Holy Foods: World’s Best Supermarket Breaks Ground in Downtown Chicago
Why are we so excited about a groundbreaking for a new supermarket in downtown Chicago? It’s not like it’s a pre-Kroger Mariano’s. It’s just Whole Foods: the hallmark of pre-recession soccer mom conspicuous consumption that jumped the shark long before it was munched up by Amazon.com in a cloud of Escalade yoga pants and free range kale chip sippy cups. April 2019 rendering of One Chicago (Courtesy of Goettsch...
Chicago Artist Does an Architecture and Video Game Mashup
We don’t play a lot of video games here at the Chicago Architecture Blog, and when we do it’s generally on a funky-smelling Atari 2600 hooked up to a 65-inch display just to prove we can still kick ass at Asteroids. But a new game soon to come from Chicago artist William Chyr might make us actually plonk for a PlayBox 9 or whatever the kids are mashing buttons on these days. It’s called Manifold Garden, and throws...
Rising Sinclair Masks Old Town Mural
Chicago is a city of landmarks, both official and unofficial. One of the city’s beloved, but still unofficial, landmarks is the trompe-l’œil mural painted on the south side of the LaSalle Towers apartment building at 1211 North LaSalle Street. It’s called Homage to the Chicago School of Architecture, and is the work of Richard Haas and went up in the 1980’s during a renovation of the 1929 building. But...
Big Grant to Help Conserve Adler & Sullivan’s Charnley-Persky House
It’s the ultimate in name-dropping. The Charnley-Persky House, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan when Frank Lloyd Wright was still getting them coffee (apprentice… intern… whatever) and formerly owned by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, has a brighter future this morning. The Society of Architectural Historians, which currently occupies the Gold Coast manse, has received a $123,000 grant to help keep the...
Charnley-Persky House Is The Result Of A Collaboration Between Two Legendary Architects
Among the classic stately mansions you’ll find along the Gold Coast, one house stands out. The Charnley-Persky House at 1365 North Astor Street is noteworthy for both its symmetrical design and for the architects who designed it. The design dream team was Louis Sullivan and his junior draftsman: Frank Lloyd Wright. This structure was one of the fascinating architectural gems open to visitors during the Chicago Architecture...
If Frank Lloyd Wright Had Designed A Bus Shelter, Here’s What It Might Look Like
Frank Lloyd Wright was known for many accomplishments. He designed more than 1,100 buildings and homes. His masterpieces included the Guggenheim Museum and the Marin County Civic Center. He developed the theory “form and function are one.” All well and good, but did he ever design a bus shelter? Evidence points to that glaring omission from Wright’s body of work. However, SC Johnson is honoring Wright as part of its...
OHC Offers A Big Weekend Ahead In Chicago For Architecture Buffs
The Cubs are on their way to the National League Championship Series and you can drink hooch at a Taco Bell in Wicker Park. So clearly, there’s a lot to like about Chicago right now. And, if you’re an architecture buff, you have an embarrassment of riches with the Chicago Architecture Biennial now in full swing, and this weekend, the Chicago Architecture Foundation bonanza, Open House Chicago. The Foundation succinctly...
Wright Time to Visit Oak Park
Do you love architecture? Of course you do! Do you love money? Of course you do! That’s why it’s important for you to know that tomorrow you can tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park for the low low price of… free! It’s a bargain at twice the price! The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust is having a whole day of free events and tours to celebrate the first tour it gave way back in 1974, when a stamp...
Alderman Reilly Against Latest Park Privatization Plan
For the last few months we’ve been following the growing concern in the Gold Coast over the future of Mariano Park. For those of you unfamiliar with that particular sliver of Chicago, it’s the space bounded by North State Street, North Rush Street, and East Bellevue Place that puts the “triangle” into Viagra Triangle. From early spring into the late fall, it is the hub of the neighborhood. A lively place where...
Proto-Legos and Frank Lloyd Wright
My guess is that you didn’t know that there’s a link between a primitive form of Legos and famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Well, there is. And if you’d like to learn more about it, show up at the Unity Temple’s event on April 6th. Details follow: Inventing Kindergarten author to speak at Unity Temple (Oak Park, Ill.) – The educator, Friedrich Froebel, who created the geometric wooden blocks that influenced...
