The Babuk Report

Category: Current Affairs

  • Happy Canada Day! … from Chicago…

    In connecting two concepts:

    July 1 is Canada Day. July 1, 1867 was the day that HRM Queen Victoria signed the British North America Act and officially declared Canada to be a country.

    Milt Rosenberg is an iconic Chicago radio broadcaster. Over the years, he has regularly interviewed the likes of Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher. Mr. Rosenberg has a regular show, “720 Extension” that may be heard on Chicago’s WGN Radio. WGN Radio broadcasts on 720AM and at www.wgnradio.com and on numerous social media.

    This year, on Sunday, July 1, 2012, Milt Rosenberg will commemorate Canada Day by interviewing Canadians who live in the Chicago area. I happen to be one of those lucky Canadians invited to participate.

    “720 Extension” will air Sunday, July 1, 2012 at 10PM Central Time.

  • Darrel Babuk presented with Visit Oak Park Award

    At the Annual Meeting of Visit Oak Park (formerly known as the Oak Park Area Visitor and Convention Bureau), Darrel Babuk was presented with the “New Member of the Year Award”, in recognition of the Babuk Presentations, Inc.  initiative.

    Though Darrel Babuk is a practicing architect – having completed various project and program management projects for clients such as the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago Public Schools, and West Suburban Hospital –he has always been doing public speaking engagements and other presentations.

    It may have started with his presentation to the Royal Institute of British Architects in London that described architectural internship and formal education in the United States, which Darrel was invited to present as part of his tenure as National Vice President of the American Institute of Architecture Students.  The concept of Babuk Presentations took off when Darrel was tapped by the City of Chicago Mayor’s Office of Special Events for a series of presentations about Chicago’s architecture and railroad history for the Great Chicago Places and Spaces festival series.  His address to the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s national convention last year was but one of several out-of-town presentations where he has promoted Oak Park; on the flip side, he is constantly delivering customized presentations about Chicago and Oak Park to organized groups visiting from out-of-town and abroad.  

    He has always been organizing events – like “Canadian Architecture in Chicago Week”, or the “Scottish Motor Club and British Car Show” at the Illinois Saint Andrew Society Highland Games, or even the “Oak Park Architecture Photo Party” for the North Avenue Business Association. 

    Putting all of this together created Babuk Presentations, Inc, a hobby turned into a business that promotes Oak Park. 

    In connecting even more of the dots, Babuk Presentations, Inc. provides cross-border US / Canada goods and services trade consulting to clients in the Architecture / Engineering and Construction sectors.  

    It’s all great fun to do, and fun to be doing it in Oak Park.

  • It’s a New Year – 2011!

    As I keep reminding people, any good Canadian Prairie Kid can tell you that there’s a good three or four days left to celebrate Christmas…

    In exchanging Seasons Greetings with my colleagues, the universal response has been something to the effect that “2011 will definitely be better than 2010 because it couldn’t get much worse”.  There are all sorts of dark clouds out there, especially here in the States: an unresolved residential mortgage crisis, a glut of building space in virtually every market sector, perceived tight credit markets…. The list goes on.

    Yet, many that I speak to mention that the private sector – in corporations – are sitting on $1.5trillion in cash reserves that sometime soon, under corporate law, they will need to spend.  The three areas the private sector could put these funds towards would be employee bonuses, dividends for shareholders, or capital improvements.  While any of these options will have positive economic ramifications, the latter option – capital improvements – speaks to using money to better one’s ability to compete in the marketplace.

    While it was posted some time ago, I still stand by one of my first posts to The Babuk Report “The Rise and Fall of the McMansion and Other Midwestern Housing Trends”, with a couple updates.  As predicted, the era of the mega house has come to an end.  Even the practice of building more and more on the outer limits of existing urbanized development seems precariously endangered – virtually every US city is surrounded by miles of partially developed land packed full with empty building sites and partially completed houses, usually sited along streets finished with pavement and sewer systems.  It all came true.  Here’s what’s next:

    While we may have a glut of existing building stock, we are a growing population that will need to be accommodated with building space.

