Wells Street Bridge

Wells Street Bridge, 1922

Back in 2009 I did a series of drawings of the bridge-houses in the Loop.  This was one of my favorites, so I thought I would repost. It was more an exercise in representation, so there's limited historic information.

Built: 1922
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Clarence Rowe, engineer

This is a view of the Wells Street Bridge looking northwest across the Chicago River. That round thing in the water is called a dolphin, and protects the bridge house from meandering barges. I recently spent 20 minutes in the rain waiting for this bridge to lower as various yachts motored past. In the fall people bring their sailboats in from Lake Michigan to the dry docks on the south branch. It's a good time to hang around Wacker Drive and yell abuse down at them.

Infrastructure #6

This is part of the Washington Street Bridge, which I cross twice a day to get to and from my train at Ogilvie Station.  In the background you can see part of the Daily News Building.  This morning the Chicago River was as smooth as glass.  For some reason I kept expecting half a cow carcass to float to the surface.

Michigan Avenue Bridge

Built: 1920

Edward Bennet, architect

Thomas G. Pihlfeldt, engineer

Hugh Young, engineer

Time to revisit the Michigan Avenue Bridge.  Earlier I posted a detail of one of the bridge houses.  I could probably fill up a sketchbook with details from this, sculptural and structural.  Here's the previous post.  This just went through a multi-million dollar renovation, complete with new, historically appropriate, railings.

This bridge required four bond issues for funding, but it's worth it. Thanks, 1920s Chicago! Eventually the Riverwalk below will be lined with restaurants and mimes.  I guess.

I have two holidays coming up.  Lincoln's birthday tomorrow and Washington's birthday on Monday.  We take birthdays seriously around here.  Actually, last year these were holidays.  This year they're unpaid days off.  Yay recession!

State Street Bridge

Built: 1949

W.E. Lofgren, engineer

Stephen Michuda, engineer

This bridge was originally designed in 1930 but was postponed until the State Street subway project began in 1939.  Apparently the subway tunnel beneath the river and the bridge were built simultaneously.  Work stopped at the order of the War Production Board in 1942 and didn't resume until 1947.  You can see a section of the recently extended Riverwalk in the foreground.  And of course the corncobs of Marina City in the background.

Looks like Chicago is finally getting some snow today.  It took long enough.  I thought we might go the whole winter without some decent sledding weather.   Come Sunday you may find us at the hill at Warren Park with our daredevil 4-year old.

Wabash Avenue Bridge

Built: 1930

Donald Becker, engineer

Clarence Rowe, engineer

Paul Schioler, engineer

This bridge was dedicated to longtime Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet in 1986. Apparently it was featured in the opening sequence of "Perfect Strangers."  I haven't had the nerve to try and check this on iTube.  You can see the new Trump Tower (which replaced the Sun-Times building) in the background. 

On Sunday we took Felix to Garfield Park Conservatory.  Always a good way to spend a winter morning.  Later in the day we gritted our teeth and bought a new iMac at Old Orchard. 

Our old Mac was approaching 10 years old, and had been working more and more slowly.  We (okay, I) had put this off for months for no good reason.  If Angela ends up working part-time from home after the new baby we'll need a good computer.  Amazing to see the huge improvement in design and speed after 10 years.  I just hope we get it to work with our printer/scanner.  And our ancient version of Photoshop.  Otherwise it may be a while before I post new drawings. 

Dearborn Street Bridge

Built: 1963

Stephen Michuda, engineer

Dearborn has the distinction of being the location of the first moveable bridge in Chicago, built in 1834.  This bridge is the fourth incarnation and it's faced with polished granite with stainless steel mullions.  In 1963 this received an award of merit by the American Institute of Steel Construction.  Maybe for using plenty of steel?  You can see the edge of Marina City to the right, which was being constructed at about the same time.

Today is the meeting of the Permit Review Committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.  For this first time in months I have no projects to present.  This means next month I'll have half a dozen, so I'm trying to appreciate the moment.

Michigan Avenue Bridge, detail

Built: 1920
Edward Bennet, architect
Thomas G. Pihlfedlt, engineer
Hugh Young, engineer

This is the northeast bridge house of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, completed in 1920. This bridge basically opened up the north side of the river for development, which eventually transformed from quiet Pine Street to the Magnificent Mile.

All four bridge houses have high relief sculptures incorporated into the structure. This one is called "The Discoverers" and shows LaSalle, Marquette and Joliet being guided by an armored angel carrying the torch of knowledge. Or something like that. First-rate propaganda.

Jackson Boulevard Bridge

Built: 1916
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Alexander VonBabo, engineer

This bridge was built by the Sanitary District. Does it look sanitary? It's very much like the other octagonal bridge houses but this one is cast concrete rather than stone or terra cotta. Maybe not the best choice, since it looks like it's falling apart.

Van Buren Street Bridge

Built: 1956
Stephen Michuda, engineer

This bridgehouse looks like a guard tower for a prison. Maybe that's what they were going for. Also, I've seen these same railings on bridges spanning the Sanitary Ship Canal on the north side. They must have been standard IDOT design in the 50s. To the right you can see the support structures for upper and lower Wacker Drive.

