Mies and the FBI or "How an Edward G. Robinson movie almost got Mies in trouble."
Mar. 25, 2010
The weekend (March 27th) brings the‚ 124th anniversary of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's birth. And we mark it with one of the more‚ obscure chapters in the great architect's life:‚ the time when a suburban business woman with an overactive imagination, an Edward G. Robinson movie, and the hand of fate put Mies under FBI watch for being a suspected Nazi.
Mies was no Nazi, of course. Indeed, it was the Nazis who shut down the Bauhaus and hounded him out of Germany--and to Chicago--in 1938. But‚ that didn't stop the FBI from spending‚ 7 months tracking Mies and‚ developing an FBI file that I've had in my collection since the late 1990s. The file isn't juicy, but it is slightly comical.‚ It begins with a September 1939 letter from a‚ Glencoe businesswoman to a federal judge in Chicago:
Cool Building Wednesday: 235 Van Buren
Mar. 24, 2010
(photo by Lee Bey)
The south/southwest Loop has gotten a few sharp-looking buildings as of late. My favorite of the bunch is the new 235 Van Buren, a condo tower near the mouth of the Eisenhower Expressway, designed by Ralph Johnson of Perkins & Will.
That just might be the best-looking roofline in the city.
Modernist Standard Bank saved? Well, no...and yes
Mar. 23, 2010
When this blog began in January chronicling the demolition of postwar-mod Standard Bank at 95th and Western, the one bit of information I wish‚ had then--but could not find--was the‚ name of the architect who designed the‚ building.
Then a few weeks after the building had been turned to rubble, I got my answer:‚ John L. Bartolomeo.‚ The architect's son, Louis, told me when he left a comment thanking me for my post. He also said:
What would you do with the Thompson Center?
Mar. 22, 2010
(photo by Lee Bey)
I passed the Thompson Center the other day.
We all remember the air conditioning system that couldn't‚ adequately cool the state office building--nearly baking its occupants--when it‚ opened in 1985. Then there was all the‚ back-and-forth over the building's unusual design. And in 2004, former Gov Rod Blagojevich led a failed effort to mortgage the building for $200 million to help shore-up the state's budget.‚ Then late last year, workers began removing 1,000 overhead granite pieces from the center's concourse after a section of the heavy stone crashed to the ground.
Has any Loop building led a more hard-knock life than this one?
Robie House @ 100
Mar. 19, 2010
(photo by Lee Bey)
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the completion of Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, 5757 S. Woodlawn Avenue. The house hardly seems a century old.
(photo by Lee Bey)
The minimalist horizontal lines and streamlined appearance make it look far more contemporary than it is.‚ Here is the point where I was going to rundown the history of the house. Then it occured to me: I did already.
Has the Picasso lost its groove?
Mar. 18, 2010
(photo by Lee Bey)
I'd like to think clusters of‚ school children still race toward the Picasso at Daley Center Plaza, excited--as I was when I was a tike--to experience this masterpiece of modern art by taking turns joyfully sliding down the slanted base of the Cor-Ten steel colossus.
But I don't see much of that anymore.