2001: A Chicago Odessey

Riverbend Condominums under construction, June 2001.

Hey there, Chi-town, I ain’t forgotcha.

A vanished parking garage on the Chicago River. The 300 North LaSalle skyscraper stands on this spot now. June 2001.

I have, however, been busy with other projects. Among them are a large number of updates at  Built St. Louis, and a Tumblr site for Washington DC where I’m now living.

But the real time killer has been scanning in my tens of thousands of photo negatives from the pre-digital days. They’ve yielded a rich bounty of photos from St. Louis, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. The Chicago pickings are a little slim – I didn’t really start delving into Chicago until 2004, the very end of the film era – but still I’ve turned up a few places where interesting changes have happened.

Roosevelt Road Metro Station, the very height of railroad elegance. July 2001. Demolished circa 2012.

The Roosevelt Hotel, State & Roosevelt, July 2001 – stripped and gutted, awaiting a renovation that would come a year or two later.

A damaged building at the intersection of 18th Street, Loomis and Blue Island. It would finally be reskinned with featureless modern brick. July 2001.

A couple of shots from the last days of Maxwell Street, as UIC was obliterating it for a modern college town. The businesses were already shuttered and gone. July 2001.

Stay tuned – there’s more to come. And if you need a fix of in-depth architectural history in the meantime, drop by Built St. Louis!