According to Landmarks and the IHPA, The architect was Frederick Stanton and it was built in '28. According to the trib archives, it was originally a restaurant called "Raphael's". BELIEVE IT OR NOT--A CHICAGO RESTAURANT: Minaret Will Feature New Persian Cafe Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963) 24 June 1928: B3. Abstract (summary) Something somewhat different in the way of arc
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

nordsider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What would these painted marks --- opposing arrows > heads >><< --- on this street view, signify? > > Google Street View: > > https://maps.google.com/maps?q=454+24th+Place,+Chi > cago,+IL&hl=en&ll=41.848154,-87.638999&spn=0.00088 > 1,0.001628&sll=39.739318,-89
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nordsider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks for that, > > I have had a long standing theory, that both of my > grandparents, who lived close to the eastern edge > of Goose Island in the early 1900s, had their > lives prematurely shortened by having to > breathe-in the downwind polluted atmosphere. While it is pretty likely,
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Jeff_Weiner Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The Peoples Gas facility at Elston and Division > was once a producer gas plant. > > If you look at the picture of it in the thread > about gas holders, you'll see the old buildings > and the original open-frame holders. > > There were probably others where there were the > old style
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I took a further look on the 1910 Fire maps for the island and there were no gassification plants. Plenty of wool pullers and tanneries and turpentine distilleries and horse hair plaster manufacturers though. You can look here, Sanborn maps Goose island is in 1910 vol 2 pages 125-136. Other research turned up an Ill Geol Survey project to map the Coal Gas plants (for poss coal tar conta
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Before natural gas became readily available, the gas used for lighting was coal gas. It was a byproduct of coking coal and is why the company used to be called "Peoples Gas, Light and Coke". I thought it had come up here before, but I was wrong but it was a post I put on another forum. The 1700 block of Marcey St. was a big producing center. The former Smith and Hawken Store is th
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

nordsider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What coal plants, if any, are being closed down? You mean power plants? Crawford and Fisk have been shut down. Midwest Gen's other plants have been bought up by an outside investor. Most of them are dual fuel and will probably keep going, but Will County in Romeoville (which is all coal) and Waukeegan (which
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I can't speak to Werner St. But the part about renaming streets ofter WW1 is true This is a headline from the Trib historic archives BLOTTING GERMAN NAMES FROM CITY MAP: Plan to Rename Streets for U. S. Heroes Up Today. Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922) 03 Jan 1919: 13.
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It is not ringing any bells. But the Film office has a pretty fair list of the films legally shot in Chicago. Movies shot in Chicago Luckily, the Old Daley years were low on filming permits so there aren't too many to scan through. I would look at the lists for the 70s, eliminate any I knew were wrong and check the others with the IMDB database to see if the actors or plot rings a bell.
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Mercer52 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sit and Stew and PKDickman--Thank you so much for > the information. Can I ask how you found it? I > would love to be able to research other properties > in the city. I think Stew got his from Blockshopper.com You can punch in an address and they will spit out owners and neighbors (based on tax bills),
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Sit and Stew Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 1 bedroom, 966 square feet. Built between 1885 and > 1890. Probably a cottage-style home that was > popular at the time across the city. The current > owner reported owns the home at 3850 W. Washington > Blvd as well. Lot size 4740 sq ft. Looks very out > of place down there. The actual addres
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

tomcat630 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I've always wondered why those prime corners at > Harlem and Bryn Mawr were vacant. > > Checked Historic Aerials and they have been vacant > since the 1930s. I used to think because of the > X-way that they were so. A big chunk of that was owned by IDOT. But they sold it to .... Demichele Pro
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I checked. They are currently owned by Demichele Properties in Palatine. They bought it from a trust in 2010. Before that, there were a few different owners since '87 when the online history starts They are currently mortgaged for a little over a million, they mortgaged them in 2012.
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nordsider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Kchi, > > Could this be pertinent to your question? > > Norwood Park Historical Society > > http://www.norwoodparkhistoricalsociety.org/histor > y/landmark.html That is just a national register designation. There are no restrictions. It's more like a club. You can apply for preservat
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Not doing anything with vacant lots is called "land banking". Property values generally go up. If they go up more than your taxes, they can beat out other low risk investments. This is why there are still parking lots in river north. The assessment on vacant land is pretty low and they are probably only paying a few thousand a year on both parcels. The other problem is that the propert
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Richard Stachowski Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I saw online somewhere a picture of a street sign > " 47th pl. & District blvd?. . Anyone know about > this one??? District Blvd fire youtube Text from the youtube video Extra alarm fire of the Cities Services Plant, L. Fish Furnature Warehouse on May 27, 1973, along with many o
Forum: General Discussion

