Amazing Interior of St. Boniface

Neglected BEAUTY
Originally uploaded by primeau.

OK, I have concluded that
1) There ares some good photographs on Flick
2) Henry Schlacks' St. Boniface is one of his typical masterpieces
3) It may be a bit dangerous to crawl around in old Churches and theaters
4) Most anyone is a better photographer than I am
5) But I am willing to admit 4 and thus will hire guys like James Morris to do photo projects
UPDATED 6) Photos such as these are better when they do not have a story to tell. The story is usually melodramatic, but the visual information may stand alone better than the commentary.
7) Perhaps documentary information is better than commentary, name-date-lighting type-weather etc
8) The commentaries usually go something like this "What a tragic site...why? wHY? WHY?" It is not helpful
9) My commentaries are mostly speculative fiction and propoganda, but in general as good a piece of history as available anywhere else, and peppered with facts. Here is a short fact, SLR Cameras distort large format shots of buildings. Look at the upper right and left hand corners of this shot. They are bent. To the best of my knowledge, there is not a compact large format camera that can be packed away while sneaking into empty churches.
10) The whole campus settings of Churches such as St. Boniface are interesting artifacts in themselves. Anyone still building urban church campusses?

Temple of Cinema: Uptown Chicago

stitch
Originally uploaded by primeau.

There are some decent photographs on Flickr of Rapp and Rapp's Uptown Theater. One has to wonder, what on earth can you do with a building so obsolete as the Uptown, but one look at the lobby (in photo), and you can see why people are still interested. This is the largest theater in the United States (excluding converted stadiums).

I have been involved with the Uptown for nearly 10 years now, and given up on it many times. Re-use of the facility is not a matter of economics, since the neighborhood has genetrified, leaving only the bruised beauty of the Uptown to scar the neighborhood. Fixing the property could actually make money now. The issue, as usual in Chicago, is the wicked group of crooks preventing gentrification, as part of some time honored testament to graft, incompetence, and petty tyranny of the local Aldermen.

While it is still standing, enjoy it. It is open every now and then to the public. The owners, or whoever has the key will rent it out for a reasonable price.

Viillage Government vs. the Wilmette Canopy

One of the knottiest problems in the Midwest is the destruction of the Ash Tree Canopy by the Emerald Ash Borer. Around 20 Million Ash Trees are dead and dying in Michigan, Ontario, Indiana, and now Illinois. The Village where I live, Wilmette, has come up with the arboricidal policy of removing the Ash Trees from the public boulevards, before the trees are infested with the Ash Borer. Yes, that is right, the Village is killing the trees, to....save the canopy?

In January, (This from the Tribune) Wilmette revealed its $2.5 million plan to remove and replace all 2,855 of its public ash trees by 2012. This only would apply to Ash Trees on Public Property. Yes, the Village will spend $875 to remove the Canopy from Wilmette. The trees on private property would still get infected, as the Ash Borer is not particular about public or private property, but residents would not get tree cover from the boulevard trees.

One of the reason the North Shore of Chicago is appealing to residents is the tree cover of the area. Given this area has been a suburb since about 1900, many of the trees planted over the farmland are 100 yrs + in age, giving a genuinely leafy ambiance to the leafy suburbs.

Of course the leafiness appeals to spendthrifts, who have a native home in Village government, which has never been bogged down by arithmetic calculations. Fortunately, a Glenview Tree Service made a mass mailing to North Shore Residents, slamming the arborcide, and offering to innoculate trees for around $150. So there is an offer outstanding to innoculate trees for 1/5 of the costs of removing trees, maintaining the canopy, and keeping one of the leafiest suburbs in the US-leafy.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the village destroying a huge natural resource without cause?

The photoshot from Microsoft Terra Server of the Wilmette Canopy.

Update: Here is some more info gathered via a conversation with a few altogether helpful Village employees.

1) The Village Arborists are only cutting down diseased trees

2) The budget is there to cut down all Ash trees

3) The only thing stopping the arborists from cutting down all the ash trees (healthy or diseased) is the common sense of the arborists. The directive is to eliminate all the trees in 6 years, regardless of the health of the tree.

4) There are treatments out there for preventive innoculation, and treatement of diseased trees. The Village, in general is not using these treatments.

