I've been impressed with the "Images of Change" digital photo archive of UIC. Many of these photos were developed to document building violations for the City of Chicago in the 1950s, which is a great way to show the guts of the city. But it also includes a large number of streetscapes. The 1950s was at the very beginning of a long decline and disinvestment in urban areas. You can really sense the desperation as signage becomes larger and more strident on buildings that look increasingly shabby. At least that's my take on it...
The gothic revival building on the right is long gone (replaced with a drive-through bank), and the central building has been mostly rebuilt. With the loss of the corner building that feeling of enclosure has been lost on this block.
The gothic revival building on the right is long gone (replaced with a drive-through bank), and the central building has been mostly rebuilt. With the loss of the corner building that feeling of enclosure has been lost on this block.
I wonder if the lost building on the corner was the result of a fire - or if the price got low enough that a bank was able to purchase it and tear it down for the drive through. There was a rather large fire New Year's Eve 1968 or 1969 at the SW corner of Devon and Ashland/Clark that was then torn down due to the fire's destruction. A gas station now stands there. That intersection, too, lost that feeling of enclosure.
ReplyDeleteI was a child and lived a couple of blocks from that fire on the SW corner of Devon and Clark, and never forgot seeing billowing black smoke going up into the sky. I asked another relative about this memory fairly recently, and was told there was a restaurant that burned down at that corner. He also mentioned them having great french fries!
DeleteAnd the southeast corner of Devon and Clark had an amazing bank! I've seen a photo of that around somewhere...
ReplyDeleteThe fire at Devon/Clark was probably arson, no matter what the authorities said at the time. Almost the entire second floor was the local draft board for the North Side & they were getting burned all over the country! There was also a Navy recruiting office in the building.
ReplyDeleteAs for that bank building across the street, it closed in the Depression & was solely occupied by the Cash Loan Co. [that was it's name] for at least after 1950. The first floor was empty, but there was an enclosed garden with a tree on the alley side.
After the loan company closed, no one wanted that white elephant, so it got torn down for the restaurant, which has been closed since June, without any credible reason for closing. There are signs on the window claiming that there will be remodeling, but that's BS, but the lights have been on inside the entire time, so I wonder who's paying the Con Ed bill?
I lived two blocks away from Devon and Clark as a child, and remember seeing billowing dark smoke going up into the sky. Recently driving by, I asked a relative what was at the corner of Clark and Devon that burned, and he replied there was a restaurant there. He mentioned that they had great french fries! It must have been on the ground floor.
DeleteThe old Deluxe Diner is being replaced by the Cozy Corner pancake house, their third location, according to a DNA info article posted November 4, 2015. It will be a nice addition to the neighborhood.
Morse and Clark is the pits, one ugly bank building, two parking lots, and one lackluster charter school which only faces Morse, the school blocks off Clark with trees,
ReplyDeleteThe intersection that died.