Category Archives: Contemporary Modernism

Continuing a look at some of the better buildings in this far-out Chicago suburb. Northbrook Public Library It hovers delightfully by day, and glows like a lantern at night. The Northbrook Public Library is the town’s most notable “downtown” building, … Continue reading →

For years, I held the section of Golf Road that slides under I-90/94 in a degree of reverence. Seen from the highway, it seemed like a little downtown, a place where great and interesting things must surely be happening. What … Continue reading →

Evanston has had a trio of sophisticated, contemporary-styled condominiums go up in the last few years, all of them by the Optima design and development company, with architect David Hovey at the helm. They share a number of traits: a … Continue reading →

There’s often a lot of groaning and moaning about new construction in the city. Pretty much anything that gets built has someone that hates it. Contemporary design gets decried as “awful glass boxes” or “metal and glass monstrosities” (just try … Continue reading →

Here’s a pair of show-stopper houses up in Evanston, at 1216 and 1220 Main Street. On the right: MetalHOUSE(1), developed by architect Andrew J. Spitz as his own house in 1985. On the left: MetalHOUSE(2), a recently-constructed successor. The original … Continue reading →