dmercer.bsky.social
LightNews LightNews
banner
dmercer.bsky.social
dmercer.bsky.social
@dmercer.bsky.social
3.4K followers 650 following 23K posts
Look up and stay curious. Mostly architecture.
Posts Replies Media Videos
dmercer.bsky.social
A demolition permit has been issued for 2219 N. Fremont in Chicago. tours.positiveimagelive.com/public/vtour... It was purchased in September for $2.8 million. For some inexplicable reason, it is not on the Historical Resources Survey and therefore is unprotected.
November 26, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
bbo-falstaff.bsky.social
Replying to @dmercer.bsky.social:
Ah, a house of honey! I'd have quartered there myself, had I known. A man could grow round and sweet on such provisions, and pay his rent in sticky fingers and contented sighs. A sweeter billet than the Boar's Head any day.
November 26, 2025 at 2:33 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
1013-15 N. Cicero, Chicago. Former home of Schutter Candy Co., makers of Bit-O-Honey.
Three-story brick and stone factory building, currently unoccupied. There is scaffolding across the front of the first floor. The windows are all filled in with glass block and there is some graffiti on one side. Article from 1928 "International Confectioner" about the new factory for the Schutter-Johnson Candy Co. There is a rendering of the complete factory building with smokestack, water tower, and flag and a couple of old-timey vehicles in front of it. Color ad for Schutter-Johnson's "four nationally known bars:" Schutter's Candy Bar (imaginative!), Old Nick, Almond Chew, and Bit-O-Honey.
November 26, 2025 at 1:48 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Stephen Sondheim died four years ago. I miss him every day. youtu.be/BC0NQcQRSHw?...
'Sunday' Stephen Sondheim Tribute
YouTube video by Company Broadway
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
pissed-off-g.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
architecture.bsky.social
The Art Deco entrance to the Cranbrook Academy of Art Library
Location: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Art Deco entrance to the Cranbrook Academy of Art Library
November 26, 2025 at 6:30 AM
dmercer.bsky.social
. . .a warm home
Under a railroad viaduct, a red tent with a camouflage tarp on the top of it sits on the sidewalk. There is an overflowing garbage can to the right of the tent and a bicycle at far right. On the wall behind the tent is a mural and the only words visible are "you are worthy of."
November 25, 2025 at 11:40 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Someone please give me this zigzaggy sign for Christmas.
A sign on a pole but only the frame of the sign and a zigzaggy arrow with lightbulbs in it remain.
November 25, 2025 at 11:33 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Beautiful leaf, even though it's a Bradford pear
November 25, 2025 at 11:15 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
This turret has asked to participate in #TurretTuesday before it falls to the grounds and smashes into pieces. Logan Square, Chicago
Three story brick building mostly obscured by a tree. But the two-story round, topless turret is visible in all its glory (sarcasm). It is attached to the corner of the building and looks like it has been covered in stucco or a thin layer of concrete. There is nothing under it to support it except a bit of the corner of the building.
November 25, 2025 at 6:30 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Nice urn
Indescribable frame structure shaped like an "L" with a fat foot. There are two entrances at ground level, a single window slightly above one of the doors and then a pair of windows above and to the left of the single window in the vertical part of the "L." The top part of the building has yellowish siding and the bottom has yellow siding without the "-ish." There is a little sloped shingled roof between the two colors of siding. Front and center on the sidewalk is a concrete urn filled with faux evergreen boughs. Finally, against the wall at right are four electric meters.
November 25, 2025 at 2:39 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
#TurretTuesday from Monroe, Wisconsin
The house is a two-and-one-half story wood frame structure surfaced with brick veneer through the second story. Above the brickwork is a continuous decorative wood frieze which is capped by numerous steeply sloped roofs and decorative gables. On the north is a two story bay with bracketed overhanging pediment and a similar but medieval treatment is given the gable above the two story bay at the west side. At the northwest comer of the house stands an octagonal tower with an open third story and a dormered spire. Above the center of the building rises a lantern with a hipped roof. On the east side, a crowned chimney rises over the roof. The complex massing of the Queen Anne style is heightened by a veranda which wraps around the house at the base of the tower and ends at a pediment over the entrance. A similar veranda serves a rear door and continues the lines of the first. (From the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form)
November 25, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by dmercer.bsky.social
69eerrr.bsky.social
Here is my peace plan for Ukraine/Russia.

