St. Joseph Parish was formed in 1887 by Polish immigrants who worked the Union Stockyards. It is one of the largest and most opulent examples of the "Polish Cathedral" style in Chicago. The original church structure is now St. John Paul II Hall, and the current church building at 4821 S. Hermitage Ave., designed by Joseph Molitor, opened in 1914. In the early 1950s, the church was redecorated by artist John A. Mallin. Its high school and grammar schools closed in 1996 and 2002, respectively. For many years, a dirt lot occupied the spot where a convent once stood, until 2015, when the new St. Joseph Plaza, adorned with a paver stone rosary, was inaugurated in its place. Today, Mass is offered in English, Polish, and Spanish. NOTE: Two parishes - Holy Cross Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Michael the Archangel - will be merged into St. Joseph, which will be the remaining house of worship.

Photograph at Open House Chicago 2019. I served as District Coordinator for Back of the Yards and Englewood on Sunday. I was limited in my photography, as a service was in progress. The Site Host, however, gave me permission to photograph.

Second Presbyterian Church at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. has been the church home to many leading citizens, including the Pullmans, Blackstones and Armours. The congregation was organized on June 1, 1842, just five years after the incorporation of the City of Chicago. Three months later, the congregation dedicated its first building, a modest frame building at the southeast corner of Randolph and Clark streets. Construction on the present building, designed by James Renwick Jr., was begun in 1872 at the northwest corner of S. Michigan Avenue and E. 20th (now Cullerton) Street. The design was based on English Gothic churches of the 15th and 16th centuries. It took two years to complete. Following a devastating fire in 1900, the congregation hired Howard Van Doren Shaw and Frederic Clay Bartlett to rebuild the interior in the Arts and Crafts style. Stunning memorial windows made by William Morris & Company, Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, Tiffany Studios, McCully & Miles and Louis J. Millet enhance the church's interior. Original Bartlett murals, light fixtures and 175 angels grace the space.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

The Plant at 1400 W. 46th St., a research and production facility housing a collaborative community of small food businesses and organizations, formerly housed Peer Foods. In 2010, Bubbly Dynamics acquired the 100,000-square-foot former meatpacking facility, built in 1925 and closed in 2007, and began renovating slowly but steadily, highlighting features of the original building. Today, The Plant houses more than 20 businesses, including eight indoor and outdoor farms, beer and kombucha breweries, and other emerging food producers and distributors, as well as the recently established Packingtown Museum.

Photograph at Open House Chicago 2019. I served as District Coordinator for Back of the Yards and Englewood on Sunday. I returned here in the afternoon to check on the later opening Whiner Beer Co. and to photograph the interior.

Our Lady of Sorrows was raised to a basilica in 1956 for its artistic value and the work of Mother Novena. Dedicated in 1902, construction began in 1890 at 3121 W. Jackson Blvd. The barrel-vaulted ceiling consists of more than 1,100 separate gold-leafed panels. The high altar is built entirely of white carrara marble. It is one of three basilicas in Chicago.

Photographs from Open House Chicago 2018, one of my District Coordinator sites. This is one of the most impressive sites during this and all Open House weekends.

Housed in a rare example of a pre-Chicago Fire structure, St. Ignatius College Prep at 1076 W. Roosevelt Rd. celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Since its founding in 1869 by Arnold Damen, S.J., the five-story brick edifice with its carved wooden doors and lion heads has welcomed generations of young men and, since 1979, young women. Among the unique spaces is the 1887-1888 Brunswick Room featuring elaborate cabinets and woodwork installed by the Brunswick Company for the school’s natural history museum, the Foglia Library, the “Chicago gallery” of architectural artifacts in the Driehaus building, and Father Damen’s office. The site was made even more interesting by the large number of alumni – many in maroon and gold stripe ties – assisting with the presentations.

