Trip: 45
Landmarks Visited: 4
Landmarks To-Date: 133
Landmarks Remaining: 220
On Sunday afternoon my friend Jason and I took a bike ride north along the lake through the Edgewater and Rogers Park neighborhoods and through the Loyola University Chicago campus. Luckily we made it home just before another summer rain storm. It seems like we've had a lot of rain this summer so far.
1. Colvin House
The Colvin House is a beautiful, rectangular yellow-brick house on Sheridan Road near Lake Michigan. Its ornamentation is simple, including stone window frames and a single arched dormer window on the third floor. It appears to still be a private home.
Jason is the guy in the bike helmet and sunglasses in one of the photos.
2. Mundelein College Skyscraper Building
This building is on the campus of Loyola University Chicago. I've never had a reason to go on the campus before, and was surprised by how beautiful it is. The campus is compact, but it is located right on Lake Michigan. It includes a few art deco buildings (two of which you'll see here) together with some building that I would call Italianate or Italian Renaissance, and some modern structures.
The Mundelein building is located on Sheridan Road where it makes a sharp turn so that when you're driving north the building is directly in front, and really commands your attention. Two large sculptures (approximately 3 stories tall) flank the main entrance to the building. One holds a torch and the other a book or tablet. The windows and doors on the first floor are protected by decorative bronze grills.
3. Madonna Della Strada Chapel
This chapel along made the trip worth while. I had never seen an art deco church before, and I love the clean lines and lack of color on the exterior. The church opens to the lake, which I'm sure makes for beautiful events there.
The chapel was open, so I was able to photograph the interior as well. The interior is also very clean and simple, at least relative to Gothic churches. But the paintings in the chapel I think were intended to have a Medieval feel in their lack of perspective and limited color palette. The paintings made me think of icons that I have seen in Orthodox churches in Ukraine.
4. Bach House
The Bach House is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed-home built it 1915. The landmark plaque says that it was one of his last small homes.
My friend Jason found it amusing that the plaque says "The inward orientation of the house...reflects Wright's idea of the importance of family life" considering how turbulent Wright's personal life actually was.
The house looks to be perfectly maintained. In fact, it's hard to believe that the house is almost 100 years old. Just based on looking at the house from the street, I would have guessed that it was a more contemporary copy of a Wright design.
What a gorgeous home. I wonder if it has the same leaking issues his other structures do.
ReplyDeleteA read a quote one time from a woman who lived in a FLW house. Someone asked her if her housed leaked and she said something to the effect of, 'To live in a work of art you accept some leaks'. I thought it was a great response:)
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