Heavy Weather
(photos by Lee Bey)
Nature's furies rolled across the prairie and down into the big city yesterday. More thunderstorms expected today.
(I know the Urban Observer is supposed to be taking a break. But I had to share these shots.)
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August 24, 2007
August 23, 2007
Urban Observer Takes a Break...
(photo by Lee Bey)
...from the dog days of summer. I should be back in about a week. Until then, please amuse yourself in my archives, or if you're looking for a break from architecture, check out my other blog, Lee Bey's Soul Closet, devoted to 20th Century African American pop culture, movies, and advertising.
August 22, 2007
Urban Observer Book of the Month
So if Oprah can have a book club, then I want one too. This month's reading is Modernism Rediscovered by Pierluigi Serraino and photographer extrordinaire Julius Shulman. The book features Shulman's stunning postwar photography of the emerging West Coast Modernism.
An added treat (for me, at least). While looking on Chicago Bauhaus & Beyond's
website while doing yesterday's piece on modernism, I found a great 2006 interview with Shulman by ABC 7 Chicago's Kevin Roy. Click on the link to find out why he was here and the pretty cool proiect he was (is?) working on. Shulman turns 97 in October.
August 21, 2007
Modern Problems
(photos by Lee Bey)
(Above:) Two views of the Seville Motel...then and now.
Built in 1959 on the southern tip of Stony Island, the former Seville Motel was a ragged, but quaint bit of architectural modernism.
This brand of modern architecture was more "wow house" than Bauhaus. Rather than replicating the exacting sober lines of Miesian modernism, the Seville and buildings like it were loud, boxy and low-slung. The Seville's doors were painted in bright colors and funky geometric patterns enlivened the north and south elevations.
Motorists exiting the then-Calumet Expressway were beckoned by the motel's two-story, multi-colored neon sign and its promises of television, air conditioning and a telephone switchboard.
But a great deal of that color and kitsch vanished when the Seville underwent a makeover in 2005 and became the Lake Motel. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, the motel is nowhere near the lake. But it wasn't in Seville, either.) Anyway, the mod colors and plate-glass room windows are gone. The boisterous Seville sign was yanked down in favor of a smaller, utilitarian light box. The building is fixed up, sure. But I bet the motel hasn't seen a quick-change this clumsy since an irate husband pounded on the door of Room 12 or something.
It's yet another example of the tough times small modernist buildings are having---not just in Chicago with the recent demolition of architect Edward Dart's sweet little Emmanuel Presbyterian Church at 1850 S. Racine, but also Gordon Bunshaft's tragically demo'd Travertine House and the Doo-Wop Motels in Wildwood, NJ. Locally, organizations such as Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Chicago, and Chicago Bauhaus & Beyond are raising awareness and fighting battles. But they need more voices. And they need help.
That America seems ambivalent about the value of preserving mid-century architecture is surprising given this country's five decade long romance with almost anything from the 1950s and 1960s, from cars to music. It's time to stand up for the era's architecture.
August 20, 2007
Chicago Air & Water & Architecture Show
(photos by Lee Bey)
Pilots were taking their practice runs for the Air & Water Show outside my office window last week. But the city's architecture kepy getting into the act.
(Above:) Fighter jets streak past one of the residential towers of Lake Shore East
(Above:) B-1 Bomber above Lake Point Tower
August 16, 2007
Chicago Picasso @ 40
(photos by Lee Bey)
Thie famed Picasso sculpture at Daley Plaza turned 40 this week. When unveiled in August, 1967 the five-story 162-ton work was seen as a tough, brawny and daringly modern work that symbolized the New Chicago of the late 1960s. It also opened the door for Alexander Calder's Flamingo at Federal Plaza, the Marc Chagall's Four Seasons at Chase Plaza and other top notch public art including Cloudgate at Millennium Park.
Anyway, check out this pretty good piece on the Picasso by CBS2's Joanie Lum. It features some pretty good archival footage from WTTW of the construction and unveiling. The late William Hartmann of SOM is the architect referred to (but not mentioned by name) in the Lum's piece who approached Pablo Picasso to do the sculpture.
(Above:) Kids climbing on the Picasso. A time honored rite. If you climb on Cloudgate at Millennium Park, they'll probably put you in jail.
The Public Building Commission's website provides some nice details of the Picasso and its history:
Picasso, who refused to accept payment for his work, designed a 42-inch model of the sculpture that he presented as a "gift to the people of Chicago." The actual sculpture, however, was manufactured by United States Steel Corporation in Gary, Indiana, where it was entirely pre-assembled, then disassembled, and subsequently shipped to the Daley Center to be reassembled in its final form. The steel that was utilized for the exterior of the Daley Center was also used for the Picasso sculpture, and, over time, developed the same patina.
One more thing. What (or who) does the sculpture depict? Picasso, who died in 1973 without stepping foot in Chicago, never said. Scholars believe it is his wife Olga, the subject of many of Picasso's works. Judging by this 1920 Picasso sketch of Olga, I think they might be on to something.
August 15, 2007
The Modern Wing Takes Flight
(photos by Lee Bey)
The Art Institute of Chicago's new wing, designed by Renzo Piano, is taking shape just south of Millennium Park.