    Of the existing space that’s out there, some will simply become obsolete, having lived well beyond its serviceable lifespan.  Without a strong historical or emotional reason to preserve it, this type of building space will be demolished and either replaced with new, or the site vacated.  Entire sections of Detroit are seeing this – it made more sense to abandon entire sections of Detroit: relocate what few residents were left, abandon streets and municipal services, focus on areas with sustainable populations and return the rest of the city to agriculture.

    The same may happen to buildings that lack the “location, location, location” mantra of the real estate industry, or are of a highly specific configuration that won’t lend itself to different uses – like trying to stuff a large public space into something with a small structural grid and low ceilings. This too may be replaced.

    Of other building space that’s left in good shape, we’ll see more of it being renovated and updated, perhaps even being put to adaptive reuse.  The proposed Children’s Museum at Millennium Park in Chicago is a highly creative adaptive reuse of what would otherwise have been an abandoned parking garage.

    Moreover, this development – more appropriately “re-development” will occur in areas that are already part of an established built up area.  As predicted, the areas inside cities closest to convenient public transit are more desirable than others, as the Chicago Tribune reported in an article describing suburban Palatine and it’s Metra Commuter Rail station.

    As for financing – there’s money out there to be lent. It’s just that everyone is too squeamish to step up to the plate.

    All said, here’s the opportunity: existing buildings and building sites well located inside existing desirable communities, close to transportation.  One might even start considering the sort of municipal debt and local tax burden, that can be discussed in a future post.   Start looking, and remember that there’s still a few days left to celebrate Christmas.

  • An Expanding Role for Babuk Presentations

    The relationship enjoyed by Canada and the United States is a model to be envied around the world.  While the cross border relationship thrives in many ways, the intertwined nature of both countries’ economies is fascinating:  not only are both countries each others’ largest trading partner, but the value of exports from one virtually equals the value of imports from the other.

    The premier of Saskatchewan once made a presentation in Chicago about hot dogs with mustard and Chicago Cubs baseball at Wrigley Field. The United States exports baseball as a national past time and cultural phenomenon, Canada exports virtually every bit of mustard consumed in the States that supports baseball. It’s that entwined.  In another presentation I recall, the Canadian Minister of Industry once recounted travelling with the materials of an automotive part – from the extraction of raw materials to the completion and installation of the manufactured part.  He crossed the border between Detroit and Windsor seven times.

    Naturally, I go back and forth quite a bit between the two countries, and I’ve made extensive presentations on both sides of the border.  For some time, through an outgrowth of public presentations, I’ve helped companies understand the markets on the other side of the border.  It just never occurred to me to formalize that as part of Babuk Presentations, Inc.

    Until now.

    Linking international connections with professional, architectural knowledge to the cross border import / export Architectural / Engineering and Construction communities of Canada and the USA.

    That’s us.  It’s just a natural extension of what’s been happening all along.

  • It’s been a while, folks….

    …and a whirlwind of activities it has been.  Just to name a few of the distractions that came over me:

    Leading a program for the National Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians that was held in Chicago.

    Delivering a presentation of “Canadian Architects of the Chicago School 1884 – 1935” to the National Festival of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and delivering abbreviated versions of this presentation to the Racquet Club of Chicago, and to the Cliff Dwellers Club.

    Being a Docent for the Pleasant Home Foundation’s annual “Pleasant Homes of Oak Park” fundraiser.

    At the request and sponsorship of Visit Oak Park, planning a program describing the art and architecture of Oak Park’s churches to be given during the Oak Park Arts Council’s “ArtRageous! Oak Park” Festival, to which the kind folks at Porter Airlines generously donated a pair of roundtrip airline tickets as a silent auction item.

