Doorways Of Chicago

02/17/2025

🎨
➕MURAL MONDAY➕
📍Hubbard Street Murals
👨‍🎨

Oscar Joyo is a Malawian-born, Chicago-based artist. His genre of work can be described as Afrofuturism mixed with Afrosurrealism. Oscar’s love for the arts began as a young boy drawing cartoons in Malawi.

He and his passion for art traveled to Chicago, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Life Drawing at The American Academy of Art in 2015.

Shortly after graduating, he developed his signature technique and style of tribal patterns and vivid portraiture.

Visit his website to see more: oscarjoyoart.com

02/15/2025

Celebrate LOVE in the city of LOVE! ❤️

Join Chicago French Market and eATLAS on Saturday, Feb 22, 2025 (11 AM–1 PM) for a French-inspired scavenger hunt & food experience using the eATLAS app.

🏆 Win lunch at the French Market!

💰 $5 registration includes a $5 French Market Gift Card

🍽️ Savor global flavors from , , & more!

Bring your Valentine, gather friends, or go solo—no passport required! 🌍💙Play as a team or individual as you use app-guided cues and hints to seek food and discover French words and culture.
(See link to register below)

Explore an international array of cuisines at this European marketplace. Chicago’s original year-round indoor food hall offers the perfect escape from the winter weather with more than 20 local vendors presenting foods from around the world.

The winning team or individual wins lunch up to $10 per person, up to $50 for a team of 5!

02/13/2025

New Photography Exhibit!
“THE DOORWAYS OF CHICAGO”

Opening night is during SECOND FRIDAYS open house in the
Friday, February 14
5 pm - 9 pm
Studio #424
410 S. Michigan
Chicago IL 60605

Discover the charm, history, and artistry of this exhibit celebrating the city’s most captivating entrances. From grand historic facades to hidden gems, each doorway invites you to see Chicago’s architecture in a new light. Hope to see you there!

Get your Valentine’s candy fixes at
📍N Western Ave

02/12/2025

Happy Birthday #34 to my beautiful daughter, Ariel! I put together some of my favorite pics of us and love the first and last one from many years ago when we went to visit in NYC!

The day you came into my life, everything changed for the better. You have brought endless joy not only to me but to so many others, creating a modern family bound by love, laughter, and resilience. I get to call so many beautiful people my family because of you.

You’ve been through a lot, yet you face it all with strength and grace. Your wisdom runs deep, you are a true survivor and I’ve never been proud of anyone.

My heart is forever grateful for you. I love you more than words can say! Wishing you the best day ever, and I can’t wait to celebrate with you next weekend!

Love,
Your Pop ❤️

02/11/2025

I call these the Green Goddess Doors! They are part of my upcoming photography exhibit:

“THE DOORWAYS OF CHICAGO”

Opening night is during SECOND FRIDAYS open house in the
Friday, February 14
5 pm - 9 pm
Studio #424
410 S. Michigan
Chicago IL 60605

Discover the charm, history, and artistry of this exhibit celebrating the city’s most captivating entrances. From grand historic facades to hidden gems, each doorway invites you to see Chicago’s architecture in a new light.

Hope to see you there!

➕TWIN TUESDAY➕
📍N Hampden - Lincoln Park

02/10/2025

🎨
➕MURAL MONDAY➕
🦋Title: “Growing 2008”
📍Bryn Mawr and DuSable L*D
🎨
👨‍🎨👩‍🎨Tracy Van Duinen and Todd Osborne

I dug into the archives for this doorway. It’s part of my new “DOORWAYS OF CHICAGO” exhibit this Friday during SECOND FRIDAYS from 5pm - 9 pm in my studio #424 in the . Hope to see you there!

Here’s the story: This beautiful bricolage is located on the walls of the du Sable Lake Shore Drive underpass (Bryn Mawr exit). “Growing 2008” was designed and installed with the help of many Edgewater community members. The result includes sculpted flowers, plants, and butterflies.

