Forgotten Chicago | History, Architecture, and Infrastructure

Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town Part 3: Bertrand Goldberg’s Michigan Avenue Project

Patrick Steffes — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:14:00 +0000

Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town is a three-part set of articles detailing this Chicago-based architect’s one-time residence in the 1930s. This article looks at a beauty salon announced as having been designed by Goldberg. While opened, it may or may not have actually been completed by the architect. This beauty salon opened by 1938 at...continue reading...

The Bloomingdale Line

Terence Banich — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:21:35 +0000

Introduction On the evening of July 30, 1939, Nancy Froemming “and her ambition” boarded a train in Milwaukee bound for Chicago. Miss Froemming — who thought that she “could sing with the best of them” — had decided that Milwaukee was too small of a town for her nascent singing career and set her sights...continue reading...

Review of FC175, Our Chicago Birthday Party Held March 31, 2012

Staff — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:06:36 +0000

Many thanks to everyone who attended FC175 on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at Greenhouse Loft. We hope attendees had as much fun at our event as we had putting it together! If you were unable to attend, we hope you enjoy this summary of the event. Top photo: Mark Dobrzycki. Bottom two photos: Robert Magala...continue reading...

Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town Part 2: Postwar Development of Michigan & Pearson

Patrick Steffes — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:09:40 +0000

Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town is a three-part set of articles, and Postwar Development of Michigan & Pearson is the second in a series of several Forgotten Chicago features highlighting this Chicago-based architect’s one-time residence in the 1930s, and lesser-known built and proposed projects in the Chicago area. This article looks at the demolition in...continue reading...

Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town Part 1: Bertrand Goldberg’s Commune

Patrick Steffes — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:13:04 +0000

Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town is a three-part set of articles, and the first in a series of several Forgotten Chicago features highlighting the Chicago-based architect’s one-time residence in the 1930s, and lesser-known built and proposed projects in the Chicago area. This article examines Goldberg’s former residence on the site of the former Senator Charles...continue reading...

Remnants of the “L”

Terence Banich — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:35:53 +0000

Chicago is, as one writer put it, a “city of travelers.”1 The city’s sheer sprawl made that moniker inevitable. It also led to the creation of a transportation system that, at its apogee, consisted of a web of streetcars, diesel buses, electrified trolleybuses and elevated railways and subways. But not every mode of public transportation...continue reading...

Chicago Motor Club Building

Serhii Chrucky — Tue, 03 May 2011 22:02:13 +0000

The Chicago Motor Club building was designed and completed within 265 days in 1928 and opened January of the next year. Having been granted National Register status in 1978, the building is widely regarded as one of Chicago’s finest Art Deco style skyscrapers. Between the beginning and ending of the project, the name of the...continue reading...

Rogers Park National Bank

Serhii Chrucky — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:56:48 +0000

Rogers Park National Bank was founded in 1912. For the five years prior to the construction of this building in 1917, we presume that the bank occupied retail space elsewhere on Clark Street, although this has not been confirmed. Notable as architect Karl Vitzthum’s earliest extant bank design, Rogers Park National Bank is a typical...continue reading...

East Side Trust & Savings Bank

Serhii Chrucky — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:46:16 +0000

East Side Trust & Savings was founded in 1919, the same year this bank was erected, and suspended operations July 1933. A stock subscription drive allowed the bank to regain enough capital to reopen Feburary 1934. In 1944, the company was reorganized as the South Side Bank and Trust, moving to the former South Side...continue reading...

Outlying Banks, 1893-1933

Serhii Chrucky — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:21:30 +0000

Neighborhood unit banking architecture.