“Behind every great man there is a great woman” might just be the perfect expression to use for someone like Marion Mahony Griffin. Although the second female graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in 1894 and one of the first female licensed architects in the United States, Mahony Griffin was completely overshadowed by the men in her life. As Frank Lloyd Wright’s first employee in 1895, she worked as senior designer and lead draftsman until Wright closed down his Oak Park architectural studio in 1909.

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A decrepit Uptown synagogue, whose cavernous sanctuary is considered one of the most ornate in Chicago, will most likely be converted to residential use by the preservation-minded developer that bought it last month.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20160531/CRED0701/160539999/uptown-synagogue-slated-for-residential

— Noah Vaughn

Related article: Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation Synagogue, by Stephanie Barto

The Hair Force, located at 4415 N Sheridan Road in Uptown, is a bustling barber shop that continues the legacy of the current owner’s uncle, a Chicago barber who began his career in 1948. The storefront beckons with cheerful hand-painted signage. The atmosphere inside is evocative of the great tradition of urban barber shops as anchors of community, and places where one’s personal barber can be trusted with any honest opinion or secret.

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Located at 5029 N. Kenmore Avenue in Uptown, Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation Synagogue stands as Chicago’s lone surviving example of a grand, cathedral-style synagogue. In it’s heyday, the  23,000-square-foot synagogue regularly drew more than 2,000 people for Shabbat services. Today it stands vacant and for sale at an asking price of $1.99 million.

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