Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Old 8th District







The new 8th District cop house is big and practical, I'm sure. But on the outside, it looks like a new library, so of course I took no photos of it. I'd been in the old joint several times, visiting my dad. No, really. Visiting my dad. There was a pay phone just past the front door, then you did this half-turn as you walked up a few more steps, and then you had to be grilled by the watch commander. The empty parking lot looks sad. This is at 63rd & St. Louis, about halfway between Pulaski & Kedzie in our wonderful grid-pattern city. As I took thr photo of the parking lot, I saw the house with the wind vane at 63rd Place & Homan, a zig zag through the lot got me there. Another few blocks towards Kedzie I found this cool building--I'm sure the architecturally-inclined amongst you could tell me if that's Art Deco or not--and I took a far shot as well as one of the upper floor. That's a building to have a private detective's office slash apartment back in the 1950s.

2 comments:

James Robert Smith said...

So...what is the old police station now? Just vacant?

That is one totally cool house with the weather vane! I would love to live in a house like that! Yeah, it looks like something right out of Green Town!

Rich Chwedyk said...

I'm not architecturally-inclined, but that's not Art Deco. More like Art Nouveau-inspired, but not Art Nouveau either. Or Louis Sullivan-inspired, but again, not really like Sullivan. Probably came from a time, later 1900s, when they wanted some flair or flourish or any sort, and terra cotta was the way to get it. Whatever it is, it's quite striking.