Public Service Announcement
A bit of spam that I received this afternoon from Preservation Chicago, though since I’m glad I got it I suppose it isn’t really spam. I assume that if you’re reading this blog, you already know who Richard Nickel is:
Save the Richard Nickel House!
Richard Nickel’s house at 1810 W. Cortland is currently threatened with demolition! Nickel, the legendary architectural photographer and Chicago’s preservation pioneer lived in this house until his unfortunate death in 1972 in the Chicago Stock Exchange building. The property is currently vacant and in foreclosure. An adjacent property owner has expressed interest in expanding his backyard and may purchase the property for demolition.
On December 4th, Preservation Chicago recommended the Richard Nickel house for landmark status. We would encourage you to contact Deputy Commissioner Brian Goeken and Alderman Scott Waguespack to express your support for the preservation of this historic house!
Brian Goeken, Deputy Commissioner
Commission on Chicago Landmarks
33 N. LaSalle St., Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60602
TEL: (312) 744-3200
brian.goeken@cityofchicago.orgAlderman Scott Waguespack
32nd Ward Office
2657 N. Clybourn
Chicago, IL 60614
TEL: 773-248-1330
ward32@cityofchicago.org
The above image is a photo that Nickel took of his storefront building–I scanned it from the book Richard Nickel’s Chicago, a terrific collection of his photographs published by City Files Press.
Related links:
The Richard Nickel Committee and Archive
WTTW Channel 11: The Richard Nickel Story
edit(s): Preservation Chicago finally has information about the building posted on their website–the Richard Nickel house is on their “Chicago 7″ list of threatened buildings for 2009. You can read the Nickel entry HERE, and see the rest of the list HERE. And someone has set up a webpage devoted to saving the Nickel House; you can see it HERE. ALSO: Chicago photographer Kristen Heldmann posted a nice write-up on Nickel, his photo work, and the threat to his former home on her blog; you can read the post HERE.
Marc Hauser moved?
Apparently…a quick Google search shows his current address as being elsewhere. HERE is a photo I found on flickr from when the building was still a photo studio.
I went there on a Great Chicago Places and Spaces tour about Nickel a couple years ago. Hauser had remodeled the interior heavily but it was a nice studio.
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for sharing this info. I can’t believe it! I love that house. It’s a 3-4 mile walk from my family’s apartment, and I often walk up and pay it a visit when I am in Chicago.
:( God, the irony of this is just sickening. I will spread the word, and nudge locals I know to participate.
OH MY GOD. I think my heart just broke. This is so upsetting. It should be preserved in his memory and as a landmark for all of the effort that Nickel put into the movement to preserve Chicago’s cultural heritage. “Do we dare squander Chicago’s great architectural heritage?” Yes, yet again, it seems.
This is old news and dont know why I didn’t mention it earlier, but… Mildly funny story:
I deliver for Bari Foods, (on my bike) and we occasionally had orders from Mark. When I realized his studio was in Nickel’s old house I brought it up and asked him if that was the reason he decided to have his studio there. For Nostalgic or inspirational sake I thought. I don’t know. I just couldn’t imagine that two of Chicago’s great photographers ended up in the same building by mere coincidence.
Well, a little to my disappointment, it had nothing to do with nickel and everything to do with cheap real estate in the late 70s when he bought the building. HA, fantasies really are just imagination induced.
Most recently, the Richard Nickel house was placed on Preservation Chicago’s list of 7 most endangered buildings for 2009:
http://preservationchicago.org/chicago7/2009/3_richard_nickel_house.html
Thanks for all of the comments and interest, but Carey did ruin my fantasy about the building a little bit. Oh well…
Laurie: your comment got hung up in my spam filter for some reason, that’s why it didn’t appear for a few days. My mistake. Thanks for the link, I added it to the post.
[...] Lots of relevant links here and a photo with links here. Another good post here. [...]