The devil is in the details at Chicago’s Hairpin Lofts . Look carefully at the exterior of this majestic, six-story triangular structure, and you’ll see that it’s bedecked with camel insignias. Constructed in 1930, when ladies had pinned-up hairdos, the building originally housed the offices of the Hump Hair Pin company, helmed by Sol Goldberg, the Chicago millionaire and once mayoral candidate who invented the dromedary-shaped hairpin and who commissioned what locals dubbed

This blog post is dedicated to artist Neil Trais, who died in 2021. Neil, who for several decades designed Chicago Filmmakers’ myriad posters and announcements, loved Godzilla films and was a devoted fan of all things reptilian. If you look hard enough in Chicago, you’ll spot one of the grand old firehouses whose doors are no longer bright red, where “hook and ladders” used to be parked inside, waiting for the next fire. These abandoned firehouses have been revived by a vari

In early spring, Historecycle donned a hardhat and steel-toed shoes and returned to Chicago’s Glessner House to witness the crowning touches of the geothermal well drilling on site. Joggers in the adjacent Chicago Women’s Park, where trees were just turning green, were oblivious to another type of greening happening next door. In Glessner House’s courtyard, on the other side of the brick wall that separates the park from the building, four holes were being bored through bedro

The first thing that meets your eye when you enter Plant Chicago is an aquaponics tank and rows of kale, lettuce, and other vegetables sprouting in water. Look closer into the tank and you’ll see tilapia and perch swimming around. Among a myriad of other pursuits, the people at Plant Chicago are raising greens fertilized by, of all things, fish waste. In 2019 Plant Chicago took up residence in a two-story, south side building that operated as a firehouse from 1908 to 1978. T

Chicago’s West Town has been experiencing a boom. Not only are humans moving in, but bees are as well. This spring, for example, saw the installation of five active beehives on the roof of the building that the company The Roof Crop calls home. The solid 1928 two-story, industrial structure, originally meant to house taxicabs, is one of the first in the city to be topped by an urban farm. The Roof Crop crew moved in in 2015, after tearing out the original roof and installing

Colorful. Comfortable. Inviting. Not adjectives that describe your typical vocational school building. What was originally a nondescript brick hardware equipment factory built in 1908 on Chicago’s southwest side was gutted, cleaned up, and transformed into a modern training center. The goal of Chicago Center for Arts and Technology (CHICAT ) , which opened in 2017, is to connect technology, art, and the community. To get to class, CHICAT students – low-income adults and teena

Time is of the essence for firefighters. In old firehouses like the one at 1700 W. 95th St. on Chicago’s South Side, firemen would sleep upstairs and, at the alarm bell, zip down the fire pole, rev up the fire truck on the ground floor, and zoom out to extinguish the flames. Now that Optimo Hats , a manufacturer of luxury men’s hats, has moved their headquarters into the 1915 firehouse, things have slowed down a bit. The handful of hat craftsmen who work there can peek throu

At the City Winery in Chicago, what’s behind the scenes is almost as exciting as what’s on stage. The West Loop building was once a nondescript cold storage facility for a food distributor at the edge of the famed meatpacking district. Now the 1920 warehouse has been transformed into a winery, restaurant, and above all, a hall for all styles of music, from rock ‘n’ roll to rockabilly. Between foot-stomping sets, take a few minutes to check out the furniture, fixtures, walls,

Chicago’s Goose Island--the island, that is, not the beer--has been undergoing a metamorphosis in the last few years. Once a manufacturing mecca, its sweaty, grimy old brick factories are, one by one, being turned from blue collar to white collar. Just across the Chicago River and less than a mile east of hipster haven Wicker Park, for example, sits the newest version of the former Burhop building at 1071 W. Division Street. During its first century of life, the LEED Gold-cer

Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, has emerged from the plastic cocoon that enveloped this Frank Lloyd Wright national historic landmark for over a year. While under wraps, the building was crawling with activity. Outside, crews repaired the concrete shell, cutting out chunks, filling in holes, and mending cracks. Indoors, plaster walls and ceilings were patched up and repainted to match their original texture and color. Piece by piece, Wright’s trademark art glass and wood