Lee Bey: The Urban Observer

The quite-activist Preservation Chicago, is staging a rally @ 1pm June 3 outside the Lake Shore Athletic Club, 850 N. Lake Shore Drive to protest the proposed demolition of this elegant building designed by architect Jarvis Hunt. What's at stake? Read here and here. I just might go see this protest. Back in 2002 or so, the group lined up vintage vehicles and dressed in period clothing to draw attention to the razing of the old Chicago Mercantile Exchange building at 300 W. Washington. I'm curious to see what happens this time. (photo courtesy of Preservation Chicago)

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I'll report more on this building later, but I couldn't resist showing something now. Here's a view of the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies designed by Chicago architects Krueck & Sexton. The 10-story building with its dynamic, sculptural glass facade, nicely slips into the historic Michigan Avenue streetwall and stands on its own without apeing its classical neighbors or visually clashing with them. The new Spertus building is expected to be completed later this year. (photo by Lee Bey)

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A Jack-in-the-Box restaurant on Dixie Highway in the Chicago suburb of Harvey, IL. The "Box" and its munchkin-like tv pitchman Rodney Allen Rippy haven't been seen around  the Chicago area since at least 1980, so it was surprising to see this reasonably intact, if vacant, former franchise still standing. (photo by Lee Bey)

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The Urban Observer takes on a new form today---that of a blog, rather than my increasingly cumbersome website. I'm hoping this new format will allow me to update these pages often and provide an easier read. But who knows?

Today's business: Almost a decade has passed since an extra-alarm fire nearly burned down the historic Pullman Factory and Administration Building, a state-owned landmark at 111th and Cottage Grove. But credit where credit is due: Workers have done a pretty good job rebuilding the shell of the structure. They've even restored the clocktower and installed a working clock. The factory is the centerpiece of a former company town was built in the 1880s by George Pullman to house workers at his Pullman railroad car company. The drama behind what happened to Pullman (both town and man) is a tale worthy of Erik "Devil in the White City" Larson's attention. The development of the American labor movement, urban planning, landscape architecture, civil rights, politics, transportation and a host of other sphere were shaped by the events in Pullman. Too bad there wasn't a serial killer there to keep folks interested. At any rate, the town is mostly intact, as the photo accompanying this entry shows.  Head out to the neighborhood and have a look for yourself. (photo by Lee Bey)

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