St. Ita Parish was founded in Edgewater in 1900. The current French Gothic church, which opened at 5500 N. Broadway in 1927, was the highlight of architect Henry Schlacks’ distinguished career as a church architect. The open tower contains 1,800 tons of Bedford limestone and rises to 120 feet in height. Elaborate Gothic detailing marks the altar, but the medallion windows containing more than 200,000 pieces of stained glass, designed by Schlacks, highlight the interior. The sanctuary seats 700.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral is the oldest church edifice built specifically as a Greek Orthodox Church in metropolitan Chicago and serves as the mother church in the area. It was established in 1892 by a Greek immigrant community from Laconia and the Greek Islands. In 1909, the Greek Orthodox community paid $18,000 for the lot of city land on which the cathedral stands today. One year later, the cathedral at 1107 N. LaSalle St. was completed at a total cost of around $100,000. It was built after an Athenian cathedral and is currently the oldest surviving Chicago building in the style of a Byzantine church.

The church edifice is divided into three sections. The narthex is the vestibule area and represents this world in which man is called to repentance. The nave, the central portion of the building, represents the kingdom of heaven and the passage from the narthex into the nave symbolizes the Christian's entry into that kingdom. The soleas, the raised platform between the nave and the sanctuary, is reserved for sacraments and liturgical services. The sanctuary is the holiest part of the temple, and the entire architecture and iconography of the church center attention on the Holy Altar within the sanctuary. The nave is separated from the sanctuary by an icon screen or iconostasis. Gates, called royal doors in the center of the screen, lead into the sanctuary and altar area and are used only by ordained Orthodox clergymen. The Holy Altar holds the tabernacle, Gospels book, candles and holy vessels used during the Divine Liturgy.

Photographs at Open House Chicago 2024, the only site we visited. Having returned from New York City two days prior and a few hundred photographs still to edit, research and post, we took a pass on this year’s OHC.

Housed in a rare example of a pre-Chicago Fire structure, St. Ignatius College Prep at 1076 W. Roosevelt Rd. celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Since its founding in 1869 by Arnold Damen, S.J., the five-story brick edifice with its carved wooden doors and lion heads has welcomed generations of young men and, since 1979, young women. Among the unique spaces is the 1887-1888 Brunswick Room featuring elaborate cabinets and woodwork installed by the Brunswick Company for the school’s natural history museum, the Foglia Library, the “Chicago gallery” of architectural artifacts in the Driehaus building, and Father Damen’s office. The site was made even more interesting by the large number of alumni – many in maroon and gold stripe ties – assisting with the presentations.

Housed in a rare example of a pre-Chicago Fire structure, St. Ignatius College Prep at 1076 W. Roosevelt Rd. celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Since its founding in 1869 by Arnold Damen, S.J., the fivestory brick edifice with its carved wooden doors and lion heads has welcomed generations of young men and, since 1979, young women. Among the unique spaces is the 1887-1888 Brunswick Room featuring elaborate cabinets and woodwork installed by the Brunswick Company for the school’s natural history museum, the Foglia Library, the “Chicago gallery” of architectural artifacts in the Driehaus building, and Father Damen’s office. The site was made even more interesting by the large number of alumni – many in maroon and gold stripe ties – assisting with the presentations.

At the Harold Washington Library as part of the Open House Chicago walking tour sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Center.

www.chipublib.org/locations/34/

Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois.

Saturday, October 19, 2019.

Housed in a rare example of a pre-Chicago Fire structure, St. Ignatius College Prep at 1076 W. Roosevelt Rd. celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Since its founding in 1869 by Arnold Damen, S.J., the five-story brick edifice with its carved wooden doors and lion heads has welcomed generations of young men and, since 1979, young women. Among the unique spaces is the 1887-1888 Brunswick Room featuring elaborate cabinets and woodwork installed by the Brunswick Company for the school’s natural history museum, the Foglia Library, the “Chicago gallery” of architectural artifacts in the Driehaus building, and Father Damen’s office. The site was made even more interesting by the large number of alumni – many in maroon and gold stripe ties – assisting with the presentations.

Organized in 1854, architects Tallmadge and Watson designed the church at 516 Church St. It was completed in 1911.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Evanston Along the Lake walking tour.

