“The Wrigley Building is so recognizable, it hardly needs an introduction,” states the introduction of the Chicago Architecture Center’s page on one of the most iconic skyscrapers in the United States, if not the world. I looked at it one time briefly before in June of 2008. The product of the building of the Michigan…
Tag: Apartment Towers
The Chicago River and Civic Identity
I would argue that the approximate one mile from the Lake Shore Drive Bridge to Wolf Point, where the Chicago River splits into its North and South branches, is easily one of the most famous vistas in the world. Along it you will see the Wrigley Building, the Tribune Tower and many others you’d recognize…
Euclid Avenue Between Lindell, Maryland and McPherson Avenues
I’ve always found it interesting how there is a quiet section of private streets off Euclid Avenue in the Central West End in between Maryland Avenue (which you can see here and here) in the south, and McPherson Avenue in the north (which you can see here and here). Above is the southeast corner of…
Lindell Boulevard from North Boyle Avenue to Kingshighway
Proceeding further west on Lindell Boulevard, we see both well-preserved stretches of historic architecture and utterly obliterated streetscape. There are those stunning townhouses, which I would love to own if I didn’t have to worry about a car driven by a man-child flying into my living room every day. And then there’s the former of…
Lindell Boulevard from Grand Boulevard to Vandeventer Avenue
Ah, Lindell Boulevard! I avoid the street like the plague because it is such a dysfunctional street. Once a residential street lined with mansions, sometime in the Twentieth Century it became the busiest street in the city. The mansions were demolished, and it became lined with businesses, while the through traffic jumped over to Highway…
The Roebling Bridge, Between Cincinnati and Covington
One of the most important bridges in the history of architecture and engineering spans the Ohio River in between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. Opened in 1866, years before the revolutionary Eads Bridge in St. Louis, it served as the important prototypical step for the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Construction faced the same challenges:…
The Optimist International Building
Update: On August 23, 2021, the Optimist building’s demolition received another denial from the Preservation Board. No word on what the Optimists will do with their building in the future. The Engineers Club, further down Lindell to the east, is now threatened with demolition for a similar conversion to an apartment building. As of this…
West Pine Boulevard Between Newstead and Taylor Avenues, South Side
Heading west then from Newstead to Boyle Avenue on the south side of West Pine Boulevard, we see some more Romanesque Revival and related houses that survived later development. I particularly liked the house below, with its massive rounded tower out front. Then there’s this forgettable 1960s apartment building; I have a friend who lived…
Hawthorne Apartments, West Pine Boulevard
I looked at the Hawthorne Apartments a long, long time ago, and I was walking down West Pine Boulevard recently, realizing again what a beautiful building it was. It’s typical in that it has a heavily ornamented base, much like a classical Greek or Roman column, then a less decorated shaft, and the finally a…
Views of Central St. Louis from St. Louis University Hospital’s Parking Garage
I was checking out the beautiful Emil Frei & Associates stained glass windows in the chapel of the new St. Louis University Hospital, and when I looked out from my perch in the parking garage, I captured the stunning view of the skyline of the central corridor of St. Louis. Above is the Central West…