Welcome to CornerSpotter, Curbed's regular game in which you, fair readers, consult archival streetscape photos or postcard illustrations to identify the building(s) and/or location presented. Time to tap that reservoir of urban minutiae and flaunt it before your fellow readers. Fire away in the comments, and we'll reveal the correct identity and backstory tomorrow.
For this exercise, really try to let go your reliance on visuals. There aren't too many similarities between this busy early 20th century intersection and the one that stands in its place today. In fact, the only structure in view that carried over to the present day is the building peaking into the right side of the frame. In other words, decline and planning mistakes hit this area hard. Today's intersection, while not very attractive to the pedestrian, is making strides as the surrounding community locks into an upward trajectory. Your hints, in a tidy bundle: a popular stop off on the Northwest Side; an irregular intersection, worse today than in 1910; southeast perspective; and, characterized by mismatched development styles (urban and suburban) and the addition of one very sucky arterial. Who'll be the first to zero in?
·CornerSpotter
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