architecture – Page 2 – B12 Solipsism

Bill Davies, the secretive British investor who wants to redevelop the old Chicago Main Post Office, is making a new bid for credibility with revised plans for the massive building that straddles Congress Parkway.

His latest proposal, which got its first airing at a community meeting Tuesday night, calls for making the federally landmarked building a mostly residential and parking complex and the centerpiece for surrounding hotel rooms, stores and offices.

Davies has hired Chicago architect Joseph Antunovich of Antunovich Associates to craft the plans for a first phase of 5.2 million square feet, more than what’s in Willis Tower. It would include a 1,000-foot-tall building east of the post office, and a later phase envisions a tower that would top Willis in height.

A Mansion in Lincoln Park

May 7, 2013May 7, 2013 swanksalot0 comment

A Mansion in Lincoln Park, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Richard Parrillo’s place.

”It got away from me, but it’s a labor of love for my wife,” insurance tycoon Richard Parrillo says of his wife, Michaela, who is overseeing the painstaking design and construction of the mammoth home, reportedly costing $40 million, on Burling Street (their property takes up seven city lots)
The lavish French-style mansion will feature an outdoor iron pavilion acquired from an Atlanta estate sale, a chandelier by Argentine ironworker Jose Thenee, a Louis XIII fireplace in the wine-tasting room and a drive court with loose gravel imported from France.

“It’s finer gravel and crunches a certain way when you walk on it,” explains Chicago architectural consultant and interior designer Anthony Michael, who declines to talk prices on such lavish finishing touches.

We were able to figure out that the chandelier alone cost $35,000.

Ms. Parrillo, a Francophile, also requested imported French marble for the floors and triple-vaulted ceilings inspired by the stables of Versailles.

via Crains

Also:

Topping the list in the 2011 tax year was insurance magnate Richard Parrillo, who paid nearly $246,780 last year on a new 15,533-square-foot limestone mansion in Lincoln Park

via

ArchitectureChicago PLUS: At Marina City – Bertrand Goldberg: Screwed Again?

January 12, 2013 eggplant0 comment

Earlier today…

It’s one of favorite talking points of the good-‘ol-boys power network that plotted beyond closed doors to destroy Bertrand Goldberg’s landmark Prentice Hospital: We don’t need Prentice because we’ll still have Marina City – if you two world-renowned masterpieces, why wouldn’t anyone not want to make it just one? (The next court hearing on the lawsuit to save Prentice is tomorrow, January 11th. Stay tuned.)

The irony of all this, of course, is none of these bulldozing power brokers who profess such love for Marina City have lifted a finger to give it landmark protection, allowing the indignities foisted upon this global symbol of the greatness of Chicago to continue unabated.

Via:
ArchitectureChicago PLUS: At Marina City – Bertrand Goldberg: Screwed Again?
[automated]

Evening Approaching

July 17, 2012July 17, 2012 swanksalot0 comment

Evening Approaching, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

River North/West Loop

I posted this on Flickr a while ago, but it recently got added to Flickr Explore (top 500 photos of each day’s Flickr uploads) as number 461. Whoo hoo!

Double click the image to “embiggen”

Wolf Point complex

June 1, 2012June 1, 2012 Seth Anderson0 comment

Wolf Point 1832

I follow news of this proposed new construction at Wolf Point quite closely as it is only a few blocks from me. The current plan calls for 1,200 parking spots – which means an area with limited traffic flow is going to get more congested. Additional feet of river walk areas will be pleasant. Ideally, there would be just a huge park right there instead, but that’s not realistic. I’m neutral on the proposed plan – I’m sure it will change a bit before the buildings are completed.

I’m also pleased that the developers are not requesting public subsidy dollars to build it, at least at the moment.

Chi developers give first glimpse of proposed buildings
Developers-give-first-glimpse-of-proposed new buildings

Blair Kamin of the Trib mostly likes it:

Touting what would be downtown Chicago’s largest new real estate development since the 2008 financial crisis, representatives of the Kennedy family and three financial partners are providing the first glimpse of a proposed three-tower office and apartment complex on a historic but long-underutilized site along the Chicago River.

The project, whose cost is pegged at more than $1 billion, calls for a slope-roofed office building of 925 feet, which would be Chicago’s eighth-tallest structure. Another office building and an apartment high-rise would bring the project’s combined square footage to nearly 3 million square feet, more than the biggest skyscraper of the boom years, the 2.6-million-square foot Trump International Hotel & Tower.