For eighteen months 29 youth artists started their workday at Bryn Mawr Avenue under Lake Shore Drive smashing ceramic tiles and mirrors. From this controlled destruction, they collected thousands of pieces of ceramic tile, mirror, and concrete, dabbed them with cement, and carefully placed them on a wall.

For weeks, they arranged broken tiles to form a train, a bicycle, a rising sun, birds taking flight, a woman practicing Tai Chi, and dozens of scenes from daily life in the Edgewater community.

🔗 chicagopublicartgroup.org

02/09/2025

Seen in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood: a bold, hand-painted English/Spanish ghost sign for Aries Clothing. Honk if you love ghost signs!

📍W. 18th St

02/08/2025

The striking bronze elevator doors at One N. LaSalle are more than just ornate—they tell a story of success and prestige.

Adorned with female mythological figures, Prosperity, and Abundance, these doors symbolize wealth and reputation, a fitting tribute to the building’s origins as a banking institution.

While they don’t specifically reference the history of the site, the surrounding design elements do. The ostentatious wall sconces feature not just any bird, but the powerful Native American Thunderbird, a nod to indigenous mythology.

One N. LaSalle stands near the presumed location of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle’s 17th-century encampment, and its architectural theme reflects the spirit of early explorers and their interactions with the Native peoples of the region.

📍One North LaSalle
🕌Art Decoratif
📐Vitzthum & Burns
📆circa 1930

02/07/2025

💥
➕FAB FRIDAY➕
📍2105 S State - South Loop

Love spotting the busses around town. They have them parked in the alley behind their establishment too!

02/06/2025

🍩
➕THERAPEUTIC THURSDAY➕
📍401 N. Franklin - River North
📸Phototherapy Help 5 cents...the DOC is in!

Feeling blue? Not the winter blues—this is the *sweetest* shade of blue! 💙

The iconic doorway to the is serving up a little frosted therapy on this icy, gray Chicago morning. Because who needs sunshine when you have sprinkles and a picture-perfect entrance?

Doughnut Worry, Be Happy!

02/05/2025

🏠
➕WORKERS COTTAGE WEDNESDAY➕
📍W. Beach - Wicker Park

This has got to be one of the weirdest juxtapositions in the city! That poor cottage!

02/05/2025

Featured over at Chicago Architecture Center! Thank you!

Why is a caryatid called a caryatid?

There's a LOT of Greek Mythology behind the name, but essentially, women from Caryae, a town just outside of Sparta, were considered not only exceptionally beautiful, but capable of giving birth to strong children. These columns carved to look like women became representative of the women from Caryae, with the word evolving to caryatid.

In this photo we see the caryatids not in Ancient Greece where they originated in the 6th century, B.C. but on the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry from the 1893 World's Fair. Architects of the fair used ancient architectural details in an effort to showcase Chicago as a strong city, a city of longevity, and a city that should be taken seriously.

📸: via Instagram

To learn about other types of columns: https://bit.ly/3WFUTbr



Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

02/04/2025

🏛️🏛️
➕TWIN TUESDAY➕
📍N Kenmore - Uptown

I love 6-flat buildings like this with twin curved bay window towers. How about you? Also, the mixture of two brick colors makes this especially handsome.

02/03/2025

🎨
➕MURAL MONDAY➕
“AFRICA HI-FI pt. 2”
📍1125 W. Lake - Fulton Market
👨‍🎨

Hey Chicago! Mark your calendars for Friday, Feb. 14. Not only is it Valentine’s Day but it’s also open studio night “SECOND FRIDAYS” in the from 5-9 pm! (Great date night excursion!). Hope you can join me in studio #424!

I am working on hanging a new photography exhibit “MURAL MANIA” showcasing my captures of murals around the city, many of them with doorways and windows hiding!

In honor of here’s a partial capture of this large-scale mural by Rahmaan Statik.

