South Side Chicago - pictures

D’Angelo Law Library, University of Chicago, 1120 E 60th Street ( Source: Words and photographs by Lee Bey) 
Tucked away on the south-eastern end of the University of Chicago campus, this building is a very fine work by architectural master Eero Saarinen – even if it is often overshadowed by his flashier commissions such as the St Louis Arch and the former TWA Terminal at JFK airport in New York. The pleated glass facade is remarkable, as is the reflecting pool in front of the building

Anthony Overton School, 221 E 49th Street ( Source: Words and photographs by Lee Bey) 
A modernist former public school, built in 1961 for students who lived in a nearby corridor of public housing high rises. Architecture firm Perkins & Will created a playful, elegant school with bright colours and lots of glass. The high-rises are gone and the school is closed, but the strength of its design is helping rally a discussion about bringing new uses to the structure

John Moutoussamy’s home, 361 E 89th Place ( Source: Words and photographs by Lee Bey)
Pioneering black architect John Moutoussamy, best known as the architect of now-former Ebony/Jet Building in downtown Chicago, created this house for himself and his family on a suburban-like South Side street. Moutoussamy studied under Mies van der Rohe, and the influence can be seen here

Pride Cleaners, 558 E 79th Street  ( Source: Words and photographs by Lee Bey)
Designed by architect Gerald Siegwart and built in 1959. ‘This dry cleaners is an absolute showstopper; built for the car age with a design meant to snare the eye of passing motorists. A new owner bought the building after this photo was taken. He fixed the window and cleaned up the structure while maintaining its postwar cool

Chicago vocational high school, 2100 E 87th Street  ( Source: Words and photographs by Lee Bey)
With its four massive fluted columns, this magnificent gym entrance allows teen athletes to enter play and competition like gods

Chicago vocational high school, 2100 E 87th Street ( Source: Words and photographs by Lee Bey)
This sprawling limestone high school is well-known to travellers headed into (or out of) the city on the Skyway, an elevated highway east of the school. But beauty can’t be seen at 55mph. It’s worthwhile to hop off the Skyway and explore the exterior of the city’s second largest high school and drink in its Art Deco detailing

Former Calumet National Bank, 9117 S Commercial Avenue ( Source: Words and photographs by Lee Bey)
A city landmark, this three-storey classical revival building, formerly a bank, was built in 1910, when Commercial Avenue was a thriving retail strip on Chicago’s steel-producing Southeast Side. ‘On the right afternoon or and evening, the sun lights up the building’s terra cotta facade, revealing its details

GN Bank, 4619 South King Drive  ( Source: Words and photographs by Lee Bey)
Built in 1962, this black-owned bank and modernist stand-out was designed by the St Louis–based Bank Builders Corporation of America. ‘Chicago is a city of architectural surprises – and this is among the best,’ says Lee Bey. ‘Situated on a boulevard of late 19th-century and early 20th-century buildings, this low-slung midcentury bank jumps from the shadows and commands your attention (and money).

Source: Lee Bey, Amanda Williams, Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side, October 2019 . Hidden grandeur in Chicago's South Side – in pictures, The Guardian.