Given Chicago's frequent and fearsome windblasts, November may not be the best time for a brisk stroll on the city's lakefront.
But if it's a relatively calm day (and you're an avid walker), you might consider a jaunt up Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Marine Drive in Lakeview and Uptown. If you're a Jewish history buff and architectural aficionado, you'll be especially motivated to do so. That's because the North Side lakefront is home to a host of buildings designed by some of Chicago's preeminent Jewish architects.
Start at the southwest corner of Diversey Parkway and Lakeview Avenue to view the century-old Beaux Art-style Elks National Memorial (Ottenheimer, Stern & Reichert architects). Proceed north on Lake Shore Drive to The Darien, a mid-century condominium at 3100 (Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett, architects). Crossing Belmont Avenue, you'll find yourself in front of John Macsai's cube-like Harbor House at 3200.
A few blocks up, you'll come face to face with the imposing limestone Temple Sholom (another Loebl, Schlossman venture, but this time with architect Demuth), at 3480 North Lake Shore. Almost immediately to its north, at 3550, is the double-towered condo designed by Loewenberg and Loewenberg.
The list goes on. The Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett firm also built the now-shuttered Weiss Memorial Hospital, at 4646 North Marine Drive, and two Sams-Oman and Lilienthal-created the Depression Era Art Moderne Marine Drive Apartments at 5040-5060.
Chicago historian and preservationist Julia S. Bachrach did not develop this virtual walking tour, but she is largely responsible for what is known of Jewish architects in the city. Some years ago, Bachrach, the former Chicago Park District historian and author of a handful of books, including
The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks
, began researching Jewish architectural achievements, which culminated in a presentation she has given to Jewish and historic organizations in Chicago and throughout Illinois. Much of her scholarly work is also posted on her website's blog,
jbachrach.com
.
"I love the stories of immigrants," said Bachrach, noting that many, if not most, of the Chicago's Jewish architects of yesteryear were born in Europe or were children of immigrants.
When Bachrach regales audiences with the stories of these architects, she begins with Dankmar Adler, born in 1844 in Stadtlengsfeld, Germany, the son of a rabbi who led Kehilath Anshe Ma'aariv in Chicago. A Civil War veteran, Adler became one of Chicago's most influential architects. As Bachrach writes on her blog, Adler formed a partnership with Louis Sullivan; produced a multitude of landmark buildings, including The Auditorium Theatre; and employed a number of up-and-coming draftsmen, such as Ottenheimer and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Bachrach said that while Lakeview and Uptown were important sites for Jewish architects, examples of their work abound throughout the city and environs.
"The period after the fire [the Chicago Fire of 1871] inspired a lot of architects to hang out their shingles," including Jews, she said. The earlier Jewish architects-including Adler, Ottenheimer, Alfred S. Alschuler, and Walter W. Ahlschlager-were mostly German Jewish, while Eastern European Jews entered the field a generation or two later. Chicago's public schools, Bachrach observed, were a great training ground for the latter group, many of whom attended vocational and technical high schools, such as Crane, on the Near West Side.
More than a century later, Jewish architects remain movers and shakers in Chicago. Joseph Altshuler, a professor of architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has made a name for himself as a "practitioner at the intersection of architecture and public art," as he is wont to explain. In addition to developing the highly successful Chicago Sukkah Project, Altshuler continues to design public spaces with a mind to improving the lives of those who engage with them.
"Being Jewish for me is a call to repair the world and to think of the preciousness of life," Altshuler said. In his chosen profession, he said, he can do both.
Robert Nagler Miller is a journalist and editor who writes frequently about arts- and Jewish-related topics from his home in New York.
