Lee Bey: The Urban Observer

 (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.