david-brown/" target="_blank">The Available City</a></i>, looking at revitalizing neighborhoods with infill built on some of the 15,000 vacant lots owned by the City of Chicago. For the Biennial, Brown expanded <i>Available City</i> to include nine specific proposals and models from architects small and large, established and new, from Jahn and Krueck and Sexton, to Ania Jaworska and 3D Design Studio. I hope to be writing more about these two installations soon.<br />
<br />
The key to all of these is they did what the Biennial is supposed to do. They inspired intelligent debate. The greatest value of the Biennial was not in itself, but in the response, which came from two opposite directions.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO31_SUprmFKLRNlFeJKBpDGS5Re4K0Hn1MEMUdKTY0QPGrXI8JkqhEF-OgSHPCwSMn-SkCvUAMTdWNsJC0dmJk80XWK8QrsSblsW4b-ugwJZIbQ_4qEs0PwNNZP2nOI53kSyF_w/s1600/cabstudebaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO31_SUprmFKLRNlFeJKBpDGS5Re4K0Hn1MEMUdKTY0QPGrXI8JkqhEF-OgSHPCwSMn-SkCvUAMTdWNsJC0dmJk80XWK8QrsSblsW4b-ugwJZIbQ_4qEs0PwNNZP2nOI53kSyF_w/s400/cabstudebaker.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stuart Cohen and Robert Bruegmann at the Studebaker</td></tr>
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Classical architecture proponents mounted their own events, a symposium sponsored by the Driehaus Foundation at the University Club, and a wonderful program put together by the Benjamin Marshall Society, <i>Radical Conservatism: Classical Vocabulary, New Form</i>, at the newly re-opened Studebaker Theater that ranged from architect Paul Florian talking about the individualized classicism of Nicholas Hawksmoor, to John Zukowsky giving a preview of his upcoming book on Marshall.<br />
<br />
From the futurist side, Zaha Hadid, recently in Chicago for a long-awaited appearance,<a href="http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=8384#.VofBtsArLqY" target="_blank"> dismissed the Biennial as "a cute show</a>." More detailed dissent came from Hadid Architects <a href="http://www.zaha-hadid.com/people/patrik-schumacher/" target="_blank">Senior Designer Patrik Schumacher</a> who through several Chicago appearances became a sort of counter-Biennial in his own person.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patrik Schumacher</td></tr>
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Schumacher, a tireless polemicist in the cause of <a href="http://www.patrikschumacher.com/Texts/Parametricism%20as%20Style.htm" target="_blank">parametricism</a>, first appeared at a debate in an ornate ballroom at the Congress Hotel sponsored by ArchAgenda that also included Peter Eisenman, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzCbfFYxvMs" target="_blank">Reinier de Graaf </a>of OMA, <a href="https://vimeo.com/131823232" target="_blank">Theodore Spyropoulos</a>, and an alternately bullying and just bizarre Jeffrey Kipnis.<br />
<br />
Schumacher went on first, electrifying the room with an impassioned critique. "I have just been to the exhibition yesterday," he said, "and there was virtually next to nothing which I recognize as relevant contemporary architecture." He talked of "an imperative of coherence which implies a rejection of pluralism. We can only accept pluralism as a temporary sort of condition during periods of crisis-induced paradigm shifts and the last one was the 1980's . . . We have to reject the fabulistic acceptance of a pluralism [as] an insurmountable condition of post-modernity."<br />
<br />
"I think we should work from a benign intolerance as I would like to call it . . . The principle of indiscriminate tolerance . . . ultimately denies the possibility of a comparative variation of positions, paradigms and styles. So that ultimately denies the discipline of rationality, denies the possibility of progress."<br />
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Schumacher expanded on his thoughts in subsequent lectures at both UIC and IIT. His ideas are fascinating and truly provocative in the best sense of the word, even when you see major disconnects between his analysis and conclusions. This kind of Salon des Refusés insinuated itself into the Biennial in a way that broadened and enriched its scope and cohesiveness. Which leads me to . . .<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Some final Thoughts on the First Chicago Architecture Biennial </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2Yd7vlMKRP5SRQVOM5Q4qYqH6ILLMwXJdMsDJBkfS84D0EM6mAtifSb1bkUHWndLFq3z6IhtFxpJkFdPkdITr1whv6014B9gOlKHLMOeL3Jo13YNMaL8roiJn7tPrs4nYxEJIQ/s1600/15abwwindowwall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2Yd7vlMKRP5SRQVOM5Q4qYqH6ILLMwXJdMsDJBkfS84D0EM6mAtifSb1bkUHWndLFq3z6IhtFxpJkFdPkdITr1whv6014B9gOlKHLMOeL3Jo13YNMaL8roiJn7tPrs4nYxEJIQ/s400/15abwwindowwall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
1. The open-endedness of the first Biennial was exactly the right approach, creating an event that was a true exploration, breaking the usual dominance of the usual-suspect best-known firms in a favor of a more eclectic mix of the work and thought of lesser-known architects.<br />
2. The Cultural Center and the Biennial is a match made in heaven. The scale and finish of the building proclaims both "public" and "capacious". The many white-wall galleries provided the accustomed neutral settings for installations, while the ornate interiors of the Yates Gallery and GAR hall provided a surprisingly contrasting and supportive backdrop for the often minimalist modern exhibits.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>. . . and Second Thoughts for the Next</b><br />
<br />
1. If this year's theme was a survey-driven <i>The State of Architecture</i>, perhaps the next logically should be <i>The Future of Architecture</i>, organized around a clear dialectic - pure form versus sustainability, large versus small-architecture as an expression of prevailing power versus an instrument of subversion, etc. - that offers up a coherent foundation for discourse. Or perhaps simply make the next Biennial a symposium of the relationship between power and architecture.<br />
2. Encourage more architect presentations that go beyond "and-then-I-designed" dog and pony shows to talk about the ideas first and then how the work ties into them.<br />
3. Scout satellite locations that can merge the Biennial within the city's globally-recognized architecture. The Federal Center Plaza, UIC-West Side, IIT-Bronzeville, etc.<br />
4. Look for sponsors for regular bus shuttles to remote sites.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5q6U6Uvo-wE0jhJWYfFOhze9Tx941cUuu7fBG4AY2JmPElTdgK4Cwf0sXSEwmXCyBy1mxSGlpkkJSrVnCP-YW5I-dXsLhz5036wBVIijgrpD8ym5ypiCz_yL5LTL9znxZyzhNGQ/s1600/herdaboone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5q6U6Uvo-wE0jhJWYfFOhze9Tx941cUuu7fBG4AY2JmPElTdgK4Cwf0sXSEwmXCyBy1mxSGlpkkJSrVnCP-YW5I-dXsLhz5036wBVIijgrpD8ym5ypiCz_yL5LTL9znxZyzhNGQ/s400/herdaboone.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Herda, Michelle Boone</td></tr>
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Blair Kamin has already named Biennial co-organizer Sarah Herda and Chicago Cultural Commissioner Michelle Boone as <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-michelle-boone-sarah-herda-architecture-biennial-ae-1227-20151221-column.html" target="_blank"><i>Chicagoans of the Year in Architecture</i></a>, and, along with co-organizer Joseph Grima, they have, indeed, accomplished a small miracle in creating an exciting calling card that reasserts Chicago's claims to architectural relevance to a broad, global audience. They dared not only to think big, but to posit a continuity of engagement that expands and deepens in repeated iterations.<br />
<br />
Let's do it again<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Read More:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2Yd7vlMKRP5SRQVOM5Q4qYqH6ILLMwXJdMsDJBkfS84D0EM6mAtifSb1bkUHWndLFq3z6IhtFxpJkFdPkdITr1whv6014B9gOlKHLMOeL3Jo13YNMaL8roiJn7tPrs4nYxEJIQ/s1600/15abwwindowwall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2Yd7vlMKRP5SRQVOM5Q4qYqH6ILLMwXJdMsDJBkfS84D0EM6mAtifSb1bkUHWndLFq3z6IhtFxpJkFdPkdITr1whv6014B9gOlKHLMOeL3Jo13YNMaL8roiJn7tPrs4nYxEJIQ/s400/15abwwindowwall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2015/10/carnival-of-possibilities-photographic.html" target="_blank">Carnival of Possibilities:</a> A Photographic Tour of the First Morning of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. </span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGouRiG6FxeScOC_HgocxIlTpMXdZrE0UxxXooBBt8BTSpAKs4TwNcmozE_sLYabTwL4lVpNsGbOEP9QAw9wkDSfgjdYhpQp6DsdOVAWS1qCT3bAWNR9-Z9mm9FQEM3AoRSPu5Q/s1600/ultramodernewide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGouRiG6FxeScOC_HgocxIlTpMXdZrE0UxxXooBBt8BTSpAKs4TwNcmozE_sLYabTwL4lVpNsGbOEP9QAw9wkDSfgjdYhpQp6DsdOVAWS1qCT3bAWNR9-Z9mm9FQEM3AoRSPu5Q/s400/ultramodernewide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2015/10/little-houses-on-lakefront-four-kiosks.html" target="_blank">Little Houses on the Lakefront</a>: The four kiosks of the Chicago Architectural Biennial</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZ7c8oMOKJz77vXvRohFcZ40vX7I25ZAMahnOxuIQzlJJMOyG5qOojZyApj0bggpc_w29hsJum_0pyIjkbJuMNBkFZGF2Zy5CcRqZUv1xn30ZIO942SAErma4UHMMGMLJheBX7g/s1600/tigermanosmond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZ7c8oMOKJz77vXvRohFcZ40vX7I25ZAMahnOxuIQzlJJMOyG5qOojZyApj0bggpc_w29hsJum_0pyIjkbJuMNBkFZGF2Zy5CcRqZUv1xn30ZIO942SAErma4UHMMGMLJheBX7g/s400/tigermanosmond.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2015/10/bombs-away-stanley-tigerman-unveils.html" target="_blank">Bombs Away!</a> Stanley Tigerman unveils Titanic 2015</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-64821760255284539322015-12-30T09:08:00.000-06:002015-12-30T14:09:53.891-06:00Death and Transfiguration: Louis Sullivan and Richard Nickel Dangerous Years<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqe3FJaCrVLA7_C2FEu7oVxpc9aTrtbvqWaieMPJJVnSa0HXgHVYIpK47Xdj6cb_lNUbLwht-qQgOsciKc7BRyWIGrukIlzOdIH5uVWwQfuzXLnw0ECqyTIOiBImerWr2ck2WWgw/s1600/Nick002-Aud-827x1030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqe3FJaCrVLA7_C2FEu7oVxpc9aTrtbvqWaieMPJJVnSa0HXgHVYIpK47Xdj6cb_lNUbLwht-qQgOsciKc7BRyWIGrukIlzOdIH5uVWwQfuzXLnw0ECqyTIOiBImerWr2ck2WWgw/s400/Nick002-Aud-827x1030.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click images for larger view <br />
(all images from Richard Nickel Dangerous Years,<br />
courtesy Cityfiles Press</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Richard Nickel Dangerous Years What He Saw What He Wrote,</i> Hardcover: 264 pages. $60.00 (<a href="http://www.cityfilespress.com/books/richard-nickel-dangerous-years/" target="_blank">Online Price</a>: $50.00, including tax and shipping.)</span></blockquote>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih3gcWtyBLXsT59i_oOFeUHTNNFtvYqcDHW5q_jG8VmfnLAepgDRXC0atigNyPRoVim0l8qTfrdnSiDu2ywtHgz6x3qj9EFIztE38Xy5quELhPAFAiPAjEsezpgWYMjzKbJWh7Cw/s1600/jacketfront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih3gcWtyBLXsT59i_oOFeUHTNNFtvYqcDHW5q_jG8VmfnLAepgDRXC0atigNyPRoVim0l8qTfrdnSiDu2ywtHgz6x3qj9EFIztE38Xy5quELhPAFAiPAjEsezpgWYMjzKbJWh7Cw/s320/jacketfront.jpg" width="223" /></a>Ultimately, you buy a book about Richard Nickel for his beautiful, often haunting photographs, and the new book <i>Richard Nickel Dangerous Years: What He Saw and What He Wrote</i> doesn't disappoint. It includes scores of images never <br />
before published, some - like the photo at the top of this post of a very young John Vinci working on bringing Adler and Sullivan's crown jewel, the Auditorium Theater, back from death's door - in gorgeous color. If you came out of Christmas with some gift cash or cards, and if you love architecture or Chicago or both, this is an essential volume you'll want to add to your library and pull down from the shelf to revisit again and again. <br />
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<i>Dangerous Years</i> is much a portrait of the artist and his times as a collection of Nickel's photographs. Authors Rich Cahan and Michael Williams have taken an almost reliquary approach to their new book, including not only the pictures of the buildings, but reproductions of the documents of Nickel's life. Press clippings, postcards, lists, drafts, angry letters -mundane objects that manage to make the period feel vitally alive - a "To Whom it May Concern" letter written by the
Institute of Design's Crombie Taylor to help Nickel get access to buildings; a
Western Union telegram from Mayor J. Daley about a meeting in City
Council chambers "to discuss the pending demolition on the Garrick
Theater building . . . "<br />
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Not all that long after he described himself as
"completely stupid", there's a piece of lined three-hole punch paper
where Nickel explores in a series of small drawings the thought process
behind Sullivan's ornament. There are daily itineraries, Notes that Nickel took of his 1957 interview with Frank Lloyd
Wright "In his opinion, L.H.S got everything from Adler, [and] if it
had not been for Adler, Sullivan might never have made the grade of
'Master'".<br />
