Chicago Bridges

Chicago bridges. The La Salle Street Bridge, The Clark Street Bridge, and the Kinzie Street Railroad Bridge, aka the Chicago and North Western Railroad Bridge.

The Kinzie Street Bridge has been unused since 2000, but is still technically active status and is raised and lowered once a year. The bridge in the background is somewhat famous, or infamous, because of an incident in 2004 when Dave Matthews tour bus dumped 800 lbs of toilet waste as it was crossing the bridge, directly onto an architecture tour boat full of passengers.

U.S. Grant in Lincoln Park

 

Lincoln Park, Chicago. The Ulysses S. Grant Monument in the distance. It was commissioned after the president’s death in 1885. Louis Rebisso, an Italian immigrant, was selected to design the monument. When it was completed in 1891, it was the largest bronze statue cast in the country, and over 250,000 people attended its dedication.

Assumption Church

Assumption Catholic Church in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. This parish was founded in 1881 as the first church in Chicago specifically to minister to Italian-speaking Catholics. The church building was completed in 1886.

 

Dearborn Station

 

Dearborn Station was the first of six intercity train stations servicing downtown Chicago. It was designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, who is best known for One Times Square, the original building of the New York Times. The Romanesque Revival structure, built with red pressed brick walls and pink granite, opened in 1885. It originally featured a steeply pitched roof atop its clock tower, which was lost in a disastrous 1922 fire. As passenger train travel declined after WWII, the intercity train stations saw less and less use. When Amtrak began operation in 1971, the city’s train traffic was consolidated to Union Station, and the Dearborn Station closed. The train yards and sheds were demolished and redeveloped into the Dearborn Park neighborhood. The station sat derelict for years until being renovated into offices and retail spaces.

Iris

 Life drawing session from the weekend. Model's name was Iris.

The Obama Center

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois.

The text that wraps around the upper floors is from Obama's 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights March in Selma. It reads:

"You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there is new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed.

America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word 'We.' 'We The People.' 'We Shall Overcome.' 'Yes We Can.' That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone.

Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours."

Happy Fourth of July.

740 Broadway Eagle

 

Ornament above the entrance to 740 Broadway, corner of Broadway and Astor Place.