CHICAGO | General Developments

[SIGSEGV]

I read pseudo pomo as pseudo porno and was very confused.

[Mister Uptempo]

Originally Posted by BonoboZill4

Also, I noticed a large water tower on top of an old stock department building, roughly 4 or 5 floors tall on the corner of Ashland and 47th... It was really cool looking and had the name of the old department store on the top of it. I heard the city is removing those water towers since they are safety hazards, if so, that's kind of sad :/

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8085...7i13312!8i6656

Anyone know more about this building?

The store achieved Chicago Landmark status in 2013. The Landmark Designation Report, issued by the city can be found here. It gives a fairly exhaustive history of the building.


src - wttw.com

Goldblatt's was one of several large, locally-owned department store chains, and occupied the bargain-basement wrung of the retailing ladder. Occupying the next highest position was Wieboldt's, followed by Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Co., with Marshall Field and Co. at the top. That's in addition to locally-owned national department store chains Sears and Montgomery Ward (that also bought out another local chain, known as The Fair), smaller local players, including Chas. A. Stevens, Lytton's, and Gately's, and large single location stores, such as Mandel Brothers.

[BonoboZill4]

Awesome history lesson! Thanks Mister Uptempo. Very happy that the building is here to stay

[Busy Bee]

For those particularly interested in not just Chicago department store history but department store nameplates in general, there is an awesome blog that's loaded with info at http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/

[JK47]

Originally Posted by 10023

Gross. That is a terrible, un-urban development too. The set back from the street is inexcusable. And it’s being built by a mediocre college with a small endowment,

I did my undergrad at a small northeastern liberal arts school (ranked in the top 10, billion dollar endowment, etc) and went to law school through the night program at Loyola (since I had a family to support). So given my vantage point I'll say that your "mediocre college" line is bullshit. Loyola isn't an Ivy but it is a very good school nonetheless.

so the quality of construction isn’t going to be impressive either.

That's a feature not a bug. The biggest challenge facing students right now is affordability, especially in the face of declining public support for higher education. One of the big drivers of increasing costs is the arms race in student residential construction (as part of the effort to attract the best students). Schools shouldn't be spending a fortune on their residential buildings...especially if it depletes funds that could be used towards instruction or financial aid.

[Chisouthside]

I remember going into this goldblatts a few times but my mom preferred the 26th street location.

Originally Posted by Mister Uptempo

The store achieved Chicago Landmark status in 2013. The Landmark Designation Report, issued by the city can be found here. It gives a fairly exhaustive history of the building.


src - wttw.com

Goldblatt's was one of several large, locally-owned department store chains, and occupied the bargain-basement wrung of the retailing ladder. Occupying the next highest position was Wieboldt's, followed by Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Co., with Marshall Field and Co. at the top. That's in addition to locally-owned national department store chains Sears and Montgomery Ward (that also bought out another local chain, known as The Fair), smaller local players, including Chas. A. Stevens, Lytton's, and Gately's, and large single location stores, such as Mandel Brothers.

[marothisu]

Funny about Goldblatts. Most of my ancestors were in NYC (and LA/SF starting in the 1930s) but I did have one ancestor and his mother (great great whatever aunt) who moved to chicago. He married out of the religion, family disowned him and he stayed in Chicago. I forget if it was ww1 or ww2 draft card but it had him working at a Goldblatts on Commerce ave in the 90s (streets) as a tailor/suit buyer. Weird since his address was around Central and Diversey. Hell of a commute back then?

[Mister Uptempo]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Funny about Goldblatts. Most of my ancestors were in NYC (and LA/SF starting in the 1930s) but I did have one ancestor and his mother (great great whatever aunt) who moved to chicago. He married out of the religion, family disowned him and he stayed in Chicago. I forget if it was ww1 or ww2 draft card but it had him working at a Goldblatts on Commerce ave in the 90s (streets) as a tailor/suit buyer. Weird since his address was around Central and Diversey. Hell of a commute back then?

