Debbie Mercer

4001 N. Elston, Chicago

Heat Cool Service Company at Irving Park and Elston, photo by Debbie Mercer.

John Morris/Chicago Patterns

Relief panel detail on the grand Art Deco-styled Laramie State Bank building at Chicago and Laramie in Austin.

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.

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This week’s installment of Flashback Friday brings us to a rare type of architecture: ecclesiastical Art Deco. The Madaonna della Strada Chapel is a unique cultural icon on Loyola campus, with its front door on the lake.

The beautiful view outside of the sanctuary was planned to be much different than what exists today.

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