DEFUNCTSITE

Last night a four alarm fire ripped through the old Washburne Trade School, gutting the last remaining building of this once massive complex. Other sections have been demolished over the past several years, but due to a lack of funds or initiative (or both), the massive former factory building has stayed put. Lately I’ve been watching the place for signs of activity, wondering if and when it would get torn down. Now I assume that the answer to those questions are “yes” and “soon, probably”. So of course I went there after the fire to grab a few photos…

A man dragging a garbage can full of pipes stopped to glare at me. “Hey,” he spat, “you takin’ pictures of people?” I shook my head and muttered something about just shooting buildings. A look of disgust crossed his face. “What, like this place?” he asked, nodding towards the abandoned school. “Sheeeeeeeit…” I waited until he went around the corner before ducking underneath the fence…

I haven’t checked on this place in a while, so allow me to once again present to you a few current photos of Washburne Trade School. If you are wondering when I am going to stop blathering on about this place, well…don’t hold your breath.

I suspect that this is one of those internet things everyone else already knows about, but a friend just pointed me to the website HistoricAerials.com. Like most other online map/satellite photo sites you just type in an address and POOF, there’s your aerial photo. What sets this site apart is that it has images going back to 1938. I’ve been using this great tool to study up on some of my favorite building sites in Chicago…

Sometimes I take documents from buildings being torn down, but only if I’m certain that they would be otherwise thrown away. I’ll be posting some of my finds here…

Some more shots of the art-deco Administration Building at Washburne Trade School:

December 2007

This morning….

Above is the Art Moderne style facade of the administration building, designed by S.D. Gratias and built in 1935 as an addition to the main building at Washburne, which at the time was the home of The Liquid Carbonic Corporation…

During my Saturday morning bike ride, I swung by Washburne to check up on the demolition work. Much of the west wing is now gone, no surprise there. But what I was really interested in was at the east end of the complex…

The demolition of Washburne Trade School, which began early this year, continues in snail-like fashion. Yesterday I slipped inside to grab a few photos…

Autumn is a time to reflect on the past year–what has been accomplished, and what needs to be done. It is also a time for my seasonal allergies to wake me up at 2am with fits of sneezing and coughing, and since I can’t get back to sleep I have plenty of time to engage in the aforementioned reflecting. The other night I reflected on how I need to update this blog. Thus, I offer a small selection of photos that I’ve shot since my last post…