The Vanished White City

Lori pointed me to this photo essay based on locations in The Devil in the White City. It was done by Alice Maggio and Brian Sobolak and they did a great job of hitting all the major locations in the book. Sad that almost every location is gone and some of the neighborhoods are nearly abandoned. Thankfully, The Rookery, The Museum of Science and Industry, and the Marshall Field Jr. House are still standing.

The essay that accompanies the photos raises an interesting question. All the locations in the book were built after the great fire so why haven't more of them been preserved? How much of our architectural history should we preserve? The authors of the essay put it much more eloquently than I can.

Read the essay here

See the photo tour here

By the way, if you happen to get WTTW-D be sure to check this out:

Expo: Magic of the White City
Sunday, September 17 at 9:00 pm & Friday, September 22 at 7:00 pm *presented in high-definition Narrated by Gene Wilder, this two-part series looks at the art, technology, and culture of the Columbian Exposition of 1893 where many of the Victorian era's greatest achievements were first revealed.