<br />
There are photos of Nickel himself, an unremarkable-looking
man in glasses of unexpressive countenance, often dressed in white
t-shirts. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiEYdDN4nbE8lG4zzmMtmsF3iiykwSlYul0vRBF9rZgu7Kig-V_pqVEqO1sD3pp76pxg7tcnzV2ZCV8dhjG_MO_k_ZfMAcU9Q4S4zQNBpbGUyi8K84qKUad-ZvJvoLat6iGlVWrg/s1600/adlerresidence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiEYdDN4nbE8lG4zzmMtmsF3iiykwSlYul0vRBF9rZgu7Kig-V_pqVEqO1sD3pp76pxg7tcnzV2ZCV8dhjG_MO_k_ZfMAcU9Q4S4zQNBpbGUyi8K84qKUad-ZvJvoLat6iGlVWrg/s400/adlerresidence.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dankmar Adler residence</td></tr>
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The feeling went into the images he captured, the now classic photographs of a world in anguished death throes, proud and beautiful old buildings spurned and forgotten, hemorrhaging rubble as they await obliteration . . . the gaping maw of the sanctuary of Burnham and Root's Church of the Covenant, split open like a cracked egg. <br />
<br />
There's also revealing images of buildings, not in the usual idealized isolation, but in their actual context, including a photograph of Frank Lloyd Wright's under-construction Price
Tower rising out of a abject streetscape with a gas station and used
car dealership in the foreground, the perspective placing both Wright's
skyscraper and the gas station's vertical sign in a visual
equivalency. There are photographs documenting both the grounds and the
cottage Louis Sullivan built for himself in Ocean Springs, Mississippi,
destroyed by Katrina in 2005.<br />
<br />
You want there to be a take-away, some inspirational message to be drawn. But history always confounds. And what is history? The expression of power through people and events. And the story of Richard Nickel is a time capsule of a shifting paradigm moment in American urbanism, in deep concentration on the city's South Side.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Richard Nickel and the Remaking of Post-War Chicago</b></span><br />
In the 1940's, postwar Chicago had another word for the city's architectural heritage: The Slums. As Afro-Americans poured into the city during the war, they formed a burgeoning "Black Belt" that swelled to take over former white neighborhoods east of the railroad tracks on Chicago's South Side.<br />
<br />
It was among the twenty-three square miles the city had designated as "blight", said to threaten another 56 square miles adjacent, altogether more than a third of Chicago's land mass. The feds had the money, and the city had the plan: destroy it - all of it. Create a tabula rasa for new development so destructed that it reminded a visiting Englishwoman of London after the German bombing raids.<br />
<br />
Much of what was destroyed only grew into being slums; proud old buildings built for the middle and upper class, now deteriorated through neglect and misuse. Within a single half-mile, there were 19 houses designed by the firm of Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler for wealthy Jewish families.<br />
<br />
In booming turn-of-the-century Chicago, Burnham and Root and Holabird and Roche were the architecture firms of power, getting the big commissions for the huge office buildings that would come to define the Chicago School of Architecture. They were the brains and the muscle. Adler and Sullivan were the heart. Most specifically Louis Sullivan, the iconoclastic genius who had no problem combining high commerce with high art, expressing the compressed energy tightly contained within the new commercial buildings into spectacular ornament bursting forth from the plain facades.<br />
<br />
By the mid 20th-Century, however, Miesian modernism had begun its triumphant ascent, and Sullivan was out of fashion, an antique. He had died in 1924 in a hotel room made out of a broom closet, a broken alcoholic, reduced in his final years to not especially lucrative commissions for small-town banks, works nonetheless so exquisite that their veneration increases down to our present day. <br />
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Mid-Century Chicago had neither the patience nor the interest for such curiousity. To the planners, what a building had been - or could be again - was unimportant. All that mattered was securing their antiseptic visions for the future: pristine towers rising from sprawling gardens - or parking lots.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rothschild Building (demolished)</td></tr>
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What took place <i>en masse</i> on the South Side was also taking place in Chicago's commercial core, building by building. Chicago's globally recognized architectural heritage was being decimated landmark after landmark for new, often numbingly mediocre towers. Or worse. Adler and Sullivan's spectacular Garrick Theater building, which combined an auditorium with a soaring early skyscraper, was proposed to be destroyed for a parking garage.<br />
<br />
Into this mix came a young man born in Chicago to working class second-generation Polish Americans - his father drove a delivery truck for the<i> Polish Daily News</i>. Like most young men of the era, Richard Nickel joined the army after high school, and afterwards returned to Chicago with a Rolleiflex camera he bought while serving in occupied Japan. He enrolled in the Institute of Design, founded by László Moholy-Nagy, a refugee from the famed Bauhaus in Germany.<br />
<br />
Nickel learned photography from Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan. Eventually he would earn both bachelor's and master's degrees. Around 1953, he was asked to join a Siskind project to create "a 'definitive' study of the architecture of Adler and Sullivan. Nickel probably didn't realize it at the time - he described himself as having "no feelings about architecture - knew nothing about Sullivan - in shirt, was completely stupid", but joining that class would define - and control - his short life.<br />
<br />
The study was shopped around to potential publishers as a book, <i>The Complete Architecture of Adler and Sullivan</i>. But the records of the firm had been destroyed, the scope of the work unknown, with individual buildings disappearing almost weekly. Although he would never complete the book, Nickel threw himself into the research, scouring old architectural magazines and engaging building owners in correspondence.<br />
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Obsession or habit, Louis Sullivan became Richard Nickel's life. And it began to go beyond documenting to advocacy. Almost single-handedly, Nickel jump-started the architectural preservation movement in Chicago, organizing picket lines protesting the demolition of the Garrick. He developed relationships with owners and wreckers to salvage ornament from buildings being bulldozed, often in physically hazardous circumstances, often only with the help of an equally young John Vinci and Tim Samuelson.<br />
<br />
Nickel became a ruthless archivist, forcing himself to rise again one lost battle after another. He broke through a sixteen-foot wall of an Adler and Sullivan building under demolition to get at a vault he was told might contain photographs and blueprints. Finding only real estate plans instead, he remarked, "The story of my life, struggling over nothing." Nickel lost the battle to save the Garrick, but the city created the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to make sure it didn't happen again. And then let it happen again when it cleared the way for the destruction of another extraordinary Adler and Sullivan masterpiece, the Stock Exchange Building. Nickel wanted to save things, but his most enduring work is a necrology. He created a photographic documentary on the willful destruction of a city's history.<br />
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--------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
Attention to Nickel seems to take on a kind of Brigadoon quality. Every few years a new book appears, and then disappears from sight. Cahan's acclaimed 1994 biography, <i><a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471144266.html" target="_blank">They All Fall Down</a>: Richard Nickel's Struggle To Save America's Architecture</i>, is <a href="http://customer.wiley.com/CGI-BIN/lansaweb?procfun+shopcart+shcfn01+funcparms+parmisbn(a0100):0471144266+parmqty(p0050):1+parmurl(l0660):http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wiley.com%2FWileyCDA%2FWileyTitle%2FproductCd-0471144266.html" target="_blank">listed on the publishers website </a>as "out of stock".<i> </i>CityFile's 2006 <a href="http://www.cityfilespress.com/books/richard-nickels-chicago-photographs-of-a-lost-city/" target="_blank"><i>Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City</i></a> is listed as "sold out", with new copies on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0978545028/ref=tmm_hrd_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">Amazon going for multiples </a>of the cover price.<br />
<br />
Most egregiously, Nickel's <i>magnum opus</i>, The <i><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2010/09/epic-journal-and-architectural-book-of.html" target="_blank">Complete Architecture and Adler and Sullivan</a></i> has proved to be something of a phantom itself. Left by Nickel for others to complete, it was finally published in 2010, and soon sold out. At the end of that year the book, along with the rest of Nickel archives, was acquired by the Art Institute. Not unlike keeping Seurat's <i>La Grande Jatte</i> out of sight in the basement, the Art Institute, with an endowment of nearly a billion dollars, continues to allow one of the essential monographs on American architecture to remain out-of-print (new copies at <a href="http://amazon.com/">Amazon.com</a> are priced from $700 to over $1,000.)<br />
<br />
The story of Richard Nickel has become a passion play on the divide between our ideals and how we actually live our lives. It's become almost a narrative of ritual sacrifice, the story of a working class schlub who unlocked the secrets of the sublime and knew its servant, Sullivan, better than anyone else, but who, in the end, simply chose to know the wrong things, and was cast adrift in a world where all the best people - the rich and powerful and the far larger number of us who aspire to be both - prudently chose to learn the right things, the practical market driven things that make Nickel's obsession, however admirable, ultimately naive and pathetic.<br />
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At a point of despair, Nickel, whose love of the water had led him to become an accomplished sailor, quotes from Benjamin Britten's opera <i>Peter Grimes</i>, where the old sea captain Balstrode, sympathetic but wise to the ways of the world, advises Grimes, driven mad from the pressures of his own nature hounded by the venal, uncomprehending mob, on what is now the tormented fisherman's only way out . . . <br />
<br />
. . . lose sight of land, then sink the boat. D'you hear? <i>Sink her.</i> <br />
<br />
That was Richard Nickel's life. His struggle. He had his time, and then it ended. And now we have his work, his obsessive work, that has grown in importance and recognition, and finds a kind of apotheosis in the remarkable, poignant, often deeply personal images of <i>Richard Nickel Dangerous Years</i>.<br />
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<br />
"Stock Exchange is a scandal and a tragedy beyond words . . ." Nickel had written. He worked for three months on rescuing the great Trading Room, painstakingly restored and rebuilt by John Vinci inside the Art Institute of Chicago, a stunning ghost of almost unbearable beauty, a perfect shrine unmoored from meaning.<br />
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<br />
And then, in
early 1972, Nickel wrote to Samuelson a startling confession, "I'm afraid our days of
adventuring, salvaging, avoiding the cops, etc. in the cause of Sullivan
will soon terminate. For me anyway, since I plan to marry Carol
sometime this spring summer . . ." At age 43, Nickel had fallen in love,
to 33-year-old Carol Ruth Sutter. "She's crazy about me and I figured
the least I could do was reciprocate." A newer, freer, more domestic
Nickel emerged from the decades of obsession. A new person appeared to be coming
into being.<br />
<br />
But not before one last excursion to the Stock Exchange to
retrieve more ornament. The demolition workers who watched him enter the
building were the last to see him alive. Reported missing the following
evening, it would take over a month before his body was found under
rubble that had collapsed into the structure's basement.<br />
<br />
For us, the meaning of Richard Nickel's life is the amazing body of work he left behind. For Richard Nickel, did it all boil down to that sliver of grace when he finally found love?<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Read More:</b></span><br />
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<br />
<b>Phantoms: <i><a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/nickel/nickelchicago.htm" target="_blank">Richard Nickel's Chicago</a></i></b><br />
