open house chicago 2017

it's my annual joke but it's true that you can tell it's open house weekend in chicago by the flooded sidewalks

and the fact that i'm sick. thankfully, this year it's just the flu but it still limited my and leff's architectural exploration to our immediate neighborhood and six miles of walking.

NEXT YEAR we branch out a bit. i don't care if i am in a cast, i'm going to carbide and carbon! hrumph!

anyway, edgewater still has some great buildings!  last year, i went to colvin house before the refurb. i returned on saturday to see how the interior looks after a ton of work. guys. GUYS. it's a++ so good! they've kept a lot of the really cool interior details

and updated others to reflect the house's past. it looks FANTASTIC!

our next stop was sacred heart schools, driehaus center (conway house) and, while not much of the building was open, i enjoyed what was viewable.

i am kind of in love with the pattern of this wallpaper.

and, of course, this stairwell.

most of my photos from sacred heart didn't really come out (it was crowded, my lens was foggy due to torrential downpours lol). check out leff's ig if you'd like to see more!

after a quick stop at home to change clothes (i wasn't kidding about the downpours.), we hoofed it to st ita! i almost went to the cathedral a few weeks ago when the st pia relics were on display  but, despite having taught at a catholic school, i still get nervous about how to behave in those situations, so i waited for open house. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ita didn't disappoint one bit. the stained glass is spectacular. (i wish my picture of the rose window had worked, sigh. here's a b&w that shows how it's framed by the pipe organ, if you're interested.)

i felt like a bit of an intruder at st ita since there was a mass taking place. i tried to be respectful and not take pictures of people so you'll get a lot of these sorts of images instead of statues, closeups of stained glass.

i love sixth station of the cross (veronica wipes jesus' face) paintings. don't ask. just accept it.

really great cathedral. i'm glad i finally went inside! (i've passed it many, many times.) here's st ita herself! 

on the way to our last site, leff and i passed an accidental goldsworthy.

here're the edgwater beach apartments. i've been into one of the street level areas before for an art fair but this place is too unique to not tour.

i had heard about their beaux arts pool and, tbh, that was my main draw to this place. (i LOVE pools! haha) isn't this one cute?

the gardens were, sadly, closed due to the rain but, hey, the chandelier in the main lobby made up for it.

(i have actually seen peeks of the garden before since i take the trail behind these apartments from time to time so nbd.)

and that was ohc 2017 for me and leff! pretty fantasic, weather and illness considered! again, can highly recommend visiting if you ever happen to be in chicago on the weekend in question. here's the full list of sites from this year in case you're interested.

NEXT YEAR i'm totally going to bronzeville cause i am smitten with the first church of deliverance. that interior is AH MAY ZING!!!