Open House – RDZ Photography

Buenos Aires – November 2019 – Open House goes South

Out of sheer good luck we happen to be in Buenos Aires for their Open House. Their motto is 1 City, 2 Days, 140 Buildings and 760 Volunteers.

Without much notice I missed the sign up period for many of the more popular buildings, but we were still able to see some interesting examples of BsAs architecture.

Our first stop was the Casal de Catalunya. Built in the Barcelona style, the building dates from 1886. It has been home of the Catalan community in Buenos Aires for 130+ years.

Another building from the 1880s is Casa Bolivar. It is designed in a ‘Casa Chorizo (Sausage) style, so named as there are numerous small wings connected through a common hallway, much like links of sausage hanging in the butcher shop.

Casa Bolivar is in San Telmo, which was the main immigrant neighborhood for 100 years. These type of houses served as the first home for hundreds of thousands of immigrants – now it has been refurbished into an art studio and AirBnB.

The Instituto Superior Octobre is located amongst a number of 100 year old buildings, and from the outside fits in perfectly.

Inside is a completely different look – With the openness of the center court, and the steel and glass throughout, it is thoroughly modern.

The Teatro (Theater) Gran Rex is located along the main theater street in the city – Corrientes. It is modeled after Radio City Music Hall. I am unable to identify the statue in the lobby but for now we will call him the Argentina Dean Martin.

As noted previously it was designed to be similar to Radio City Music Hall with the shell roof, and lack of ornate decorations.

With over 3000 seats, it is one of the larger venues in town. On this day the roadies were setting up for a concert.

Our final stop was the Palacio Municipal, or City Hall. It is connected to the Edificio Del Diario La Prensa (a newspaper). Together they make up the Casa de la Cultura (House of Culture).

They are very impressive, ornate buildings.

Chicago – October 2019 – Open House V3.0

Architecture, Art, Festival, History

Late October means it is time for Open House Chicago – our 3rd straight year! As always there were hundreds of volunteers making sure your visit to over 250 buildings went well.

This year ended up having an emphasis on theaters and churches. We started with the Goodman Theater.

Just around the corner is the Nederlander Theater. Built in 1926 and operated for nearly 100 years as the Oriental Theater, it was recently renamed for James Nederlander, the founder of Broadway in Chicago.

It is the most ornate theater I have ever seen.

Our morning of theaters ended with the Lyric Opera Theater.

Chicago was for many years the mail order center of the world, and as such had a massive main post office, located next to Union Station. Today it is being redeveloped into condos.

The Monroe Building is located along South Michigan Avenue. Built in 1912 it has one of the largest collections of Rookwood Pottery tiles in the world.

The Seventeenth Church of Christ is a modern style church located amongst the skyscrapers of Wacker Drive. Completed in 1968, it has a unique look for a church.

For something totally different we made a visit to the Prairie Concrete Company. It is the largest volume concrete dealer in the country, with the capability of creating enough concrete for a 2 car garage every 90 seconds!

This is their only pink cement truck.

The hundred year old Motley School was closed and refurbished into apartments.

Our final stops were churches in Ukranian Village.

New Orleans – May 2019 – Residential Architecture

Architecture, Art, History

New Orleans is a city with a lot of history, from many different places, resulting in one unique culture. They like to refer to themselves as living on ‘the island of New Orleans’.

Their residential architecture and style reflect that diverse environment as well. There are a number of different residential architectural styles prevalent in the Crescent City. Perhaps the most common one is the duplex ‘shotgun’ house.

So named because if you had all the doors open in the house you could fire a shotgun straight through the house and out the back door without hitting anything. Note while they all started out the same, the owners have given their own unique style to each.

The bungalow is another style commonly found in New Orleans.

Most streets have a mix of architectural styles side by side.

While the term townhouse is used for this style, it is not what is commonly found in northern cities where they are a row of attached houses, rather they are the two story ‘boxy’ look that is detached from the neighbors.

There are even modern variations of the townhouse scattered throughout the city.

Some of the new construction seems out of place.

In this new construction the traditional courtyard was replaced with a pool.

With the damage from Hurricane Katrina, many sections of the city had numerous properties that the structures were no longer habitable, so the new construction is welcome.

There are a few cottage styles found as well – again with the owners unique take on style.

As noted previously courtyards are a very common use of the small space behind the home.

While not common, there are some examples of larger duplexes often found in American cities.

Another unusual structure for the city are more traditional rowhouses.

This unique home appears to have once been a firehouse.

Easily the most unique houses in New Orleans are found in the Holy Cross section of the lower 9th ward. They are known as the Steamboat Houses.

In the early 1900s a steamboat captain designed and constructed the first of the two homes, adding the second in 1913.

Built to resemble a steamboat, they even use steel stacks instead of chimneys.

New Orleans is a fantastic city for architecture fans, just make your way to any neighborhood and you will find examples of multiple styles.

Chicago – October 2018 – Open House Part 5

Architecture, Art, History, Nature, Transportation

Chicago Open House weekend concludes ….

Another ‘non official’ stop – The Chicago Athletic Club

For 122 years it was a private club.

That has recently been opened as a boutique hotel.

The lower two floors are public space that we were welcome to tour – as long as we didn’t take photos with the SLR cameras.

But fortunately iPhones take decent photos, including the classic bar.

The game room retains that feel of a private club.

As well as the lobby.

Interestingly the Chicago Cubs ‘borrowed’ the Athletic Club’s logo in the 1880s.

Chicago Cultural Center

Built in 1893 as the Central Library it has housed the Cultural Center since the 1970s.

Entrance to the stairway from the Preston Bradley Hall.

Another view of the Hall with a glimpse of the highlight.

A 38′ Tiffany Dome – many claim this to be the largest in the world.

The dome and light are stunning.

Directly across the street is Millennium Park.

333 North Michigan Avenue

The Eastlake Studio on the 26th floor was open – featuring a terrace with great views.

A perfect spot for checking out the iconic Wrigley Building.

The Jewelers Building, with a large collection of details at the top (when this building was built who did they think would be able to see these 400′ up — but they are impressive from this vantage point.)

A close up of the Wrigley Building clock.

A view across the river to a terrace on Chicago’s second tallest building that will remain nameless.

A mix of old and new (with reflections of old).

One of the reliefs in 333 North Michigan Avenue.

Another nearby vintage skyscraper’s upper detail.

Everybody was taking photos.

For a nice Sunday afternoon the tourists boats were empty – everyone was attending the Open House Chicago events.

Up Michigan Avenue and the Hancock Tower with the Lincoln Park Beach in the background.

Back on the street we passed the Jewelers Building, with this great clock.

A repeat visit from last year is 150 North Riverside, and the view from the 27th floor. Interestingly they had the north end of the empty floor blocked, which was disappointing as this had the best views, but there were still some great shots.