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<b>An Epic Journey - and the Architecture Book of the Year:</b> <i><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2010/09/epic-journal-and-architectural-book-of.html" target="_blank">The Complete Architecture of Adler and Sullivan</a></i> Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-40944567075620433772015-11-18T00:12:00.000-06:002015-11-18T00:13:11.244-06:00Apple Founds Foster Home on Pioneer Court<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvZNuQLSMo_rjdX7nMCk_EL-Zd-SATwnF53ZfbeVIdIaDwc0OTex1vLMIjYE9vHqN7iXtAld4XD4kCRQTNkdgd2WVfZyp9OWKE2uNn0GShTprCL8yzJXGZJRK-opYVAY1M1x9pJQ/s1600/pioneerapplenight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvZNuQLSMo_rjdX7nMCk_EL-Zd-SATwnF53ZfbeVIdIaDwc0OTex1vLMIjYE9vHqN7iXtAld4XD4kCRQTNkdgd2WVfZyp9OWKE2uNn0GShTprCL8yzJXGZJRK-opYVAY1M1x9pJQ/s400/pioneerapplenight.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Chicago Department of Planning and Development, <br />
via the Chicago Tribune (click images for larger view)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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Late Thursday evening, Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin released <a href="http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/gallery/p2p-85066724/" target="_blank">five renderings</a> presented to the Chicago Department of Planning and Development for the long-rumored new Apple Store in Chicago's Pioneer Court along the north bank of the Chicago River just east of Michigan Avenue.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9ZWV3aUH4pABH54CBdRvX3IsuwTWlasSc03Dv_kFDPtoHGlnrKPAiMQsFNMHUZVIKMTSZClxoMZYe-lO6PKd48qUcNSlglXgrMk4uitOu90qHfvyfU41WRJavb0oIp0x90COHw/s1600/pioneerappletosouth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9ZWV3aUH4pABH54CBdRvX3IsuwTWlasSc03Dv_kFDPtoHGlnrKPAiMQsFNMHUZVIKMTSZClxoMZYe-lO6PKd48qUcNSlglXgrMk4uitOu90qHfvyfU41WRJavb0oIp0x90COHw/s400/pioneerappletosouth.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Chicago Department of Planning and Development, <br />
via the Chicago Tribune </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Apart from a bravura free-standing glass staircase, the original Chicago store, opened in 2003 at the start of Apple's retail juggernaut several blocks to the north, placed more emphasis on sustainability than spectacle. The proposed new 20,000 square foot store, in contrast, would be more in line with the company's current vogue for epic architectural expressions. According to <a href="http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-85070035/" target="_blank">Kamin's report</a>, it was designed by the world-renowned firm of <a href="http://www.fosterandpartners.com/" target="_blank">Foster + Partners</a>. It would have a 6,500 square foot footprint, and redefine the relationship of the plaza to the river.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhpKZBuRzqd35HrYej8iEWOd9SaOqT74-7t5gXDndYCJlwE3F5g5zsQnFtvlhWw5_MhzUpoeL1cfWjNQFUYi7JmUPLDK5CmwxjGHawKDY9A3jayiw9oS3lJaPjOQ40AxMbbmfNA/s1600/pioneerstairstpat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhpKZBuRzqd35HrYej8iEWOd9SaOqT74-7t5gXDndYCJlwE3F5g5zsQnFtvlhWw5_MhzUpoeL1cfWjNQFUYi7JmUPLDK5CmwxjGHawKDY9A3jayiw9oS3lJaPjOQ40AxMbbmfNA/s400/pioneerstairstpat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Currently, that link consists solely of a elegantly curved but constricted winding staircase. In Foster's design, it's replaced by wide Spanish steps more in the line with the larger staircases found along the newer portions of the riverwalk to the east. The huge roof over the glass-walled structure would cantilever in all directions but, perhaps most importantly, would stretch beyond the edge of the plaza to shelter the river walkway below. In the renderings it has the appearance of wood, but would actually be reinforced with carbon fibre.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhkILJ2cNwJ_GPjOKGdZc4GpeyfjooO2y5T3zfnyYQvAKalY7cdnBOjc42ynZp75FbaGZUVWprMwk_K-3CgnynpJg7JmmYLKcIF-cX-wpg8UqNlM9duecqW6_7QKmvkXLvMjjeQ/s1600/pioneerrivercurrent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhkILJ2cNwJ_GPjOKGdZc4GpeyfjooO2y5T3zfnyYQvAKalY7cdnBOjc42ynZp75FbaGZUVWprMwk_K-3CgnynpJg7JmmYLKcIF-cX-wpg8UqNlM9duecqW6_7QKmvkXLvMjjeQ/s400/pioneerrivercurrent.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Pioneer Court's current rather anonymous riveredge would be replaced by a calling card 32-foot curtain wall, horizontally segmented between a 14-foot section above plaza level, and an 18 foot section beneath. From the riverside view, it reads as a cutaway section of a one-story structure and its capacious basement.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqxJWsd1CnO-HJB6ONLPVw9FSBqF-vA_Br3TQCdiyUR0RQPp9__RBT3DyborjqjFv58JeBdwfkE0tYZCi4PXi7OK3L5gaDtEJzv1NSE149OcbqrNQjn4xugCiAoIjwRj8cPOduQ/s1600/pioneerapplefromriver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqxJWsd1CnO-HJB6ONLPVw9FSBqF-vA_Br3TQCdiyUR0RQPp9__RBT3DyborjqjFv58JeBdwfkE0tYZCi4PXi7OK3L5gaDtEJzv1NSE149OcbqrNQjn4xugCiAoIjwRj8cPOduQ/s400/pioneerapplefromriver.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Chicago Department of Planning and Development, <br />
via the Chicago Tribune </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Strangely enough, the new store would be something of a return journey for Pioneer Court, constructed in the 1960's. The site is said to have once held the residence of early settler Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable in the 1770's, and later the larger riverfront factory of the Jap Soap Company, which stretched north also to the doors of Tribune Tower and turned out 50,000 tons of soap each year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5-gaLLL2TIvvULsTXQd396Uxvq6o8yw6IQ8KnG0Na4USuHMAb6bOCQl3rxFOXRPv2oY15GvlV_SZVWtkCfaYngoqUy7vSHC7CN1xGGlxQNT7cMpxZFk38Z0a3evKW7gVZGuH8Q/s1600/pioneerjaprose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5-gaLLL2TIvvULsTXQd396Uxvq6o8yw6IQ8KnG0Na4USuHMAb6bOCQl3rxFOXRPv2oY15GvlV_SZVWtkCfaYngoqUy7vSHC7CN1xGGlxQNT7cMpxZFk38Z0a3evKW7gVZGuH8Q/s400/pioneerjaprose.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image courtesy <a href="https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/photo-chicago-michigan-ave-aerial-looking-sw-from-tribune-double-deck-bus-jap-rose-soap-family-flakes-1920s/" target="_blank">The Chuckman Collection</a></td></tr>
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After an interim period as a surface parking lot, Pioneer Court was constructed in 1965 to link Skidmore Owings and Merrill's new Equitable Building to Michigan Avenue. A cleaner version of the Apple proposal, a large Miesian entrance pavilion was part of the original design, bringing people down into the retail arcade beneath the plaza.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyol3kvmLaRYLZTpMcPLsGRxil_cMva50TfDHpoMjOnNPvxgzB67HdDHNR_RUp341cznbxKNBINcm6twAlWTdFdrHpHhcHuyoMULLUb-jLTMLqAy2VrhWLczbbxxOdG6eQ09kgg/s1600/Screen+shot+2015-11-17+at+10.10.10+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyol3kvmLaRYLZTpMcPLsGRxil_cMva50TfDHpoMjOnNPvxgzB67HdDHNR_RUp341cznbxKNBINcm6twAlWTdFdrHpHhcHuyoMULLUb-jLTMLqAy2VrhWLczbbxxOdG6eQ09kgg/s400/Screen+shot+2015-11-17+at+10.10.10+PM.png" width="397" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chicago Tribune archive photo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Pioneer Court was redesigned in 1992, removing both the entrance pavilion and the fountain, inscribed with the names of 25 Chicago Pioneers that gave the plaza its name.<br />
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By being placed along the southern edge rather than centered on the plaza, the Apple Store, even as it strengthens the relationship to the river, unbalances the geometry of the plaza. The plus side is that there would still be a large open area to the north of the store, which could continue to be home to such spectacular, if controversial installations as J Seward's Johnson <a href="http://www.lynnbecker.com/repeat/johnsongothic/johnsongothic.htm" target="_blank"><i>God Bless America</i></a>, a supersized version of Grant Wood's American Gothic . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh21IIS3qpCm1xkn-kSJCyrYte5DShZXdBHwUm78ehnTwEyePFqdhXCODA4L0ODN4fWHgcONANsx6PSbfAqJYLDNzcAse8V-6VlGfkdSpVJUHGX0yzlvcmVyjnt8mYGbuRkL5H9IA/s1600/pioneergothic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh21IIS3qpCm1xkn-kSJCyrYte5DShZXdBHwUm78ehnTwEyePFqdhXCODA4L0ODN4fWHgcONANsx6PSbfAqJYLDNzcAse8V-6VlGfkdSpVJUHGX0yzlvcmVyjnt8mYGbuRkL5H9IA/s400/pioneergothic.jpg" width="351" /></a></div>
. . . his even more infamous <i>Forever Marilyn</i> . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLoNu8U5ze_nCKGsoJMn1xy4hnTGV5ukCRQgMn1c9L-cIpLqdtvr5dcJu3KwNakkOC3PXC3rLSfkb9cFpbqE7qkvlEHpzSJb9wIqr0MM1_qRLiV1ozBoivnq1fMyzU-EySZriDTg/s1600/pioneermarilyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLoNu8U5ze_nCKGsoJMn1xy4hnTGV5ukCRQgMn1c9L-cIpLqdtvr5dcJu3KwNakkOC3PXC3rLSfkb9cFpbqE7qkvlEHpzSJb9wIqr0MM1_qRLiV1ozBoivnq1fMyzU-EySZriDTg/s400/pioneermarilyn.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
. . . and to events like 2013's edition of <i>Diner en Blanc</i> . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fkmqoxVehHGAkZlZXUnZO6PWLnt6crbl8JPCCGnew0jFMNrnmwM19165vXV-nVJ6wEL-m1CiyBa6VngvpQnDRa78P3u14XF3em8O4BLzd4F5uQV3b-T2yMW1wdpiyt-f-40NCw/s1600/pioneerdiner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fkmqoxVehHGAkZlZXUnZO6PWLnt6crbl8JPCCGnew0jFMNrnmwM19165vXV-nVJ6wEL-m1CiyBa6VngvpQnDRa78P3u14XF3em8O4BLzd4F5uQV3b-T2yMW1wdpiyt-f-40NCw/s400/pioneerdiner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
It would be good to get a better idea of what the inside of Foster's design will look like - there are no interior views among the five renderings accompanying Kamin's story - but from what we can see now, the Apple Store at Pioneer Court looks to be a pretty good deal both for the plaza and for creating a stronger, more generous civic linkage to the river at the beginning point of the Mag Mile.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKREFcmt47LNID8SvI4UXoee9BKfS2fr-ObGWcxPBw2PafoOeA3DJQiVWN_bKYHgKHRvoAwTyT6eUrISS-d3zYOd_BSXkGyGtM6fPsYZvXI0i2GHhGhWZQxnc-yDY1HMTHaWelw/s1600/pioneerapplecantilever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKREFcmt47LNID8SvI4UXoee9BKfS2fr-ObGWcxPBw2PafoOeA3DJQiVWN_bKYHgKHRvoAwTyT6eUrISS-d3zYOd_BSXkGyGtM6fPsYZvXI0i2GHhGhWZQxnc-yDY1HMTHaWelw/s400/pioneerapplecantilever.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Chicago Department of Planning and Development, <br />
via the Chicago Tribune </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More:</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAFSDM5KaUtj08BWCynZO-Lnkhekem_Xxm1gddQNPfyJqZMCU0rqA5xz_0obzjaWmQgBKkRWPw4USUjituzJdwv4zd7MMSqX7f7NLJZ_mmvNs2POZSVsYE2IqrsLKUZQLxHiBgQ/s1600/cityfrontchuckmanpioneer1981.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAFSDM5KaUtj08BWCynZO-Lnkhekem_Xxm1gddQNPfyJqZMCU0rqA5xz_0obzjaWmQgBKkRWPw4USUjituzJdwv4zd7MMSqX7f7NLJZ_mmvNs2POZSVsYE2IqrsLKUZQLxHiBgQ/s400/cityfrontchuckmanpioneer1981.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy <a href="https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/photo-chicago-pioneer-court-equitable-building-people-cooling-at-fountain-1981/" target="_blank">The Chuckman Collection</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2012/11/mother-of-mercy-is-this-really-gateway.html" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2012/11/mother-of-mercy-is-this-really-gateway.html" target="_blank">A Short History of Pioneer Court</a>, its Shortfalls and Potential</b></span>Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-4799609245631853282015-11-09T22:45:00.001-06:002015-11-09T22:47:10.676-06:00Flip City: Dead Meat at the Fulton Market<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click images for larger view</td></tr>
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Just months ago, the Fulton Street Market district was declared an official Chicago architectural landmark, protecting contributing structures spread out on over two dozen city blocks. Above is the front of one of the newly protected buildings.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXyztXkDVYfA356gSPucmNCcXkjALwVA_LpntJpfrqoiEf_k52ysz3Wfqn1SueNwZX0NPOoSELv3GtZLqBO7en0Ia9BSFHQJfzgkUFq7nTeY2Qv3PfN30iXwLaiz2-pHvFZzSGoQ/s1600/fultonbackwide_7484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXyztXkDVYfA356gSPucmNCcXkjALwVA_LpntJpfrqoiEf_k52ysz3Wfqn1SueNwZX0NPOoSELv3GtZLqBO7en0Ia9BSFHQJfzgkUFq7nTeY2Qv3PfN30iXwLaiz2-pHvFZzSGoQ/s400/fultonbackwide_7484.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
And this is what's behind. Could there be any more accurate symbol of the current transitioning of one of Chicago's most historic districts?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOh8b7dsF-qLFa1FsLCrjRIvD12bEphJHW-nNnQsSY6Ig7-oI9-D78VW9uK-q5uGCPwhKFObQ53NjUjbefpdA_CC4RblwU8XUEar3OCJK5_jiqZ90UOfe83_Lau1M9xpm8Uq7A_g/s1600/fultonoriginalcorner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOh8b7dsF-qLFa1FsLCrjRIvD12bEphJHW-nNnQsSY6Ig7-oI9-D78VW9uK-q5uGCPwhKFObQ53NjUjbefpdA_CC4RblwU8XUEar3OCJK5_jiqZ90UOfe83_Lau1M9xpm8Uq7A_g/s400/fultonoriginalcorner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
