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dmercer.bsky.social

@dmercer.bsky.social

Look up and stay curious. Mostly architecture.

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dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 9h ago

5657 W. Fullerton, Chicago.

Three-story cream brick building with retail on the first floor and apartments on the other two. There are narrow bands of brown faux stone running across the facade in three places, panels of faux brown boulders between the windows, and battlements atop the parapet. In the center of the 2nd and 3rd floors is a narrow opening filled with clear glass block and the occasional red, yellow, green, or turquoise block, placed randomly.

Drawing of the building from a 1967 ad in the tribune. "24 apts. Sic 3-room, 1-bedroom, eighteen efficiencies. Deluxe elevator building. Roof garden. Conveniently located."

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 10h ago

Article from 1979/80 Chicago History Magazine, coauthored by my aunt, Eleanor Gordon. issuu.com/chicagohisto...

Chicago History | Winter 1979-80

issuu.com

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · yesterday

For sale today on Central Avenue in Chicago. I was tempted to buy the rooster, because I love chickens.

Assortment of colorful figurines for sale on a city corner, including Virgin Mary, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Mandalorian, and a couple of roosters.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · yesterday

This is upsetting. Some of the most beautiful terra cotta in the city is falling off the building. SE corner of Belmont and Central, Z. Erol Smith was the architect.

Part of the side elevation of a one-story commercial building. Mostly windows at street level but glorious terra cotta decorates the upper wall and the parapet. Across the parapet are large gold roses set against black terra cotta with red stripes between each rose. Below that are beige tiles divided by cream-colored vertical stripes and narrow gold stripes. On the far right there is a green terra cotta in a basket weave pattern stuffed with small gold squares. On the left, obscured by a shadow and a light pole, is a polychrome terra cotta panel that looks to me like an Art Deco corn stalk bordered by small gold roses. At various spots the beige, cream, and some of the black terra cotta has fallen off.

McKie's Disc Jockey Show Lounge @mckiesdjlounge.bsky.social · yesterday

Here's the inside of the Orange Hut, and then the dining room of the Log Cabin.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · yesterday

Speechless

In Elmwood Park, Illinois, a Swiss chalet has crashed into the top of a yellow brick bungalow.

McKie's Disc Jockey Show Lounge @mckiesdjlounge.bsky.social · yesterday

here's the one that was at 63rd & Drexel, which was combined with their Log Cabin restaurant.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · yesterday

Am I wrong, or does this 1969 McDonald's building have some style?

One story building with a mansard roof with wide overhanging eaves.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · yesterday

2054 N. Nordica, Chicago, ca. 1959. The second floor windows are so random and the roof line is really odd. www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/2...

Long, low ranch house of yellow brick and red siding with a gradually sloping gable roof with an off-center peak. There is a second floor under the peak of the gable but the roof slopes dramatically to the left, leaving no room for living space on that side. )I am struggling to describe this because it's so strange. )

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · yesterday

#TurretTuesday Galewood and Little Village, Chicago

1990s brick cottage with a steep side-facing gable roof and a round turret/tower with a very pointed roof on the right side. The building is clad in variegated red brick with square stone tiles embedded here and there. The most distinguishing feature is the huge concrete stairway leading up to the door, which is in the turret. The bottom step is almost as wide as the house and each succeeding step gets a bit narrower. It completely dominates the front of the house.

Two-story yellow brick corner building with a roune corner turret, possibly made of pressed metal, capped with a stubby conical roof. The building has a cornice with a double row of dentils, brown brick accents on the corners that look like zippers, and some dark red brick on the first floor that might be filling in what used to be windows.

ChicagoVintageTileFloors @chicagovtfloor.bsky.social · 2d ago

Uptown

Vintage tile floor and stairway in a narrow hallway.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 2d ago

Still infected with the glass block virus. Found this beauty in Elmwood Park. (IL) This is the Cameo pattern (as I learned yesterday) and it rocks. Including a photo of me posing with a couple of samples. @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social Four for sale on eBay www.ebay.com/itm/12764483...