Educational/Cultural Sites

October 2018

Chicago Architecture Center - CAC

111 East Upper Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; Gallagher & Associates

Mies van der Rohe

Designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1956, S.R. Crown Hall at 3360 S. State St. represents his architectural concepts and theories in their most complete and mature form. The building houses IIT's school of architecture. The two-level building is configured as a pure rectangular form, 220 ft. by 120 ft. by 18 ft. tall. The enclosed space is column free with four six-foot steel plate girders welded to eight H-columns. These girders suspend the roof in a single plane to form a primary structure. While the lower level consists of compartmentalized rooms, the upper level occupies almost half of the building’s total area, but only includes one large, open classroom. A major renovation completed in 2005 enhanced its accessibility and functionality, improved overall energy and environmental performance and restored Crown close to its original appearance.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Mies & Modernism: The IIT Campus Tour.

Ebenezer Lutheran Church was organized in 1892. The Swedes who settled in the area completed the sanctuary at 1650 W. Foster Ave. in 1908 (with additions in 1929), and the congregation quickly grew to more than 2,000 members. The sanctuary has beautiful Swedish stenciling along the ceiling, stained glass windows that are the largest of their kind and an intricate altarpiece. A 1987 remodeling carefully preserved the historic elements of the sanctuary. The stairs to the balcony on each side are of different styles; lore has it that the architect, also a prominent local homebuilder, constructed them to show prospective clients two options for staircases.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2019.

St. Mary of the Lake was established in 1901, at a time when only six Catholic families lived in the Buena Park area. Construction on the current church building at 4200 N. Sheridan Rd., designed by architect Henry J. Schlacks in the Italian Renaissance style, began in 1913. The church was dedicated in 1917, but work continued for years on the lavish interior containing Carrara marble sculpted in Italy, stained-glass made in Germany and a ceiling painted in gilded gold.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2019.

The Arts Club of Chicago was founded in 1916 After several locations over the years, it moved to 109 E. Ontario St.in quarters built to specification designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The gallery was built around Constantin Brâncuși's The Golden Bird, and the stairway was renowned for its simple elegance. The club's move in 1997 to its current location at 201 E. Ontario St. was not without controversy because the club demolished its former interior space designed by Mies van der Rohe and moved only the central staircase to the new gallery space. However, the new space is 19,000 square feet, which is 7,000 square feet larger than the old space.

Photograph from Open House Chicago 2018.

Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is the first African-American congregation in Chicago. Formed in 1844 as a seven-person prayer group, the congregation worshipped in several different locations around downtown Chicago. With many abolitionists among their ranks, the church became a station on the Underground Railroad, offering food, supplies and safe haven for fugitive slaves. The congregants purchased the current property at S. Wabash Avenue and E. 24th Street in 1890 and hired architect Henry F. Starbuck to design this rusticated limestone and brick building with Romanesque massing and Gothic details. The building houses community and administrative services on the first floor, with a sanctuary at the second story. The original wood doors and windows survive, as have most of the fixed art-glass lights at the sanctuary level.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021. Because of time constraints and the having attended a Landmarks Illinois presentation three years ago (at which I recommended Quinn Chapel become an Open House Chicago site), I did not take today’s excellent tour.

Organized in 1854, architects Tallmadge and Watson designed the church at 516 Church St. It was completed in 1911.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Evanston Along the Lake walking tour.

Views from the 42-floor deck of the Loebl, Schlossman, Bennett and Dart condominium at 2650 N. Lakeview Ave. We lived down the street at 2500 N. Lakeview Ave. for 22 years.

Photograph from Open House Chicago 2018.

H. H. Richardson's last surviving work in Chicago was commissioned by John and Frances Glessner. The Glessner House’s radical design perplexed neighbors but was quickly embraced by architects for its innovative floor plan. With principal rooms facing inward toward a light-filled private courtyard, it helped create a new American style of residential architecture. Its collection of original furnishings features pieces representing the Aesthetic, Modern Gothic and Arts and Crafts movements of England and the United States. The residence at 1800 S. Prairie Ave. was saved from demolition in 1966, thanks to efforts that resulted in the creation of both Glessner House and the Chicago Architecture Center.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

Educational/Cultural Sites

October 2018

Chicago Architecture Center - CAC

Chicago, IL

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Gallagher & Associates

Mies van der Rohe

Originally built in 1917 to house the Boston Company department store, 1 North Dearborn has recently undergone extensive renovations to modernize its offices and amenities. The new rooftop deck features a bar, fireplace, lounge and garden. A mural pays homage to the building’s original tenant, The Boston Store.

