Category USA
Corpus Christi Catholic Church: grand architecture, Bavarian stained glass and a chance to say WOW! like true Americans
We set out from home on a rainy Saturday morning with our dorky matching backpacks and a thermos of bean soup bound for Bronzeville. Our first stop on Chicago Architecture Foundation’s’ Open House Chicago itinerary was Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Normally HOB and I tried to hold back on the gape-mouthed WOW! exclamations when travelling in […]
Art is alive in Pilsen
Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood is alive with art. Murals are everywhere; sophisticated and well-designed murals, political murals, naively-drawn murals, misspelled murals, and entire houses covered with murals. Pilsen smells fantastic—a combination of tortilla factory corn, fried dough, sugar and spicy street food. Houses are adorable and oddly sunk below street level. Spanish is spoken everywhere, guitarists […]
First Church of Deliverance in Chicago: an electrifying encounter in lime green
We walked around the corner onto S. Wabash, clutching a map from Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House Chicago, and OH HECK YESSSSSSSSS, there was this delightful architectural surprise: a Streamline Moderne church! With it’s twin towers of terra cotta and glass block, the First Church of Deliverance nods to traditional church structure, but don’t be deceived–there’s nothing traditional […]
Devon Street Chicago: where a trip to the hardware store leads to hand slaughtered meat and a mango lassi
As much as I love to travel, I always end up homesick for the sheer variety of people in Chicago, especially for the delightful urban melting pot of my own neighborhood. We live in multi-cultural splendor in Roger’s Park, on the North side of Chicago. This morning HOB and I set out for a walk to the […]
Farnsworth House: when modernism calls, take the bus to Plano
Living in Chicago, I am fortunate to see the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe almost every day. I love to slip around behind the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments and look out to the sun shining off the waves of Lake Michigan through the glass plaza. HOB gets off the train early most mornings […]
Cutural tourism at home–great practice, no jet lag
One of the best ways to be a great traveler is to practice–like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get. Yeah, I know, you don’t have a trust fund or infinite amounts of vacation time, so you can’t just fly over to Europe whenever you feel like it. But you can […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 