The plans, made public at a community meeting Tuesday called by Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, and attended by more than 300 people, are for the triangular Wolf Point parcel to the southwest of the Merchandise Mart. The Kennedys sold the Merchandise Mart in 1998, but still control Wolf Point, once home to pioneer taverns, a hotel and trading posts.

…the new project, whose developers are not requesting a public subsidy, would dwarf River Point. Its highest tower, whose prow-like edge would jut toward the river at Wolf Point’s south end, would rise to a height of 925 feet.

The other office tower, projected to be 700 feet tall, would occupy the site’s eastern flank, next to the Merchandise Mart.

Completion of the skyscrapers, which would be marketed to law firms, corporations, professional service firms and tech firms, is not envisioned until 2018 for the south tower and 2020 for the east tower.

(click here to continue reading Developers give first glimpse of proposed complex at Wolf Point at junction of Chicago River branches – Chicago Tribune.)

Wolf Point

Kevin Dickert of Curbed Chicago adds:

Kenig, Lindgren, O’Hara, Aboona (KLOA) conducted the traffic study on behalf of the developer. In collaboration with CDOT, it focused on six intersections. Without delving into too much detail, the study concluded that area traffic will be negatively impacted by the addition of these buildings. However, the added congestion will be mitigated to some degree by the site’s proximity to a myriad of transit options. The CTA stop at Merchandise is within a few blocks. The Olgilvie Transportation Center is less than a mile away. And there are numerous CTA buses routes. KLOA suggested alternatives such as biking to work or using car-sharing programs to lessen traffic impacts.

Here are some other tidbits we gleaned from the meeting: The project will create an investment of over $1 billion in Chicago. It will add around 1,000 feet of riverwalk. Landscape architects want to reorient the riverwalk so that pedestrians are not separated from the immediate riverside by a layer of foliage, as is currently the case. To this end, a bulkhead will be installed. We were assured that no parking structures will be visible. There are also plans for terraced seating with grasses and plantings similar to the portion of riverwalk at State and Wabash. Lastly, before the development can proceed, a change must be made to the existing zoning governing the property. Jack George, real estate attorney working on the project, said he plans to file the amendment with City Council today.

(click here to continue reading Renderings Revealed and More at Wolf Point Meeting – Development Update-O-Rama – Curbed Chicago.)

Streaking Home

Evening at Wolf’s Point

Take What You Think Will Last – Copper Blue

Favorite uploads to Flickr in April 2012

May 4, 2012June 26, 2012 Seth Anderson2 Comments

Continuing a tradition: these are my 24 (!) personal favorites, all developed in my digital darkroom last month. In no particular order…

/ Posted in / 2012 / April (122 items)

(click here to see more Flickr: Archive of your uploads to Flickr in April 2012.)

And yeah, I have too many favorites this month. A good problem, but a problem nonetheless.

Where Did All The Blue Skies Go

Waiting for the Seed To Sprout

Golden Plowshares

Waiting for A Friend

The former USPS building, still not being developed.

River City and Van Buren Street Bridge

Washing the Trump

Don’t Reveal a Thing You’ve Learned

April 18th Blues

Franklin Street Bridge at Night
This one made it to Flickr Explore. Taken from the Holiday Inn at Wolf Point – my folks were in town for the night on their way to Italy for three weeks.

Wounded In The Line of Duty

Little Tramp

London.

Eyeing John Marshall Law School

Word Gets Around Eventually

World Weary – Copper Blue

World Weary – Red Bleach

World Weary – Duotoned

London Towers

Someone To Tell Your Troubles To

Suspicions

Painted Trees Overlooking LSD

Wherever I Lay My Head

Mysterious Language of Lines and Circles

Coach Has Arrived

Waiting For Air Traffic Control

Slide show version here

(Last month’s edition)

InterContinental Chicago aka Medinah Athletic Club

May 2, 2012May 2, 2012 swanksalot0 comment

InterContinental Chicago aka Medinah Athletic Club, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

South Tower, designed by architect Walter W. Ahlschlager. Click here for lightbox version.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterContinental_Chicago

The Medinah Athletic Club building was intended to combine elements of many architectural styles. At the eighth floor, its Indiana limestone facade was decorated by three large relief carvings in ancient Assyrian style. Each frieze depicted a different scene in the order of constructing a building, with Contribution on the south wall, Wisdom represented on the west wall and Consecration on the north. (According to an article in the Chicago Tribune from Sept 16, 1928 entitled “Building art inspires panels”:“The friezes were designed by George Unger, in collaboration with Walter Ahlschlager, and carved by Leon Hermant. The figures are costumed in the period of the building, which is that of an old fortress in Mesopotamia in Xerxes time, about 5th century BC.