Educational/Cultural Sites

October 2018

Chicago Architecture Center - CAC

Chicago, IL

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Gallagher & Associates

Mies van der Rohe

Views from the 42-floor deck of the Loebl, Schlossman, Bennett and Dart condominium at 2650 N. Lakeview Ave. We lived down the street at 2500 N. Lakeview Ave. for 22 years.

Photograph from Open House Chicago 2018.

The Plant at 1400 W. 46th St., a research and production facility housing a collaborative community of small food businesses and organizations, formerly housed Peer Foods. In 2010, Bubbly Dynamics acquired the 100,000-square-foot former meatpacking facility, built in 1925 and closed in 2007, and began renovating slowly but steadily, highlighting features of the original building. Today, The Plant houses more than 20 businesses, including eight indoor and outdoor farms, beer and kombucha breweries, and other emerging food producers and distributors, as well as the recently established Packingtown Museum.

Photograph at Open House Chicago 2019. I served as District Coordinator for Back of the Yards and Englewood on Sunday. I returned here in the afternoon to check on the later opening Whiner Beer Co. and to photograph the interior.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral is the oldest church edifice built specifically as a Greek Orthodox Church in metropolitan Chicago and serves as the mother church in the area. It was established in 1892 by a Greek immigrant community from Laconia and the Greek Islands. In 1909, the Greek Orthodox community paid $18,000 for the lot of city land on which the cathedral stands today. One year later, the cathedral at 1107 N. LaSalle St. was completed at a total cost of around $100,000. It was built after an Athenian cathedral and is currently the oldest surviving Chicago building in the style of a Byzantine church.

The church edifice is divided into three sections. The narthex is the vestibule area and represents this world in which man is called to repentance. The nave, the central portion of the building, represents the kingdom of heaven and the passage from the narthex into the nave symbolizes the Christian's entry into that kingdom. The soleas, the raised platform between the nave and the sanctuary, is reserved for sacraments and liturgical services. The sanctuary is the holiest part of the temple, and the entire architecture and iconography of the church center attention on the Holy Altar within the sanctuary. The nave is separated from the sanctuary by an icon screen or iconostasis. Gates, called royal doors in the center of the screen, lead into the sanctuary and altar area and are used only by ordained Orthodox clergymen. The Holy Altar holds the tabernacle, Gospels book, candles and holy vessels used during the Divine Liturgy.

Photographs at Open House Chicago 2024, the only site we visited. Having returned from New York City two days prior and a few hundred photographs still to edit, research and post, we took a pass on this year’s OHC.

Second Presbyterian Church at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. has been the church home to many leading citizens, including the Pullmans, Blackstones and Armours. The congregation was organized on June 1, 1842, just five years after the incorporation of the City of Chicago. Three months later, the congregation dedicated its first building, a modest frame building at the southeast corner of Randolph and Clark streets. Construction on the present building, designed by James Renwick Jr., was begun in 1872 at the northwest corner of S. Michigan Avenue and E. 20th (now Cullerton) Street. The design was based on English Gothic churches of the 15th and 16th centuries. It took two years to complete. Following a devastating fire in 1900, the congregation hired Howard Van Doren Shaw and Frederic Clay Bartlett to rebuild the interior in the Arts and Crafts style. Stunning memorial windows made by William Morris & Company, Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, Tiffany Studios, McCully & Miles and Louis J. Millet enhance the church's interior. Original Bartlett murals, light fixtures and 175 angels grace the space.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral is the oldest church edifice built specifically as a Greek Orthodox Church in metropolitan Chicago and serves as the mother church in the area. It was established in 1892 by a Greek immigrant community from Laconia and the Greek Islands. In 1909, the Greek Orthodox community paid $18,000 for the lot of city land on which the cathedral stands today. One year later, the cathedral at 1107 N. LaSalle St. was completed at a total cost of around $100,000. It was built after an Athenian cathedral and is currently the oldest surviving Chicago building in the style of a Byzantine church.

