This week's cornerspotter proved an extra slippery affair for participating readers. Most people guessed locations further south than the mid-rise office building's correct siting — at 25th & Michigan at the southern edge of Motor Row. The structure, correctly ID'd by one anonymous guest as the Tennant Motor Limited Building, was an office and showroom space for Peerless and Marmon automobiles. Oh, and the building that bears a likeness is the Thomas Flyer Garage & Service Building at 2255 S Michigan. In this era, there were scores of showrooms in Motor Row (spanning parts of Michigan, Indiana, and Wabash aves). The teaser photo is from 1916 and shows a uniform streetwall of 3- and 4-story buildings along both Michigan and 25th. Have a gander at today's setting and it's pretty clear which direction the intersection moved, qualitatively, in the intervening century. The Stevenson Expressway abuts this address, and parking lots for Mercy hospital (on both sides of Michigan) inflict the rest of the damage. As the cornerspotter feature exposes, our urban fabric has been cheapened or destroyed over the past 60 years more often than it's been improved.
·Hint: A Glimpse Into a South Side District's Peak Days [Curbed Chicago]
·Motor Row Historic District [Architecture & Cityscape]
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