The theme of the panels as explained by Mr. Unger, was inspired by the history of construction of any building. The south panel starts the story. Here a magnificent cortege is displayed. This panel, termed Contribution, signifies the getting together of treasures for the construction of the building. In the west panel, facing Michigan Avenue, a ruler is shown with his counselors and an architect is shown bringing in a model of the building planned. The north panel shows the consecration of the building after it has been built. A priest is sacrificing a white bull whose blood will be mixed with crushed grapes and poured into the earth. A monkey trainer and his animals are shown. Since the animals represented bigotry in the ancient drawings, they are shown here in leash as symbolic belief that bigotry has no place in the Masonic order.”) The figures in all three scenes are said to be modeled after the faces of club members at the time of its design. Three Sumerian warriors were also carved into the facade at the twelfth floor setback, directly above the Michigan Avenue entrance, and remain visible today.

The exotic gold dome, which is Moorish in influence, originated as part of a decorative docking port for dirigibles – a notion conceived before the Hindenburg disaster in 1937. Years later, the building would lose several feet with the dismantling of an ornamental canopy on the small turret north of the dome. This chimney-like structure was originally intended to assist in the docking of these air ships, but it was never put into use. Inside the dome, a glass cupola and spiral iron staircase resembling the top of a lighthouse led down to the hotel’s upper elevator landing.

Never took a good photo of this building before last month.

Jewels of Olmsted’s Unspoiled Midwest – Jackson Park

September 3, 2011September 3, 2011 Seth Anderson0 comment

Lagoon in jackson park with bird

Coincidentally, we are planning on visiting this park on Labor Day…

FEW people can claim to know America as deeply as Frederick Law Olmsted did. During a long, full and peripatetic life (1822-1903), he crisscrossed the country by rail, stagecoach, horseback and on foot. “I was born for a traveler,” he once said.

…

Ever the reformer, he was also drawn to the notion that landscape architecture could serve various social engineering purposes, providing respite from teeming cities, say, or forcing people of varied backgrounds to mix and mingle. He once described his park work as a “democratic development of the highest significance.”

Here, then, is a look at some of his work in the Midwest — lesser-known than his most famous projects, but still life-changing for millions of Americans.

Jackson Park, Chicago

Recognizing that the pomp of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago had the potential to overwhelm visitors, Olmsted¹ was intent on creating a landscape that would act as a soothing naturalistic counterpoint. First, he selected the fair’s site, singling out a parcel on the city’s South Side. Years earlier, Olmsted and Calvert Vaux — his collaborator on early works like Central Park — had designed a park for this very spot, but little of their plan had been executed.

Working solo, Olmsted set out to complete the park, which was by then chosen for fairgrounds. He created an intricate network of lagoons, so that visitors could travel through the fair on small boats. He also repurposed muck that was dredged to create the lagoons in order to bulk up a lonely little hillock into the 16-acre Wooded Island, which he planted with hemlock and other trees.

During the fair, Teddy Roosevelt thought it was the ideal spot to set up his Boone and Crockett hunting club, but Olmsted said no to the future president and other exhibitors who wanted a piece of his island. He intended it, he wrote in a letter, as “a place of relief from all the splendor and glory and noise and human multitudinousness of the great surrounding Babylon.”

The famous White City — a collection of neo-Classical buildings lined with electric lights, a dazzling new invention at the time — is mostly long gone. But Olmsted’s fairgrounds, now known as Jackson Park, remain. Within its 600 acres, you can still find stretches of the original lagoons. The Wooded Island is still there, too, and it’s my favorite part of the park: an oasis of calm smack in the center of hectic Chicago.

(click here to continue reading Jewels of Olmsted’s Unspoiled Midwest – NYTimes.com.)

Footnotes:

Frederick Law Olmsted’s Wikipedia entry [↩]

New pavilion for the Chicago zoo

May 23, 2011May 23, 2011 Seth Anderson1 Comment

Played hooky this afternoon, and walked over in Lincoln Park to see the new Urban Oasis, as the prairie restoration and redesign of the south of the Lincoln Park Zoo is being called. So pretty, even though a lot of the plants haven’t filled in yet. Studio Gang did the work, with Chicago architect Jeanne Gang the leading force.