The church edifice is divided into three sections. The narthex is the vestibule area and represents this world in which man is called to repentance. The nave, the central portion of the building, represents the kingdom of heaven and the passage from the narthex into the nave symbolizes the Christian's entry into that kingdom. The soleas, the raised platform between the nave and the sanctuary, is reserved for sacraments and liturgical services. The sanctuary is the holiest part of the temple, and the entire architecture and iconography of the church center attention on the Holy Altar within the sanctuary. The nave is separated from the sanctuary by an icon screen or iconostasis. Gates, called royal doors in the center of the screen, lead into the sanctuary and altar area and are used only by ordained Orthodox clergymen. The Holy Altar holds the tabernacle, Gospels book, candles and holy vessels used during the Divine Liturgy.

Photographs at Open House Chicago 2024, the only site we visited. Having returned from New York City two days prior and a few hundred photographs still to edit, research and post, we took a pass on this year’s OHC.

The Monastery of the Holy Cross is a significant early work of architect Hermann J. Gaul, a renowned ecclesial architect of the early 20th century. Recognized for its complex high-vaulted ceiling, the church was completed in 1909 for the German-speaking "national parish" of the Immaculate Conception. The German Gothic Revival church at W. 31st and S. Aberdeen streets incorporates high-Gothic design elements including a high gabled triple-arch entrance, expressive gargoyles and a 14 Gothic-arched, highly decorated Stations of the Cross. The parish closed in 1990, and the Benedictine monastic community was invited to make the building into a unique urban monastery the following year. While some of the original furnishings were lost after the closure, the monks added several religious treasures, most notably altarpiece icons produced in the traditional Byzantine egg tempera method by iconographer Vladislav Andrejev. It was declared a landmark two days previously.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

St. Ita Parish was founded in Edgewater in 1900. The current French Gothic church, which opened at 5500 N. Broadway in 1927, was the highlight of architect Henry Schlacks’ distinguished career as a church architect. The open tower contains 1,800 tons of Bedford limestone and rises to 120 feet in height. Elaborate Gothic detailing marks the altar, but the medallion windows containing more than 200,000 pieces of stained glass, designed by Schlacks, highlight the interior. The sanctuary seats 700.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

The Arts Club of Chicago was founded in 1916 After several locations over the years, it moved to 109 E. Ontario St.in quarters built to specification designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The gallery was built around Constantin Brâncuși's The Golden Bird, and the stairway was renowned for its simple elegance. The club's move in 1997 to its current location at 201 E. Ontario St. was not without controversy because the club demolished its former interior space designed by Mies van der Rohe and moved only the central staircase to the new gallery space. However, the new space is 19,000 square feet, which is 7,000 square feet larger than the old space.

Photograph from Open House Chicago 2018.

St. Joseph Parish was formed in 1887 by Polish immigrants who worked the Union Stockyards. It is one of the largest and most opulent examples of the "Polish Cathedral" style in Chicago. The original church structure is now St. John Paul II Hall, and the current church building at 4821 S. Hermitage Ave., designed by Joseph Molitor, opened in 1914. In the early 1950s, the church was redecorated by artist John A. Mallin. Its high school and grammar schools closed in 1996 and 2002, respectively. For many years, a dirt lot occupied the spot where a convent once stood, until 2015, when the new St. Joseph Plaza, adorned with a paver stone rosary, was inaugurated in its place. Today, Mass is offered in English, Polish, and Spanish. NOTE: Two parishes - Holy Cross Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Michael the Archangel - will be merged into St. Joseph, which will be the remaining house of worship.

Photograph at Open House Chicago 2019. I served as District Coordinator for Back of the Yards and Englewood on Sunday. I was limited in my photography, as a service was in progress. The Site Host, however, gave me permission to photograph.

Housed in a rare example of a pre-Chicago Fire structure, St. Ignatius College Prep at 1076 W. Roosevelt Rd. celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Since its founding in 1869 by Arnold Damen, S.J., the five-story brick edifice with its carved wooden doors and lion heads has welcomed generations of young men and, since 1979, young women. Among the unique spaces is the 1887-1888 Brunswick Room featuring elaborate cabinets and woodwork installed by the Brunswick Company for the school’s natural history museum, the Foglia Library, the “Chicago gallery” of architectural artifacts in the Driehaus building, and Father Damen’s office. The site was made even more interesting by the large number of alumni – many in maroon and gold stripe ties – assisting with the presentations.

