I finally made it to Cairo, Illinois with my father last week. I have to admit, while I was prepared to see what many of my friends have already been documenting for years, I was struck how much more there was to this infamous town than just Commercial Avenue (seen above), which is the most…
Month: April 2014
Cairo, Illinois Next Week
I traveled to southern Illinois to visit the town of Cairo, a city in many ways that could have been so much more, but was destroyed by its flaws.
Storefront Additions
I find it fascinating how houses, as their commercial value went up, often times received storefront additions, sometimes when streetcars began to go by their front doors. These two buildings, once clearly houses, received fronts in the early to mid Twentieth Century.
Revisiting the Cinderella Building
On a sunny Saturday, I was standing across the from the Cinderella Building and rediscovered its amazing terracotta decorations. Update: Major renovations have restored much of the terracotta detail.
South Side of Lindell
Lindell was originally lined with mansions, and most of them were swept away in redevelopment, some of which is itself historic now. But it must have been truly incredible to ride in a carriage down the avenue, seeing all of these houses, and many more. Oh and then there’s this parking lot.
North Side Lindell Boulevard, Revisited
Update: I revisited this stretch of Lindell Boulevard in August of 2022 and in October of 2023 (last photo). I love the mighty row of apartment buildings on Lindell in between Taylor and Euclid. They’re mostly from the early Twentieth Century, but there’s a couple of more recent ones as well. Update: The northeast corner…
Washington Avenue, Central West End
It never ceases to amaze me that the fortunes of a neighborhood can be so finite across ward boundaries, as they are in the Central West End. Look at these houses; they would go for a fortune south of here, but up this way, just south of Delmar, they sit empty or underutilized. And even…
A Disheartening Sight, Revisited
Almost a year since the last time I photographed it, the house at Cook and Whittier is holding on.