Adams Street Bridge

Built: 1927
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Donald Becker, engineer
Clarence Rowe, engineer

For some reason this bridge is always covered with pigeons... I left them out for clarity.  This time.  The design is influenced by Parisian models.  It's similar to the LaSalle bridge houses, but less elaborate.

The information I've found is good about naming engineers that worked on the project, but less useful at identifying the origination of the bridge house designs.  Some were apparently designed by Edward Bennet (of the 1909 Plan of Chicago fame) and some follow his design specifications.  But I need to track down some better documentation for the more unusal designs.

Monroe Street Bridge

Built: 1919
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Clarence Rowe, engineer
Hugh E. Young, engineer

This bridge was one of three paid for by Union Station in exchange for approval of the Union Terminal Ordinance of 1914. Quid pro quo. Behind and to the left is the “old” Chicago Mercantile Exchange Building (1987). The 40,000 sq.ft. trading floor has now been cut up for new offices.  The design closely adheres to the City Beautiful principles- high quality materials with a decidedly classical bent. It's easy to think of these bridge houses as tiny monuments.

Dearborn Street Bridge, detail

Sometimes to really appreciate a bridge you've got to get underneath it. Swimming in the Chicago River is not recommended, but I do recommend the water taxis. For a mere $2 you can hop on a boat at Madison and take it to Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue, or Chinatown. You might pay $25 for an architectural river tour, but for far less you can sit next to a crazy local who mumbles angrily about politics and points out the failures of the new Trump Tower.

Franklin-Orleans Bridge

Built: 1920
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Clarence Rowe, engineer
Hugh Young, engineer

This bridge is just east of the confluence of the 3 branches of the Chicago River, known as Wolf Point. Back in the 1830s this was the place to be, where you could find taverns, hotels and more taverns. Nowadays it looks kind of crummy. The Sun Times building is in the background, which is one of the more aggressively awful looking buildings in Chicago.  Completion of this bridge was delayed in part by WWI.

Clark Street Bridge

Built: 1929
Paul Schioler, engineer

This is a view looking south across the river towards the Loop. In the background to the right you can see a half-built hotel which has basically been abandoned since the developer went bankrupt. Strange thing to see in the center of Chicago.

If anyone cares, all the bridges around the loop are double-leaf Bascule bridges. It's fun to say that fast.

Madison Street Bridge

Built: 1923
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Clarence Rowe, engineer
(rehabbed, 1994)

This may be the busiest bridge downtown, since both Union Station and Ogilvie Station let out onto Madison west of the Chicago River. The bridge houses are almost identical to Wells but the real difference is the bridge structure. What it loses in drama it makes up in unobstructed views to the north and south.

You wouldn't think the narrow sidewalks would accommodate a guy drumming on big plastic buckets every day during rush hour, but you'd be wrong.

LaSalle Street Bridge

Built: 1928
Edward Bennet, architect (confirmed?)
Donald Becker, engineer
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Clarence Rowe, engineer

This 1928 bridge coincides with the extension of Wacker Drive on the south.  Only two of the bridge houses are (or were) functional.  The other two were just for symmetry. The decorative mansard roofs are lead.

I like including the background buildings for these drawings. Its going to be tricky to keep them from attracting too much attention. This view is to the west, looking slightly northwest towards Merchandise Mart.

Lake Street Bridge

Built: 1916
John Ericcson, engineer
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Alexander Vonbabo, engineer

I'm very fond of the bridges that also accommodate the el. I didn't want to draw too much attention to it, but I was lucky to have it go past when I was taking reference photos. This drawing is a good reminder of why I seldom choose a format larger than 4 inches. It's too easy to get caught in the tiny gradations of cross-hatched tone. One more bridge at this scale, and the next three will smaller, more simplified. If I need more detail I can always include some close-ups.

On Saturday we leave for our vacation. This will be the first week-long vacation since before Felix was born. We're renting a house on Kelley's Island for a week. For anyone unfamiliar that's in Lake Erie near Sandusky. Nothing to do but swim, read, walk, and draw. And possibly go to restaurants featuring super-sweet Ohio wines. Our house even has a fire pit, which sounds like mixed blessing when combined with a three-year old. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law will be joining us. Even my parents will drop by for a night. This is kind of a new experiment for us, so we'll see how it goes.

Washington Street Bridge

Built: 1930
Edward Bennet, architect
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Alexander VonBabo, engineer

Bridge house originally clad with copper sheet metal, but there looks to be alot of odd repairs.

This is looking east towards the Loop across the Chicago River. You can see the edge of the Civic Opera on the right. I had this idea to create drawings of every bridge around the Loop and to compile them into a booklet with a little history for each one. Would tourists buy that sort of thing? Could I sell them downtown without getting arrested? Probably not.

Drawing every bridge seemed a lot more achievable before I found that this one took me two weeks of lunch breaks.

Wednesday we leave for another whirlwind trip to Ohio. Felix can see the grandparents and we can forget about work for a while. I hope. Turns out the union rejected the City's offer for furloughs instead of layoffs. As of July 15th 1,500 city workers will be gone. It seems like random luck that I'm not included. This time.