Organized in 1976, the church replaced another church at 1011 W. Wilson Ave. in 1981. It was designed by Patton & Miller in 1906, and the neon sign - "Christ Died for Our Sins" - installed atop the bell tower in 1942.

The Plant at 1400 W. 46th St., a research and production facility housing a collaborative community of small food businesses and organizations, formerly housed Peer Foods. In 2010, Bubbly Dynamics acquired the 100,000-square-foot former meatpacking facility, built in 1925 and closed in 2007, and began renovating slowly but steadily, highlighting features of the original building. Today, The Plant houses more than 20 businesses, including eight indoor and outdoor farms, beer and kombucha breweries, and other emerging food producers and distributors, as well as the recently established Packingtown Museum.

Photograph at Open House Chicago 2019. I served as District Coordinator for Back of the Yards and Englewood on Sunday. I returned here in the afternoon to check on the later opening Whiner Beer Co. and to photograph the interior.

The Plant at 1400 W. 46th St., a research and production facility housing a collaborative community of small food businesses and organizations, formerly housed Peer Foods. In 2010, Bubbly Dynamics acquired the 100,000-square-foot former meatpacking facility, built in 1925 and closed in 2007, and began renovating slowly but steadily, highlighting features of the original building. Today, The Plant houses more than 20 businesses, including eight indoor and outdoor farms, beer and kombucha breweries, and other emerging food producers and distributors, as well as the recently established Packingtown Museum.

Photograph at Open House Chicago 2019. I served as District Coordinator for Back of the Yards and Englewood on Sunday. I returned here in the afternoon to check on the later opening Whiner Beer Co. and to photograph the interior.

The Aragon Ballroom, completed in 1926 at 1106 W. Lawrence Ave., was designed in the Moorish architectural style, with the interior resembling a Spanish village. Named for a region of Spain, the Aragon was an immediate success and remained a popular Chicago attraction throughout the 1940s. A fire at an adjacent cocktail lounge in 1958 forced the Aragon to close for several months. After the reopening, crowds declined significantly, to the point that regular dancing ended in 1964. A succession of new owners used the Aragon as a roller skating rink, boxing venue, and discothèque, among other uses. It continues as a site for concerts and boxing events.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Uptown walking tour.

The only surviving historic mansion on S. Calumet Avenue, the Wheeler Mansion was built in 1870 for Calvin T. Wheeler, a banker and a member of the Chicago Board of Trade. It was designed in the Second Empire style, with influences in the tall third-story mansard roof. Over the years, the mansion has been home to a publishing company, warehouse for the Murphy Butter and Egg Company and others. The current owner acquired the property at 2020 S. Calumet Ave. in 1997 for $10,000, then spent 18 months renovating the vacant and crumbling building. Wheeler Mansion reopened in 1999 as a Bead & Breakfast.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Uptown walking tour.

H. H. Richardson's last surviving work in Chicago was commissioned by John and Frances Glessner. The Glessner House’s radical design perplexed neighbors but was quickly embraced by architects for its innovative floor plan. With principal rooms facing inward toward a light-filled private courtyard, it helped create a new American style of residential architecture. Its collection of original furnishings features pieces representing the Aesthetic, Modern Gothic and Arts and Crafts movements of England and the United States. The residence at 1800 S. Prairie Ave. was saved from demolition in 1966, thanks to efforts that resulted in the creation of both Glessner House and the Chicago Architecture Center.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

A former hotel designed by Walter W. Alhlschlanger opened in 1920 is now a rental building. It's located at the corner of N. Sheridan Road and W. Wilson Avenue. A recent renovation resulted in a beautiful lobby and updated units.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Uptown walking tour.

