Old Chicago Photographs

[UrbanSophist]

Why was so much of Sullivan's work torn down?

[ardecila]

Well, some of it had suffered over the years, and people thought it was obsolete. Modernists in the 20th-century scoffed at traditional architecture in any form, no matter how progressive it may have been. A large number of architects followed this school of thought, and shared their ideas with the companies that hired them. Also, replacement buildings were usually taller, so it was thought that they could earn more money on the same amount of land.
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333 Wacker


Merchandise Mart


Hmm.. not much has changed

[UrbanSophist]

[NearNorthGuy]

Originally Posted by UrbanSophist

The above photo from the 1970's shows a view looking to the east on the sidewalk of the north side of Chicago Avenue at Wabash.

The closest building, i.e., at the left, is the Hotel St. Benedict Flats, with the Amanda Apartments next to it a bit further away. Both of these buildings are still standing.

In the distance, beyond the Amanda, is the Water Tower Hyatt hotel, which has been demolished and replaced by the Park Tower (with its Park Hyatt).

[UrbanSophist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHdat...search=chicago

Seeing the streetcar system kinda makes ya sad...

[ChicagoSkyline]

Spiritual Old school!
Lovely pix....

[The Urban Politician]

Originally Posted by UrbanSophist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHdat...search=chicago

Seeing the streetcar system kinda makes ya sad...

^ Ahhh, what a nice little blip.

[NearNorthGuy]

Originally Posted by UrbanSophist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHdat...search=chicago

Seeing the streetcar system kinda makes ya sad...

That 1948 clip was great. The hairstyles and styles of that era are not on too many film/video images of Chicago. The streetcars look terrific also.

By the way, that clip starts on the west side of Clark Street, just north of Randolph, in front of the Sherman Hotel. They briefly direct the camera north on Clark Street to show the Clark-Lake Elevated station one block to the north.

Of course, State of Illinois building (i.e., the Thompson Center) is now on this site.

[UrbanSophist]

[NearNorthGuy]

That is a beautiful photograph from 1966. It shows that part of Streeterville immediately before a lot of redevelopment.

The view is to the northwest from the south side of the Chicago River, shot over the river so you don't see it.

In the distance, you can see three large hotels from left to right, each built in the second half of the 1920's. These are the Hotel St. Clair, the Hotel Eastgate, and the Allerton Hotel. All three of these buildings are still standing and are still operating as hotels.

In the middle distance, you see some of the industrial buildings on the north side of the river that stretched to the east from the "back" of Tribune Tower.

You can count six black cylidrical water towers perched above these buildings, giving you an idea of how these water towers created the exclamation points for the mid-rise-skyline that circled the loop.

[uberalles]

After the Great Fire of 1871, hundreds of the wooden tanks were installed atop commercial and apartment buildings to guarantee a supply of water for firefighting. Mechanized pumps made them obsolete, and only about 130 are in use.

Jonathan Fine, president of Preservation Chicago, a non-profit group, says that when he sees water tanks in skyline views in movies or TV shows, "you know instantly that it was shot in Chicago."

more http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...andmarks_x.htm

[NearNorthGuy]

Originally Posted by UrbanSophist

Here are few more tidbits about this photo.

The photo, which is a view to the northwest, was shot from roughly the location of Wacker Drive and Columbus. It is thus shot from the south side of the river.

In the area where you see the word "Tribune" and slightly beyond is the current location of NBC Tower.

The three hotels that I mentioned in my previous post are currently operating as follows:

(1) the Hotel St. Clair, located at the northwest corner of Ohio and St. Clair is operating as the Inn of Chicago,

(2) the Hotel Eastgate, located at the northwest corner of Ontario and St. Clair is operating as a Red Roof Inn

(3) the Allerton Hotel located on Michigan Avenue, is currently operating as the Allerton Crowne Plaza.

The Allerton will probably always have "Allerton" as part of its name because the huge neon sign on top is permanently protected by the buildng's landmark designation.

[The Urban Politician]

^ Look at all those water towers. How cool.

Near North Guy, I sent you a PM

[NWside]

The 70's

[NWside]

Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that an Arbys in the first pic. NearNorthGuy?

[NearNorthGuy]

Originally Posted by NWside

Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that an Arbys in the first pic. NearNorthGuy?

Yes, indeed, that is an Arby's, located on the South Side of Chicago Avenue roughly where the American Girl store now stands.

I occasionally ate at that Arby's, walking up to enjoy the view of the Water Tower and the Hancock from the Arby's second floor seating area. This Arby's remained open until roughly 1992.

On the subject of that exact Arby's, in the summer of 1980, my family in Oak Lawn was visited by Architecture students from Amsterdam. They had met my brother, who was living in Boston, and who had arranged for them to stay with my family for a few days.

Guess what these Architecture students had? An architecture book with a photograph and architectural drawings of that Arby's on Chicago Avenue! It was shown as an example of remodeling an older building with a modern design. It was a very old building that had been gutted and refaced in glass.

By the way, in my opinion, they should have left the old building the way that it was. But what did I know! So....there's all I know about that Arby's!

[The Urban Politician]

^ Daley Sr. and son at the Democratic National Convention, 1968
(not looking too happy)

[UrbanSophist]

Back when State was where it was at...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...go+1950s&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...go+1950s&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...go+1950s&hl=en

[UrbanSophist]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...+chicago&hl=en

[Simpatico78]

I don't feel like clicking through the entire thread. So, can someone tell if there are any old photos of Bridgeport?