Enter Studio Gang, the local firm that has built many of the city’s recent landmarks, including the Aqua condo tower and the new media center at Columbia College. With a mission to turn the 19th-century urban park from a city-tap fed water source into a natural habitat boasting a vibrant “pond life”, the firm set out to recreate the landscape, through accessible pathways embedded with educational pavilions and exhibit design. In essence, the holistic scheme combines the natural habitat with captivating (but not overwhelming) architecture.

First came the ecological considerations. The firm deepened the pond for better oxygenation, building a surrounding watershed and integrating plant shelves for filtering runoff. Then came the built aspect of the project: Studio Gang devised a winding boardwalk made of recycled plastic milk bottles and featuring educational kiosks. This is a place, after all, where elementary school kids will perform pH tests on the soil and test water quality.

It’s also a place that bicyclists, yogis and the general public will enjoy thanks to *the brilliant pavilion on the boardwalk. The tortoise shell–inspired structure is made of prefab wooden parts, milled and assembled in a self-supporting arch that eschews columns. Uplit by the boardwalk’s recessed ground lights, the structure glows at night like honeycomb lanterns.

(click here to continue reading Azure :: Jeanne Gang’s brilliant pavilion for a Chicago zoo.)

I took some photos with my Nikon, but haven’t processed them yet, so iPhone photos¹ will have to suffice for now.

De Zeen Design Magazine has more details of the structure, if you are interested.

Footnotes:

Hipstamatic, natch [↩]

Frank Schmidt and Son aka Susie China

May 15, 2011May 15, 2011 swanksalot0 comment

Susie China, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

store front on Lincoln (?) Ave. Love some of the details – probably meant something to the original owner. The only symbol I’m sure about is the Chicago Y in the upper center – symbolizing the three branches of the Chicago River.

The restaurant itself is closed now too. I should revisit with my better camera

(this was taken in 2006 with a D70 – my current camera is ten times better. Well, at least in name, D7000)

CCP Holden Building purchased by SCC

April 13, 2011April 13, 2011 Seth Anderson3 Comments

Good news re: an old, seemingly abandoned historic Chicago building on W. Madison. Local ad agency Schafer Condon Carter has purchased it, and it going to restore it. I don’t know how much they paid, nor how much they’ve budgeted to modernize it, but I’m happy they are doing so.

An employee left the following comment on the above Flickr photo:

Hey, good news! The advertising agency I work for, Schafer Condon Carter, recently bought the building and are in the early stages of internal demolition. We will be moved in by November of this year! The space has been vacant for quite some time and desperately needs some love which we’re all excited to give it! You can track the buildings progress from our site, www.sccadv.com. We will be installing time-lapsing cameras to catch its development. Cheers.

and via www.urbanremainschicago.com/item.aspx?itemID=700

charles p. holden was a well-known chicago resident during the 1860’s & 70’s. he was deeply involved in real estate and/or development in and around the westside of chicago. this particular building was built shortly after the great chicago fire of 1871. as a consequence of the fire, this structure contains 8 seperate vaults w/ ornamental cast iron safe doors. that way, any valuable assets stashed away could be rescued if another conflaguration was to arise. in addition to the vaults, the first floor contained cast iron fluted columns w. corinthian capitals. the window and door casings were milled in a deep relief pine wood (typical of this period). interestingly, the load bearing columns on all of the upper floors were fashioned in the form of rounded wood columns w/ simple banding near the cap. the decorative stone facade will be rehabilitated during the building’s conversion to other uses.

From the SCC website:

Schafer|Condon|Carter (SCC) is pleased to announce its purchase of the C.C.P. Holden building at 1027 W. Madison Street in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. The agency plans to move its operations to the 34,500 square-foot building in the fall of 2011 after an extensive renovation.

C.C.P. Holden, a well-known Chicago political figure, railroad magnate and real estate developer was very involved in the massive reconstruction efforts after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 and built the Italianate limestone, sandstone, terra cotta, brick and timber structure in 1872. It is one of only a handful of such architectural gems in Chicago. SCC will be working with Chicago-based Widler Architecture on the restoration. When finished it will be a model of conservation and sustainability.

(click here to continue reading Schafer | Condon | Carter.)

another view

I’ll have to stop over there later this summer and see what changes are visible from the outside.