There was a Goldblatt's at 91st and Commercial in South Chicago.

src - pintrest.com

The Landmark Designation report includes an ad from 1933. At that time, Goldblatt's had six locations in the Chicago area-

-Chicago Ave. and Ashland (served as the flagship)
-47th and Ashland
-Lincoln and Belmont
-Broadway and Lawrence
-91st and Commercial
-On Hohman Ave in Hammond, IN

In 1936, they would move into the Rothschild Building at 333 South State, which would become its new flagship store.

Growing up, I was dragged through the Goldblatt's at the Scottsdale Shopping Center (79th and Cicero) many, many times. Goldblatt's had a separate furniture store at the center as well.

[Romero]

I grew up in South Chicago. I have a lot of fond memories of going to Goldblatt's along with all the retail shops available on Commercial at the time. Besides Goldblatt's, there were 3 five and ten stores nearby: Woolworths, Kresge's and Scotts. The steel industry was thriving nearby and times were good.

[marothisu]

^ Yep. Just looked up his WW2 draft card from 1942. 91st and Commercial. Lived on Central near Chopin Park (a little south of Addison)...56 years old. That's over 20 miles each way. Damn that is pretty crazy especially for 1942.

[King of Chicago]

About a week ago, I was wondering about the Treasure Island grocery store on Broadway in Lakeview, and was thinking what kind of development could go in there if it ever went out of business.

Well, as it turns out, yesterday, the news went out that they are closing all of their stores. Hopefully that location on Broadway becomes a good opportunity for a well-planned development:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/busines...cery-kamberos/

I know there is also a store on Clybourne that might also be a good development opportunity....

[Barrelfish]

The Treasure Island at Clark and Elm has a 4 story parking garage on it. Could also be a good redevelopment spot.

That's also on the north end of that 2 block stretch of Clark that's full of car dealerships for some reason. If a treasure island redevelopment started the process of chipping away at those, I would be quite happy.

[King of Chicago]

Originally Posted by Barrelfish

The Treasure Island at Clark and Elm has a 4 story parking garage on it. Could also be a good redevelopment spot.

That's also on the north end of that 2 block stretch of Clark that's full of car dealerships for some reason. If a treasure island redevelopment started the process of chipping away at those, I would be quite happy.

Ah yes; good point! I hate to see the loss of Treasure Island, but these will all hopefully be replaced by amazing developments...

[BonoboZill4]

I'm happy I was able to stir up such an interesting discussion

Cool stuff guys, I love learning about this city's history!

[King of Chicago]

Originally Posted by BonoboZill4

Wasn't sure where else to post these mediocre photos I took with my phone today after going to Petco today, but I was looking at our beautiful city and wondering what possible redevelopments, if at all could be done for these large swaths of land that are covered in power stations, transformers, and assorted rail yard equipment/supplies. Seems like this property on the river would be ever increasing in value, and I would not be surprised if they could consolidate these properties more efficiently to enable someone to build on the river, whether it be offices or residences.

Just a thought anyway...





Edit: I also just realized I can see the crane for that project on Wells that isn't a part of the Riverline development. Cool

Hi Bonobo,

I meant to reply to your post here; when it comes to transformers and other necessary infrastructure, there is a way to bury that underground (actually, that is preferable, as that protects it more from weather etc). I am hoping that a lot of this will indeed go underground and be covered by dense, awesome new developments

[BonoboZill4]

Good to know!

[Chi-Sky21]

Originally Posted by 10023

Gross. That is a terrible, un-urban development too. The set back from the street is inexcusable. And it’s being built by a mediocre college with a small endowment, so the quality of construction isn’t going to be impressive either.

The size of the endowment is not all that matters.. you may have been told this at some time . Don't belittle LU campus. Madonna della Strada, Mundelein building, Cudahy Library and the science hall , IES and Piper are all pretty nice buildings in my opinion. We can't all have gems like Wisconsins humanities building.

[BonoboZill4]

I wish there was some way to block someone's account from popping up when they comment because this 10023 guy just seems like a big troll who lives off trashing our wonderful city because it doesn't fit his wonky European standards. :/

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by SolarWind

September 28, 2018

So dirty already?

[PittsburghPA]

Poor place to put the exhaust if you ask me.