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
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
National Register nomination form here!
catalog.archives.gov/id/93202036
The online portal to the records held at the National Archives, and information about those records.
catalog.archives.gov
November 26, 2025 at 5:37 PM
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
Saving "hooligan towers" for ALT text on a particularly sweet tall building
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 AM
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
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
Postcard of interior of Ling Long Museum here:
bsky.app/profile/budd...
buddhasinthewest.bsky.social Buddhas in the West Material Archive @buddhasinthewest.bsky.social · Oct 13
The Ling Long Chinese Museum in Chicago opened prior to the 1934 World's Fair hoping to draw visitors and help erase the popular view that US Chinatowns were "immoral and dangerous."

The museum housed a large altar in the rear of the main arcade to enshrine an icon of Guanyin. 🧵
🗃️ 📜 #Chicago
The image depicts a colorful interior scene from the Ling Long Chinese Museum, specifically the so-called “Temple of Kung Yin” [sic]. It showcases a seated image of Guanyin on a lotus pedestal. The image is centrally positioned and surrounded by intricate ornamental pillars and panels featuring decorative patterns and red and yellow Chinese text. Two lion statues flank the pedestal, contributing to the symmetrical composition. The background includes a richly decorated wall with intricate artwork. The floor consists of multicolored tiles, adding texture to the scene. Sort available posts on Bluesky using #Buddhasinthewest | All posts archived here: tinyurl.com/4kmcwp87 🔍 🗃️ 📜
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
Ambitious and efficient, the museum invited visitors to "Review a Living Civilization of 4000 Years in 40 Minutes."
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
And check out 1251 N. Paulina, kind of surprising mid-block I think 1930s renovation.
November 21, 2025 at 2:36 PM
tudoraf.bsky.social
Thanks! If you want to add the similar building in @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social's QT
it's 3149-53 W. 61st St./6103-05 S. Kedzie.
November 21, 2025 at 2:32 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
Chicago 1920s architecture so stacked with talent I'd forgotten the firm also designed this absolute banger in South Shore ...
bsky.app/profile/lady...
ladytophamcatt.bsky.social Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · Mar 22
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes ya gotta just let a 1920s building entrance shine on its own.

Architects: Hall, Lawrence, Rippel & Radcliffe, 1925
November 20, 2025 at 11:21 PM