Two-story mid-century modern 2-flat clad in beige brick and what look like lumps of coal (actually black faux stone boulders.) Above the entrance on the left are two columns of glass block in the Cameo pattern--clear and black.

Black and white photo of a Jacqueline Kennedy look-a-like posing with two Cameo glass blocks. She has dark hair pulled back with a headband and is wearing a sleeveless shift dress with a rolled funnel collar (I looked that up.)

Description of the Cameo glass block in a Pittsburgh Corning ad. Designed by Peter Muller-Munk Associates. Blocks are 8 x 8 x 4 of clear glass accented by an opaque black pattern. "Color is fired-on ceramic frit for permanence, is scratch and abrasive resistant.
Sculptured relief surfaces of each pattern are identical on each side. A partial vacuum, hermetically sealed into each unit, has a high insulation value, eliminates surface condensation." "Frit" is a new word for me that I'm happy to know. "A frit is a ceramic composition that has been fused, quenched, and granulated. " Wikipedia

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 2d ago

From time to time, I offer to do a little research on buildings in Chicago that you might be curious about. It has to be in Chicago and it can't be something that has its own Wikipedia page. If there's a building you've been curious about, let me know and I'll see what I can find.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 2d ago

A riot of color. I'm so happy I planted zinnias this year!

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 2d ago

In the backyard

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 2d ago

#ManholeCoverMonday Maida Vale, London, England

This is a historic, cast-iron recessed manhole cover once used by the Metropolitan Electric Supply Company (commonly known as METESCo) in London. It features a square cast-iron outer frame detailed with a distinctive geometric triangle-patterned border. The center is recessed and filled with concrete to blend seamlessly into the surrounding concrete pavement stones. (Google)

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 3d ago

1977 stamp that fell out of an ancient file folder that I was sorting through. We still have that right, correct?

10¢ US postage stamp featuring a drawing of a statue of Justice and the words "People's Right to Petition for Redress."

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 3d ago

Cameo, baby!

Lady Topham Catt@ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Hell yeah, Pittsburgh Corning Cameo glass! 📸 Masonry Magazine, April 1967

Crop of a 1967 ad for “A Gem of a Product — Cameo” glass. Features a black and white photo of a white female model wearing a high neck sleeveless shift (real late 1960s fashion choices here) and smiling somewhat unconvincingly at someone off camera. In front of her are stacked the two Cameo pattern blocks, one of them a semi circle and the other an angled crescent. Text reads “model shows all-glass CAMEO wall unit. The units are manufactured by Pittsburgh Corning Corporation and were created by Peter Muller-Munk Associates, internationally known design firm. They measure 8-in x 8-in x 4-in.”

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 3d ago

@ladytophamcatt.bsky.social Have you seen this design before? Thomas Avenue in Forest Park, Illinois

Mid-century modern 2-flat clad in sand-colored brick with fake brown boulders in the spandrels between the windows on the left side. The entrance is on the right and has its own little gabled roof to protect those who knock. The best part is the panel of black glass block above the little gable. Each block has a half-circle design--on smooth and one fluted. When they are arranged the way they are here, they look like polka dots.

Closer view of the black polka dot glass blocks.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 3d ago

Nice use of Pittsburgh Corning glass module in the "wedge" style.

Two-story mid-century modern apartment building at 325 S. Laramie in Chicago. It is clad in wide stripes of blonde and dark orange brick. The entrance is in the center under a flat canopy. The door has a large triangular window in its center. Above the door is a vertical panel of black wedge-style glass blocks.

Two-story mid-century modern apartment building on S. Oak Park Ave. in Berwyn, Illinois. It has a shallow hipped roof with wide eaves and is clad in Lannon stone. The entrance is in the center, protected by a flat canopy roof. Above that is a tall narrow stripe of black glass block in the wedge pattern.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 3d ago

It's Sunday. Here's a church. St. Priscilla Catholic Church, Addison and Sayre, Chicago. 1957, Barry and Kay, architects.

