anyway support your local indie press to learn about cool shit 15 months before it goes viral / becomes a hidden gem or whatever

Pretty frustrating that the New York Times is crediting AP with uncovering the existence of Aadam’s archive when I reported on it 15 months prior. chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...

The wayfinding is terrible, and its been a long time since AIC has done anything to promote it.

The Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room and the Economies of Ornament A celebrated interior of the First Chicago School of Architecture, the Stock Exchange Trading Room was reconstructed within the Art Institute of Chicago…

For MAS Context, I wrote about the Stock Exchange Trading Room at the Art Institute of Chicago. The project was a unique framework of partnerships between government, cultural institutions, and the private sector unlikely to happen again. The room is threatened as the AIC plans a campus expansion.

I spoke at the Arts Club in 2024 and was given a complementary yearlong membership. I didn't extend the membership--but I found the Arts Club to be cooler generally than Cliff Dwellers. The food is good, and the programs were interesting.

The membership skews older (70+) and is mostly male. That's not a cohort in architecture/preservation that I have personally had much success being compatible with, but I understand that's probably not everyone's experience.

PF tried to feed some programming ideas to management, as we had this fantasy that Cliff Dwellers could be a place that would attract our colleagues and friends. But they weren't interested in what we suggested, and it became difficult for us to justify the membership.

Theoretically the membership should be interesting, right? For example, there is a group of William Le Baron Jenney enthusiasts that have a standing lunch each Thursday. I was hoping to engage with others in architecture/preservation, but it seemed like a pretty closed social loop.

The space that Cliff Dwellers occupies is beautiful, and the view is really gorgeous. Preservation Futures took a lot of friends and colleagues to lunch there while we were members. But the food is bland and soft, and there wasn't a bar culture in the evening that was particularly interesting to me.

I think about the photo collage of Holy Guardian Angel School and the nuns all the time. It puts a face on people who were affected by urban renewal, and stresses its thoughtless nature.

Florence Scala: The Joan of Arc of Chicago’s Near West Side In an era when superhighways, urban renewal, and public and private universities were dramatically changing the nature of Chicago’s neighborhoods,…

These photos were provided to me by Father Steven Giovangelo, nephew of Florence Scala, for my January 2025 article in MAS Context titled "Florence Scala: The Joan of Arc of Chicago's Near West Side."

mascontext.com/observations...

Primary elevation of a brick two story church with a gable roof. The churches' entrance is at the center of the facade, and is flanked by round top widows. The floor above has three round top windows, with the largest at the center.

Photographic collage with an asymmetric building in the center. The photograph of the building is surrounded by portraits of Catholic nuns and a Catholic priest. Each photo is captioned with the names of the building, and of each individual.

in 1958, Chicago's Holy Guardian Angel Church and School (717 West Arthington St) was demolished for the Dan Ryan Expressway. The school was rebuilt at Blue Island Avenue and West Cabrini Street. Five years later, the building was demolished for the University of Illinois Chicago Campus.

California/Belmont/Elston, looking west.

Read it without the paywall here:

archive.is/F1GbZ

Elizabeth Blasius: Chicago must act to protect the South Side’s midcentury modern Pride Cleaners Despite its presence in Chicago pop culture, as an icon of South Side architecture, Pride Cleaners is not a Chicago landmark.

Grateful to have an op-ed on Pride Cleaners published in today's @chicagotribune.com!

www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/18/o...

A classically styled tower in front of a smaller classically styled building. The tower stands against a blue sky with light clouds.

The base of a classically styled tower in front of a smaller classically styled building. The tower stands against a blue sky with light clouds.

The colonnaded base of a classically styled, round tower in front of a smaller classically styled building.

The upper crown of a classically styled tower. The tower stands against a blue sky with light clouds.

Louisville Water Tower (1860) by Theodore R. Scowden. Originally clad in wood, the tower was heavily damaged in an 1890 tornado and eventually reconstructed in cast-iron.

Heads up everyone - BP has locked out the union workers at the Whiting refinery. Follow the link below for more, because Chicago press has minimal, if any, coverage.

🧵: If you're new to preservation advocacy, or aren't connected with preservation organizations, but want to support landmarking Pride Cleaners, here are my suggestions:

These Are Chicago's Most Endangered Buildings In 2026 Preservation Chicago's 2026 list of eight endangered structures includes city bridges, union halls and Pope Leo XIV's childhood parish.

'Most endangered' lists are an important part of how local, state and national preservation non-profits interface with the public. Yet as far as Chicago--one thing is always clear to me when they are released--we don't have policies in place to treat our existing built environment as an asset.

🧵ctd: When the bldg was set for renovation, I called the developer & told them what this was, its significance & not to scrap it. They had no plans for it, so it ended up in my possession & I had to move it from the bldg to my garage, where I started metal work & paint removal. Huge: 16' long.

🧵addendum: photo of the sign & the lounge after it closed for good, while the Tivoli Theater (closed 1963) sits awaiting the wrecking ball, probably 1965.

🧵: my foray into sign preservation started when I discovered that the neon sign for McKie's DJ Show Lounge was still hanging on the facade of the bldg, despite the club being closed ca. 1965. The sign itself is from the '40s when the spot was called Strand Show Lounge.

The moment in time when a building's original use ceases and there are no stated plans for its future is one of the most critical in preservation. Local landmarking isn't a tool that solves all problems, but it helps protect the physical body of a building so that it CAN have a future.

While it is valuable for preservation organizations to hear from you, as you will make them aware that Pride Cleaners is a priority, regular folks that don't typically speak up about preservation always make a difference in situations like this--particularly when they contact decision makers.

Local/state/national preservation organizations are likely going to mount their own advocacy efforts. Much of this work is technical and happens behind the scenes--building consensus, discussing criteria, preparing supporting research--

But EVERYONE can and should participate in preservation here!

If you contact the Alder or the Commission, you don't need to pull up technical language, like how the building meets criteria.

State simply, in your own words, what you think--but please don't rage about how the building isn't already a landmark (it won't help, even if that's how you feel!)

If you are elsewhere in Chicago (or the world) contact the Chicago Landmarks Commission staff and tell them that Pride Cleaners is worthy of landmark status.

☎️ 312-744-3200
📩 landmarks@cityofchicago.org

Local landmarking is dependent on aldermanic support. If you live/work in the 6th Ward, contact Alderman William Hall, tell him that you support landmarking.

Hall is on the record stating that Pride Cleaners is a de facto landmark, which is a great start!

☎️ 773-241-3100
📩 ward06@cityofchicago.org

🧵: If you're new to preservation advocacy, or aren't connected with preservation organizations, but want to support landmarking Pride Cleaners, here are my suggestions:

Chatham is a very special neighborhood, replete with the over-the-top terra cotta beauties that defined the 1920s, but also home to treasures like this cleaners & a slate of other fantastic MCM designs, as I've written about. All of our South Side masterpieces deserve both attention & preservation.