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dmercer.bsky.social
dmercer.bsky.social
@dmercer.bsky.social
3.4K followers 650 following 23K posts
Look up and stay curious. Mostly architecture.
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dmercer.bsky.social
Frank Lloyd Wright's George Smith House in Oak Park. Built in 1898.
Shingle-style house with brown siding and dark red trim, steeply pitched roofs; and thin, towering chimneys. The roofs are frosted with snow and snowflakes are in the air.
November 29, 2025 at 6:51 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Snow on the barberries
Bright red barberries on dark brown branches topped with snow
November 29, 2025 at 6:03 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Snowy cathedral
Snowy residential street lined with tall trees
November 29, 2025 at 4:19 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
23rd and Troy, Chicago. One part of the former California Manufacturing Company, makers of window sashes.
Two-story corner brick building with a round turret on the second floor corner. It appears that the original building was brown brick with dark brown brick accents between the second floor windows and stone lintels with keystones above the windows. Currently, the parapet wall is light orange brick, the turret is covered with tar paper and brown shingles, and the first floor has some orange brick as well. The windows on the first floor have wooden sashes (makes sense since that's what this company made) and 12 panes each. Some of the windows are boarded up and the door at left is behind a metal gate. A ghost sign for California Manufacturing Company is visible on a band of either wood or metal between the floors.
November 29, 2025 at 12:48 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Last night
Waxing gibbous Moon against a black sky
November 29, 2025 at 12:21 AM
dmercer.bsky.social
1303 S. Kedzie, Chicago. Built in 1923 as a store and garage. Not sure when that medallion showed up. Photos are from a few weeks ago (left) and 2006 (right, from Assessor).
One-story brick abandoned building painted chartreuse and green. Brick is visible on the top few feet of the building; everything below that appears to be concrete block. There is a circular metallic medallion in the top center and panels with three bellflowers on either side. There are currently no windows other than an opening for an exhaust fan above the door, at left. There is also a band of brown paint across the center of the building. The best touch is an ATM sign over the door. The same building almost 20 years earlier when it was mostly painted white. At the time it was Anna's Food & Liquor and it had an Old Style beer sign in the upper left corner. The address, 1303, is painted in red above the door, which is open and sporting an ad for Newport cigarettes. The medallion at top center is painted white and the bellflowers on the sides are brown.
November 28, 2025 at 11:36 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Little Village, Chicago
Blue-gray frame house with two cars parked in front—one bright orange and the other red.
November 28, 2025 at 3:57 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
My turkey coma has continued into the morning.
November 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
sorenspicknall.bsky.social
Found out that the American Toby Jug Museum in Evanston permanently closed earlier this year, which is a shame. One of those great little museums that comes from somebody who is intent on sharing their personal hobby with others, and who has the time, resources, and space to do so.
The American Toby Jug Museum in Evanston is closing. What does one do with 8,500 Toby jugs?
Founder Stephen Mullins’ collection outgrew his house so he created a museum. There are jugs of presidents, of “Star Wars” characters, there are glass cases filled with them. But …
www.chicagotribune.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:26 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Perhaps Butterball needs better quality control.
Part of the wing of a plucked uncooked turkey with two white feathers still attached to the wing
November 27, 2025 at 6:17 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Especially thankful that Chicago has so much terra cotta for me to fall in love with. That started me on the journey of photographing buildings about 13 years ago, and because of that, I have seen a lot of cool buildings and met some amazing people.
Collage of Art Deco terra cotta decoration on buildings in Chicago and Berwyn. A lot of it is green and blue, but there is also gold, orange, black, white, and a bit of red. Another grouping of terra cotta architectural decoration from a wider range of time, including Sullivanesque, floral designs, and a large bowl of golden fruit. One last grouping of terra cotta in a rainbow of colors. There is a red globe, black flowers, a white medallion with bellflower draping, a shield with a strutting lion, and the miracle design of 10 W. Elm, and Art Deco arrangement of green, purple, yellow, orange pieces of terra cotta that is kind of unbelievable.
November 27, 2025 at 3:27 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
I'm thankful for the gingerbread on top of this cottage on S. Troy St. in Chicago.
