Comments on: Ultra Local Geography

Ultra Local Geography

enn — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:45:48 -0800

Ultra Local Geography documents the everyday architecture of Chicago with detailed drawings and neighborhood historical research.

Topics include:

Typology of Courtyard Apartments in Rogers Park
Monumental Lighting: 1, 2, 3
Teardowns in a North Shore Suburb
Pilsen streets: 1,2
Ornament detail: Carson Pirie Scott building, Monadnock Building

By: theodolite

theodolite — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:59:01 -0800

I suspect this is a little too special-interest to rack up a ton of comments and favorites, but as a geographer and Chicago resident I would like to say "thank you so much" and also "how the hell did I not know about this."

By: AzraelBrown

AzraelBrown — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:07:59 -0800

I've totally wanted to do more of this for my town; it's so time-consuming, but so awesome. I did do something similar for the building I used to work in, but nothing post-construction yet.

By: Iridic

Iridic — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:14:05 -0800

Thanks, enn! Another fine blog in this category is A Chicago Sojourn. It's mainly concerned with the finer points of mid-century modern architecture, but the author has also covered daycare murals, the charming route of the Skokie Swift, and a mysterious cottage in Lincoln Square.

By: eriko

eriko — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:15:15 -0800

I would like to say what thoedolite said. Other than the geographer part. Otherwise, yes, that.

By: TheWhiteSkull

TheWhiteSkull — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:17:10 -0800

This is good, but it's missing "Survey of west side cinder block condos with shitty brick facing."

By: chambers

chambers — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:33:29 -0800

As a former resident of (East) Rogers Park for several years, this is fantastic stuff. More often than I can count, I would look at buildings in Chicago, and really want to know some history on it. These articles only make me want more architecture history minutiae. MORE!!!!

By: hijinx

hijinx — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:40:27 -0800

Somewhere, presumably in the city, Geoffrey Baer is smiling.

By: LMGM

LMGM — Wed, 04 May 2011 09:24:13 -0800

Awesome awesome awesome. I live in Uptown, not far from Rogers Park, and I know a few of these buildings. I love this stuff, and the architecture is what I'll miss when I leave Chicago (that and the bacon).

By: safetyfork

safetyfork — Wed, 04 May 2011 09:51:49 -0800

Yes! As someone who briefly lived in Chicago and is an architecture enthusiast, I thank you.

By: me3dia

me3dia — Wed, 04 May 2011 10:29:18 -0800

Loving this, too. I just learned that the street I live on, Bell Avenue, was once known as Pingree Street.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 04 May 2011 10:39:59 -0800

This is good, but it's missing "Survey of west side cinder block condos with shitty brick facing." I don't know how many of these, exactly, were built during the boom after tearing down various brownstones and courtyard apartments like those in the blog, but the number is somewhere north of obscene. Whole blocks of variegated interesting architecture became bland suburbanized tracts at a stroke.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:48:01 -0800

Super cool! I used to live in West Rogers Park, and know some of these places.