Full

March 31, 2011March 31, 2011 Seth Anderson0 comment

Chicago’s iconic Marina City Tower, closeup. Designed by Bertrand Goldberg. If I’m not mistaken, if you park here, there is a valet service that will back your car into your designated spot. I’d be a little nervous parking here, at least the first few times.

here’s a different angle of the same building.

Demolition of Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Hospital Scheduled

March 26, 2011March 26, 2011 Seth Anderson0 comment

I had thought the Bertrand Goldberg designed Prentice Women’s Hospital was already demolished years ago, but apparently not.

As Rahm Emanuel prepares to takes office May 16, the first big historic preservation battle of his mayoralty is taking shape: Northwestern University is gearing up to tear down the old Prentice Women’s Hospital, designed by Bertrand Goldberg, the architect of Marina City, and replace it with a new medical research building.

If the university wins city permission for demolition, it could be wrecking the boldly sculptural, brilliantly engineered high-rise at the very time the Art Institute of Chicago is celebrating it as part of a major exhibition of Goldberg’s work. “Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention,” opens September 10 and runs through Jan. 8, 2012.

Such a glaring juxtaposition, with creativity displayed on the museum’s walls and ransacked outside them, would reveal to the world anew that Chicago destroys architectural landmarks as fast as the city builds them. And it would demonstrate just how hard it can be to save leading examples of mid-20th Century modernism. Although widely admired by architects, old Prentice is by no means beloved by the broader public. Some liken it to a prison.

Located at 333 E. Superior St., the 36-year-old high-rise is unquestionably a major work in Goldberg’s career.

…

Preservationists have already laid the groundwork for a fight, meeting on old Prentice with downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd). “He’s one of the people who said you need to show how it can be reused,” said Jim Peters, president of Landmarks Illinois. Reilly didn’t return phone calls asking for comment. Nevertheless, it’s clear that the preservationists have taken a cue from his emphasis on finding a new use for the building.

Three Chicago architectural firms worked pro bono for Landmarks Illinois to prepare a study which looks at whether old Prentice could be re-used for offices, apartments or a research lab. The study makes a compelling case for the latter, arguing that the four quadrants of the former maternity floors could be sub-divided into research team areas and that the common space once occupied by nursing stations and nurseries could work well as a central breakout space.

(click here to continue reading Cityscapes: Northwestern wants to tear down Goldberg’s Prentice Hospital; preservationists have other ideas.)

I’d be pleased if the city found a way to preserve this building somehow, but I wouldn’t expect it to happen.

Virgin Hotel Possibility for Chicago

March 7, 2011March 7, 2011 Seth Anderson2 Comments

Looks like Branson’s first choice, the Chicago Motor Club building, might be off the table.

With his U.S. airline getting ready to fly into Chicago, Sir Richard Branson wants a hotel to go with it.

New York-based Virgin Hotels, the British billionaire’s upstart chain, has been scouting downtown for a location, recently breaking off talks to build a 189-room hotel in a vacant Art Deco building in the East Loop.

The venture, which plans to invest about $500 million in four-star hotels over the next few years, is Mr. Branson’s latest effort to subvert an established industry with his iconic brand, which has been slapped on everything from record stores to spaceships.

…

Virgin entered into talks last year with a venture led by local investor Sam Roti that owns the empty 17-story tower, court records show. In a December letter to Mr. Roti, Virgin said it was considering investing as much as $10 million in a $74-million project, including the construction of a new tower next door.

The Motor Club property is tied up in a dispute between Mr. Roti and one of the property’s lenders, Chicago-based Aries Capital LLC, which won a judgment of foreclosure in September. A few weeks later, Mr. Roti sought to thwart Aries’ foreclosure by seeking Chapter 11 protection for the Motor Club venture.

Virgin ended talks with Mr. Roti in early February, according to court documents, which don’t cite a reason.

(click here to continue reading Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels looks to open in Chicago)

Built in 1928 to be the home of the motor club, the distinctive structure was designed by Chicago architects Holabird & Root, who also built the Chicago Board of Trade and the Palmolive Building. The lobby features a mural map showing 19 major auto routes across the country by John W. Norton, who also painted a mural of Ceres, the Roman goddess of the harvest, in the Chicago Board of Trade Building, 141 W. Jackson Blvd.

(click here to continue reading Foreclosure suit hits Motor Club building | News | Crain’s Chicago Business.)

Too bad, that is an attractive building, imo. If I have the right building. For some reason, I thought this was called the Jeweler’s Building. Unfortunately, my Chicago architecture book is at my other office. Doh!

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