Red brick cottage with a hipped roof that has a dormer on the right side decorated with wooden swirls and foliage on the top and both sides. The rest of the building is a bit of a hodgepodge. There is a bay window on the right side and below that a corrugated metal roof covering a below-street-level space that appears to be surrounded in plastic. The stairs are on the left and the entrance has a rickety awning perched precariously over it.
November 27, 2025 at 3:14 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving!
Several wild turkeys walking through snow in a cemetery
November 27, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
chigeek.bsky.social
In September someone who lives across the street told me about the potential demolition. It will be a side yard for the brand-new home next door. The irony is that 2219 was owned by Ray Capitanini (who died in April), a longtime supporter of Preservation Chicago. His parents started Italian Village.
My photo of 2219 N. Fremont in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, a highlight of the Sheffield Garden Walk and owned by well-known preservationist, will soon be torn down for a side yard for the brand-new home next door. My photo of the brand-new Savane property on North Fremont in Chicago’s Lincoln Park.
November 26, 2025 at 9:54 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
A demolition permit has been issued for 2219 N. Fremont in Chicago. tours.positiveimagelive.com/public/vtour... It was purchased in September for $2.8 million. For some inexplicable reason, it is not on the Historical Resources Survey and therefore is unprotected.
November 26, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
bbo-falstaff.bsky.social
Replying to @dmercer.bsky.social:
Ah, a house of honey! I'd have quartered there myself, had I known. A man could grow round and sweet on such provisions, and pay his rent in sticky fingers and contented sighs. A sweeter billet than the Boar's Head any day.
November 26, 2025 at 2:33 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
1013-15 N. Cicero, Chicago. Former home of Schutter Candy Co., makers of Bit-O-Honey.
Three-story brick and stone factory building, currently unoccupied. There is scaffolding across the front of the first floor. The windows are all filled in with glass block and there is some graffiti on one side. Article from 1928 "International Confectioner" about the new factory for the Schutter-Johnson Candy Co. There is a rendering of the complete factory building with smokestack, water tower, and flag and a couple of old-timey vehicles in front of it. Color ad for Schutter-Johnson's "four nationally known bars:" Schutter's Candy Bar (imaginative!), Old Nick, Almond Chew, and Bit-O-Honey.
November 26, 2025 at 1:48 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Stephen Sondheim died four years ago. I miss him every day. youtu.be/BC0NQcQRSHw?...
'Sunday' Stephen Sondheim Tribute
YouTube video by Company Broadway
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
pissed-off-g.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
architecture.bsky.social
The Art Deco entrance to the Cranbrook Academy of Art Library
Location: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Art Deco entrance to the Cranbrook Academy of Art Library
November 26, 2025 at 6:30 AM
dmercer.bsky.social
. . .a warm home
Under a railroad viaduct, a red tent with a camouflage tarp on the top of it sits on the sidewalk. There is an overflowing garbage can to the right of the tent and a bicycle at far right. On the wall behind the tent is a mural and the only words visible are "you are worthy of."
November 25, 2025 at 11:40 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Someone please give me this zigzaggy sign for Christmas.
A sign on a pole but only the frame of the sign and a zigzaggy arrow with lightbulbs in it remain.
November 25, 2025 at 11:33 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Beautiful leaf, even though it's a Bradford pear
November 25, 2025 at 11:15 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
This turret has asked to participate in #TurretTuesday before it falls to the grounds and smashes into pieces. Logan Square, Chicago
Three story brick building mostly obscured by a tree. But the two-story round, topless turret is visible in all its glory (sarcasm). It is attached to the corner of the building and looks like it has been covered in stucco or a thin layer of concrete. There is nothing under it to support it except a bit of the corner of the building.
November 25, 2025 at 6:30 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Nice urn
Indescribable frame structure shaped like an "L" with a fat foot. There are two entrances at ground level, a single window slightly above one of the doors and then a pair of windows above and to the left of the single window in the vertical part of the "L." The top part of the building has yellowish siding and the bottom has yellow siding without the "-ish." There is a little sloped shingled roof between the two colors of siding. Front and center on the sidewalk is a concrete urn filled with faux evergreen boughs. Finally, against the wall at right are four electric meters.
November 25, 2025 at 2:39 PM