Block 37: Before

Chicago's infamous Block 37 has been empty for so long - since 1989 - that recently I've begun wondering what it looked like before its ill-fated demolition. Well, reading Lynn Becker's post on the deterioration of the Uptown Theater and recent demolition of the Nortown Theater lead me to this listing for the old United Artists Theatre which was located on Block 37, at the northwest corner of Dearborn and Randolph. And reading the comments there ultimately brought me to the photo you see above. (Full-size image here; several more images here.) This view is from the corner of Dearborn and Randolph, looking southeast, with the building in the immediate foreground being the United Artists Theatre. The big white building at the left rear is Marshall Field's.

True, the block appeared to have been a hodgepodge of non-aesthetic buildings - and I could be very wrong; maybe there were some real treasures there - but even an unsightly mess still would surely have contributed more to city life than eighteen years of a vacant lot. Even if all of these buildings weren't worth saving, surely a few gems could have been restored and the vacant spaces between tastefully in-filled with new development.

Oh, wait. Gems restored? Tasteful new development? Sorry, I must have been thinking of another city.