    All of the speaking engagements have lead to some fascinating research, like finding meeting minutes of the River Forest Tennis Club first approving the membership applications of Mr.  & Mrs. Frank Lloyd Wright in 1907, only to be succeeded by Board Meeting minutes in 1912 or so, rescinding the memberships of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney, for reason of “Philandering”.

    There’s been lots of travel, including some time on the west coast (prairie kids always want to wind up on the coast).

    And a trip to speak in Saskatoon (it’s a city in Saskatchewan), where I found that not only was the person in line behind me at the airport the Senior Advisor to the Premier of Saskatchewan going away on a quick vacation of sorts, but that the incoming flight was grounded due to a bird strike and ensuing engine flame out.

    But that if that wasn’t enough for careening into famous political figures, I bumped into Paul Martin (former Prime Minister of Canada) at the Island Airport in Toronto – he actually took a seat next to me in the Departures Lounge.

    And many volunteer activities:

    Volunteering to give impromptu Canadian geography presentations during the Tall Ships Festival.

    Chairing the British Car Show at the Illinois Saint Andrew Society Highland Games.  I had planned to enter the Caber Toss event and even contacted the Heavy Athletic Chair to enquire; I just didn’t get around to attending the training sessions held in a far western suburb of Chicago. 

    Assisting various community groups organize various car shows or British, Italian and German themes, complete with entertainment by the Thistle and Heather Highland Dancers, and various bagpipers.

    Oak Park Architecture Photo Party, which even extended into the Galewood neighbourhood of Chicago, an area rich with mid-century modern architecture.

    And I’ve started to develop manuscripts for books, including “Canadian Architects of the Chicago School 1884 – 1935”, “First Railroads, Then Skyscrapers”; and the one closest to publication “Art Deco Oak Park”, for which there is a hard bound draft copy lurking about.

    Whew!!  Perhaps I ought to simply get back to writing The Babuk Report…

  • The North Avenue Architecture Photo Party

    North Avenue, the border between the north side of Oak Park and the Galewood neighborhood of Chicago, is relatively newer than many surrounding neighborhoods. While the buildings along North Avenue post date Frank Lloyd Wright, he golfed here with friends and clients. Many used the area as a place to get away and hide from the City.  It was one of the first automobile oriented commercial strips in the Chicago area. A favorite location for drive-in restaurants, the road west of Oak Park and Galewood – known as State Route 64 – was a renowned teen hangout for street races. 

    Architecturally, the area is rich in 1920’s storefronts with highly decorative terra cotta cladding and details. Later buildings were exuberantly mid-century modern. 

    Experience the world renowned architecture of our town, which is just a scant eight miles / twelve kilometres from another equally world renowned and architecturally significant place, the Chicago Loop.  

    And besides –North Avenue has lots of great restaurants, stores and cultural attractions to discover and enjoy once you’ve completed the North Avenue Architecture Photo Party.

    Instructions:

    By walking along public sidewalks and right-of-ways contained along North Avenue between Austin and Harlem Avenues, and for an area one block north and south along Harlem Avenue; locate these architectural features and details, noting their location. 

    Oak Park is a living museum containing many private homes that just happen to be world renowned masterpieces.  No private residences are featured in the North Avenue Architecture Photo Party.   However, please respect the homeowner’s privacy and remain on the public sidewalks for the hunt.

    Here’s a sampling of the program:

    The Jetsons’ probably get their teeth fixed here.
    Terra Cotta TV
    A monumental building

    An additional feature of the scavenger hunt is the North Avenue Historical Photo Party.  This may be the most enigmatic image of them all:

    North Pole Drive In, River Forest, Illinois

    While historians agree that this was the North Pole Drive In, located in River Forest, Illinois.  It’s also agreed that its architect was Bertrand Goldberg.  No consensus exists on where this was located.  However, I have my theories….

