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The Harry Alshuler House is located at 142 South Lincoln Street in Aurora Illinois. It is a historic home located in the City of Aurora’s Near Eastside Historic District. It was built in 1891 in the Queen Anne gable style.

The Alshuler family: Harry, Charles and Louis established Alshuler Brothers Clothing Store in Aurora in 1885. It was the first store in Aurora to have electric lighting.

Harry Alshuler later became a Director at First National Bank.

The house is beautifully preserved and maintained. It’s important to note that the City of Aurora provides grants for the repair of designated historic properties.

The City of Aurora Illinois has some great street art. Here is just some of it. Enjoy!

*Note – Some of the art is seasonal and some is permanent (displayed year round).

St. Hyacinth Basilica is a Roman Catholic church located at 3636 West Wolfram Street in the Avondale neighborhood in Chicago. It is a member of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. It was founded in 1894 by The Congregation of the Resurrection. It is dedicated to Hyacinth of Poland. It was dedicated October 16, 1921. Since the time it was dedicated St. Hyacinth served a primarily Polish immigrant population in Avondale, known as Jackowo.

St. Hyacinth church was designed and built by architects Worthmann and Steinbach as a basilica in the Classical Revival style. It is an example of the “Polish Cathedral Style” of churches because of its grandiose beauty and large size. Its ornate interior is of the Baroque style and has paintings by renowned artists Zukotynski and Stanisia. Renovation of the interior started in the 1990s and has largely been completed with some work still being done. What I like the most about St. Hyacinth’s is that everything there has meaning. It all symbolizes something important and is preserved. It is too much to mention it all here, but one example is the 121 relics of the Saints of the Catholic Church that are viewable on All Saints Day. And something that is viewable at any time is the dome mural of over 150 saints, clergy and laity. And of course the beautiful stained glass windows prepared by Meyer Co. of Munich Germany and later ones by the Zettler Co. of New York.

The church also has a beautiful courtyard with statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary with Jesus as a boy. There is also a separate area outside that has monuments to Pope John Paul II, Father Jerzy Popieluszko and memorials to parishioners who served in the Blue Army during World War I. It is called the “Garden of Memory.”

Since it is a center for the Polish population in Chicago, St. Hyacinth’s has been visited by prominent leaders of the church, as well as politicians reaching out to Polish Americans. Former President of Poland Lech Walesa attended. Pope John Paul II attended prior to becoming Pope and President George H.W. Bush attended as Vice President and while campaigning for President. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has also spoken there.

I hope you enjoy the photos of this beautiful church as much as I enjoyed visiting the church. Seeing the care that was taken to preserve this beautiful church and its artifacts gave new meaning to my life.

Farnsworth House was designed and constructed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945 and 1951. It’s located in Plano Illinois in a rural setting right by the Fox River. The steel and glass house was built in the International and Modernist style. 

The floor to ceiling glass design of the house opens the interior to the beauty of its natural surroundings and becomes one with nature. The minimalist design of the interior and furnishings add to this openess. 

It was commissioned by and built for Dr. Edith Farnsworth who was the original owner of the property. She used it as a retreat away from the city. In 1972 the property was sold to Peter Palumbo; an art collector. While he owned the property he had a sculpture garden on the grounds, which includede antique phone booths (these are shown in one of the photos below). 

In December 2003 the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmark Illinois purchased the property and it is now operated as a house museum open to the public through tours. The Farnsworth House is listed in the National Register and was designated a National Historic Landmark. I enjoyed the tour of the Farnsworth House in Winter, but also vowed to return in Spring when the tulips and other flowers will be in bloom!

*Note – Thanks to Denny for the old black and white photos.

Block 37 located at 108 N. State St. is more than just a mall. It is called Block 37, because that was it’s designated number as one of the original blocks of the City of Chicago going back to 1829 when the survey and plat of the town of Chicago was developed. 

The block has a long history dating back to pre Chicago fire with many changes along the way. Initially it was home to one of Chicago’s largest theaters; then tall office buildings in the rest of the 19th century; then by 1970 it had 11 buildings including theaters, offices and retailers. 

Block 37 was largely demolished by the city in 1989 in order to build a multi-use skyscraper. The skyscraper was never built due to funding and other issues and Block 37 was an almost completely vacant city block from 1989 through 2005. Gallery37 operated there in 1991. It was a part of the After School Matters. 

Today Block 37 is a shopping mall and urban shopping, entertainment and dining experience second to none! It offers AMC Dine-in Theatres, Latinicity Food Hall, First Ascent Climbing and Fitness and stores such as the Disney Store, Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Zara, and Sephora just to name a few.  

Block 37 is definitely a shopping, entertainment and dining experience that shouldn’t be missed!

The Medinah Temple building is located at 600 N. Wabash in Chicago. It was built in 1912 by Shriner architects Huehl and Schmidt. It was built in the Moorish Revival style. It was originally a large auditorium with seating for approximately 4,200 people on three levels. It was best known for hosting the annual Shriner’s Circus and the Bozo 25th Anniversary Special on September 7, 1986 was also telecast from there. The acoustics of the building also made it a favorite site for recordings of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2000, the building exterior was restored and the interior was gutted and reconstructed for use as a Bloomingdale’s Home Store, which opened in 2003. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on June 27, 2001.

