Chicago Tudor Revival AF
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tudoraf.bsky.social
Chicago Tudor Revival AF
@tudoraf.bsky.social
1.2K followers 280 following 2.3K posts
Lesser building nerd
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tudoraf.bsky.social
Depression era automat-cafeteria chic, 2710 Broadway, New York, NY
www.nyc.gov/html/records...
Color photo of front facade of a three-story symmetrical store building clad in limestone on a city street. Entrance surrounded by large store windows and would-be transom taking up half the second story. Polychrome terra cotta decoration in bands above third-floor windows and topping sections between those windows. Also at very top of parapet. Close-up of polychrome terra cotta above window. In shades of tan, green, and blue are ferns, leaves, sunflowers, and spotlights. Close-up of part of metal door surround. Fluting ends in a Deco bouquet of stylized flower and ferns.
November 28, 2025 at 9:44 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Rooftop shack final boss on 83rd St. in Manhattan
Color photo a corner 14-story apartment building in mostly brown brick, retail on ground floor. On roof is large two-story white Mediterranean Revival section. More detail on section of building above cornice on first pic. Two-story stucco cube with triple arch on second floor. End of clay tiles, making wave pattern, on top. Two little "shoulders" connect facade to main building's roof.
November 28, 2025 at 3:59 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Thankful for you inspiring me to become a building nerd! Insane terra cotta from NYC this afternoon.
Color photo of three rows of ornate AF cream terra cotta. Top row within pattern of connected diamonds are Gothic four-petaled flowers. In second row, the vegetation has won, leaves and fruits or buds surrounding small hexagons. Last row, very Deco looking for 1910s vines over teardrop and spade designs.
November 28, 2025 at 2:36 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Close-up of that front gate I'm jealous of
One-story entrance to courtyard, triple arched, with twisty column supports. Middle arch much wider than arches on sides. Four twisty cylinders with plain urn-like finials traverse the parapet. Metal grates and door.
November 25, 2025 at 2:05 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
5139-49 N. Lincoln (1928-29, Paul Hansen architect), eschewing perfect symmetry
Color photo of a large four-story courtyard apartment building in light brown brick on an arterial street. Edge of roof (probably originally clay tiles) around the perimeter, shaped parapet at end of courtyard. Courtyard not open, but behind a section containing a gate and a storefront. Rest of ground floor also stores, with plain brown awnings, echoing the roof. Except for gate, not much ornament. It's road construction season, with orange traffic drums on sidewalk and island.
November 25, 2025 at 2:05 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Another perfect Sunday for a walk to the lake
Color photo of the gable of large stucco single family home. Wood painted green makes half-timbering in rectangular shapes. Three double-hung windows in gable. Deep eaves, red tile roof. A bit of similarly styled roof in foreground. Color photo of the front door to red brick apartment building. So many arches: coved stone door surround, then a sort-of transom that continues in glass panes to the sides, all in lovely brown wood, and then door itself arched at top, in same wood. Color photo of one tier of a pre-1920 apartment building in red brick with tan stone accents (quoins, variations on dentils, and Prairie geometry). Parapet, subtle steps and very subtle point, is centered over tier, but front door and windows along stairs right of center. Picture of an entrance to a large midcentury apartment building in golden brick. Very wide entry porch with zoomy grooved metal fascia. Doors at each end, each surrounded by fluted stone/concrete panels. Interspersed glass windows on wall in between. Sign in camp-like font says 7400 Sheridan Condominiums.
November 24, 2025 at 3:10 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Marion Mahony Griffin Beach 💙💙💙
Color photo of a sand beach, Lake Michigan, and a blue sky with scant wisps of clouds, on a beautiful fall day. On left a rock breakwater. On the right, a concrete pier. Plaque on a rock for Marion Mahony Griffin Beach Park. (in all-caps but I will spare you:) Marion Mahony Griffin (1871-1961) was an extraordinary architect, artist, author, and visionary. Marion and her husband Walter Burley Griffin worked for Frankl Lloyd Wright early in their careers. Her exquisite drawings helped Wright achieve fame. Marion and Walter created some of the most significant architectural designs and urban plans of the early 20th century in America, Australia, and India. Their plan for Australia's capital city, Canberra, remains one of their most outstanding legacies. Marion was born in Chicago and lived her family's home in Rogers Park for more than two decades. Chicago Park District Australian Consulate-General Chicago Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society Alderman Joe Moore - 2015 -
November 23, 2025 at 8:57 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Still there in this 1977 Sun-Times pic, c/o Chicago History Museum
Vintage black and white photo of Wentworth Ave. in Chinatown. Signs for Tin Yen Chop Suey, Chinese Gift Shop/Ling Long Art Museum and Honk Kong Restaurant. Roofs of Pui Tak Center reach up to then-Sears Tower in distance, with shortened antennas.
