Angley Jangley Deco

Two handsome Art Deco specimens from out west.

The Medical Arts Building, Oak Park

715 Lake Street is hard to miss if you’ve visited Oak Park; it’s a rare tall building in a low-rise suburb. Architect Roy J. Hotchkiss designed the Deco/Nouveau skyscraper near the end of a highly productive career, in 1929; still in use as office space, it’s a contributing member of a National Register district.

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It’s also quite dramatically illuminated at night.

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4500 W. Division

O & G Spring and Wire Forms Specialty Company occupies this low, long factory building, the front facade of a fairly large complex.

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The factory’s entire facade is nicely decorated with mosaic tile and brick patterns, but it’s the entry tower that makes you swerve to the side of the road for a longer look.

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Hey…. aren’t those the same wall sconces as the Medical Arts Building?

O & G was founded in 1966 by a Polish immigrant and employs about 75 people today. The company made unfortunate headlines in 2008, when a supervisor shot and killed an employee after a quarrel.

The Tribune library archives are not working correctly, or I might have more info on the building itself. But maybe it’s enough to just bask in its geometric glory.

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