5) The Village Government (not the foresters) would rather cut down trees than innoculate.

How about a test plot for innoculation of say...all of Gilson Park?

More Wilmette Ash Boer here

Temple of Commerce

Here is a decent set of architectural photos on Flickr. There is some artistic nonsense, but many good documentary shots, showing details in the City of Chicago. The Tiffany Mosaic at Daniel Burnham's Marshal Fields/Macy's shown here, struck me as a good shot, balanced and detailed.

There was a comment on a similar shot in that this type of decoration seems more suitable for a Church, which got me thinking. Is it? Burnham was a fascinatingly spiritual character, somewhat maligned in his Swedenborgianism, but also driven to make inspired archtiecture, in much the same way that his fellow Swendenborgian Johnny Appleseed was driven towards his highly energetic tree planting.

I am not sure Burnham specified or designed this mosaic, but it sure does look one of the highest church temples of Commercialism.

Barat Chapel Video

Here is a pleasant video profile of the Barat Chapel in Lake Forest. Yes, the saga sagas, Lake Forest is again considering a proposal to wreck the Chapel in the name of progress.

Take a look and tell me if you think this is beyond rescue.

John Murphy Auditorium setting for Driehaus Prize (2)

You might ask: We can see the exterior walking over from St. James Cathedral. What about interior?


















Do not fret! Mr. Driehaus has worked a miracle. He has turned his hard earned money into public art that really asks nothing in return except your enjoyment. This Graham Anderson Probst (Readers, please check that, GAPW did the restoration, but were they the original architects?) structure is truly awesome and noble setting for the Prize.

Update: Per Lynn Becker's fine blog, the Murphy Auditorium was designed by theater architects Marshall and Fox.

John Murphy Auditorium setting for Driehaus Prize (1)

The biggest award in the traditional architecture world was presented yesterday afternooon, right here in Chicago at 50 E Erie in the Gold Coast. I was fortunate enough to attend the presentation, and speak to Patron, Richard Driehaus; the legendary Thomas Gordon Smith and fine practicing architect Bill Haier in the short time that I was at the awards.

Jaquelin T. Robertson was awarded Driehaus Prize and Edward Perry Bass the Harry Hope Reid Award. Congrat and I will post a follow up on the awards later but worth the trip alone

More Basilicas Please

This Shrine Basilica is truly sublime. Looking at some pix from Columbus Day trip to Holy Hill, Wisconsin and here are a few.

May still be able to ski up there, as you could on Columbus Day.

Teardowns and Replacements

My friend and neighbor Blogger Publia who publishes a blog titled "Wilmette" asked me to describe the flow of teardowns in Wilmette. Despite my general lack of knowledge of architecture and construction, I tend to make enough bold inaccurate statements that I am correct at least as often as a stopped clock (and observed about at about the same frequency).

Lot prices have become high enough in Wilmette (Kenilworth, Winnetka and the NorthShore) that any house not up to modern standards in multiple respects economically can be torn down and replaced, then sold on the real estate market for a possible profit. The trend is slowing dramatically in Wilmette, as the lot values are coming down faster than the prices, but nonetheless, the village is peppered with teardowns.

People throw around the term McMansion and Monster House to deride the newcoming houses, without giving much thought to the architectural value of what is built and what is removed.












Here is a typical torn down lot. Rather than belittling my neighbors that once lived their, suffice to say, the house was wooden, small, uninsulated and built inexpensively during the depression. Not every house that is torn down fits this description, but a good lot of them do.













Here is the kind of housing that fill those vacant lots. Traditional building materials, large lot to sq ft ratio, and a certain adherence to building norms, not likely to offend the aesthetics of the neighborhood, but neither likely to wow people. In my opinion, these houses are a huge contributor to the neighborhood, and fill a demand for traditional housing at a (relatively) reasonable price and timeframe.