 

It’s begining to look a lot like Christmas…….everywhere you go (as the song goes). I went to Macy’s on State Street and Fox Valley Mall in Aurora and both were looking a lot like Christmas. I hope you enjoy these photos and maybe they’ll help motivate you in your holiday decorating. I started my holiday decorating today and could definitely have used some motivation!

Macy’s Photos:

 

Fox Valley Mall Photos:

 

Animal Kingdom was a pet store, but it was also so much more! It was first opened in 1944 at 3021 North Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood by owner Bernie Hoffmann. It later moved down the street to 2980 North Milwaukee Avenue and was owned by Bernie Hoffmann’s son Robert Hoffmann and his wife Sandra.

It started as a traditional pet shop selling puppies, kittens, and fish, but soon more non-traditional/ exotic animals were added to the fold. This was largely due to the growth of television. They started renting animals for TV show appearances and other events. This started when a magician came in and requested two doves to use in his act. Later, the regular house pets were joined by monkeys, tigers and exotic birds. It should be noted that this was before governmental regulations were added that regulated and/or restricted the sale of exotic animals. It’s also important to mention that the animals were very well cared for. Large animals were allowed to walk around the store before opening hours began and employees routinely took pets home to provide extra care if needed.

The most famous animal by far was Chelveston the duck from the Ray Rayner show. My parents and I visited Animal Kingdom at least once a week (since we lived only a couple blocks away) and I was so excited to see Chelveston the duck!!!! After all, he was a TV star on one of my favorite shows.  The store also hosted pet blessings and provided education programs for schools and libraries.

I have so many very positive memories of Animal Kingdom. It was a place I could visit with my parents and grandparents and later my friends. No matter what kind of day I was having …….when I saw the animals at Animal Kingdom it made me happy! My own cat’s six kittens also found homes thanks to Animal Kingdom. My Mom and Dad took me to visit them until they were sold.

Animal Kingdom closed in 2009 when the owners retired, but last week when I visited Milwaukee Avenue in Avondale and passed by where Animal Kingdom used to be it brought back all the wonderful memories and it made me change the title of this post from “Animal Kingdom – Lost Chicago” to  “Animal Kingdom – Fondly Remembered”.

• Note – photos are from the public domain

Chicago’s first hotel was called the Sauganash. It was built in 1831 and before it became a hotel it was originally known as the Eagle Exchange Tavern. It was located at Wolf Point at the intersection of the north, south and main branches of the Chicago River at Lake Street and Wacker Drive. The area where the Sauganash Hotel stood was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2002. The hotel operated there for about 20 years, and also briefly served as Chicago’s first theater.

The hotel was named after Billy Caldwell “Sauganash”. Sauganash was an interpreter for the Indian Agents. His mother was Pottawatomi Indian and his father was Colonel Caldwell, an Irish officer in the British Army in Detroit.

The hotel was built by owners Mark and Monique Beaubien, who were French Indian traders. They settled in a small cabin at Wolf Point in 1826 and started the Eagle Exchange Tavern. In 1831 they added a frame onto the log structure and created the Sauganash Hotel. The settlement consisted of only about 12 houses at the time and the hotel was only one of two buildings on the south side of the main branch of the river.

It has been described as a white two story frame building with bright blue wood shutters. Its facade was contemporary Greek Revival. The hotel’s guests included both natives and settlers. In 1833 the Sauganash housed the election of the first town trustees of the new Town of Chicago. The Beaubiens owned the hotel until 1834. In 1835 it was sold to a Mr. Davis. It was briefly a theater at that time and in 1837 it hosted the first Chicago Theater company. In 1839 it became a hotel again but it was destroyed by a fire in 1851 and torn down. The Wigwam Hotel was built there in its place in 1860. The Wigwam was a convention center that was the site of the 1860 Republican National Convention where President Abraham Lincoln received his party’s nomination and eventual presidency.

• Note- Photos are from Wikipedia in the public domain

This past weekend I went on a walking tour of Riverside, Illinois. The tour was given by the Frederick Law Olmsted Society. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were the architects who designed and built the village of Riverside in 1869. Riverside is one of the earliest planned communities in the United States and the Riverside Landscape Architecture District was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

Riverside has been called a village in a park because of its curved roads that follow the bend of the Des Plaines River. Riverside also has a central village square that is located at the Metra BNSF Riverside train station. The train station was built in 1901. It also has a lot of greenspace because it has several large parks and 41 smaller parks and plazas at various intersections throughout the village. Many homes and estates were designed by famous architects of the time such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, William Le Baron Jenney, Frederick Clarke Withers, Calvert Vaux and Joseph Lyman Silsbee. Another major period of development happened in the 1920s and 1930s when smaller houses were constructed on smaller plots of land. The village has an eclectic mix of different types of buildings including smaller bungalows, larger Victorians and huge early twentieth century mansions. The photos below are from the South Side tour. I plan on taking the North Side tour next Spring. I hope you enjoy viewing these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!