Once Chicago had 10 major municipal parking garages. Soon there will be none. They were built in the 1950's for a brave new world where a spawn of expressways was making the city increasingly car-centric, All were designed by major Chicago architects, holding up to 2,000 cars...
Perhaps the most famous was "the birdcage" on Wacker near State, adorned by Milton Horn's sculpture Chicago Rising from the Lake, which after demolition was rescued from a trash heap and now graces the north Riverwalk...
Facility No. 10, at 535 N. St. Clair, by Jensen & McClurg, was the smallest, in a style that could be called minimalist modern. There were no exterior walls, except for a partial one on Grand in graceful brick design. The sprawling floor slabs were cantilevered ...
... from a grid of internal mushroom columns.
Strangely enough, Facility No. 10 was spruced up little more than a year ago, with a new paint job and a mural honoring first responders. The vertical signs are already gone. Did someone buy them?
Where there was parking for 262...
...vehicles, they'l be space for 100, plus 124 bicycles - and 248 apartments, in 21 stories. Over a decade ago, Forgotten Chicago was already saying Facility No. 10 had "condozing plans in the works," so I guess you could say it cheated time, but nobody can do that forever.
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