     The entire program is on display in the lobbies of these banks on North Avenue, who have supported the North Avenue Architecture Photo Party:

    ABC Bank, North Avenue, Chicago

    Charter One Bank, North Avenue, Chicago

    Midwest Bank, North Avenue, Elmwood Park

    US Bank, North Avenue, Oak Park

    June 2010 North Avenue Architecture Photo Party is a production of:

    North Avenue Business Association

    Oak Park Architectural League

    This edition has been made possible by:

    Visit Oak Park

    Oak Park River Forest Historical Foundation

    www.3planets.com / www.shopoakpark.com

    Heitzman Architects

    Babuk Presentations, Inc / www.TourAboutChicago.com

    Keep following this event anywhere in the world at www.OakParkArchitectureParty.com

  • So, what was that you wanted to know?

    The last month or so has seen a flurry of behind the scenes activity at the Babuk Report.  All for the good.  It’s all about Learn About Chicago a venture described elsewhere in this blog.

    Learn About Chicago is an initiative that is an extension of the sort of architectural awareness and organization that I’ve done in past.  It is a division of Babuk Presentations, Inc.

    The major focus of Learn About Chicago targets university students who want to spend an extended period studying Chicago’s architecture. It may be a studio class led a professor from a visiting institution, or it may be a program of presentations and interactive learning experiences that I assemble.  I work with the visiting groups to tailor make a Chicago experience that they will take with them, to further their studies at their home collegiate institution.  Learn About Chicago can work with many other groups wanting a series of presentations – presentations delivered by myself or others – bundled together into a program that describes Chicago.

    Tour About Chicago is another division of Babuk Presentations Inc.  Tour About Chicago focuses on delivering articulate and informative presentations about Chicago’s architectural and railroad history.  I weave Chicago’s historical sites into captivating and fascinating story lines.  Tour About Chicago is much like what I’ve been doing all along.  Many of the Tour About Chicago presentations – especially those that describe Oak Park and the near western suburbs of Chicago will be marketed through Visit Oak Park.

    Tour About Chicago specializes in the little known parts of Chicago.  Quirky history.

    Babuk Presentations, Inc. is a new direction within my architectural practice.  It specializes in all types of presentations; graphic design, public speaking and the like.

    Watch for a revamped web presence soon.

  • More Poetry

    In response to a recent musing about William McGonagall, friends from Vancouver have since brought to my attention Sarah Binks, the Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan.  A regular feature on a CBC Radio broadcast, her works included poetry like this:

    “My Garden”

    A little blade of grass I see

    Its banner waving wild and free

    And I wonder if in time to come

    ‘Twill be a great big onion

    Would anyone be upset if they learned that Sarah Binks was simply a fictitious fabrication of a University of Manitoba professor? 

    http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007148

    I shall never attempt to write about a snowy winter day in Oak Park ever again.

  • Happy New Decade!

    Happy New Year.  It’s surprising to see that we’re already a decade into the new century.

    Previous posts have spoken about vacant storefronts and even vacant buildings, all from the aftermath of the latest economic turn.  There is so much vacant space out there that based on current absorption rates, some markets have several years supply of some building types like… condominiums.  It could take several years to recover to get back to where we were. This empty space in empty buildings simply sits and waits.  No one has really caught on to the idea that this space could be re-adapted to different uses.

    In the meantime, one may deduce a similar “oversupply” of the people who design and build. In this case, many of these people have “re-adapted” out of necessity.  While this is good for them, it has left an enormous void of talent, skill and expertise that has left the marketplace.  A colleague (formerly) in the print publishing business suggested that it may take as long as twenty years for the architectural profession to make up lost ground, lost to a “brain drain” caused by the current economy.

    There are fascinating opportunities coming out of all this.  While cities that best depicted the late twentieth century – the Sunbelt – have stalled from an oversupply of built space that led to sharp drops in real estate prices; many cities of the early twentieth century – the Rust Belt – are retreating. 

    It’s like Las Vegas vs. Detroit.

    Las Vegas just opened an incredibly huge hotel complex; its economic viability is yet to be seen.  Residential housing prices in the Las Vegas area are still depressed, though many feel this reveals some “great buys” in the real estate market that services retirees.  The retiree market doesn’t depend on finding employment to sustain housing costs.