This was one of what could be argued to be the two most important buildings in the district, each facing the other down a 252-foot length of the 800 block of west Fulton Street. In some ways, they were the real beginning of the district. They were constructed in 1887 by the Fulton Street Wholesale Market Company, a co-operative of 22 small meatpacking firms.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLfnbilRTkiYYYUoMqE3YLtRk_30jbBmg3wHFjPp5VWRyIPwWntcE4boVRO7p3erNXp_LUUrAeLlEs-UK2OrprjOPJGP0Ko4DMjqzMvdeWxivDniz-WZnPgYxUDesKjJYNic6YLQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2015-11-08+at+5.47.40+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLfnbilRTkiYYYUoMqE3YLtRk_30jbBmg3wHFjPp5VWRyIPwWntcE4boVRO7p3erNXp_LUUrAeLlEs-UK2OrprjOPJGP0Ko4DMjqzMvdeWxivDniz-WZnPgYxUDesKjJYNic6YLQ/s400/Screen+shot+2015-11-08+at+5.47.40+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Architect William Strippelman designed them in the Romanesque Revival style he had studied at the University of Marburg, before he emigrated from Germany to the United States to serve as a draftsman in the Union army. In 1868, he settled in Chicago, where he would spend the balance of his life and career. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJG-bsIGieT133_gh6mtC6eHfNAeH_hrai2BYiY2TJ4VOe17s5WshjxyIr1eJ46Ap9BARaPDD1scw_30Z98XV78bYrLkh2pdpfarKTGAJY0OEPZ6v0y-Nq0RZ06FPmKdVF6hsCw/s1600/fultonsidestiar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJG-bsIGieT133_gh6mtC6eHfNAeH_hrai2BYiY2TJ4VOe17s5WshjxyIr1eJ46Ap9BARaPDD1scw_30Z98XV78bYrLkh2pdpfarKTGAJY0OEPZ6v0y-Nq0RZ06FPmKdVF6hsCw/s400/fultonsidestiar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
As recounted in the Landmark Commission's indispensable history of the district in the official <a href="https://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/zlup/Historic_Preservation/Publications/Final_Designation_Report.pdf" target="_blank">Landmark Designation Report</a>, Strippelman added a third story to both buildings in 1903. By then, they housed not just the independents, but the branches offices of of "Philip Armour, Gustavus Swift, and Nelson Morris, the nation's 'big
three' packer and global brand names in the early twentieth century,"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS1rel8SY7h6AT5eA9n_GpEzKx4lJs-vtLFk-o5TsaDIca_pgKFj4GH6tSGGeI114LFOGH2EJmpg2f8p3SPxbLB_WM8llWRH6GSvcAHsEcfZtEXDxLabr-TdwtjFddimSmvPSLfw/s1600/fultonstreetwholesaleterra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS1rel8SY7h6AT5eA9n_GpEzKx4lJs-vtLFk-o5TsaDIca_pgKFj4GH6tSGGeI114LFOGH2EJmpg2f8p3SPxbLB_WM8llWRH6GSvcAHsEcfZtEXDxLabr-TdwtjFddimSmvPSLfw/s400/fultonstreetwholesaleterra.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
A mid-1960's fire consumed a large chunk of the twin on the north side of the street, with the damaged section replaced by a featureless two-story structure listed as "non-contributing" in the designation ordinance.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQDFnPWwvggRL0CSg57dm9Vf9_BKb_ljNy78gqNdrFJLx3-h23iJFFzoQjRkovnFE0VW6M06vV77M2CzOaXaNi4Hhtd9DX6UisbhuEK_Cb27A8txgu1JBglWqGAdqSaBd7cJK3g/s1600/fultonornament.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQDFnPWwvggRL0CSg57dm9Vf9_BKb_ljNy78gqNdrFJLx3-h23iJFFzoQjRkovnFE0VW6M06vV77M2CzOaXaNi4Hhtd9DX6UisbhuEK_Cb27A8txgu1JBglWqGAdqSaBd7cJK3g/s400/fultonornament.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Fulton Market continued to be a going concern for over a century and a quarter, even as the centrifugal force of the Loop dissolved under the dual
crushing forces of white flight and suburban sprawl, with neighborhoods
immediately adjacent to the west and south spending the 60's and 70's
becoming "problematic." In the 21st century however, the central city
is again compacting. While troubled outlying neighborhoods like
Englewood continue to depopulate, a massive gentrification continues in
and around the Loop. The near west and near south sides are headlong into the process of being re-secured as safe, upper middle-class territory.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIsf2QEGI3XUhMwYAAXl_16SfruS88XlqtPoZZU4m-41ywoZdsJhdwfli-49PXyVmIQbg_vJ3W8-Yu7AkLJU3_VmFd0Syr29d6spDoRsNj2GjlI3CeBSCdOfkieVTP8hOZZfrpA/s1600/fultonboardingstable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIsf2QEGI3XUhMwYAAXl_16SfruS88XlqtPoZZU4m-41ywoZdsJhdwfli-49PXyVmIQbg_vJ3W8-Yu7AkLJU3_VmFd0Syr29d6spDoRsNj2GjlI3CeBSCdOfkieVTP8hOZZfrpA/s400/fultonboardingstable.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
With nearby west Randolph Street transforming into an avenue of upscale restaurants, Fulton Market's comparably cheap land and rents made it a magnet for galleries, shops and still more restaurants. Initially, the new imports and the meatpackers and poultry, fish, eggs and butter merchants lived in an uneasy equilibrium.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRplXvbhN2AHjK5kSkOnHR991F5_vQe0TRgfYqt3HWyIfPNcOsecER08GOBBvi9kW7nQ-sT7hoCI6PU_f7MZUnzQpoRjaPHPN6mmIyE-xyYtts3xsNr4K7pNHvBEb8nS6UfyRHw/s1600/fulton1kfulton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbRplXvbhN2AHjK5kSkOnHR991F5_vQe0TRgfYqt3HWyIfPNcOsecER08GOBBvi9kW7nQ-sT7hoCI6PU_f7MZUnzQpoRjaPHPN6mmIyE-xyYtts3xsNr4K7pNHvBEb8nS6UfyRHw/s400/fulton1kfulton.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1K Fulton (Former Fulton Market Cold Storage)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then the dam broke. The owners of the massive, 12-story tall Fulton Market Cold Storage
building, the district's visual marker since the 1920's, sold out to developer Sterling Bay, which begin stripping the
structure's facade to create a massive new office building where
Google is consolidating over 500 Chicago workers currently dispersed among
multiple locations. Fulton Market is now a hotbed of development
activity. Hotels and club and residential developments join the mix of newcomers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VIdk9pVzjuBvJTbjKoBI49vZmU8gCT_D6i-JXf_c4E9rGB4rAQsIHuIOfSKvlAb0-_RRXpWLklMGeuH0qp2GIAciUsDyq3mOxZ4LBAyrrT3CFRiN9AXoLI-7bBq9B-Jcb9yFOQ/s1600/fultongoogle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VIdk9pVzjuBvJTbjKoBI49vZmU8gCT_D6i-JXf_c4E9rGB4rAQsIHuIOfSKvlAb0-_RRXpWLklMGeuH0qp2GIAciUsDyq3mOxZ4LBAyrrT3CFRiN9AXoLI-7bBq9B-Jcb9yFOQ/s400/fultongoogle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
When many Fulton Market
businesses fought the creation of the landmark district, they cited the
added costs of complying with its provisions when they needed to modify
their buildings, but left largely unsaid was the elephant on the
forklift: everyone could see big money was coming into Fulton Market.
Not unreasonably, they wanted their fare share when it came time to move
on.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxg1Wm_BUHqyaLRSGE2FGNzTTR6UWizMtgamVi1i1pQQINYRL9cNxYnLuVFPYeMGWqdeR-bTortWtZ2tmvCPBtWs46KyudVJEjPKl92uPrz7Lk1aFCG-jlQlnuz9xubWSkVtSJw/s1600/fultonfront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxg1Wm_BUHqyaLRSGE2FGNzTTR6UWizMtgamVi1i1pQQINYRL9cNxYnLuVFPYeMGWqdeR-bTortWtZ2tmvCPBtWs46KyudVJEjPKl92uPrz7Lk1aFCG-jlQlnuz9xubWSkVtSJw/s400/fultonfront.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
That time is now. It was a shock to come upon the 1887 North Fulton Street building this past Sunday and see it demolished down to a taxidermy remnant. A shock, but not a surprise. Although actual meatpackers may be a vanishing presence, developers, in the words of the late <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-24/news/ct-per-flash-paul-powell-0224-20130224_1_shoe-box-clothes-closet-hotel-room" target="_blank">deal-maker/shoebox collector Paul Powell</a>, can "smell the meat a'cookin." Money is the river that levels all obstacles in its path.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhv0tt7SQeZizYZDQAsW47QNUQgk1orQbobQByjzOjPoq4ZiZl_LZxEXpAL5cqAKYVkjIxDJZOPo3SBW686bJlkKm6vFaC64vIoRFUsDkJ_R6x2kleuPQx1BP703pe9sZ5CpnZ1g/s1600/fultongridgoogle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhv0tt7SQeZizYZDQAsW47QNUQgk1orQbobQByjzOjPoq4ZiZl_LZxEXpAL5cqAKYVkjIxDJZOPo3SBW686bJlkKm6vFaC64vIoRFUsDkJ_R6x2kleuPQx1BP703pe9sZ5CpnZ1g/s400/fultongridgoogle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Behind that forlorn Fulton Street facadectomy is both a $20 million, 60,000-square-foot project and the story of the origins of money and power in the early 21st century. The project is the Chicago outpost of <a href="http://www.brooklynbowl.com/" target="_blank">Brooklyn Bowl</a>, which began in 2009 inside a former 1880's ironworks foundry in the borough's Williamsburg neighborhood. Claiming to be a the world's first LEED-certified bowling alley, the complex also includes a bar and a music venue that attracts such top acts as The Roots and Elvis Costello. After branching out first to London and Las Vegas, Chicago is the next link in their chain.<br />
<br />
The story of money and power is that of local powerhouse <a href="https://drw.com/who-we-are/donald-r-wilson-jr" target="_blank">Don Wilson</a>, who began as a eurodollar options trader at the Chicago Mercantile exchange, and within seven years <a href="http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20100925/ISSUE01/309259981/low-key-don-wilson-emerges-as-leader-in-chicagos-secretive-proprietary-trading-sector" target="_blank">built up his own firm</a>, <a href="https://drw.com/" target="_blank">DRW Holdings LLC</a>, into a company with 500 employees. Becoming fabulously wealth, he branched off into real estate, with impressive results. In January of this year he
sold for $14.1 million a building at 1003 North Rush that he had bought for $12.4
two years before. In February, DRW sold the former 1938 Esquire
Theater, which it had gutted and transformed into a high-end retail building, for
$176 million. DRW had bought the property in 2010 from the Anglo Irish
Bank, which had acquired it by foreclosing on a $33.2 million loan. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsMoD5K8N49wfnEp7_4n1mzBtWxwod0CZQzbeapR4DENmP2Qd6dQSjwuS2Y4FahzO3mQ-vh9Th2DOdQKXDgh_CNUUvUF0MjVWdqCjkjCzf4Pf_Vnu6yPDFDYNVfUfVichsUmmZ-g/s1600/fultongrid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsMoD5K8N49wfnEp7_4n1mzBtWxwod0CZQzbeapR4DENmP2Qd6dQSjwuS2Y4FahzO3mQ-vh9Th2DOdQKXDgh_CNUUvUF0MjVWdqCjkjCzf4Pf_Vnu6yPDFDYNVfUfVichsUmmZ-g/s400/fultongrid.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Originally the Fulton Market project had included a 17-story, 200 room hotel, but now Brooklyn Bowl is the primary tenant, fitting its 24 lanes and 600-person concert stage into a three-story structure designed by local firm <a href="http://www.okwarchitects.com/" target="_blank">OKW Architects</a> that will also feature 18,000 square feet of retail.<br />
<br />
In Williamsburg, Brooklyn Bowl kept what seems to have been a fairly unremarkable foundry building and gutted it for their build-out, drawing heavily on recycled materials. In Chicago, DRW has traded off demolishing a newly designated landmark building by agreeing to keep its facade. Undoubtedly, that process is not inexpensive, but it's pretty clear it's looked on as little more than a sop to landmarks in order to get the desired tabula rasa on the remainder of the site. In the only rendering for the new building I've been able to find, the historic facade is basically an afterthought, shunted off to the side in favor of an emphasis on the cheerful mediocrity of the new building's faux industrial facades.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBj1Y9KkYWEORv0tXah_KEX1TSPN79zWGqnXKbKuVGT0rfSVI3n9WDYugAEXOXgYD1bSEslDijvU2lafWBT7chJzVp76yhlbKkqON7WGP99p-ABrzGvSDASFaViQ5cUzxy3ij3Q/s1600/broolynbowlrendeirng.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBj1Y9KkYWEORv0tXah_KEX1TSPN79zWGqnXKbKuVGT0rfSVI3n9WDYugAEXOXgYD1bSEslDijvU2lafWBT7chJzVp76yhlbKkqON7WGP99p-ABrzGvSDASFaViQ5cUzxy3ij3Q/s400/broolynbowlrendeirng.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">rendering: OKW Architects</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Within two years, I would expect that nearly all of the businesses that
gave Fulton Market District life for over a century and a quarter will
have relocated. Corfu Foods is now in Bensenville, Fulton Market Cold Storage relocated as Hasak Cold Storage in Lyons. Barring an economic crash halting development in its
tracks, the neighborhood will become one of the most vibrant in the
city, but the "market" in Fulton Market will be long departed, gone the way of Cap Streeter's steamboat, a visceral reality reduced to the abstraction of a branding device. The lovely restaurants will remain and multiple, the sourcing of the food they serve now another abstraction, the physical reality of the process banished safely out of sight.<br />
<br />
