Spray Paint, Not Bullets

John Morris/Chicago Patterns
Garfield Boulevard, near Prairie.
John Morris/Chicago Patterns
Garfield Boulevard, near Prairie.
John Morris/Chicago Patterns
A few months ago columnist Gabriel X. Michael surveyed West Side houses with inscribed numbers that didn’t align with the current address. This was the result of the 1909 adoption of Edward Brennan’s plan which standardized addresses across Chicago.
Though this change affected most of the city, there was a large swath that escaped the 1909 change, including the house above.
A pre-1909 inscription on the entryway with an accurate address was quite curious.
John Morris/Chicago Patterns
Between Washington and Madison Streets on the river is the Chicago Daily News building, a grand edifice constructed in 1929 at the height of Chicago’s boom era.
Much like the company that commissioned it, the building has oscillated between grandeur and peril a few times in its 85 years of existence.
John Morris/Chicago Patterns
This greystone six-flat at Wabash and 37th in Bronzeville is square on the left, round on the right.