    Detroit has even better deals – well, lower prices – in residential real estate.  At first glance, Detroit may seem to be unsustainable and unaffordable: although prices are low, the potential market is people who work.  In a city without jobs, housing at any price is unsustainable and unaffordable. 

    I’ve heard many a seminar presentation about cities like Detroit recently, and Detroit is the oft-cited example. It was a much larger city in its heyday a few decades ago: having shrunk in population but not geographical area, it’s saddled with much more infrastructure than it needs and can support.  Many are projecting Detroit to be a very viable city if it trimmed its infrastructure and broadened its economic base to support a city of its current population levels – still one of the largest cities in the United States.  Some are even proposing urban agriculture for Detroit, a very novel “reuse / re-adapt” concept.

    Michigan Central Railroad Station, Detroit
    Michigan Central Railroad Station, Detroit

    Speaking specifically about Detroit as a precursor and example, it has the potential to be a very vibrant smaller city; the buildings that supported a larger city have been left behind.  Several buildings buildings have been left in ruin – the former Michigan Central Railroad Station, various hotels and office buildings, even industrial complexes where automobiles were once assembled.

    In archaeology, we know of classical ruins, of medieval ruins and the like.  Here, we have a new category:  modern ruins. Quite fabulous modern ruins, at that.

    Regardless, it’s still a decade into the new century. Just as the nineteenth century economy was different than the twentieth century economy that followed; the nineteenth century set up the twentieth century’s economy.  The same may be true of the twentieth and the twenty first century’s economies.  The economic structure of the new century hasn’t revealed itself.

    Yet.

  • Christmas Trees Around the World in Cook County

    Chicago is a city of neighbourhoods, and a city of many ethnic backgrounds and traditions.

     
     

     

    Canadian tree (right), Egyptian tree (middle)
    Canadian tree (right), Egyptian tree (middle)

    Recently, I was invited to attend the Cook County Treasurer’s / Office of Ethnic Affairs Christmas Party of “Christmas Trees Around the World”.  Every year, they send me an invite to attend.  They know me from the Canadian Club and from the Saint Andrew Society, am never sure what to dress up as.  This event coincides with a display of Christmas trees decorated by various ethnic groups in the area, all on display in the same room where one pays property taxes at City Hall. 

     

    A Hammond Organ, an Accordion - what more could a Christmas party need?
    A Hammond Organ, an Accordion – what more could a Christmas party need?

    Last year, the County Treasurer could been seen crooning Christmas carols with the Chairman of the County Board, while the Chairman played a mean Hammond organ.  This year, the Chair wasn’t in attendance, but the image from last year made me think that all that was missing was someone playing the accordion, like the parade scene in “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off”.  Low and behold, this year –perhaps to make up for the non-appearance of the County Chair – the German American Association of Chicago supplied a rotund fellow with an accordion, leading the crowd in an all German rendition of “Silent Night”. The County Treasurer was positioned at the Hammond organ, though not nearly as theatrical as was the County Chair.  It was a very Chicago sort of thing.

    Now about what to show up as: in panning both Canadian and Scottish organizations to see who would be making an appearance, the Canadian Club were planning a good showing, the Scots were lacking, so I dressed up in full highland garb.  The Canadians were impressed.  A lady from a Scandinavian consulate likewise appeared to be impressed though I may never know, as she only spoke to me in a language that I couldn’t understand.  She did seem to be chuckling as she spoke, however.

    The Scottish tree, immediately prior to a group of ladies asking me to pose beside it
    The Scottish tree, immediately prior to a group of ladies asking me to pose beside it

    On that note however, and in response to the Germanic rendition of “Silent Night”, I attempted to get a French rendition of “Jingle Bells”, or rather “Vive la Vente” without success.  They only others in attendance who could speak French were a group of people from Cameroon, and I think that the whole “snow” concept may have been a bit of a novelty.