Like a blue-legged centipede, the supports of the salvaged facade put Fulton Street's last survivors on notice: the tentacles of a very hungry progress will soon be reaching their way.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh44ULNPZzrwv5syFBrCAPT0YVKYCtpEDvSClh3et-CNIeTXAVUwckvHz26WVoDZr9-NNDzJDqEhnEObnTntVNLi8lsPNGzggPF8ncqZXcNxOG1rRZZ-FgweOnyS1J2-VR_Yn36sg/s1600/fultonstreetwide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh44ULNPZzrwv5syFBrCAPT0YVKYCtpEDvSClh3et-CNIeTXAVUwckvHz26WVoDZr9-NNDzJDqEhnEObnTntVNLi8lsPNGzggPF8ncqZXcNxOG1rRZZ-FgweOnyS1J2-VR_Yn36sg/s400/fultonstreetwide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Flip City: Stories of Fulton Market:</b></span></span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM40OCHqBbG6HophhHhZR3u8QkGyJgORKTGioLsKIncyqPWBp5khtU_P8HnmGpLdje-qlwFDZFmv2AIyf8_UugLNTuHaRXUcrmvz8AE6lJe4p_9TeBucIEcjZZ_jJDFqMJpeYbow/s1600/1000westnowcorner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM40OCHqBbG6HophhHhZR3u8QkGyJgORKTGioLsKIncyqPWBp5khtU_P8HnmGpLdje-qlwFDZFmv2AIyf8_UugLNTuHaRXUcrmvz8AE6lJe4p_9TeBucIEcjZZ_jJDFqMJpeYbow/s400/1000westnowcorner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2013/03/strippers-attack-heat-up-fulton-market.html" target="_blank">Strippers Attack</a>, Heat up Fulton Market</span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiij8yp4dQ8ahHjlonyFzPjkUxa760sC_88HHsq3n1TUjF6wIS7cuuI4jz7KI9kcf0c9LVsFG9J16pxNOYK2ZLZUw1W0nZZVaGIFM4g4UFWylimk6zq7nKa4txbwzMyKIgflhW-Hw/s1600/1000westfultonrendering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiij8yp4dQ8ahHjlonyFzPjkUxa760sC_88HHsq3n1TUjF6wIS7cuuI4jz7KI9kcf0c9LVsFG9J16pxNOYK2ZLZUw1W0nZZVaGIFM4g4UFWylimk6zq7nKa4txbwzMyKIgflhW-Hw/s400/1000westfultonrendering.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2013/06/googleplex-comes-to-fulton-market.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Googleplex comes to Fulton Market</span></b></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPrYjnZsihTg54LeEWaMH6koZom9kMu213adsR5UYRCHjdA0WXljpaZub7dFT6nLQP5vDQRnrwX9kvsuRTkp8RfcKrreAo2HVscDYPuc4V1c5aRMyKhvL7C0M9IBIivb_54q8Ew/s1600/morgantowernight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPrYjnZsihTg54LeEWaMH6koZom9kMu213adsR5UYRCHjdA0WXljpaZub7dFT6nLQP5vDQRnrwX9kvsuRTkp8RfcKrreAo2HVscDYPuc4V1c5aRMyKhvL7C0M9IBIivb_54q8Ew/s400/morgantowernight.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Instant Landmark: <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2012/05/instant-landmark-transsystems-and-ross.html" target="_blank">Carol Ross Barney's Morgan Street Station</a> at Fulton Market</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://drw.com/who-we-are/donald-r-wilson-jr" target="_blank"></a></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnv6K-8zSyE5K3IcS-7hNYpxijaIjXPM78xH-B2HXd_goAoQfrOpT_97Ii8Ol37wEzPEn1eyLfAap2B_OumqfD7GFEnRMpJDoOnZ_7uOhTa3CPjerU24ozsE_Xhdrz7k4iuObdA/s1600/fultonbricktrio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnv6K-8zSyE5K3IcS-7hNYpxijaIjXPM78xH-B2HXd_goAoQfrOpT_97Ii8Ol37wEzPEn1eyLfAap2B_OumqfD7GFEnRMpJDoOnZ_7uOhTa3CPjerU24ozsE_Xhdrz7k4iuObdA/s400/fultonbricktrio.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-brick-stackers.html" target="_blank">The Brick Stackers</a> </span></b> Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-62913613610890335992015-11-09T13:03:00.002-06:002015-11-09T15:50:16.198-06:00From Guns to Steel Skeletons, Blanc to Mies: Interchangeable Parts and the Beauty of Design<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihSCvSOg-_q8rg6fBgviplQtfwu6FONG_YWvf0LS4Z0H-LcfW4jSiLPx4MfoF_iMqgZiqM1TvcgMY5RsmxJR9KJCrB0q6PYprTKDDE44bFE6ABroagbKCQRnwgQMTtMUv23N8H7w/s1600/Ashley-Hiebinsky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihSCvSOg-_q8rg6fBgviplQtfwu6FONG_YWvf0LS4Z0H-LcfW4jSiLPx4MfoF_iMqgZiqM1TvcgMY5RsmxJR9KJCrB0q6PYprTKDDE44bFE6ABroagbKCQRnwgQMTtMUv23N8H7w/s400/Ashley-Hiebinsky.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
As we've mentioned before, our current conditions, including architecture, derive from being at the culmination of the Age of the Supply Chain, whose defining impulse is bringing the widest range of goods to the broadest number of people over the farthest geographic range using the minimum of human labor. <br />
<br />
One of the key components of this process is the standardized, <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/interchangeable-parts" target="_blank">interchangeable part</a>. It's expressed clearly in the modern architecture of the grid and skeleton frame. A modern skyscraper is, at its essence, a collection of standardized, interchangeable parts, assembled into modules that in themselves are repeated to the compose the pre-defined extent of the building.<br />
<br />
While Eli Whitney, with his cotton gin, may have been the first person to make interchangeable, standardized parts an integral part of design, he was not the initiator. That honor most often goes to French gunsmith H<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor%C3%A9_Blanc" target="_blank">onoré Blanc</a>, who developed the basic idea but was met with an uniform lack of interest from his countrymen in making it reality. No less than Thomas Jefferson invited Blanc to migrate to the United States to be able to carry out his innovation, but to no avail. And so it's Eli Whitney in the textbooks.<br />
<br />
There is no underestimating the role of war in furthering technology, and so it should not be surprising that it was in the context of creating reliable firearms that the idea of interchangeable parts first found fruition.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8m_nCQ8czwoaCxNgzZ4HcUFgn8yMZS8yv4H8HGpekv9mTKM2sJ0wziqOfSBvXooYEoOYs5Apm2_GOyWmPfewmQ6xkkg1zpVNR3xXsjL8DyRzmKN2sVDlpCLFiLtv7eB16mGhBEQ/s1600/ibmclouds3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8m_nCQ8czwoaCxNgzZ4HcUFgn8yMZS8yv4H8HGpekv9mTKM2sJ0wziqOfSBvXooYEoOYs5Apm2_GOyWmPfewmQ6xkkg1zpVNR3xXsjL8DyRzmKN2sVDlpCLFiLtv7eB16mGhBEQ/s400/ibmclouds3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An assemblage of interchangeable parts at<br />
Mies van der Rohe's IBM Building</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 10th, curator <a href="http://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/meet-the-staff/" target="_blank">Ashley Hlebinsky</a> of Wyoming's <a href="http://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/" target="_blank">Cody Firearms Museum</a> will lecture on <i><a href="http://www.saic.edu/academics/departments/aiado/events/ashley-hlebinsky.html" target="_blank">From Protector to Perpetrator: Demystifying Firearms</a></i>, the last of a series of <a href="http://www.saic.edu/academics/departments/aiado/events/nance-klehm.html" target="_blank">Taboo Subject lectures</a> organized by School of the Art Institute Professor <a href="http://www.saic.edu/profiles/faculty/benjaminnicholson/" target="_blank">Ben Nicholson</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The design and manufacture of firearms stands as one of the great achievements of the Industrial Age. The process pioneered the "American System" of manufacture that standardized mechanical reproduction on a massive scale. Gun and ammunition design has its own logic and, when demystified, can inform other disciplines. Ashley Hlebinsky will discuss the ways in which firearms are stigmatized in culture and how those perceptions can lead to obfuscation of the distinction between firearms and firearms violence in history.</blockquote>
Yeah, I know. My first reaction was a kind of dumbfounded "WFT?" as well. Yet if the Defense Department gave us the Internet (sorry, Vice President Gore), as well as numerous other core technologies we all depend on, a look at guns from a design standpoint might be a fairly essential perspective in understanding how we got where we are today.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The lecture will be given in the SAIC ballroom, 112 South Michigan, from 4:15 to 5:45 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, November 10. It is free and open to the public.</blockquote>
<br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-14720101114478744452015-11-05T13:36:00.000-06:002015-11-05T14:10:10.704-06:00Flip City: Smiles of an Autumn Night at New City<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjvOxn9iOy3c687MYR-FOv4ZUJh-wd3iFhfb3EoTjbwFVsLvrXMXlCTz-wDohVtD3in2EUpFIBDX4JJ4yXjfOacEvp6Qp010ehKNGKtKm8hF35_GKZf6RkmA9s7LSBeeU3GAi1g/s1600/ncdickscorner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjvOxn9iOy3c687MYR-FOv4ZUJh-wd3iFhfb3EoTjbwFVsLvrXMXlCTz-wDohVtD3in2EUpFIBDX4JJ4yXjfOacEvp6Qp010ehKNGKtKm8hF35_GKZf6RkmA9s7LSBeeU3GAi1g/s400/ncdickscorner.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click images for larger view (recommended)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are many nasty things to be said about <a href="http://experiencenewcity.com/" target="_blank">New City</a>, the massive 370,000 square-feet retail/residential center now coming on-line just south of the booming Halsted/Clybourn/North retail corridor.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieeCfShmraAnS_koNm7lHxSPGp-ef_zj4VIGcRsL2j2PbJW4HioAv_jWimp8HMqE47Fqhys_RYch7jY-1oXzFWn4MwWasRMhH53oAPYcyiaNX5hmAfPflfjPwMo9gsHYIhZGWHvQ/s1600/ncclybourn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieeCfShmraAnS_koNm7lHxSPGp-ef_zj4VIGcRsL2j2PbJW4HioAv_jWimp8HMqE47Fqhys_RYch7jY-1oXzFWn4MwWasRMhH53oAPYcyiaNX5hmAfPflfjPwMo9gsHYIhZGWHvQ/s400/ncclybourn.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Most of all, that the seemingly endless exterior elevations are not just bad, but horrifically, what-were-they-thinking, soul crushing bad. Actually it's easy to imagine what they were thinking. Those fortress-like walls, especially the one stretching down Clybourn, are prophylactics against the current state of the adjacent neighborhood, with the CHA's Thomas Flannery senior citizen public housing towers to the east, and the still resolutely empty expanses of land to the south left behind by the demolition of the infamous "projects" of Cabrini-Green. The irony, of course, is that if New City succeeds in gentrifying its environs, those same walls will become an ugly, impermeable repellent to attractive urbanism. Don't get me started.<br />
<br />
But, as the barrister told the policeman in the classic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JshcuLgIalM" target="_blank">Monty Python sketch</a>, there will plenty of time for that later.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFRL6vi8Z0ktqzMiIQkUAPmcH6cUNwRqTXJqtcl-tBiKzG4DM4tgwBaWm0GTSKDQWBpWgc4hmjeJI3cn8zVyweb7IBSDptjxXlU_B6A72-XhwLHr0iP5P2rxvedP7npaT-HHWgA/s1600/ncplazawide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFRL6vi8Z0ktqzMiIQkUAPmcH6cUNwRqTXJqtcl-tBiKzG4DM4tgwBaWm0GTSKDQWBpWgc4hmjeJI3cn8zVyweb7IBSDptjxXlU_B6A72-XhwLHr0iP5P2rxvedP7npaT-HHWgA/s400/ncplazawide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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For now, I want to give you a picture of the optimism of New City, designed by <a href="http://www.okwarchitects.com/work/new-city.aspx" target="_blank">OKW Architects</a>, as found in its soft, chewy center, a privatized piazza around which the shops, restaurants and attractions of the shopping complex revolve. (Except for the 83,000-square-foot, multi-story Mariano's - the chain's largest - which has its own grand entrance at New City's Southeast corner). There's a green-boulder fountain . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XMu9qXBO55OYMyU9V-6NIxUD3-pXeZQZXbnpJ8GDBeVYcr-kxmq6Hjv984XmEV98VzmDdrIuYn3Kmo9fK79AFHLWOzwRt9GM_6nbObczcldIJ2e-8njxgRBOpDtiQzbkIVnLTA/s1600/ncfountaionwide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XMu9qXBO55OYMyU9V-6NIxUD3-pXeZQZXbnpJ8GDBeVYcr-kxmq6Hjv984XmEV98VzmDdrIuYn3Kmo9fK79AFHLWOzwRt9GM_6nbObczcldIJ2e-8njxgRBOpDtiQzbkIVnLTA/s400/ncfountaionwide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
. . . some interesting benches . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie3t0QqQNUMOKBumWtTwf_SrlIc69W6VHW7cyx2Il6JnlqdrOKcujXI-u7tBWsiw4CnNdAHJQm5fM6ZrMPX_LVw3T13U_PuRn2hPz9yTAO4Ad2hKxiR_8Px1iLTa6cytTQs-I1Kw/s1600/ncbenches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie3t0QqQNUMOKBumWtTwf_SrlIc69W6VHW7cyx2Il6JnlqdrOKcujXI-u7tBWsiw4CnNdAHJQm5fM6ZrMPX_LVw3T13U_PuRn2hPz9yTAO4Ad2hKxiR_8Px1iLTa6cytTQs-I1Kw/s400/ncbenches.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
. . . a 16-lane Kings Pins bowling alley . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhVyMCQSOea_IyH60dQlqXCw2ORh8Dox6nqHwKWHUSB3F_uBkG8hKncx2VzyLIwDpVUcote1E5MnQlfHjIBI77LQphbWEBal588vWkzeW0a2mutBWghdJH-69D5EzrUgOXOIHT2w/s1600/ncbowlingpin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhVyMCQSOea_IyH60dQlqXCw2ORh8Dox6nqHwKWHUSB3F_uBkG8hKncx2VzyLIwDpVUcote1E5MnQlfHjIBI77LQphbWEBal588vWkzeW0a2mutBWghdJH-69D5EzrUgOXOIHT2w/s400/ncbowlingpin.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
<br />
. . . and a 199-unit apartment tower.<br />
<br />
Clearly, it could have been a lot worse. Instead of a strip mall awash in an ocean of surface parking, we have a 1,000 car garage, and a very real- if privatized - public square. <br />
<br />