WayOutWardell Wrote: > Wow, so that's how Artesian got its name! I knew there had been a spring down there, I just never realized that there was a pond covering four city blocks.
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Mr Downtown Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh, I'm quite sure they were never built. It's > always tricky for a mapmaker like me to know what > streets to show for a given year. I recently did > a map of the Union Stock Yards and, well, there's > a lot of informed guesswork in trying to show the > streets of the Town of Lake in 1865. &g
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ChiTownJim Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Can anyone tell me if the Burkhard Funeral home > on Irving Park and Talcott is still in Operation? > It was run by one of my great-grandfather's > relatives. > I think you mean Leavitt, not Talcott. I don't think Talcott ever crosses Irving Pk. Burkhard was at 2157 W Irving. It is a real est
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PKDickman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > nordsider Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > The street that piqued my interest in the area > was > > Eleanor Street, which according to a book on > > street names claimed that it was named for > Eleanor > > Kinzie, wife of John Kin
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nordsider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The street that piqued my interest in the area was > Eleanor Street, which according to a book on > street names claimed that it was named for Eleanor > Kinzie, wife of John Kinzie, one of Chicago's > first settlers; but I'm not sure that's correct. > On early maps it was called "Water",
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

b.a.hoarder Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Strictly a shot in the dark Dave, but here goes. > In the 1800's the northern city limit of Chicago > was North Ave. Homan Ave. was named for a builder > sometime after 1873 and Kimball was named for an > early banker, who was a charter officer of what > was Chicago's first bank in 1835. Did both
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Deejo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > PK - Thanks. Although its nearly the same distance > north, the article in the weird jogs chain says > the golf club's eastern boundary was Nagle. > > This post is about Strong Street between Pulaski > and Avers, about 3 miles to the east. Sorry, I read too fast and assumed it was the section betwe
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Jeff_Weiner Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Pretty close to the truth. What happened was that > the centerlines of the roads > followed the section lines, which jogged from the > errors induced by putting flat sections on the > face of a rough spheroid. That is possible, but several other streets line up. It more likely that they laid
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

See the stuff in Wierd jogs. It is all part of the same golf course
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

The golf course ran clean to Harlem and was called "Big Oaks" According to the trib archives it's annexation and re-subdivision were quite contentious. Apparently the residents out there were quite a bunch of rabble-rousers. They said it was being developed by a bunch of different developers. If you look at the plats its a mish mash of lot sizes and their lotlines don't line up. S
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

On the plat map the section was annexed by the city in '56 The lots that face newland, new castle and busse were resubdivided about the same time into 50x100 parcels (typical city lot is 25x125). this seems to have been done with complete disregard to the existing city streets. My guess is that when the golf course folded they split up the land amongst the partners along the original 1 acre li
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Curb bulbouts have become a common part of CDOTs lexicon. The are supposed to have a "traffic calming" effect and shorten the distance pedestrians have to cross in front of traffic, but mostly they use them to get enough length to shoehorn in an ADA compliant ramp. But this one seem to have a much weirder story. According to the plat map, that was originally a deeded lot. It was ta
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

nordsider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I wonder why the paving bricks from Coffeyville > Kansas are found in Chicago; when according to the > Encyclopedia of Chicago, the city seemed have had > a monopoly on brick making: > > http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1 > 031.html You need a special kind of clay or shal
Forum: General Discussion

b.a.hoarder Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Looks more like an underground electrical vault, > maybe a transformer for the condominiums? What > words are embossed in the cast iron doors? I think it's for water meters. The three black and white dots are part of the remote reading apparatus.
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