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the loss of a single cottage can badly damage the historic fabric of its neighborhood

although it may be redundant to preface a post pertaining to 19th century chicago cottages with my continued disappointment and despair, i will probably continue to express my lament, as long as there is still a constant stream of exceptional buildings being permanently erased from the urban landscape. the loss is felt deeply at each site, especially so, as i've spent a considerable amount of time not only documenting every construction and callous destruction, but digging deep into the cavity where each building once stood, hoping to absorb the aura of forgotten lives through the remnants left behind.

in this most recent case, a rapidly vanishing type of 1870's-era brick workers cottage adorned with sandstone trimmings has already been assigned a death sentence, but demolition is weeks away. this gives me time to thoroughly document the structure from top to bottom in a more relaxed fashion. without the wrecking machine onsite wiping away potentially important characteristics, i don't have to scramble through the ruins trying to capture what remains of the structure's soul before it leaves this earth for good.

in this scenario, i get a chance to absorb the house within its surrounding neighborhood, and assess how badly damaged the urban fabric is. i can take stock of how many recent developments have left pockmarks on the area, disrupting the continuity of what was once a collection of similarly aged houses. retaining these structures not only provides historic distinction, and a strong sense of heritage, but a unique and richly specific visual identity.

 

the multitude of ornament alone lends infinite variation to these workers cottages, while at the same time establishing a cohesive character among multiple buildings. so here i am, reflecting upon the historic neighborhood as a macrocosm, in which the loss of even one workers cottage, let alone many, leads to fragmentation and devaluation of the entire surrounding area -- a ripple effect in which demolition ensures more demolition.

the images in this post are thus intended as a holistic document of the surrounding houses, alongside the house to be wrecked. i strongly suspect in the coming years, these too will suffer the same fate. new development no doubt diminishes the specificity of a place, setting in motion a process that slowly erases the historic residue, until there is no trace of the past.



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