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.
This circa 1910 postcard likeness shows a civic building shortly after its construction on the Southwest Side. The neighborhood had some luster back in the day, bordering one of Chicago's grandest parks. The sheen is gone but, happily, this building—probably the most ornate in the area—is still standing. In the early years it hosted many social, political, and labor gatherings within the Jewish community, as well as a year-round theater. The building was bought by a church in 1955 and has retained an ecclesiastical purpose ever since, with retail coming and going. Alright now, what's the mystery spot?
·Cornerspotter [Curbed Chicago]
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