Trip 94: Saturday Afternoon Drive on the West Side

Date: February 26, 2011
Trip: 94
Landmarks Visited: 6
Landmarks To-Date: 246
Landmarks Remaining: 107

On an overcast Saturday afternoon, Shawn and I took a drive to the west side to see a few landmarks. Shawn stayed in the car and slept most of the time--somehow I don't think he's as interested in landmarks as I am.

I used my GPS to find my way between the landmarks on this trip. It let me down for the first time. I think it has a few of the residential streets mis-marked on the west side. So I couldn't find one of the landmarks planned for this trip. Still, six out of seven isn't bad.

1. Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church

2. Lindeman & Hoverson Co. Showroom & Warehouse

The building looks like it is now used for residential condos.

3. King-Nash House

To me this house is very Chicago, so it's fitting that it is in part named after Chicago political boss Patrick Nash. He lived in the house from the 1920s to the 1940s.

4. Garfield Park Fieldhouse

I had visited this fieldhouse once before for an art opening at the Peace Museum, which at least used to be housed in the building. It's probably the most ornate fieldhouse, both inside and out, that I have ever seen. And it's been incredibly well maintained by the Chicago Park District.

5. Walser House

I had driven past this house before and correctly assumed that it was a Frank Lloyd Wright design. It would make sense that there would be some Wright designs in Chicago's Austin neighborhood because it is adjacent to Oak Park, where his home and workshop were located for much of his career.

What makes this house even more unique is that it is stuck between two very nondescript more contemporary buildings. You are not at all expecting to see a Wright house when you stumble upon it.

6. Third Unitarian Church