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Old Posted Sep 17, 2009, 8:05 PM
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VivaLFuego VivaLFuego is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Blue Island
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I think this is 1964. Obviously the focus is on the UIC campus under construction, and this shot gives a very detailed view of the original Netsch vision that included the elevated pedestrian 'expressways' between buildings (with a direct connection to the UIC L stop at the north end), with an obvious focus towards the Forum in the heart of campus.

Other things I see:
1. Check out the 'streetwall' of midrise industrial loft buildings lining the east side of the Expressway through downtown. Also just the sheer uninterupted midrise density of the industrial district (with skid row along Madison) between the river and the expressway.
2. Check out the US Gypsum building at the far right, a modernist gem that only lived for about 25-30 years (now the site of 111 S. Wacker).
3. I believe that is the elevator core for Marina City, just right of center in the upper half.
4. Just left of center, upper half, you can see the bright new construction of the Sandburg Village urban renewal highrises along Clark Street between Division and North.

In the context of how dark and dingy everything looks, the near luminescence of the mid-century modernist planning and architecture that is maligned today starts to make a bit more sense.
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