There are still empty storefronts, but the center is filling up with such retailers as a large Z Gallerie, and a colorful It'Sugar offering over 200 varieties of bulk candy. Dick's Sporting Goods second Chicago location is, at 50,000 square feet, the complex's major retail anchor. Its placement follows the stacked model where smaller shops are on the ground level and destination stores placed above, journey's end via a long escalator ride. (It was worth visiting the big central plaza just to hear a father say offhandedly to his wife and kid, "There's a big Dick's right over there.")<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkagKatnnzHXkxDwOdQEh3VLA3_H6SIUmEaEIxCdlxX3qU69pfS34ZqffjoTwf3CqxzQj0sxdTiTM9xaHDUaCMJW2ntm3cEtwNJSjy4DyNRL8Vy_iuORdaZPs4NGkyuojauZezQ/s1600/ncarclightentrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkagKatnnzHXkxDwOdQEh3VLA3_H6SIUmEaEIxCdlxX3qU69pfS34ZqffjoTwf3CqxzQj0sxdTiTM9xaHDUaCMJW2ntm3cEtwNJSjy4DyNRL8Vy_iuORdaZPs4NGkyuojauZezQ/s400/ncarclightentrance.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The other major anchor is the Chicago outlet of the <a href="https://www.arclightcinemas.com/en/locations/national-expansion/chicago" target="_blank">Arclight Cinema</a>s, perhaps best known for its Hollywood multiplex that includes the 1963 <a href="https://www.blogger.com/://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinerama_Dome" target="_blank">Cinerama Dome.</a> Earlier this year, Arclight took over the former Glen 10 theater in Glenview, but the New City facility was built specifically for the company and <a href="http://chicagoist.com/2015/11/04/chicagos_new_arclight_cinemas_are_l.php" target="_blank">showcases its attention</a> to top-quality projection and sound, as well as offering a bar, no ads other than trailers, (three max), no dinging arcade games, reserved seating and the top ticket prices in town. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhh4-J_nhBuE0Hsxfqa20E6uz5gC-wH3IcorLN_UMmSvjA7XlhFoSmmpwEoifGC5mA3aB8KXU1OemoYwEvL3p8qdZ3J3FXLvVx1_3ll42BbALZeFz_1S0FlfPARLXJIRNSW5wjA/s1600/ncarclightinterior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhh4-J_nhBuE0Hsxfqa20E6uz5gC-wH3IcorLN_UMmSvjA7XlhFoSmmpwEoifGC5mA3aB8KXU1OemoYwEvL3p8qdZ3J3FXLvVx1_3ll42BbALZeFz_1S0FlfPARLXJIRNSW5wjA/s400/ncarclightinterior.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Arclight is situated on the third floor, above the Mariano's, so it's two long escalator rides to the top, although there's elevators and what appears to be direct access to the garage level adjacent to the theaters.<br />
<br />
New City is a little bit of suburban lifestyle mall tucked within the protective armor of its long blank street walls. The brick facades around the piazza may be totally undistinguished, and it's a puzzle why one end of the space is butted up against the bare-bones parking garage . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvRv8ZRS-438X3f7OCmE82F3AGiKMVJg09KuaRaEot4hdN_u0l3aizm5jb0RNOTawD4eiotemI6GGfRBIwa9Z-lfTiR5T-nYMPOJD9tfWLRUxjPSG3vFRbrwqeINTQDIf7wViaQ/s1600/ncplazagarage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvRv8ZRS-438X3f7OCmE82F3AGiKMVJg09KuaRaEot4hdN_u0l3aizm5jb0RNOTawD4eiotemI6GGfRBIwa9Z-lfTiR5T-nYMPOJD9tfWLRUxjPSG3vFRbrwqeINTQDIf7wViaQ/s400/ncplazagarage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
. . . but there's no denying that on an evening far more pleasant than we had any right to expect for the 4th of November, with the banality of the interior facades softened by the night and the young trees ablaze with the light, the New City piazza was a fairly pleasant place to be. Patrons were taking advantage of the el fresco dining at one of New City's several restaurants, kids were running along the side of the fountain, and gracious young women in crisp white shirts and black skirts were gently bearing down on people in the piazza to offer them quite tasty samples of meatballs and shrimp roll from <a href="https://earls.ca/locations/lincoln-park/menu/kitchen" target="_blank">Earl's Kitchen + Bar.</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCwNTf2x1A0VRAmp1ZcUrEgnhk9auhZooukZXNQaUkFZ-X4wF9Yu0EmEsEn93pQQPq1y_3prRXvKxE9s0bscNgErXWvUVPnQuEvPOqryXylRCW_WMHqvKPCuVM0B8wOKSs82wxQ/s1600/nctoclybournsamples.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCwNTf2x1A0VRAmp1ZcUrEgnhk9auhZooukZXNQaUkFZ-X4wF9Yu0EmEsEn93pQQPq1y_3prRXvKxE9s0bscNgErXWvUVPnQuEvPOqryXylRCW_WMHqvKPCuVM0B8wOKSs82wxQ/s400/nctoclybournsamples.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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As the Chicago Housing Authority seems finally poised to bring its vacant lands to the south under development, New City looks to be a major transitional pivot in taking the neighborhood from poor to privileged. Just don't look at it from the outside.Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-51705054170326728902015-11-03T13:01:00.003-06:002015-11-03T15:24:42.894-06:00Temp Construction Theater: White Sheik Retail Pop-up Pitches Really Big Tent in Pioneer Court<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuDXBno10nvj0jrFRM0iGCwMkBcqXdYqLT_zUIU0OAB5AW-pRBTSdZQdKl3P_8Jtr0Xz5Q-vpNmyyPdsYhgS2dTAt4i6kTwuSPzTDnP0Y80jHEuVYJEwm2jAe6wytvKKfAI1m52Q/s1600/wiithwidewindows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuDXBno10nvj0jrFRM0iGCwMkBcqXdYqLT_zUIU0OAB5AW-pRBTSdZQdKl3P_8Jtr0Xz5Q-vpNmyyPdsYhgS2dTAt4i6kTwuSPzTDnP0Y80jHEuVYJEwm2jAe6wytvKKfAI1m52Q/s400/wiithwidewindows.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click images for larger view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
No, Apple didn't decide to go pre-fab for the <a href="http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2015/08/12/apple-store-moving-down-michigan-ave.php" target="_blank">new store it's announced</a> for Pioneer Court, the public plaza fronting Michigan Avenue just north of the Chicago River. For that project, neither a design or a ground-breaking date have yet to be revealed.<br />
<br />
Instead, the swooping, curved structure at Pioneer Court is another example of the virtual world suffering an outbreak of the material. Retailers whose entire existence is on-line are finding themselves going on benders of physical presence. <br />
<br />
Even Amazon, after taking out Borders and other mainstay booksellers with its aggressive and omnipresent website, is now rubbing it in by opening its own "<a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-opens-first-bricks-and-mortar-bookstore-at-u-village/" target="_blank">bricks and mortar" bookstore</a> in its own hometown of Seattle.<br />
<br />
To be sure, Pop-up stores are not uncommon, and Pioneer Court has been a prime location for them. Just last week, smartphone case-maker Otter had its own Pioneer Court pop-up just south of Tribune Tower.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALWUQVLqqoh1eUYXH8rh1W1CatW3vr_Pr2FuAFZSEYpvWfespufHewcaSm8K_09k9diE09HzLvj3aSoxm5XfF5B857WFQS_ZwICTUPAkGpywFx8nB7MJ_wBMo5cw8VYylNdaHqQ/s1600/withmeotter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALWUQVLqqoh1eUYXH8rh1W1CatW3vr_Pr2FuAFZSEYpvWfespufHewcaSm8K_09k9diE09HzLvj3aSoxm5XfF5B857WFQS_ZwICTUPAkGpywFx8nB7MJ_wBMo5cw8VYylNdaHqQ/s400/withmeotter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The white whale now beached on the south end of the plaza is entirely different story. Zaha Hadid's Chanel <a href="http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/chanel-art-pavilion/" target="_blank">Mobile Art Pavilion</a> it's not, but it's still the most ambitious pop-up construction Chicago has seen to date. It's the creation of an outfit called <a href="http://www.with.me/" target="_blank">withme</a>, a retail logistics company that began in China in 2011 and is now headquartered in Las Vegas, where it created a 20,000 square-foot <a href="http://fashionista.com/2014/11/zappos-store" target="_blank">pop-up shop</a> in the Las Vegas Western hotel for on-line retailers Zappos.<br />
<br />
The Pioneer Court construction is the debut of the company's ShopWithMe retail stores, which their <a href="http://www.with.me/retail" target="_blank">website modestly describes</a> as "the first portable, all-in-one pop-up store solution for brands and retailers to showroom and sell their products in a futuristic environment, anywhere in the world." Future appearances are listed for five cities, from New York to San Francisco, with "Info Coming Soon."<br />
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For Chicago, the pavilion features the products of "eco-friendly" women's jewelry and apparel retailer <a href="http://www.ravenandlily.com/" target="_blank">Raven + Lilly</a>, based in Austin, Texas, where it has a retail store, and <a href="http://toms.com/" target="_blank">TOMS</a> eyewear, footware and accessories. which also has <a href="http://www.toms.com/toms-stores" target="_blank">five bricks-and-mortar stores </a>across the country, including one in Chicago's Wicker Park.<br />
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The white perforated panel facade of the Pioneer Court installed sets off well against the cream-colored terra cotta of the Wrigley Building just across the street.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgajSFZVRlcF8lEP2f_m24uIae18V6wq-Y9WzDv36VEeOkN0_5B8R5lidPbC-s2D3MTW53YABFl0sJxUJjXsJMWDVfuNWKf-NZllO2bqCI_PvesitCCt3q_WrmAP3j7tmSZxaoHNw/s1600/withmeconstructionwide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgajSFZVRlcF8lEP2f_m24uIae18V6wq-Y9WzDv36VEeOkN0_5B8R5lidPbC-s2D3MTW53YABFl0sJxUJjXsJMWDVfuNWKf-NZllO2bqCI_PvesitCCt3q_WrmAP3j7tmSZxaoHNw/s400/withmeconstructionwide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
For a temporary structure, it was an ambitious and intricate construction process, as pre-fab components were unloaded, unboxed and assembled into place like a giant 3-D jigsaw puzzle.<br />
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It looks a bit like a covered bridge suspended between the two end pavilions, one of which with a fold-back ramp attached to get people up into the store.</div>
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It's only scheduled to be open until this Friday, November 6th, so check it out while you can. And watch for the dismantling process after that, which should be pretty interesting in itself.<br />
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<br />
It's like <i>Show Boat</i>, but with tractor trailers instead of the boat. Is this the future of on-line retailing?<br />
<br />
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<br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-86444438652623508182015-10-31T08:48:00.001-05:002015-10-31T08:48:36.976-05:00The Dead<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvDwB2E1iVSsp6_m0hKZKAN-k8I7IPPyXjS2-4ZBY6LzQbUlP_-dBC-uWqXSiSkhr4jZxaRNq_zy8EGoGrW_yX1YayUQI5FjihBq1NurgaSYarikpYoPbFYHDOrCaCBcA2DUQRXA/s1600/edlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvDwB2E1iVSsp6_m0hKZKAN-k8I7IPPyXjS2-4ZBY6LzQbUlP_-dBC-uWqXSiSkhr4jZxaRNq_zy8EGoGrW_yX1YayUQI5FjihBq1NurgaSYarikpYoPbFYHDOrCaCBcA2DUQRXA/s400/edlight.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click images for larger view</td></tr>
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"All the lights were on, but no one was home." <br />
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Did you ever walk down a street late at night and have that phrase pop into your head.?<br />
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A street with restaurants you were used to seeing bright and filled with people?<br />
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A street they've told you is about to change utterly? About to become still another avenue of tall, sleek residential towers, the light of the apartments beaming the image of their monied interiors out into the evening?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7qH87dV0Kt0jYnGrAfbQAHHopPPpdJUy7PnkRVYt9O6n3-6oZecECQdhE6OuPyd7E2YExcgUhOS-BKMnRi9uFY1ihWopz23Zpz7ruVVai8i4_L_PSeR_4lExWHAI1Ha0yKm14w/s1600/edentrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7qH87dV0Kt0jYnGrAfbQAHHopPPpdJUy7PnkRVYt9O6n3-6oZecECQdhE6OuPyd7E2YExcgUhOS-BKMnRi9uFY1ihWopz23Zpz7ruVVai8i4_L_PSeR_4lExWHAI1Ha0yKm14w/s400/edentrance.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
A street where you could swear you hear footsteps behind you. They stop. You take a few more steps, and hear them again, muffled. And then you turn quickly around and gasp . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHwu2Igu2GauARH8zziVbg_uKJKT1Dpf5cAQ0pvcnau6KIhvV7kic4t6XtypLfBzhOMeAEvov2leasSTHC_fbVC5GFwQAzhN21uP21_pqOPgknMK9WSPd-o655lT_sX9GDWDOEg/s1600/loomingpizza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHwu2Igu2GauARH8zziVbg_uKJKT1Dpf5cAQ0pvcnau6KIhvV7kic4t6XtypLfBzhOMeAEvov2leasSTHC_fbVC5GFwQAzhN21uP21_pqOPgknMK9WSPd-o655lT_sX9GDWDOEg/s640/loomingpizza.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>
. . . as a gang of 30-foot pizza slices stand looming over you, shedding grease that has dried into flakes down onto you like dandruff. And then, as quickly as they had appeared, they vanish from sight.<br />
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It's clear they don't want you there.<br />
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It's like everyone decided to move out, really fast. Had the Hooter Girls insisted on going on that midnight walk alone in the woods, even after we had warned them? <br />
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The once polished interiors stand empty and violated.<br />
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Eat at Eds? Doesn't look like it.<br />