St. Joseph Parish was formed in 1887 by Polish immigrants who worked the Union Stockyards. It is one of the largest and most opulent examples of the "Polish Cathedral" style in Chicago. The original church structure is now St. John Paul II Hall, and the current church building at 4821 S. Hermitage Ave., designed by Joseph Molitor, opened in 1914. In the early 1950s, the church was redecorated by artist John A. Mallin. Its high school and grammar schools closed in 1996 and 2002, respectively. For many years, a dirt lot occupied the spot where a convent once stood, until 2015, when the new St. Joseph Plaza, adorned with a paver stone rosary, was inaugurated in its place. Today, Mass is offered in English, Polish, and Spanish. NOTE: Two parishes - Holy Cross Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Michael the Archangel - will be merged into St. Joseph, which will be the remaining house of worship.

Photograph at Open House Chicago 2019. I served as District Coordinator for Back of the Yards and Englewood on Sunday. I was limited in my photography, as a service was in progress. The Site Host, however, gave me permission to photograph.

Designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1956, S.R. Crown Hall at 3360 S. State St. represents his architectural concepts and theories in their most complete and mature form. The building houses IIT's school of architecture. The two-level building is configured as a pure rectangular form, 220 ft. by 120 ft. by 18 ft. tall. The enclosed space is column free with four six-foot steel plate girders welded to eight H-columns. These girders suspend the roof in a single plane to form a primary structure. While the lower level consists of compartmentalized rooms, the upper level occupies almost half of the building’s total area, but only includes one large, open classroom. A major renovation completed in 2005 enhanced its accessibility and functionality, improved overall energy and environmental performance and restored Crown close to its original appearance.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Mies & Modernism: The IIT Campus Tour.

The Aragon Ballroom, completed in 1926 at 1106 W. Lawrence Ave., was designed in the Moorish architectural style, with the interior resembling a Spanish village. Named for a region of Spain, the Aragon was an immediate success and remained a popular Chicago attraction throughout the 1940s. A fire at an adjacent cocktail lounge in 1958 forced the Aragon to close for several months. After the reopening, crowds declined significantly, to the point that regular dancing ended in 1964. A succession of new owners used the Aragon as a roller skating rink, boxing venue, and discothèque, among other uses. It continues as a site for concerts and boxing events.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Uptown walking tour.

Designed by architect Walter W. Ahlschlager, the Spanish Baroque building at 4703 – 4715 N. Broadway was completed in 1926. One of its tenants is the resale shop for the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and The Baton.

Photograph from Chicago Architecture Center Uptown walking tour.

The Monastery of the Holy Cross is a significant early work of architect Hermann J. Gaul, a renowned ecclesial architect of the early 20th century. Recognized for its complex high-vaulted ceiling, the church was completed in 1909 for the German-speaking "national parish" of the Immaculate Conception. The German Gothic Revival church at W. 31st and S. Aberdeen streets incorporates high-Gothic design elements including a high gabled triple-arch entrance, expressive gargoyles and a 14 Gothic-arched, highly decorated Stations of the Cross. The parish closed in 1990, and the Benedictine monastic community was invited to make the building into a unique urban monastery the following year. While some of the original furnishings were lost after the closure, the monks added several religious treasures, most notably altarpiece icons produced in the traditional Byzantine egg tempera method by iconographer Vladislav Andrejev. It was declared a landmark two days previously.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021.

Ebenezer Lutheran Church was organized in 1892. The Swedes who settled in the area completed the sanctuary at 1650 W. Foster Ave. in 1908 (with additions in 1929), and the congregation quickly grew to more than 2,000 members. The sanctuary has beautiful Swedish stenciling along the ceiling, stained glass windows that are the largest of their kind and an intricate altarpiece. A 1987 remodeling carefully preserved the historic elements of the sanctuary. The stairs to the balcony on each side are of different styles; lore has it that the architect, also a prominent local homebuilder, constructed them to show prospective clients two options for staircases.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2019.

The Episcopal Church of the Atonement was founded in 1888 and began worship in this distinctive red stone building at 5743 N. Kenmore Ave. in 1890. Although the building has been expanded twice – to more than double its original capacity – it has always maintained the English Gothic style from its first architect, Henry Ives Cobb. The sanctuary contains a booming pipe organ. A columbarium lies below the floor where the parishioners’ remains rest. The Parish House was added in 1924, and the sanctuary's stained-glass windows were gradually installed from 1929 to 1946.

Photograph at Chicago Architecture Center Open House Chicago 2021