Author: Administrator
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Architecture as a Machine
Many early-modern architectural theoreticians were impressed by inventions of the machine age. Some, like French Architect Le Corbusier, promoted the concept of architecture as a “machine for living”. Still others, like Mies van der Rohe, spoke of the ‘machine aesthetic”. From that same historical period, one may find many examples of “architecture as a machine”…
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A Vacant Building in Chicago
In writing about vacant buildings and storefronts in Oak Park, one would think that I’ve neglected to mention vacancies in Chicago. Whenever I show friends the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park, they always ask about a darkened Venetian Gothic building across Michigan Avenue. It’s the former Chicago Athletic Association; opened in 1894, architect Henry Ives…
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A Tale of Two Cities – the Skyscraper and the Suburb
The Frank Lloyd Wright Studio in Oak Park Oak Park, Illinois is known throughout the world for its revolutionary architecture that defined the American suburb. From his Oak Park studio on Chicago Avenue, Frank Lloyd Wright and his entourage created the suburban home format on a basic grid-iron layout of streets; they developed an entirely new…
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A Courtyard Alley in Chicago’s Loop
In the hunt for more unknown spots in Chicago; one such place covered during my “Secret Streets” presentation during Great Chicago Places and Spaces this year was 22 East Jackson Boulevard. At one time, it was better known as “Pickwick Place”. Historical View, Pickwick Place (image from Dennis McClendon) While seemingly a public right-of-way, Pickwick…
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Walkable Alleys of Oak Park and Elsewhere
When Chicago was initially laid out in the mid 1800’s, it was surveyed with relatively shallow lots meant to support smaller, wood frame houses. There were no alleys, since there were lots of streets around. After the Great Fire, every second street was widened; the narrower streets came to be known as “addressable alleys”. They…
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Old hockey rinks can never die…
A recent story in the Calgary Herald spoke of plans to build a new venue for the Calgary Flames, quoting Calgary Flames President and CEO, Ken King, as saying that the Saddledome was the sixth oldest venue in the National Hockey League. Time flies. It’s not that long ago – 1983 to be exact –…
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Manitobans and Modernists from both parts of the Twentieth Century
The University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture has held an annual Chicago Field Trip for a very long time. I’ve heard first hand accounts of the field trips that occurred during the 1940’s; I gather that they’ve been going on prior to that. For the past couple years, I’ve been honoured to have made presentations…
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Other Coach Houses in Oak Park
Once, in a fit to buy an inexpensive though highly presentable company car for my practice, I came across a restored 1965 Chrysler Crown Imperial convertible. Trouble is, we live on that side of Oak Park where garages are accessible off of alleys; our alley surveys at sixteen feet (about 5.2) metres across. I thought…
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Barn Doors, Department Stores, Kiddie Monorails and Urban Transit Systems
Some time ago, I was at a friend’s office and noticed a photograph on his desk. It almost seemed like something ‘photoshopped’ – it showed a bright, shiny metal tube with children, buzzing overtop the sales aisles of a department store. It was real – the photo was an image of the late 1940’s of…
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The Vancouver “Laneway” House
Within the last year, the City of Vancouver (British Columbia) recently amended the City’s zoning ordinance to permit coach, or “laneway” houses to be built along back alleys (rear lanes) in certain areas. In a nutshell; in specific single family zoned areas, on lots 33’ (about 10.8 metres) or wider that have a back alley…