Artist Statement:
Doctors save lives, police fight crime, and the Artist dictates what we know as Image, Icon, and Form. Rahmaan Statik lives a lifestyle of observation and creation. Statik believes that being well-informed on the subject of your work and having an organized strategy produces a more intriguing work of art.

Statik also believes that man has the right to choose his reality. In our reality Statik has chosen his own destiny; time and fate have confirmed that producing art is Rahmaan Statik’s positive contribution to society. The work Statik produces both symbolizes and creates optimism for life in our industrialized society.

rahmaanstatik.com

02/02/2025

🎡
➕SUNDAY FUNDAY➕
🏛️Kogen-Miller Studio/Glasner Studio
📍1734-1738 N. Wells Oldtown Triangle
🕌Style Defies Categorization - FABULOUS!
Edgar Miller
📆circa 1928

Have you ever strolled past these intricately carved courtyard doorways and wondered about their story?

Once a humble 1880s apartment and stable, the Kogen-Miller Studios became a vibrant hub of creativity in the 1920s. As part of Old Town’s artistic renovation movement, this historic space has a fascinating past and is a true testament to Chicago’s rich artistic and cultural history!

🔹 In 1928 Sol Kogen purchased the building and, alongside artist Edgar Miller, transformed it into an artist studio.
🔹 R.W. Glasner, an industrialist, commissioned Miller to create a striking entertainment space, now known as the Glasner Studio.
🔹 Featuring stained glass windows, intricate frescos, handmade tile designs, and hand-carved doorways the Glasner Studio became a living work of art.
🔹 1960s-70s – Activist Lucy Hassell Montgomery used the studio as a space to organize human rights efforts.

Edgar Miller, Sol Kogen, Andrew Rebori, and Jesus Torres were the masterminds behind Carl Street Studios on W. Burton Place, an artist's colony/enclave. They were entrepreneurs, architects, artists, and designers whose work defies categorization.

In 1917 Andrew Rebori was responsible for the redesign of the in the , another artist's colony that still exists to this day and where I am so fortunate to have a work studio!

I just discovered two exhibitions about Edgar Miller at the which I can't wait to go see! They are both running through Feb 23.
1. EDGAR MILLER: ANTI-MODERN, 1917–1967
2. THE SPACES WE CALL HOME

02/01/2025

✈️🏖🚗🚊
➕WEEKEND WANDERING➕
📍Cincinnati Union Terminal Company
🕌Art Deco
📐Fellheimer & Wagner
📆1933

The Cincinnati Union Terminal Company was created in 1927 to build a union station to replace five local stations used by seven railroads.

Construction, which lasted from 1928 to 1933, included the creation of viaducts, mail and express buildings, and utility structures: a power plant, water treatment facility, and roundhouse. Six of the railroads terminated at the station, which they jointly owned, while the Baltimore and Ohio operated through services.

Initially underused, the terminal saw traffic grow through World War II, then decline over the following four decades. Several attractions were mounted over the years to supplement declining revenues. Train service ended in 1972, and Amtrak moved service to a smaller station nearby.

Today it is an award-winning complex of distinct museums and attractions including the Cincinnati History Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science, The Children’s Museum, , and the Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater just to name a few.

Have you ever been? It’s a fascinating building with mind-blowing proportions!

01/31/2025

💥
➕FAB FRIDAY➕
📍W. Evergreen - Wicker Park

Here’s one of the fabulous Eastlake/Stick Style porch structures that can be found in Wicker Park. I’m looking forward to another fun walking tour season this year! Drop in a comment if you’ve taken my WP tour. I really enjoy reading the reviews and have included some with this post.

The first WP tour for 2025 is on May 24 and I’ve created a partial schedule already so check it out on my website (link in bio). There are already dates with bookings so grab your ideal date now. CANT WAIT!

01/30/2025

🍃
➕THERAPEUTIC THURSDAY➕
📍W Huron - River North
📸Phototherapy help 5 cents…the DOC is in!

Ah the lovely vibes of summer…5 more months Chicago. Stay strong! 🤓