Thursday, May 6, 2010

Gotta face the face

A mini-theme: three buildings with human faces as a prominent decorative element. The first is on Clark Street in Andersonville:

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This is 5006 N. Clark, originally the Fred Heyden branch of the Chicago Motor Car Company circa 1916; today the New Clark Auto Repair and Body Shop.


Much further down the road, a heavily Deco-styled face on Clark Street in Lakeview:

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Back up the road - Devon at Clark - a more traditional face, on the Assyrian American Association, 1618 W. Devon. Originally this was the New Devon Theater, built in 1912, playing "Photoplays" in 1915, and converted to a car dealership by 1923.

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If you were wondering about the secondary decorations on that first building, it's a winged wheel, a common element in the 1920s:

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Same idea, different style, on Halsted Street:

Rivernorth(?)

4 comments:

FGFM said...

Here's an example of the winged wheel motif on a stock certificate

Jyoti said...

Very interesting

Caroline said...

Great Eye! The last photo from Halstead Street is particularly awesome and new to me. Can you fill me in on the address or intersection? I'd love to go check it out.

adgorn said...

Halsted location is just N of Addison on the west side of the street, a Whole Foods now.

I found a Winged Wheel in Maywood just N of the bike trail:
http://picasaweb.google.com/adgorn/MaywoodWingedWheel?feat=directlink