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You can hear the unnerved spirits that were left behind, still cracking their gum, their insults reduced to inaudible whispers. <br />
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An invisible jukebox insinuates grotesque polkas out onto the street . . .<br />
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. . . as the tower of shake stands darkened and forlorn against the night sky.<br />
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The witching hour approaches. The chairs huddle tightly together in mute terror.<br />
<br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-77794328984663441722015-10-23T11:21:00.001-05:002015-10-26T10:13:58.826-05:00Bombs Away! Stanley Tigerman unveils Titanic 2015<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivmqFBDSxEonkaK3WfdHmFyFfY0DC-IjihJuZl40hj_84L5sn-N7_-Ub6t7gRUwRTNJ_evsjADkyFmkPJ6gfoK1MyKRrqmdQC8TBtimDI4kR9dlAnRSs-ssUa2B1bUTkfHkCIVeQ/s1600/tigermancaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivmqFBDSxEonkaK3WfdHmFyFfY0DC-IjihJuZl40hj_84L5sn-N7_-Ub6t7gRUwRTNJ_evsjADkyFmkPJ6gfoK1MyKRrqmdQC8TBtimDI4kR9dlAnRSs-ssUa2B1bUTkfHkCIVeQ/s400/tigermancaf.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elva Rubio, Carlo Parente, Karla Sierralta, Carl Ray Miller, Stanley Tigerman, Martin Kläschen,Eva Maddox</td></tr>
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<br />
In the late 1970's, with Mies van der Rohe dead for nearly a decade and so-called "Miesian" architecture at its greatest point of power, architect Stanley Tigerman declared war with a single photo montage . . .<br />
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"Two of us," Tigerman recalled last Thursday at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, "James Ingo Freed and I, were sitting one night in my office,
drinking. And I made this collage. And he gave me
the backbone to do it. I really was a bit of a coward. I didn't want
to do it , but it was definitely confrontational. I was an
incredible admirer of Mies van der Rohe, but I always had problems with
the sycophants, the acolytes after Mies's death, who ran the school into
the ground. Because they didn't add to the syntax of language in the
way that they should have done."<br />
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Since then, Tigerman's image has itself become iconic, a key symbol of the rise of post-modernism and the emergence of a new generation of architects with very different ways of thinking. Nearly 40 years later, with Chicago's first <a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/" target="_blank">Architecture Biennial</a> launched with full force, architect and designer Elva Rubio thought it might be time for an update. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elva Rubio, Stanley Tigerman</td></tr>
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"Elva persuaded me to do another one
now," said Tigerman. Last week's event, held around a table imprinted with the original Titanic image, included the unveiling of Tigerman's 2015 update, the architect in conversation with both Rubio and a panel of clients, and a display of office artifacts.<br />
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<br />
"If you look at the wall," explained Rubio, "basically this is Stanley's office here, that
you allowed us to kind of pull out and bring to the public which is
absolutely amazing, kind of a patchwork of their lives, he and Margaret, and all the different accomplishments. You can see the range
is astonishing. It's writing, it's product design, ideation, architecture, urbanism, so it's quite a prize . And it's a
very small piece of what is there."<br />
<br />
The moment came. Titanic 2015 was unveiled . . .<br />
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Tigerman had talked repeatedly about the struggle inherent in one generation taking over from the previous. He recalled his last evening as Co-Director of <a href="https://archeworks.org/" target="_blank">Archeworks</a>, the alternative design school he had founded in 1994 with Eva Maddox, at an event that had been named "Passing the Baton". He strode to the podium with a briefcase, from which first pulled a conductor's baton. That is not what he meant, he said. Then he pulled out the kind of baton marathon runner's pass one to the next. That is not what he meant. Finally, he pulled out a large hunting knife. <i>That</i> is what he meant, he said, just before he striding out of the building never to return.<br />
<br />
Of course, the violence that Tigerman referred to repeatedly is less a matter of tearing flesh than an <i>Age of Innocence</i> kind of genteel evisceration. Indeed, even the imagery of <i>Titanic 2015</i> - a bomb falling from the sky about to obliterate both Mies's Crown Hall and Frank Gehry's Bilbao museum should be seen as a kind of a McGuffin spurring discussion about succession.<br />
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"I thought about an icon," said Tigerman, "and the problem with an icon is it becomes iconic. It's emulated, and thereby watered down . . . The problem with an icon is that people are so
overwhelmed by it that they then use it as a referent to then do
something . As opposed to having a tabula rasa, a clean sweep. Nothing
on your drawing board. You start again anew each time."<br />
<br />
"There are originals, and there are copies. So I have a problem with
an icon. I mean, I love Frank Gehry and I certainly love Mies van der
Rohe. Obviously, Bilbao has become iconic. And it's not about
signature work. Not about Frank replicating or redoing something in a
similar certain way. It's about something becoming an icon. Something
becomes so staggeringly important that it inhibits one from finding
one's own series of icons. So that's what this is about. It's got
nothing to do with bombing Crown Hall or Bilbao at all."<br />
<br />
"It's the problem of using those referents as
inspiration. Inspiration is there in the emptiness of your drawing
board or your computer . . . You try to do something each time out of the barn
that's new. Not to be different. But just to try your hand at it.
Inevitably, there will be things on your mind. Architects always have
agendas. Architects are not simply, as Frank Lloyd Wright referred to
himself as Louis Sullivan's pencil. They're not the client's pencil.
The client comes to you because they're hoping that you have an idea
about something. And when you hold up an icon, and that becomes the
referent, then the client in a way becomes diminished."<br />
<br />
"[Mies] was not going to be held hostage to the vicissitudes of clients. He
had a 20-man office. He had 20 people. He had 20 people when he died.
And he didn't expand it to 21, or drop it to 19. That was his team.
And he wasn't going to have somebody come in and say, oh, we're going
to overturn everything to accommodate them." <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stanley Tigerman, Eva Maddox</td></tr>
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"Mies was a role model for me. Why do you think I've
lived in a Mies building for 45 years? Because he was a really terrific
architect. And it was a challenge to me to wake up every morning in a
really good building . They're going to drag me out horizontally.
That's where I'm going to end my days. Because he was my role model.
He was my Abraham."<br />
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<br />
"Architecture is optimistic. The forces are always
there to diminish you. Building commissioners, zoning administrator, often clients. to
diminish the work of the architect . . . You have to have a very strong stomach, and a very strong backbone. You have to be stunningly and optimistically inclined to cause something to be built."<br />
<br />
"It takes a wonderful client to make a really good building to transpire.
So it is about optimism. You have to convey that optimism to your
clients and everybody in the world, who will make light of what you do.
Trust me." <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chicago Architecture Biennial</td></tr>
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Tigerman had special praise for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, "which
I'm thrilled by. 120 architects from all over the
world, all six continents, that [Graham Foundation's] Sarah Herda and Joe Grima, the former
editor of Domus, put together with the help of a consulting group that
included [Chicago Architecture Foundation's] Lynn Osmond and a number of people. But they did it. And so
what you see at the Cultural Center is this thrilling youngest
generation , which is thrilling because they somehow have coalesced
and they're not quite as back-biting as one finds in New York.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elva Rubio, Lynn Osmond, Stanley Tigerman, unidentified, Eva Maddox</td></tr>
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"Not all of it is wonderful. A huge proportion is quite remarkable. . . . Not everything is happy ending stuff. They get full marks, as far as I'm concerned."<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The exhibitions <a href="http://www.architecture.org/experience-caf/exhibitions/exhibit/currencies-of-architecture/" target="_blank"><i>Currencies of Architecture</i></a> and <i>Celebrating an Icon</i> continue at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 South Michigan. Concurrent with <i>Celebrating an Icon</i> is a series of panel discussions which continue next Thursday, October 29th, with a Chicago Educators evening including Penelope Dean of UIC, Vedran Mimica of IIT and Ben Nicholson of SAIC; a November 12th event with Carol Ross Barney; SOM's Brian Lee on November 19, and a closing party and auction on December 4th. More information <a href="http://www.chicagoarchitecturalclub.org/PROGRAM-INFORMATION" target="_blank">here</a>.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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An exhibition, <a href="http://wvvolumes.com/current/" target="_blank">Stanley Tigerman 821 Stanley Tigerman Sketches 821</a>, is on display at Volume Gallery through December 5th.</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b> Read More:</b></span><br />
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<br />
<a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2012/05/architect-as-zelig-thursday-last-night.html" target="_blank"><i>The Architect as Zelig</i></a>: Tigerman's <i>Ceci n'est pas une reverie</i>, at the Graham<br />
<i>
</i>
<i></i><br />
<i></i><br />
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<i><a br="" href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2012/05/architect-as-zelig-thursday-last-night.html"></a><i><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2011/08/schlepping-with-stanley.html" target="_blank">Schlepping with Stanley</a></i></i><br />
<i><i> </i><br />
</i><br />
<i></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2fsOlUxY7GCISepv9v6R_xuo2BAr4ru_1ZMPzcTTHbJ5ClgDlU9w_rbMh4MjeiYerMOC0Kr-xlHMlcSCL2F82Pzn5Rj_cn3jklrOz5Orye39pY1Kp_cZ-XxxWgajBI2NOny58jg/s1600/tigermanillinoisholocaust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2fsOlUxY7GCISepv9v6R_xuo2BAr4ru_1ZMPzcTTHbJ5ClgDlU9w_rbMh4MjeiYerMOC0Kr-xlHMlcSCL2F82Pzn5Rj_cn3jklrOz5Orye39pY1Kp_cZ-XxxWgajBI2NOny58jg/s400/tigermanillinoisholocaust.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>As he receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from AIA Chicago, a <i><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-stanley-tigerman-miscellany.html" target="_blank">Stanley Tigerman Miscellany</a></i> <br />
<br />
</i>
Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-32107433689867770172015-10-16T06:31:00.002-05:002015-10-16T13:50:14.361-05:00Marina City Closer to Landmark Status? Public Hearing Friday Morning<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click images for larger view</td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[<span style="font-size: x-small;">update: 1:00 p.m., October 16]</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[<span style="font-size: x-normal;"> No formal objections were filed during the public hearing on landmarking Marina City. Speaking on behalf of LaSalle Hotel Properties, <a href="https://www.dlapiper.com/en/us/people/d/digrino-mariah-f/" target="_blank">Mariah DiGrino </a>of the law firm DLA Piper declared her client's - at least momentary - neutrality:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We are among the owners that have not provided a consent to the designation. At this time, ownership is not prepared to consent or object, but continues to evaluate the effect of the designation on its hotel and commercial operations. Obviously, we’re not here to challenge Marina City’s place in the city’s visual landscape or its place in the city’s history. We have met with [Landmarks] Commissioner [Eleanor] Gorski, who has been very informative and helpful to us understanding the effect of the designation and we look forward to continuing to work with the Landmarks Division on future requests for approvals for the hotel and commercial spaces as they arise.