November 22, 2025 at 8:39 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
HathiTrust has a 1935 museum guidebook, originally printed two years earlier for the Century of Progress Exposition, including a brief snapshot of the Chinese community in Chicago in 1935.
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ui...
Hand-drawn map of location of Chinatown in relation to Century of Progress Exposition, and inset, feat. (as listed) On Leong Bldg, Merchandise Mart, Ling Long Museum, Chinese Ben. Assn., Chinese Church, Chinese Y.M.C.A., and San Min Morning Paper.
November 22, 2025 at 8:39 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
2238 S. Wentworth, gorgeous terra cotta facade from 1932 (Michaelsen & Rognstad architects), home of the Ling Long Museum until around 1983, before becoming Emperor's Choice restaurant.
Color photo of an elaborate three-story building in tan brick and terra cotta, cheek-and-jowl with buildings to right and left. Terra cotta in Chinoiserie style. Two columns in front of second and third floors, covered in dense green and orange patterns. Two green critters stand on pedestals in between. Parapet a series of curves topped in a kind of pill shape. Sign in Chinese, green on green.
November 22, 2025 at 8:39 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Yeah, random! I went ahead and checked the permits. Indeed looks like a 1930s renovation.
Scan of index card with construction info for 1251 N. Paulina, Feb. 3, 1932. Sundry permit for New Brick front.
November 21, 2025 at 3:20 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Those lightning question marks are incredible! I think I've shown you my not-great overcast pic of part of the Paulina building.
Bad color photo of part of a three-story mixed-use building in red brick, ground floor facade clad in pinkish terra cotta blocks. Overcast sky means colors all pretty blah, but you can make out window spandrels, which have Art Deco patterns of ferns and sunrays (or are they spotlights?). Brickwork along the top features plus signs and a large triangle on each side.
November 21, 2025 at 2:59 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
... and the Envoy Apartments (1926-27) in Uptown, gorgeous parapet ship seen here
Color photo of the top of an apartment building in red brick. A row of recessed arched windows. Above them, a tile ship: three white sails, a tan hull, and a sea that is red, except for blue splashes against the ship's side. It is winter, and spindly branches encroach into the pic.
November 20, 2025 at 11:21 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
The charms of a curl, 3954-56 N Bell (Hall, Lawrence, Rippel & Ratcliffe, ca. 1927)
The side door to an apartment building, recessed in an arched opening. Facade is large blocks of limestone or concrete, with white brick visible on the periphery. A few feet above the door, a ridge curves up, from the right to the left, ending in adorbs curl about six feet above the door. Close-up of open metalwork in arch of entry in first pic: it's a bowl with a few dozen circular fruits. The sides of the bowl extend out in huge curlicues. Arched transom visible beyond.
November 20, 2025 at 11:13 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
FWIW, Marley (not Marby) confirmed!
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=os...
Scan of the listing of a building permit: Bethel Presbyterian Church, 4417 N Major ave, 1-story br church 54x57, 5757 Windsor ave; archt, J J Marley, 5 N La Salle st; mason, C. Stoltenborg, 5239 Bernard st; carp., D Whitelaw, 4417 N Major ave.
November 20, 2025 at 5:09 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Mods are asleep, post trad breeze blocks
Color photo of 1960s townhomes, with side entrances on left. Street facade is all tan brick, except for odd rectangle of black brick on second floor and, in front of entrance, a grid of 3x6 breeze blocks in the shapes of fleur-de-lis. Closer up of breeze blocks. Sure enough: concrete fleur-de-lis.
November 20, 2025 at 4:46 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
I did find this pic of a cornerstone laying for Bethel Presbyterian, the owner on the Windsor permit, in Sept. 1926, about two weeks after permit issued. Might the stone be hidden under the bushes in front?
Picture of early 20th century folks, dressed up, including some kids up front. One dude, hat in hand, is ceremonially placing a trowel on a large stone, marked A.D. 1925, on which are stacked three bricks. Caption reads: LAY CORNER STONE OF PORTAGE PARK CHURCH. The Rev. A.J. Ferry of Edgewater Presbyterian church officiating at services at Bethel Presbyterian church.
November 20, 2025 at 4:36 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Mercy, this little tree (looks to be a lemon) is so good
Part of pic in original post: terra cotta panels depicting a small tree in a thatched container on a red brick facade. Fruit (yellow, lemony) and leaves (oval, pale green) fit in a rectangular panel with a vivid blue background.
