Heading north from Romaine Place, I traveled north on Hamilton Avenue towards Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. I could have sworn I’ve been up this section of Hamilton Avenue, but I guess not. This stately building was the Franke Motor Car Company, constructed for $25,000 in 1925 and designed by Otto J. Kriegg, whose offices…
Tag: Early Twentieth Century Eclectic
5600 Block of Labadie, Wells-Goodfellow, Summer of 2026
I specifically set out to try and find another block to explore other than the 5600 block of Labadie Avenue, but then I went and drove down it anyway. The first part to the west I first explored back in March of 2017. It’s in rough shape. Most of the buildings, some of which were…
Hodiamont Avenue, Wells-Goodfellow, Revisited
Posts at this website are one of two things: exploring new places, or revisiting somewhere to see how it has changed for better or worse. I decided to explore Hodiamont Avenue in Wells-Goodfellow, which I had first examined closely back in March of 2017. Foliage is doing well, as can be seen above. I’ve always…
Dodier Street Between North Garrison Avenue and North Grand Boulevard
Let’s look at these houses along Dodier Street more closely. It turns out that some, such as the one above, are actually two family buildings, and quite large ones at that. Single and two family houses are mixed together, without any stigma of multi-family living existing. I’ve been told that judges and doctors often lived…
Dodier Street Between Glasgow and North Garrison Avenues
I might have mentioned this before, but if you ever wonder why there are a bunch of houses that are in way better shape and a couple of decades older in the blocks to the northeast of the intersection of North Grand Boulevard and St. Louis Avenue, I can explain. In 1893, Julius Pitzman was…
North Taylor Avenue Between Margaretta and Kossuth Avenues
North Taylor Avenue is a long street, and it serves as a secondary artery for much of the North Side. So it’s incredibly annoying when all of the sudden at Natural Bridge Avenue, it is one way to the south. I went and detoured around the one way streets and before I knew it, I…
Obear Avenue Between Kossuth and Lee Avenues
I came across this short block of Obear Avenue in the Fairgrounds neighborhood. It’s a good example of a street that has been battered by abandonment and demolition. But there are several houses left standing that are occupied.
Northeast Adams Street, Northeast Peoria, Late June 2026
The primaries for the 2026 midterm elections are coming up, so it’s time to see how Peoria is doing, and in particular, I like to look at Northeast Peoria. I drove up Northeast Adams Street, which is one-way to the northeast through much of downtown and northeast of the central business district, paired with Northeast…
Enright Avenue and Delmar Boulevard, June 2026
I wandered around Enright Avenue and Delmar Boulevard west of Vandeventer and took in some of the sights. There’s an old fires station that looks to have been converted into a house. There are a lot of original buildings but there’s also a lot in-fill from the early Twenty-First Century, such as the houses below….
End of Spring 2026 Odds and Ends
It’s that time of year, so it’s time for odds and ends! Above is a spandrel from a storefront in downtown Belleville, looking suspiciously like something Louis Sullivan would design. Below is just another house we found while driving around town. Cleveland High School is looking really, really bad compared to earlier visits; I first…