1. Russia gets the fuck out of Ukraine.

2. Putin goes on trial in the Hague.

3. Russia pays everyone for everything.

4. Trump gets impeached, convicted, and sent to jail.

Thanks for your attention to this matter.
November 24, 2025 at 4:12 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
#ManholeCoverMonday Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Two concentric metal rings, one stamped "Wm. Bayley & Sons Co. Milwaukee Wis." In the center is a metal circle with what looks like concrete over the top of it with large holes punched through it. Radiating from the outside of the cover are bricks of various colors and conditions with gray mortar in between. It gives the effect of a flower.
November 24, 2025 at 12:52 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
A very nice robin
American robin sitting on the edge of a copper birdbath. It has an orange breast, white throat, brown head with a white ring around its eye, dark gray back, and brownish feet.
November 23, 2025 at 11:36 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
1300 block of S. Claremont, Chicago. These are not part of the Claremont Cottage Historic District, which is a few blocks north, even though they were built at roughly the same time--mid-1880s--
This description is from the Claremont Cottage Historic District information but it applies to all of these cottages as well: "The high pitched front-facing gable roofs with overhanging eaves and 2nd floor oriel windows are magnified by the cottages’ compact size, producing a charming, picturesque quality.The overall effect of the ensemble’s architectural composition and detail is unexpected and visually striking."
November 23, 2025 at 2:44 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
It's Sunday. Here's a church. First Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran at Paulina and LeMoyne (formerly McReynolds). Planning began in 1889, Fred Alschlager, architect. It once had a really tall spire, unless that vintage photo isn't the same church.
Red brick Gothic Revival church with gothic arches everywhere, all trimmed in rusticated limestone. There is a tower at left with a hipped roof and a taller tower in the center of the photo that used to be topped with a spire but it now crenellated. There is a clock below the top of the tower and farther down a stone panel with the church's name carved in German. The church has two large wheel windows with tracery resembling a flower. Clipping from 1889 announcing that the Evangelical German Lutheran congregation were preparing a new edifice from plans by Fred Alschlager at a cost of $40,000, equivalent to $1.4 million today. A vintage photo of the church showing its huge steeple which is almost as tall as the brick tower below it.
November 23, 2025 at 1:10 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
3125 (left) and 3127 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago. For some reason, 3125 has "3126" on it. 3127 (formerly 1364) was built in 1882 according to a clipping in Inter Ocean. 3125 was built in 1914; G. F. Dippel, whom I haven't heard of, was the architect.
On the left: A two story brick building with a mansard roof (maybe?) and a tall chimney. Rickety wooden porches have been built across the front of both floors. On the right is a three-story (maybe 2 1/2) red brick Italianate style apartment building. The windows all have stone window hoods with incised decoration. There is a heavy cornice, painted gray, with brackets and dentils, across the top. All of the windows are boarded up.
November 23, 2025 at 12:06 AM
dmercer.bsky.social
Glad to see Vivian is still there. 1651 W. North Ave., Chicago
Mural on the side of a garage is a depiction of a self-portrait by the photographer Vivian Maier.
November 22, 2025 at 7:16 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
1886 houses on Eugenie Street in Chicago. Harald Hansen was the architect for all of them. The interior of the first one makes me want to attack the offices of HGTV. www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1...
"This is an extremely rare variegated row of five opulent Queen Anne style houses, heavily ornamented with a sheet metal frieze. There are three very individual chimneys coming out on the side of the terra cotta ornamentation. Numbers 164, 166, and 172 are the only houses in this area having bricks in Flemish bond. The Mansard on 172 is Vermont slate on three sides, with Flemish bond brick covering three sides. There are a variety of window shapes, including bays. Stained glass windows. Unusual porches." Taken from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination form. This house is red brick with smooth red stone lintels and some red terra cotta decoration above one of the first floor windows. "This is an extremely rare variegated row of five opulent Queen Anne style houses, heavily ornamented with a sheet metal frieze. There are three very individual chimneys coming out on the side of the terra cotta ornamentation. Numbers 164, 166, and 172 are the only houses in this area having bricks in Flemish bond. The Mansard on 172 is Vermont slate on three sides, with Flemish bond brick coveringthree sides. There are a variety of window shapes, including bays. Stained glass windows. Unusual porches." Taken from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination form. This house has a beautiful oriel window on the second floor that appears to be made of metal. It also has amazing green stone lintels above all the windows. "This is an extremely rare variegated row of five opulent Queen Anne style houses, heavily ornamented with a sheet metal frieze. There are three very individual chimneys coming out on the side of the terra cotta ornamentation. Numbers 164, 166, and 172 are the only houses in this area having bricks in Flemish bond. The Mansard on 172 is Vermont slate on three sides, with Flemish bond brick covering three sides. There are a variety of window shapes, including bays. Stained glass windows. Unusual porches." Taken from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination form. Unlike the previous two buildings, this one has a facade of rusticated brown stone with red terra cotta accents around a second and third floor window. There is also a beautiful bay window on the second floor at left and stained glass in two first floor windows.
November 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Backyard update: a phlox decided to bloom; the pumpkin that I grew and had in the house is back outside; a pigeon became something's dinner
Pink flower with green leaves casts a shadow on a tan stucco wall A large orange pumpkin sits in a flower bed. A garage with tan shingles and a white trellis is in the background. Hundreds of gray and white flowers are scattered on the green grass
November 22, 2025 at 3:18 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Like it was yesterday
Color photo of John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, John Connally, and others riding in a black convertible.
November 22, 2025 at 2:02 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Chicago "L"
Black and white photo of an elevated train passing over a city street lined with cars on the right side.
November 22, 2025 at 12:47 PM
dmercer.bsky.social
Nice neon
Neon sign with trapezoidal shapes in black and chartreuse advertising the Dairyland Motel in neon. There is a chartreuse arrow pointing to the right that says "In Rear," also in neon.
November 22, 2025 at 12:09 AM
dmercer.bsky.social
Wallpaper in the Red Rooster Cafe, Mineral Point, Wisconsin. I might need this for my kitchen.
Photo of a section of wallpaper featuring detailed ink drawings of chickens looking alarmed, with red flowers and foliage in the background
November 21, 2025 at 11:40 PM