Here is where it gets more complicated. This is a house designed by the Daniel Burnham firm, and probably not Daniel Burnham, on Kenilworth Avenue in Kenilworth. The house is stylish, well proportioned and by all accounts obsolete, with replacement costs being much less than restoration costs. There are many houses by Daniel Burnham, and this one is not noteworthy, nor would the average person recognize it in a lineup of great Chicago Homes. The owner has decided not to tear it down, due to historical signifcance






Here is a house 2 doors east on Kenilworth Ave that is traditional, stunning, contemparary with the neighborhood, and finished in 2007. Despite the best efforts of preservationists to keep this from being built, a very beautiful house now stands as an example of using tradtional materials, and modern building methods in the best Chicago fashion.










This is the next door neighbor to the Prairie/Tudor shown above. A ranch house, great in its own settting, but totally out of place in the neighborhood, sits on one of the best lots in Illinois at the corner of Sheridan and Kenilworth. It looks well constructed, probably insulated, and the toliets most likely work, but the lot price is disproportionate with the building costs. It may likely be torn down.







Here is my neighbors house, built in 2006. Pleasant contemparary design, high status materials (stone, brick), totally filling the lot to get the most square footage for the platt size. Maple Park is 10 yards east of here, giving the owner ample room for children. The back yard also extends 150 ft.

Here is a more modest, but quite charming traditional home one block north of the previous shot. This looks just like the neighbors, albeit a bit larger, but built in 2006.

Good time for whats the point:

1) You don't have to build an ugly house to replace a teardown

2) It is complicated to determine the historical value of maintaining dysfunctional old houses.

3) The Village of Wilmette allows buildings to occupy a certain footprint of the lot size. This is aggressively enforced. I can also say first hand that the enforcement does not meet any standards of common sense, as I had to lower ceiling heigth, but not sq. ft. occupied to meet building standards on my own house, and ensure additional bumps on my head. But by all mean, the Village does enforce a standard buildout size.

4) The terms McMansion and Monster house are just not descriptive enough to figure out what kind of teardown took place. There should be some standard (I think), but I am quite certain that the local municipalities are not capable of informed judgement on these matters, and should work on drainage, traffic, drinking water, etc.

Shopping in the Spanish Renaissance

In the 1920's there was a movement in Chicago (and Pasedena and Santa Baraba) toward a (mostly imagined) Spanish Mediterranean Style of Architecture, with lots of smooth white stucco, red tile roofs, arches, stone carvings, and many of the elements that make buildings welcoming and pleasant to humans. Mostly imagined because on the Spanish Mediterranean, buildings do not actually look like this, nor do they have steel frames, and roofs slanted to withstand snowfall. Nonetheless, in 1926 Architect Edwin H. Clark built a grand theater and entertainment district in No-Mans-Land an unicorporated area south of Kenilworth and on the North Side of Wilmette.

The Spanish Court, to be renamed the Plaza Del Lago the grand development of Arhcitects Keck and Keck and Edwin Clark, stands today as a beautiful connection to Lake Michigan and the leafy suburbs of Wilmette and Kenilworth.

The Chicago Athletic Association, the former owners of the Chicago Cubs, is closing its doors after a 117 yr + run as one the pre-eminent Gentleman's Club's in the world. Businessmen, Politicians, Journalists, and even Athletes called the CAA their home away from home in one of the architectural marvels of Skyscraper design. Henry Ives Cobb does a Venetian Splendour on the shores of Lake Michigan (before the infill) and with a great view of Lake Michigan (even after the infill).

Here is a tip of the hat to those that wanted to make Chicago more than just tolerable, rather the world champion of architecture. There is nothing quite like the Michigan Avenue facade of this building.

I took some apt snapshots at a literary lunch today of the Catholic Citizens of Illinois, who were championing a renaissance in Catholic Literature with none other than Joseph Pearce as a guest speaker, telling histories of Chesterton, Waugh, Greene, and Belloc.

A luxury hotel will come into this facility, and we wish them well, and continued public access to this Architectural Marvel.

Astonishing Beauty of St. Anthony's New Bedford

Fr. Roger Landry, the acclaimed homilist, and a great tour guide to Rome (if you ever get the chance, see if you can hitch a ride with the good Padre to the Eternal City), sends a beautiful set of shots from his parish of St. Anthony's of Padua in New Bedford Massachusettes.

Reportedly one of the largest Catholic Churches in America, St. Anthony's serves a largely Portuguese community, which benefits from Fr. Landry's hard work and ministry. This Church looks in suprisingly good shape and shows what one can do with some dedicated maintenance.

