Here's an example of something typical of the mid to late sixties and early seventies in the inner city areas of the city - a fortress like, battlemented building. This one in Old Town, where there are a fair number of buildings with this theme, as well as in Hyde Park and Kenwood (though in rowhouse, rather than apartment, form). This format is, I suspect, a reaction to the unstable times then - increasing percieved crime, riots and the like - this was an ugly time in urban American (and I don't mean shag carpet and avacado appliances neither).
The interesting this about this building is that it looks as if it were a major remodelling of an older building - either a rowhouse or a three flat. It also, from the stoop, looks as if it was one of the nearby complex of quirky art deco buildings.
I also must apoligize, as always, for not keeping my blog updated more - I have been having computer "issues" (read; major problems) and will attempt, try and endeavor to keep this updated.
Here are some recent views of the studio apartments on Burton Place, nearly across the street from our previous example. They were a late 1920's renovation of existing buildings, one of several such done by the same team of Edgar Miller and Sol Kogan et al. The interiors are equal to the exteriors, unusually, in this case.
These were done when the neighborhood was much more bohemian and 'artistic' than it is today and it was also, at the time, the epicenter of the gay community in Chicago as well, such as it was. It was, during that era, quite exciting, and lasted as an artistic area up until well into the 1970s and even into the 80s.