August 14, 2007
Medium Cool Chicago
(above photo by Lee Bey)
I just watched Haskell Wexler's "Medium Cool," a 1969 movie filmed in Chicago. Some of the camerawork is inspired, such as a the opening credits which feature a motorcycle courier gliding through Chicago as an ominous score by Paul Butterfield plays. And as always, it's a kick seeing bits and pieces of mid-century Chicago; at once clunky and streamlined. Aged and new.
The building above, 400 E Randolph, makes a few appearances in the movie and it's not hard to figure out why. At the time, the new building was among Chicago most visible and prominent structures---the dome in the above photo once sat right by Lake Shore Drive before the roadway was rerouted in the 1980s. That and Jerrold Wexler, Haskell's brother, was the developer. The dome houses a pool area.
Above: The dome looms as Robert Forster, a blonde and Peter Bonerz walk across a surface parking lot that no longer exists
Above: Robert Forster and Peter Bonerz go inside the dome--dig the pool--for an interview.
"Medium Cool" is a great piece of filmmaking, by the way....imbued with a kind of angry, ballsy nihilism that would be test-audienced away by movie studios today. When the film's protagonists find themselves caught-up in the protests and cop riots of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, it's not staged. Wexler actually puts them--his heroine in particular--in the middle of the real thing.
OH! One more thing. My mentor, journalism professor and second father, Les Brownlee, appears in a key scene early in the film. Les died two years ago so it was a blast seeing him on screen. His sililoquy on the news media and the role of the viewer anchors a brilliantly adlibbed scene--and shows why I found him so fascinating.
August 13, 2007
From the Urban Observer Dept of Corrections...
My reports last month on the new Kennedy King College didn't give accurate credit to the project's design team. So here goes: The new college was designed by Kennedy King Architects, LLC, which was a partnership formed by Johnson & Lee Architects and VOA.
Bunga-low-down
(photos by Lee Bey)
Ah, the Chicago Bungalow...a one-and-a-half story package of beauty, taste, proportion and design. People like Charles & Ray Eames and Frank Lloyd Wright dreamed of afforable, high-quality, mass-produced housing. Turns out Chicago--as usual--was already there, having produced 80,000 bungalows from about 1910 until the late 1930s.
Anyway...interesting story over the weekend in the Sun-Times about efforts to make the homes more green. And a wealth of bungalow info can be found at the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association website.
August 10, 2007
Observer in Distress
(photo by a teary-eyed Lee Bey)
Regular visitors to this site will notice a huge slowdown in production here as of late. That's because the Official Urban Observer Automobile (a 2003 Jetta GLI) is on its way to the junkyard. A driver ran a redlight and plowed into me, resulting in the damage you see above. Luckily, no injuries. But my insurance company declared it a total loss. So between that and the new job, i've had to do a little adjusting. But I hope to get things back up and running more regularly soon....although I was tempted to run out the string by posting pictures of the models and other people I've photographed over the past year. Like this woman. And this one. And this one. And this one. And this one. Not to mention this guy. But no good would come of all that. None at all.
August 08, 2007
The New East Side
(photo by Lee Bey)
From the 22nd floor of the Aon Center, looking east. The park at the lower left is part of the Lake Shore East Development. The building on the far right is the Blue Cross/Blue Shield HQ.
August 07, 2007
Benefit for CAF Docent Steve O'Rourke
(photo courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Foundation)
The Chicago Architecture Foundation has scheduled a series of tours for August 19 as a benefit for the family of CAF docent Steve O'Rourke who was killed last month by a hit-and-run driver. He left behind a wife and three children. According to the CAF:
Steve was an enthusiastic and devoted volunteer and loved to give CAF tours, especially those teaching young children about the “secrets of skyscrapers.” CAF volunteers and staff will join together on August 19th to give the tours Steve cherished so much to raise money to help support his family. Special Structure: The Secret of Skyscrapers tours will be given for families in Steve’s honor. All of CAF’s regularly scheduled walking tours will also be given in tribute to Steve, and the money collected will be donated to the Rachel McKee Family Assistance Fund.Just a Reminder...
(photo by Lee Bey)
It's hot, rainy and a bit humid around town these days. Enjoy it anyway. Because in a few months, we'll all be frozen over and snowed in.
August 03, 2007
Urban Observer Takes a Break
(photos by Lee Bey)
...but will return next week. That's not just a promise. That's a threat. But I had to leave you with something, so enjoy these photos I took of the inside of the old Kennedy King College. And peruse the archives.
August 02, 2007
At Jackson Park Harbor
(photos by Lee Bey)
August 01, 2007
Burlesque Chicago
(photos by Lee Bey)
Yes, yes, I know: Today's entry has nothing to do with architecture or urban planning. But the Urban Observer reserves the right to stray on occasion and point his ivory-handled walking stick at something particularly interesting and unique. Such was the case a few days ago when I photographed the Belmont Burlesque Revue at the Playground Theater at Belmont and Halsted.
Above: Paris Green dances and struts
Above: Jack Midnight is the ribald Master of Ceremonies
Then tomorrow, back to architecture and stuff.