November 20, 2025 at 1:05 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
New (old) Poem Defending Chicago just dropped
www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
JOURNEYS AND DISCOVERIES Chicago O city of beauty, They have spoken without understanding; They have called you evil! O city of beauty, Maybe it is only my heart you have shaken With your sadness of rose evenings, And the shadows falling In the misty evening Under the bridges. Your avenues are velvet and symmetrical, As speech slow-moving. O city of beauty, I come not with vain enumeration! For the in the untrod night I have looked upon your rapt Presence. There was a whiteness as of wings stirring.
November 19, 2025 at 4:23 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Just learning about the Turbyfill family, who moved to Chicago from OKC around 1914, and included Mark Turbyfill, a dancer, poet, and painter. Turbyfill was a teacher of Katherine Dunham and the two formed an early but short-lived Black ballet company in Hyde Park in 1930.
Chicago Defender article from 6/28/1930 Chicago Will Witness First Race Ballet Something new under the sun, a "Negro ballet," will be introduced to Chicago next winter. This new form of art is being carried out by Mark Turbyfill, member of the Chicago ballet, the Riveria ballet and the Bolm ballet, who has written the story for the ballet. He also has conceived the designs. Eric Delamarter, associate conductor of the Chicago Smyphony [sic] orchestra, is composing the music. The ballet idea is an outgrown of the Cube-Masque, a little theater group which successfully gave a series of plays last winter in association with the University of Chicago. The theater was located in an old storehouse of the Chicago World's Fair near the university campus. Mr. Turbyfill began instructing a small class of ballet prospects at the suggestions of Catherine Dunham, one of the Cube-Masque players. The late Tennessee Mitchell Anderson, sculptress and former wife of Sherwood Anderson, the novelist, became interested in the ballet movement and assisted the ballet instructor in carrying out his plans. The South side ballet studio, 1547 E. 57th St., where rehearsals are held, was formally opened on June 26 with a tea. Eunice Tietjens, the poetess, poured tea.
November 19, 2025 at 4:23 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Paulina Mansions (Turbyfill & Mohr, architects), at the corner of Garfield & Wesley in Oak Park. Listed in American Builder's "1928 Exhibit of [Really Goddamn] Good Buildings."
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=cu...
Scan of an old article titled American Builder's Exhibit of Good Buildings. Sepia pic of a four-story brick courtyard building with stone tabs around windows and at building's corners. Half-timbered cross-gables abound, most prominently at end of courtyard. Bottom part of a circular turret starting on fourth-floor is also half-timbered. Courtyard behind a castellated arcade. Floor plan of a courtyard apartment building with an extension to the right that creates a narrow second back courtyard. Overall shape is a chunky N.
November 19, 2025 at 12:51 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
606 walk featuring brutalist, Renaissance Revival, neo-eclectic, and Very Brick styles
Color photo of a curving concrete barrier, eight levels of beveled shelves, filled with dirt and dried out plants. Color photo of St. Mary of the Angels, a huge church in red brick. On top is a large dome with a substantial drum and lil lantern. A troop of angels on the parapet below. Color photo of a wide 3-story newer apartment building. Peach brick on 2nd and 3rd floors, above brown brick with connected stone(ish) arches windows surrounds on ground floor. Nice dichromatic diapering on parapet and green tile(ish) roofs above some entrances. Color photo of the corner of the top story and a half of an industrial building entirely in common brick. No ornament necessary.
November 16, 2025 at 10:50 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
MCM cousins in West Ridge, 2956 W. Bryn Mawr and 2814 W. Morse, both likely mid-1950s
Color photo of a two-ish story midcentury home, with multi-skillion (thank you for the vocab, @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social) roofs. On left, lower section, a wall of glass in 9 panes, below siding in the gable. On the right, red brick with small section of windows and rough stone at the half-story level. Roof on left side meets the middle about two feet below the roof on the right section. Garage, in rough stone and pale green paint, on the far right. Color photo of a midcentury home in tan brick with a multi-skillion roof. Big Chicago style window on left. On right, smaller windows higher up and for basement. Roof on left at sharper angle and to the front. Roof on right at chiller angle, above and behind left roof.
November 16, 2025 at 3:52 AM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Underrated maple tree foliage in Indian Boundary Park
Color photo of a medium-sized maple tree in a city park. Big round crown with little bit of trunk visible below. Leaves are turning, mostly yellow with a little green. Ground covered in yellow-brown leaves.
November 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Summer definitely over in Lincolnwood
Color photo of same Dairy Star sign in previous posts. Now reads: THANK YOU FOR ANOTHER GREAT YEAR!
November 12, 2025 at 8:47 PM