The building is clad in buff brick and includes a large, boxy, main sanctuary with a wall of stained glass on the facade. The entrance bay projects out from the sanctuary and is clad in variegated stone and has a flat roof. To the left of the sanctuary in this photo is a tall rectangular bell tower with a series of small rectangular openings punched into the side. A simple metal cross rises up from the top of the bell tower.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 4d ago

Gothic Revival on N. Harlem in Chicago's Dunning neighborhood

Two story Vampire's Castle with a facade of faux grey stone, wooden crenellation, windows with "Gothic" arched openings, and various shields and gargoyles to further confirm its authenticity.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 4d ago

Cicero, Illinois, post office. Built in 1931; I haven't been able to determine the architect.

Looking up at the facade of the Cicero, Illinois, post office, built of red brick with stone trim and decoration. The design is symmetrical, with a center entrance and tall windows rising from street level up to a carved frieze below the parapet. Art Deco-style flowers and foliage decorate the frieze and a sort of keystone in the center of the parapet, between "United States" and "Post Office" On the upper corners two stone eagles keep watch.

Clipping from a 1957 Berwyn Life newspaper looking back on the opening of the post office in 1932 at a cost of $120,000.

Closeup photo of one of the eagles on the corner of the parapet with a stone cornice, brackets, and decorative frieze below it.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 4d ago

Mid-century modern two-flats on Park Avenue in Cicero, Illinois

Mid-century modern two-flat with added garden apartment clad in yellow brick on the facade. On each floor on the right side is a group of three windows separated on each floor by a panel of stacked red bricks. The entrance is on the left and has a slightly slanted canopy above it. Above the entrance on the second floor is a vertical stripe of yellow petal design glass blocks, 2 x 8.

Two-flat plus garden apartment. Brick building, ca. 1960, made of yellow brick with a flat roof and bay windows on the right side. The space between the windows is covered with some kind of fake brown stone. The entrance is at the left and above it is a vertical panel of swirly clear and turquoise glass blocks in a checkerboard pattern.

Another mid-century modern two-flat with garden apartment. The facade of this one has stacked narrow cream colored bricks on the left, cream brick laid in a different bond on the left, and rough stone below the second and first story windows, The entrance is on the right and above it is a vertical panel of fluted turquoise glass blocks.

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 7d ago

You smoke too tough. Your swag too different. Your aerial motorcycle is too bad. Mustachioed 1901 man, they'll kill you.

Movies Silently@moviessilently.bsky.social · 7d ago

A new mode of transport demonstrated in CONQUERING THE SKIES (1901), one of the earliest sci-fi films.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 5d ago

Excited to get this in the mail today!

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 5d ago

Nice mid-century modern at 7120 W. 26th St, Berwyn, Illinois. Since this architect opened his office there in 1958, I'm assuming he's the one who designed it.

One-story brick, stone, and glass mid-century modern house. The garage is on the far left, the entrance in the center, and a wall of windows at far right. The main roof has a very slight gable at right rear, but the garage and front of the house have flat roofs.

Ad from Berwyn Life newspaper, May 2, 1958. "Frank L. Velat architect-engineer announces the opening of his new office at 7120 W. 26th St Berwyn. Residential, Commercial, Educational"

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 5d ago

Entrance to McKinley School in Cicero, Illinois. I wish I knew who the architect was.

Front entrance area of a variegated brown brick two-story school building. The entrance surround appears to be stone with piers on each side decorated with hexagonal shapes and stylized foliage. The stone piers become brick farther up the wall and then stone again at the top, where they are decorated with Dr. Seuss-like flowers. In the center is a shield and the Roman numerals MCMXXVII.

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 5d ago

This does not seem like a good slogan.

Color advertisement for Frosty Boy, a soft serve ice cream franchise that still exists, at least in Michigan and Australia. The ad depicts a Dennis-the-Menace-like boy licking his lips as he ponders a giant soft serve ice cream cone. At the bottom it says "Frosty Boy Often licked-Never beaten"