</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.landmarks.org/" target="_blank">Landmarks Illinois</a> President Bonnie McDonald expressed her organization's support for the landmarking . . .<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Marina City is a critical part of the city’s mid-century architectural heritage and is considered one of the city’s most photographed buildings . . . We know from a 2008 survey that a majority of Marina City’s residents are in favor of landmark designation, which will also provide helpful financial incentives for future capital improvements. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Two of these incentives are the property tax assessment freeze, and, due to the building’s location, the opportunity to receive capital improvement funds through the city’s Adopt-A-Landmark program. Both of these incentives demonstrate that in addition to protecting one of the city’s most distinctive buildings, landmark designation can result in financial assistance for its owners.</blockquote>
The State of Illinois <a href="https://www.illinois.gov/ihpa/Preserve/Pages/taxfreeze.aspx" target="_blank">Property Tax Assessment Freeze</a> program makes unit owners eligible for freezing the assessments on their units for 8 years, while the City of Chicago's Adopt-A-Landmark program allows developers to increase their allowable built density by financing improvements to a nearby designated landmark.<br />
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<a href="http://www.preservationchicago.org/" target="_blank">Preservation Chicago</a> President Ward Miller stressed both Marina City's revolutionary design, and its path-breaking motor boat docks and river edge dining rooms that jump-started the transformation of the Chicago river from an "industrial canal" to the civic amenity of a recreational riverfront proposed by Daniel Burnham in his 1909 Plan of Chicago a half century before.<br />
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It's was all over in a little more than 40 minutes. You can listen to the entire session, courtesy of Steven Dahlman, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/loopnorth/marina-city-landmark-designation-public-hearing" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Friday, October 16 at 9:30 a.m., in Room 1103 of City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks will be holding a hearing for the public, owners, and any "unknown owners" to present comment on the proposal to make Bertrand Goldberg's Marina City complex an official Chicago landmark.</blockquote>
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A week or so ago, I had heard no objections had been filed to the action, although Trib architecture critic Blair Kamin tweeted yesterday that there was still one owner who had yet to declare their consent. In an <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-marina-city-landmark-kamin-met-1016-20151015-story.html" target="_blank">article posted last evening</a>, Kamin reported that the party not heard from was LaSalle Hotel Properties, which in <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=63030&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=824057" target="_blank">2006 acquired</a> what was then the House of Blues Hotel - built in what had originally been the Marina City office building - and parking floors of the two residential towers for $114.5 million. After rehabbing the facility as the Sax Hotel, it was rehabbed again recently and is now known as the <a href="http://thehotelchicago.com/" target="_blank">Hotel Chicago</a>. LaSalle's silence has been aggressive and complete, with Ald. Brendan Reilly saying nothing had been heard from the company and Kamin's phone calls going unreturned.<br />
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Although most people make thinkg of Marina City as just the twin cylindrical 60-story residential towers, with parking on the first twenty floors, it's actually perhaps the first, true multi-use complex, also including an office building, a theater, a marina, and public plazas.<br />
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The landmarks resolution protects the exteriors of the complex's original buildings, as well as the "driveways and open plaza areas between the buildings." The jarringly out-of-place Smith and Wollensky restaurant structure, constructed in 1998 where the original skating rink had been, is not protected, nor is the skylighted entrance pavilion next to it.<br />
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Although the Commission has now apparently largely outsourcing the work of writing the "Summary of Information" reports on the history and importance of proposed landmarks, the <a href="http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/zlup/Landmarks/Marina_City_Prelim_Report.pdf" target="_blank">54 page report </a>on Marina City - a product of experts from Bauer Latoza, Ramsey Historic Consultants and Granacki Historic Consultants - maintains the highs standards established in reports written by in-house scholars such as Terry Tatum. The report includes a history of the building and its architect, Bertrand Goldberg, and of William McFetridge and the Chicago Labor movement that made the project possible, an account of the construction, financing and marketing, and a placement of Marina City's importantance within the larger context of Expressionist Modern Architecture. Richly illustrated, it's a must-read. (As is Steven Dahlman's on-line <a href="http://www.marinacity.org/history.htm" target="_blank"><i>City Within a City: The Biography of Marina City</i></a>.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg12eADpzyXmNgNx-WthrQzBKb5xm0i8k2Lkbbl8e0gYC4HDbxvoObYEbgKLM_6MiZGBTZIin6EmPz3tBCvFtEaWUZZUCVALwqzf14w9gZIXeZD-VD6QQSAv9mEEG3vW36_xZ3Zg/s1600/marinawallenda08rmarinatowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg12eADpzyXmNgNx-WthrQzBKb5xm0i8k2Lkbbl8e0gYC4HDbxvoObYEbgKLM_6MiZGBTZIin6EmPz3tBCvFtEaWUZZUCVALwqzf14w9gZIXeZD-VD6QQSAv9mEEG3vW36_xZ3Zg/s400/marinawallenda08rmarinatowers.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
Last November, Marina City had its global moment in the <s>sun</s> moon when daredevil Nick Wallenda walked on a tightrope across the Chicago River from the <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-night-before-wallenda-walk-lights.html" target="_blank">top of Marina City's 60-story west tower</a>, and then for an encore crossed from the West Tower to its twin to the east. There's no mystery as to why he chose Marina City for his stunt. Chicago has no more iconic building than Marina City. With the Picasso and Cloud Gate, it's the most globally recognized symbol of the city. Making it an designated landmark simply makes it official - and offers some needed protection. If Marina City isn't a Chicago landmark, then there is none.<br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Read More:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6nVGCvHwHDe_YA7ONxqwEU_aY_GtczsP2wEXB5HmWtdrFMapY32VGopkvYnE6ZQDAJ1PVpzGJZL6GZyp41SNSC3bZKGAWibvm5nHrhPII6kZZfqs_8Zzd7I-2PB6RLuGH9PQrfA/s1600/marinawallenda01wire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6nVGCvHwHDe_YA7ONxqwEU_aY_GtczsP2wEXB5HmWtdrFMapY32VGopkvYnE6ZQDAJ1PVpzGJZL6GZyp41SNSC3bZKGAWibvm5nHrhPII6kZZfqs_8Zzd7I-2PB6RLuGH9PQrfA/s400/marinawallenda01wire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-night-before-wallenda-walk-lights.html" target="_blank"><i>Night Magic:</i></a> Wallenda Walk Lights Up Chicago's River Skyline</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDg3kqgtD3Inlu2EgxAO6jj_dcJOWmjhJXWquChyphenhyphenkv0OYkFoHYdEnX51nkc8rU2n2fNHthUI9IvzqTI6SBvw6159v28SOTDYY8xg_Afmf93H2H3BX7OjqS9n0i5uV7h0bFmyX4w/s1600/marinaluftprojection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDg3kqgtD3Inlu2EgxAO6jj_dcJOWmjhJXWquChyphenhyphenkv0OYkFoHYdEnX51nkc8rU2n2fNHthUI9IvzqTI6SBvw6159v28SOTDYY8xg_Afmf93H2H3BX7OjqS9n0i5uV7h0bFmyX4w/s400/marinaluftprojection.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b> <i><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2014/08/up-on-rooftop-night-and-art-at-marina.html" target="_blank">Up on the Rooftop</a></i>: Night and Luftwerk's Art at Marina City</b><br />
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<b>At Marina City: <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2013/01/at-marina-city-bertrand-goldberg.html" target="_blank"><i>Bertrand Goldberg - Screwed Again</i></a>? </b><br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkXN9IgYBPNhqoxKA0M2TYOFlpxZt75PLwJArYwYX1PMl1AjGJOzIkZ0Ky17HxEyefUN64gpQrii-yv7uT4aVNjXhPoXyi3PcziRh8lQZFeLelB6AhnEbEQeuWR0Lvu1VpmhGwQ/s1600/marinaLHF+Residence+int.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkXN9IgYBPNhqoxKA0M2TYOFlpxZt75PLwJArYwYX1PMl1AjGJOzIkZ0Ky17HxEyefUN64gpQrii-yv7uT4aVNjXhPoXyi3PcziRh8lQZFeLelB6AhnEbEQeuWR0Lvu1VpmhGwQ/s400/marinaLHF+Residence+int.jpeg" width="320" /></a></b></div>
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<b>Door to the Heart: <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2011/12/door-to-heart-bertrand-goldberg.html" target="_blank"><i>Bertrand Goldberg's Reflections</i></a> - the things he made, the things he kept</b></div>Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-46871161752851683412015-10-12T06:27:00.002-05:002015-10-20T05:46:59.208-05:00Little Houses on the Lakefront: The four kiosks of the Chicago Architecture Biennial<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjut6T-fMRzjPeb2M6smCtPS2NaVdWj6MlYSfU6aRzY8nriwNg-2jVvJ_xMgD4Blt7_EKBDsIbxwVVtRUHQxiGrayh5l_dYSmhPGM-vuyxwifznnLRyT5e3N8gas6dtXWJ5rGgkiA/s1600/ultramodernewide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjut6T-fMRzjPeb2M6smCtPS2NaVdWj6MlYSfU6aRzY8nriwNg-2jVvJ_xMgD4Blt7_EKBDsIbxwVVtRUHQxiGrayh5l_dYSmhPGM-vuyxwifznnLRyT5e3N8gas6dtXWJ5rGgkiA/s400/ultramodernewide.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click images to larger views</td></tr>
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What's an Architecture Biennial if you don't actually build stuff? There are a number of full-up houses constructed inside the <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2015/10/carnival-of-possibilities-photographic.html" target="_blank">Chicago Cultural Center</a>, but that wasn't enough. The <a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/" target="_blank">Chicago Architecture Biennial </a>also seeks to colonize the Chicago lakefront with a series of four pavilions. The idea is to upgrade the poor quality of the 40+ small buildings that serve the vast numbers of people visiting Chicago's 20 miles of beaches and parks lining Lake Michigan.<br />
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As noted in a tweet from Trib Architecture critic Blair Kamin, the worst of these are fairly wretched . . .<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
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Current state of the lakefront kiosk: visually, at least, pretty wast to improve on. <a href="http://t.co/vdQ2ejolfy">pic.twitter.com/vdQ2ejolfy</a></div>
— Blair Kamin (@BlairKamin) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlairKamin/status/653245264841433090">October 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
While, in truth, a large number of others are not without their charm.<br />
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For the Biennial, however, none of the <a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/lakefront-kiosks/school-kiosks/" target="_blank">four kiosks</a> are in their ultimate intended locations. That's supposed to come next summer. None of them are in or near the Cultural Center, either.<br />
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The farthest flung is at IIT, one of three schools that partnered with the Biennial, the Park District, and the City of Chicago in creating kiosks. Call the <i>Cent Pavilion</i>, it's the work of Chilean firm <a href="http://pezo.cl/" target="_blank">Pezo von Ellrichshausen</a>, the first winner of the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize for Emerging Architecture (<a href="https://arch.iit.edu/prize/mchap/en/about" target="_blank">MCHAP</a>), created by IIT Dean of Architecture Wiel Arets. The <i>Cent Pavilion</i> is described as . . .<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
. . . a 40-foot tower meant to convey silent and convoluted simplicity. It repeats the same angled design over and over, resulting in an opaque monolith. When its commercial function ceases at the summer’s end, the kiosk will complement the verticality of Chicago’s iconic skyline year-round. </blockquote>
At IIT, however, the tower is confined to its structure, sitting in front of Mies van der Rohe's iconic <a href="http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/mies/miesresurrected.htm" target="_blank">Crown Hall</a> . . .<br />
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Instead of the ultimate stack of hat boxes, in this context it almost seems like an homage to the nearby smokestack of IIT's power plant . . .<br />
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The other two school-partnership kiosks are much closer to the Cultural Center. Across the street, in fact, in Millennium Park, just off to the crowds taking in Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate Sculpture. <i>Summer Vault</i>, a partnership between UIC, Paul Andersen of <a href="http://independentarchitecture.com/" target="_blank">Independent Architecture</a> and Paul Preissner of <a href="http://www.paulpreissner.com/" target="_blank">Paul Preissner Architects</a> offer up the kiosk that's the closest match to the original concept.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
. . .basic geometric shapes—a 12-foot-diameter barrel vault, a parallelogram, triangles—combined to create a curious, freestanding hangout within the park. The interior of the skewed vault is divided into two triangular spaces—one enclosed by expanded metal screens and doors, and one open to the air but still within the vaulting. This two-part plan allows for commerce and community to occur simultaneously. It also reflects the kiosk’s Persian origins as a 13th-century garden pavilion, while embracing its contemporary use as a seasonal commercial front and festive park retreat. Its openness allows year-round use, so that it remains active even in its retail slumber during the Chicago winter.</blockquote>
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Interestingly enough, the built kiosk is currently the one closest to its original concept, and also the one the public has the most problem getting its hands around.<br />
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. . . possibly because there's no real activity in the kiosk right now, and because the metal screens that subdivided the kiosk seem a bit too fence-like.<br />
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Kids, however, seemed to have no problem in being drawn to exploring it.<br />
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In contrast, Summer Vault's neighbor, <i>Rock</i>, by <a href="http://www.nleworks.com/team-member/kunle-adeyemi/" target="_blank">Kunlé Adeyemi</a> in partnership with The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
is the least completed kiosk - an isolated series of fragments - and the most popular. Ultimately, it's supposed to be a <i>Fallingwater</i>-styled construction cantilevered over Montrose beach . . .<br />
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For the Biennial, however, it's a collection of rocks of the type of rocks that have historically been Chicago's seawall against Lake Michigan, until the <a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2015/09/what-dump-chicago-just-cant-stop-adding.html" target="_blank">Army Corps of Engineers get holds of it</a> and makes it all a smooth expressway.<br />
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Some of the rocks include spots of color from the unofficial paintings and graffiti that come when people use the rocks as a canvass.<br />
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At Millennium, what seems to have made the rocks hugely popular are their picture-taking potential, perfect for everything from selfies to family portraits.<br />
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Let the Army Corps beware - people love climbing on rocks.<br />
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The design of the last kiosk is the result of an international competition with a $75,000 first prize. You can see the runner-ups <a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/lakefront-kiosks/lakefront-kiosk-competition/" target="_blank">here</a>, and other entrants <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/ChicagoBiennial/lakefront-kiosk-entries/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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The winner, <a href="http://academicaffairs.risd.edu/2015/08/forrest-vobis-and-schneider-selected-for-chicago-architecture-biennial/" target="_blank">Yasmin Vobis, Aaron Forrest, Brett Schneider</a>'s <i>Chicago Horizon</i>, <i>Ultramoderne</i> . . .<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
. . . is a quest to build the largest flat wood roof possible within a limited budget. Using Cross-Laminated Timber, a new carbon-negative engineered lumber product, in the largest dimensions commercially available, the kiosk aims to provide an excess of public space for the Architecture Biennial and Chicago beachgoers.</blockquote>
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This weekend, the plain wood and simple lines of kiosk, located on the Museum Campus just south of the Field Museum, was in competition with a cordon of orange plastic mesh, presumably there to protect from the hordes running and viewing Sunday's Chicago Marathon.<br />
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The 56-foot square structure currently is a bit surreal, with a set of stairs going nowhere. Other renderings show visitors using the stairs to access the kiosk's hovering wood roof slab.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
From the viewing platform, the roof becomes a new artificial horizon, shutting out the foreground and emphasizing the vertical Chicago skyline above an abstract floating plane.</blockquote>
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The kiosks are scheduled to be on display through the close of the Biennial in early January.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Read More:</b></span><br />
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<br />
<b><a href="http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2015/10/carnival-of-possibilities-photographic.html" target="_blank">Carnival of Possibilities</a>: A Photographic Tour of the Chicago Architecture Biennial</b><br />
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<br />Lynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.com0