More from Deering Library

Took a couple more shots inside Deering. The Gothic Lamps are awe inspiring...the University Club and other Prairie Goths should take note as to matching the fixtures with the buildling architecture. I am going to bring the Nikon next time, this place is just brimming with architectural details inside, and one the least viewed areas of the entire Northwestern Campus

The Deering Library is open to the public. The (very good) Art Library is inside. It is complex to get into the Deering Library itself. Go through the main library entrance, explain to the ball cap wearing youth reading graphic novels at the turnstyle that you would like to visit the Deering Library, he will mumble something that sounds like a Ruritanian folk dialect word for tunnel. Enter the (heinously ugly) Main Library and take a left. There will be two signs for the Deering Library. The one on the south leads to a locked door, but the the sign on the north is pointing in the right direction. You go down a stairwell, then back up two flights to see this stunning work.

Three Arts Club

Holabird and Roots 1914 masterpiece The Three Arts Club at 1300 N. Dearborn, has been sold to a botique hotel firm. The mosaic tile and stonework are legendary for their detail and match to function of the building (woman's artist residence). The Club itself has been down on its heels for some time now, and was not able to provide much in the way of residence or clubbishness to its constituents.

I am projecting greater access to this jewell, albeit at a cost, as the developer is also behind London's Brilliant Soho House.

Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton

Yes those were the sites of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858, notably not in Chicago where Stephen Douglas did a great deal of his dealing, and devised the clever system to develop the Illinois Central Railroad (which was subsequently the method used to develop most every other public utility).

I have rightly been identified as "one of the worst photographers in Chicago, given the importance of your photographs" For this, I offer no apologies, yet leave the door open to more talented and patient photographers. I did hold still long enough to get a good shot or two of the Douglas Memorial, designed by Leonard Volk, right across the street from St. Joe Carondelet. In Chicago style, Volk was a cousin of Douglas wife, and happily also a very good designer.

The site was locked up tighter than a Confederate prison camp, by the way, despite the signage claiming it was open, and the rather hopeless effort at snow removal in the park-like area surrounding the the memorial.

Architectural Significance

I will leave it up to the readers..is this building architecturally significant. It is old, and has some charm, and it certainly has a history of being an institutional building. But Architecturally, is this a significant buildilng?

This is St. Joseph Carondelet, the former Civil War Veterans Hospital and School.

Doorways of New York

These on Stone Street, in the financial district in New York.

Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Reviewing photos from New York City trip last summer. The St. Elizabeth Seton Shrine works impressivle on an odd sized lot at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, near Wall Street and the WTC Site. Note the curved fascia of the building, and the Colonial, yet definitely Roman style. By the way, the doors are locked, but if you ring the bell, the staff is more than happy to let you in and show you around. There were three tourists standing outside when I visited. After I rang, everyone went in for a devotional look around, and even some prayer.

Deering Library

The Deering Library is a good looking Gothic by James Gamble Rogers. Now if the buildings Deering wanted were kept throughout Northwestern...

It would also be pleasant if these doors actually opened. A librarian there told me they were open for a fundraiser one time. I am wondering if they could raise more funds by opening them again.

Northwestern Student Notices Mindlessly Ugly Buildings

Just when I had given up on anyone at Northwestern noticing that most of the buildlings put in over the last 30 years are hostile to humans, Kevin Reich in the Daily Northwestern notes

"Windowless sandblasted concrete buildings sprouted on the new land, completely disregarding the Lake. East Coast and West Coast students criticize NU by saying they "miss the beach," failing to realize that it's one of the only schools actually on the water. In a bizarre twist of fate, a parking lot was built on the southern end of the Lakefill, offering the campus its best views of Chicago."

In the coulda shoulda woulda section, what if a lake facing Northwestern kept going with the style of Deering Library? Great Lake location, calm campus, good access to the City, all merit Architecture centered around humans rather than concrete.

Nice shot from Down the street

Seabury Episcopalian Seminary graces Sheridan Road near Northwestern University with a beautiful Gothic Chapel, Refractory and now I see Library.

Here is a good shot of the United Library at Seabury Seminary.