No Longer Windows, No Longer a Door by Chipka
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Description
There are times when I prefer the alleys of a city to the streets. There are times when I find things in alleys, in narrow, pedestrian lanes, in passages fit for anything but the automotive contrivances worshipped in some places and despised in others. Following a foray to a bookstore, I made my way through a familiar Chicago alley in order to find subjects to photograph. I wanted to find intangible things for my camera to record. I wanted to find moods and implications rather than objects and tableaus.
Somewhere between Belmont and a parallel street I cannot recall, I found…
…a mystery…
…a chapter in Chicago’s history that (as far as I know) remains largely unwritten.
Once upon a time, there were four windows and a door: three windows on the main floor and one rude, little vent (maybe even an ice chute) giving access to a basement. Once upon a time, the windows and the door gave access to a different place than the store, the restaurant, the boutique with its face on the south flank of Belmont Avenue. I am sure that I might find out the history of this place, but I’m not sure that I want to. As with many of Chicago’s constituent parts, mystery sometimes preferable to history.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week. I have a bit of catching up to do, and I hope to be able to do that catching up as soon as possible.
Comments (22)
treasureprints
Fascinating mysterious find.:)
durleybeachbum
What a great find and a superb photo!
whaleman
Yes, the alleyway way once a place of business perhaps. That small opening was perhaps a coal chute or its counterpart on the other side was, or both.
blinkings
An excellent way to keep those pesky door to door salesmen away!
Faemike55
Fantastic find! tis better at times to let the imagination free than to have the facts get in the way
blankfrancine
Sad in a way. Neat photographic composition.
clbsmiley
Cool capture.
jendellas
I wonder who asked for them to be bricked up, neat work & interesting pic. xx
netot
I know some people like this!
MagikUnicorn
Great
kgb224
Great find and capture my friend. God bless.
helanker
WOW! Who would want to luck up such beautiful windows and a lovely doorway against the sun. I wonder what is behind it.. Anyway it is really nicely done, this brickwork. And just as nicely photographed.
MrsRatbag
It's a passageway for the brick people. It's the only way they can enter our buildings, by passing through particular bricks laid in a particular fashion. Clever of you to find their secret entrance!
flavia49
amazing capture
sandra46
SUPERB WORK
Wolfenshire
A forgotten world.
NefariousDrO
What's fascinating to me is that the bricks obviously have been there, closing off those windows and the door (and what mostly likely was a coal-chute) for a very long time. I'm impressed at how well the bricks used to close those opening off match the original wall, even the way they were mortared together is a very close match. Somebody actually put significant effort into keeping the character of that wall.
auntietk
A fascinating mystery and a most excellent image. I find myself staring, and staring again, totally enthralled with the story that unfolds over and over as I look. What an exciting photograph!
wysiwig
Certainly a well captured image and intriguing mystery. I suppose it was the only way the owners could keep employees from sneaking out for a smoke.
pauldeleu
An excellent picture and great light.
myrrhluz
This is a beautiful wall! When I see things like this, the past and present merged, I think of time sped. Like watching a flower open, but instead, watching the buildings of civilizations rise, deteriorate and fall, and new ones rise. I think of time, impermanence, and unending change. The age of the fill bricks adds to the fascination. When was it? What was the impetus for it? What did the city look like at that time? What human lives were wrapped up in this change? I love the vibrant green plants. New life against times past. Beautiful shot!
JuliSonne
When I see an old abandoned location, I have also kopfkino. I imagine how it used to look here. What people have lived here for. What the walls could tell. With us some of these abandoned objects are also bricked. Thus, no homeless protection search and from fear of vandalism.