CHICAGO | General Developments

[J_M_Tungsten]

Today
Ignoring the sweet spoiler and speaker cover, that appears to be a Mariano's getting started on 16th and Clark.

[i_am_hydrogen]

[denizen467]

^ Dammmm, girl, where you been all my life...

[Rizzo]

Love that paneled facade. It picks up tones on the surrounding stone structures. Sits right in nicely. And just to get geeky and technical, there's zero oil canning which leads me to believe it some phenolic or very heavy duty gage metail. I also love that razor thin coping detail. Whatever it is, I'd love to spec it on my next project.

Here's a photo of the new Jones Prep

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Hayward

I also love that razor thin coping detail.

I assume the panels are a rainscreen, which means the drip edge is behind the panels and the visual portion can be a knife edge like that.

[ChiPhi]

Man, Goodman Center went up quickly. Looking just okay. the scale of Congress really demands taller buildings imo. Certainly better than a parking lot though. And definitely anywhere else, this would have been unbelievable infill.

[denizen467]

^ A fair point, but Congress is a little too oppressive in that area anyway I feel -- I mean they had to steal land from inside the adjoining buildings just to lay a sidewalk, the street was so narrow. So on the bright side (literally) this southern-side lowrise building will allow some precious sunshine onto this very first block of Congress (and very first block of Historic Route 66, too).

[ardecila]

I'm kinda glad that kept that L-shaped garage with the nifty cantilevers. However, give it another decade and this will be prime real estate for a Heritage/Legacy.

[Mr Downtown]

Huh? US 66 always ran on Jackson Blvd, and later on Jackson & Adams with the advent of one-way streets downtown.

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by denizen467

I mean they had to steal land from inside the adjoining buildings just to lay a sidewalk, the street was so narrow.

A six-lane expressway is considered narrow? The problem wasn't the ROW being too narrow, but the roadway being too wide. There are not a lot of loop streets that wouldn't need the same sidewalk-cramming approach.

[markh9]

Cladding on the PCP DePaul Theater School is going up. From their live webcam:

[Mr Downtown]

Not to get too deep into this, because Congress was considered to be a good thing at the time, the fruition of Burnham's vision for the city—but a number of Loop streets are 80-foot ROWs that could have accommodated six lanes plus 10-foot sidewalks. Congress, however, was only 66 feet wide.

[Joe Zekas]

University Village, Centro18 in Pilsen by YoChicago1, on Flickr

The large vacant parcel just south of the tracks is the site of the defunct Centro 18 project, once slated for 387 residential units. It was reportedly acquired by the Jesuit order.

Any word on the status of any development?

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by BWChicago

A six-lane expressway is considered narrow? The problem wasn't the ROW being too narrow, but the roadway being too wide. There are not a lot of loop streets that wouldn't need the same sidewalk-cramming approach.

No, a 4-lane two-way arterial downtown roadway, with the usual sidewalks, was considered narrow, so it was widened to six lanes, two-way, without sidewalks. The artery must accommodate lanes with turning traffic, onto the nearby two-way arteries, Michigan and State. Regardless this was not my subjective opinion, I was just repeating objective fact including comparison with how much wider the boulevard is west of State.

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Huh? US 66 always ran on Jackson Blvd, and later on Jackson & Adams with the advent of one-way streets downtown.

That is wrong. Not incorrect, just .. so .. wrong .. that a national road should be relegated just off this grand axis. I'm largely kidding, but I must have seen some documentary or show that presented a view of the Congress Plaza area when discussing the Route, and it seems so intuitive. Btw, is "Congress Plaza" the correct name for the nearly semicircular area just east of Michigan bedecked with triumphal statutes?

[ardecila]

I believe that's the correct name. That's what CTA calls it, anyway.

IIRC the Fountain of the Great Lakes was the terminal monument for Route 66 until the Art Institute built the south wing in the 70s and reoriented the fountain.

[sentinel]

Today, Burberry flagship - protective wrapping coming off revealing the mirror-like finish of the exterior detailing:



4th Presbyterian addition:







(sp.)

[J_M_Tungsten]

Fantastic updates all around sentinel!

[Mr Downtown]

Route 66 was created in 1926. The Congress Superhighway opened in 1960. Route 66 was de-designated in 1984. So there wasn't much overlap.

The Park District boulevards, because they were smoothly paved and forbade teamsters and streetcars, quickly became the original crosstown through routes for motorists. Cross-traffic stopped at the boulevards, so old maps show routes like Augusta or Palmer as the best way to the western suburbs. Harry Weese argued that the couplet of Washington/Warren Boulevards could have carried the Eisenhower's traffic load, but I don't agree.

Just be glad this never happened:

[untitledreality]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Harry Weese argued that the couplet of Washington/Warren Boulevards could have carried the Eisenhower's traffic load, but I don't agree.

Do you know if any of his thoughts on this were documented? I would love to read more on the idea if possible.

Originally Posted by sentinel

Today, Burberry flagship - protected wrapping coming off revealing the mirror-like finish of the exterior detailing:

Awesome.

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by untitledreality

Do you know if any of his thoughts on this were documented? I would love to read more on the idea if possible.

Harry Weese underwrote and published Inland Architect during its 1980s revival, and wrote a personal column in each issue. That's where I remember him making the argument, but I don't remember him marshaling any evidence to support his claim. He just threw it out there, as I recall.

I have no idea how he thought truck traffic could be handled, for instance, in a era when the West Loop was still a bustling industrial district. For that matter, so were Cicero and Broadview.