Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Some Midcentury Fun

Some mid-century fun for the mid week. Here are some of our more mid-century kitsch buildings.
First off we have the fantastic "murals" at.... the home of the eternal flame... home of the stained glass (ala Brady Residence stairs) graced mail rooms..... Chinese Village shod courtyard.... yes, oh yes. Why, of course it is, it's...Imperial Towers. These two shots only show some of it's charm(s). Not to mention the incredible "I Dream of Jeannie" style worm wood paneling and kitchen screens which original condition units still have.
Next we have a canopy (one of a series) at Sandburg Village, which shows some of it's age with it's butterfly construction, as well as some corrosion staining....
And lastly, a nearly matching canopy with sculpture at 555 W. Cornelia. More on this building and it's ilk in the future, I should think, since I have some theories about it's design, in relation to other buildings here and a possible antecedent to these. The precedent will be a lot of fun once I get it posted, I promise.

3 comments:

Gretchen said...

Oooh, these are great! Is that embedded rock in the mural? Too cool! Love the butterfly and zig-zag awnings too.

David said...

Gretchen, I'm not sure. I will try to find out, I have some inside contacts in the building. It's really quite something. Several buildings of this vintage along this stretch of Lake Shore Drive have similar garage podium treatments.

Gretchen said...

I look forward to future posts about these! Love your blog :)