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Lady Topham Catt

@ladytophamcatt.bsky.social

1.6K followers 440 following 3.7K posts

Short. Black. Mom. Wife. Fighter against the tyranny of pants with waistbands. Classic film, plus Chicago history & architecture. Lotsa cussin’. Mainly pictures of things I like peppered with the odd rant or two. she/her

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 17d

I wrote about the incredible collection of modernist architecture in Chatham commissioned by Black professionals looking to make their mark on Chicago in the midcentury

Best Former House of Royalty: Mid-century modern home of ‘Soul Queen’ Helen C. Maybell Anglin — Chatham

hicago history is often hidden in plain sight in the structures that surround us. From the extraordinary terra cotta-clad buildings standing sentinel over Cottage Grove to the bungalows marching along...

southsideweekly.com

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 1h

This kind of smart, swimmable, mixed-use Colossal Squidism is illegal to build in most American cities

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 1h

Thanks. I tend to spend most of my time on the south & west sides, so I hadn’t noticed the others. They’re really fucking Bronzeville up for me! Morning Star & Overton were at the very top of my list.

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 2h

Wait, what?! I’ve noticed 2 canceled (but not in the past week), & at least one that was mentioned in recent articles but wasn’t ever on the list. There’s more?!

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 11h

I don’t think you can take a bad photo in there. It’s just that good. But thank you!!!

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 21h

Google says Shein has them. Just gonna go ahead & suggest we NOT go with that one.

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 22h

Thank you!

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 22h

The guy that drives that car works at the cemetery. He's always in a pristine vintage 3 piece suit & unironically uses a pocket watch. I'm not entirely convinced he isn't a ghost.

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 22h

Thanks! I'll keep you posted. I'm putting myself on record in hopes that I'll stop procrastinating!

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 22h

No clue about the tickets, but a cello concert in there will be absolutely transcendent. Have fun!

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 22h

Thank youuuuu!

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 22h

Chicago for Chicagoans is a nonprofit that offers tours across the city for & by folks that live here. I have rarely done a tour with them that wasn't phenomenal. (This rating may change as I am supposed to be developing a couple far South Side tours for them next year) www.chicagoforchicagoans.org

Home

Chicago for Chicagoans is a pay-what-you-can walking tour nonprofit, designed to give locals a fresh perspective on their Chicago neighborhoods.

www.chicagoforchicagoans.org

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 22h

I'll focus on walking tours as I'm not a huge fan of bus tours. For great architecture & more, my go-to is Will Quam of Brick of Chicago. Yes, he is bonkers about bricks, but his neighborhood tours are also elevated by a nuanced sociohistorical perspective. www.brickofchicago.com/tours

Brick of Chicago — Walking Tours

www.brickofchicago.com

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 22h

Yes. No microphones at the opera I attended, but very full, gorgeous sound.

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 23h

I was excited to get in during the day when it was completely humanless, but Chicago City Opera occasionally does stuff there in the evening, & it is absolutely magical when darkness falls. No centralized listing, but check their site from time to time.

Chicago City Opera

Ouroboros Opera is dedicated to providing high-quality performances of standard operatic repertoire in intimate spaces.

www.chicagocityopera.com

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 23h

It is fantastic. The level of detail on... well, EVERYTHING is just unbelievable.

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 23h

I'll add one pic of the May Chapel exterior, taken a couple years ago at one of the evening operas Rosehill occasionally hosts.

Color photo of a Romanesque chapel in the middle of a cemetery, taken at night. A vintage car is parked in front of the chapel's arched entryway, and light spills out from the inside, illuminating the portico and the car.

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 23h

I didn't know! The last one I saw was held outside. Thanks for the update!

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 23h

2/2 More May Chapel details

Color photo of the intricate geometrical and floral motif of the highly ornate portico ceiling.

Color detail of a section of wall. At top are highly detailed golden tan tiles embossed with a geometric and floral design. A matching molding separates this from the bottom tiles, which are a gorgeous green and outlined in raised, Gothic tracery.

Color detail of flooring inside the chapel. Set into an off-white mosaic floor is a striking pattern of dark teal flowers with burgundy leaves outlined in white and outlined again in a darker gold, giving it a vaguely quatrefoil-ish shape.

Color close-up of incredibly detailed angels and Gothic tracery carved into enormous wooden corbels.

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 23h

1/2 I have never once been to Rosehill Cemetery & found the May Chapel open & empty. Until yesterday.

Short thread with some interior details in the light of day.

Horatio N May Memorial Chapel
Architect: Joseph Lyman Silsbee, 1899

Color photo of the interior of a Gothic chapel, taken from the entrance and facing the front. Dark wooden pews line either side of an aisle covered in a runner with red as the dominant color. Light shines in through stained glass windows, illuminating a partially visible wooden vaulted ceiling.

Color photo looking straight up at a wooden vaulted ceiling. A light fixture hangs from the junction of four sections. On either side of two of these sections can be glimpsed the pointed arches of stained glass windows.

Color photo of a portion of a wall in the chapel. Dark wooden pews stretch to the walls, which are covered in green and tan tile, with a green and tan frieze of Gothic tracery ornamenting the top. Two sets of stained glass windows in yellow, white and red sit on either side of a dark wooden truss; the transom of the window to the far right is open.

Color photo taken from inside the chapel, facing the doors leading outside. Bright sunlight out side obscures some details, but the glorious stained glass transoms above the doors are visible, as is a glimpse of the ornate mosaic ceiling just inside.

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 23h

Hello, Mr Perkins Bass. Your school is cool & all, but I really like your grave.

Perkins Bass (1827-1899) reposes in Rosehill Cemetery & occasionally shows up on @adamchicago.bsky.social's Rosehill tours, depending on what dead people Adam feels like introducing you to on any given day.

Color photo of the highly ornate above ground tomb for Perkins Bass, an elaborately carved box where nearly every surface is ornamented with floral or geometric designs.

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Reposted by Lady Topham Catt

Robert Loerzel @robertloerzel.bsky.social · 1d

It was an honor to talk Saturday at the Sanfilippo Foundation about the Uptown Theatre — and to see the amazing collection at Sanfilippo, starting with the Uptown's chandeliers. There' s so much cool stuff — these pictures are just a tiny sample. Well worth a visit. www.sanfilippofoundation.org

A music machine with several statues of musicians and the words "Paris" and "Limonaire Fres."

A gramophone with an extra-long, shiny, gold-colored horn

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 2d

Hopefully they weren’t using it for both milk AND garbage, but you never know

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 2d

3A might have been for garbage

Page from a 1925 Majestic catalog showing various garbage receivers, including model 3A.

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Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 2d

I knew this statue had rode off into the sunset, but never before realized that it once sat upon a highly detailed Gothic base that is also gone

Color photo of an enormous Gothic church, its steeple reaching into the clouds.

Color close-up of a portion of a Gothic church, once glorious, now rapidly deteriorating. The lofty perch where a golden St Martin de Tours used to survey Englewood from atop his horse is now empty.

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Reposted by Lady Topham Catt

Chicago History Podcast @chicagohistorypod.bsky.social · 3d

A portion of the 1849 Rees & Rucker map of Chicago and vicinity showing the City Cemetery (where Lincoln Park is today) and the Catholic Cemetery (now part of the Gold Coast). Look how far west the shoreline was!

Episode 815 - Chicago's Ghoulish Past - Expanded and Re-Recorded
bit.ly/47gswWZ

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