Blair Kamin on Harry Weese

Continuing the discussion on architect Harry Weese is Chicago Tribune Architecture critic Blair Kamin.  Check out this recent piece from his cityscapes blog.

"A vivid, no-holds-barred look at the life and career of the late Chicago architect Harry Weese is creating a stir in Chicago's architecture community. The story, which appears in the current issue of Chicago magazine and was written by Robert Sharoff, deals not only with Weese's eclectic architectural creations and visionary urban plans, but also his notorious boozing and womanizing."

 Check out other posts at Renown Old Town on Harry Weese here and here.

Lynn Becker on Harry Weese

A couple days ago, local Chicago architecture luminary Lynn Becker blogged about Harry Weese (June 30, 1915 - October 29, 1998), famous Chicago Architect, and former resident of Old Town, on his excellent blog, Architecture Chicago Plus

"Weese was a giant in Chicago history whose contributions went beyond his buildings, to an impassioned activism that kept Inland Architect alive for years,  and that was instrumental in saving and restoring the irreplaceable Auditorium Theater at a time when Skidmore, Owings and Merrill was recommending demolishing it and building a replacement in the shell."

 For further reading, a few months back, I wrote a piece on Weese, and specifically his project at 235 W Eugenie Street, in Old Town.  You can read it here.

235 W Eugenie

235 W Eugenie street is the address of this unique condominium building, designed by the prolific Chicago based architect Harry Weese (June 30, 1915 - October 29, 1998).   Before I discuss the specific building in question, I'd like to take a moment to discuss Harry Weese, a seemingly mercurial man who among many other things was once challenged to a duel by Eero Saarinen. [1]

Some of Weese's projects located in Chicago are the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, The Metropolitan Correctional Center (now known as the William J. Campbell United States Courthouse Annex), the Time Life Building and the Fulton House, as well the renovation of the Louis Sullivan Audtitorium Building.  Extensive lists of Weese's many projects are readily available at his wikipedia page (linked above) so I won't list more of them, however,  I will point out from the short list above, it is clear that Weese worked on an immense variety of projects including jailhouses, churches, renovations, low rise residential projects, and high rise office buildings.

As an architect, Weese was principally a modernist. Gone from Weese's projects are the extensive ornamentations, turnings and moldings that typified the construction practices of the past.  It is a mistake to take Weese's modernist aesthetic as boring or rudimentary.  Weese playfully used unconventional forms and layouts to create intriguing and inviting buildings.  Weese's Metropolitan Correctional Center is perhaps the world's only jailhouse that is built in the shape of a slender extruded triangle.  One can only hope that the residents appreciate this piece of architecturally playful Zeit Geist they occupy.