I'm off this week, but the architecture beat doesn't sleep. Will be talking about the architecture of the West Side (and showing images on that subject from my next book), 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Riverside Public Library, 1 Burling Road, Riverside, IL

The backside of the Pullman National Historical Park Visitor Center, 111th & Cottage Grove. Originally the Pullman Factory Administration Building, designed by Solon Beman, 1880. (song is Get it up for Love, by Tata Vega, 1979)

Restoration starts on pergola at North Lawndale’s historic Sears garden The structure is the centerpiece of the nearly 2-acre garden built in 1907 as a rest spot for employees at what was then Sears' sprawling campus headquarters.

My architecture column this weekend. “People are going to be amazed by the work,” the Rev. Reshorna Fitzpatrick, chairperson of Friends of Sears Sunken Garden’s board, said.

I gave an architecture talk at the Admiral residences on Foster Avenue tonight. At dinner there, I met Garçon, the robot server. I'd never saw one of these before.

Cash-strapped DePaul closes the curtain on Downtown's historic Reskin Theatre The university's decision places in limbo a landmarked 1,400-seat Beaux Art playhouse designed by Benjamin H. Marshall, one of Chicago's preeminent architects.

My architecture column today. "The university’s decision places in limbo a landmarked 1,400-seat Beaux Art playhouse designed by Benjamin H. Marshall, one of Chicago’s preeminent architects."

Now on Blu-ray: 1969's Marlowe, starring James Garner. I've seen this movie a dozen times and can't fully explain the plot ... and it doesn't matter. Jim's an absolute blast bluffing and wisecracking his way through a missing person's case that throws everything at him but the kitchen sink.

You're right. And it's on YouTube

The first Richard Kimble searched Chicago for the One-Armed Man, too.

Another day, another event. Getting ready now for an artist's talk at Soho House with my bud, the remarkable photographer Howard Simmons. (You can see him in the back on the left.)

Happy birthday to #herbiehancock!

🙂🙂

The Glasshouse Theatre, a new venue at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in Brisbane, Australia

The Glasshouse Theatre, a new venue at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in Brisbane, Australia

My pleasure and thank you. I'm still digging the very cool intro you gave me.

632 E 112th St, Chicago, IL 60628 - 6 beds/3 baths (MRED as Distributed by MLS Grid) For Sale: 6 beds, 3 baths ∙ 632 E 112th St, Chicago, IL 60628 ∙ $425,000 ∙ MLS# 12614284

For the first time in 30 years, one of the extremely unusual Market Square buildings in Pullman is for sale.

Four matching buildings were constructed a decade after the original Pullman factory town, initially housing guests of the Pullman Company during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

About 10 mins before showtime at the Beverly Arts Center last night. The place wound up almost filling up. Big thanks to the Ridge Historical Society for inviting me to talk about the architecture of the South and Far South sides.

The good folk at the village of Dolton asked me if I wanted a tour of Pope Leo's childhood home. Who could say no to that? So I checked it out today. Kids from one of the local high schools crafted the benches.

If I do a new version of my Southern Exposure book, the late and woefully unsung Bill Pavlecic's St Simeon Serbian Orthodox Church 3737 E. 114th is in. Did quick shots for a talk I'm giving today, but want to revisit. Modeled after a 15th century Serbian monastery ... but built in 1968.

These birds ain't loyal.

Over the Calumet River at 106th Street this afternoon, the city flexes its big shoulders once more. (Song playing is "She Wants to Move," by N.E.R.D.)

Drinking coffee at my favorite spot again this morning, watching the turbine at the Method Soap factory on 111th in Pullman. (And the song is "Function at the Junction," by Shorty Long.)

Obama Presidential Center's replica Oval Office is nearly complete Virtually everything interior designer Michael S. Smith put in the original Oval Office — furniture, books, carpet, artwork down to the smallest detail — will be created in the new space.

My weekend architecture column looks @ the Obama Presidential Center's full-size Oval Office reproduction. "Virtually everything that was in the Obama-era Oval Office — furniture, books, carpet, artwork down to the smallest detail — will be created in the new space."

Returning from an errand a couple of days ago, I had to stop by the Greenstone UMC bell tower restoration here in Pullman, which is just starting. What a beautiful building. (And I happened to be listening to Eighties, the 1985 tune by Killing Joke. Don't judge me.

Thanks again, Tom

I'm not familiar. I'll look him up

Former Chicago Daily News building could be in line for landmark status The designation could make a planned $70 million rehab eligible for a tax break designed to help historic commercial properties.

My architecture column today. If approved this afternoon, the building’s most significant features including the complex’s dazzling Jazz Age first-and second-floor lobby spaces would be protected.

In City Hall's shadow, another neglected icon with an uncertain future Lost in the controversy over the future of I.M. Pei's City Hall is the fate of another masterwork, one that sits in the building's shadow. That would be Three Forms Vertebrae, the 13-ton Henry

FREE HENRY MOORE! lost in the debate over city hall has been the fate of “three forms vertebrae,” aka “the dallas piece,” the long-neglected site specific henry moore sculpture that has long sat in a cage of security barriers on city hall plaza.

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...

Jackson Park’s 'Gold Lady' could look like a million again, thanks to a planned restoration The $1 million job includes repairing and removing the 24-foot statue's worn and flaking gold leaf and applying a new layer of the micro-thin substance over the entire work.

My architecture column today. The 24-foot gold statue, erected in 1918 to commemorate the 1893 World's Fair, will get re-gilded for the first time in 33 years.

Work starts on the $1.2 million restoration of landmark Pullman church's troubled but iconic bell tower The project is the first substantial exterior repair the Greenstone United Methodist Church has seen since its 1882 construction.

Today's architecture column. "The project is the first substantial exterior repair Greenstone Church has seen since its 1882 construction."

August 1954. Cottage Grove Avenue looking north from the train station. The Trianon Ballroom marquee at right, the Midway Theater marquee peeking out at far left. This entire built environment (except one Com Ed substation) was demo'd in 1967 for a U of C-backed urban renewal makeover.

For some reason, now and again I like sitting behind the U.S. Bank Tower at 111th & Doty for a few moments in the morning, drinking coffee, listening to music and watching the Method Soap factory's wind turbine go 'round.