iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I always forget this kind of weird bit of 1920’s Terra Cotta on this two story commercial building up by Loyola. Fort Dearborn to the left. The entire Michigan Ave street wall in the middle, culminating with the Wrigley building and surrounding factories to the right. Look up

2213

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Who can I talk to about reconsidering the fake plants in Frank Lloyd Wrights planters in The Rookery

0171

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I knew it was happening but it still really stings to see Frank Ghery’s sculptural glass reception desk gone from the Inland Steel Building

071

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Edgewater Beach. Or as I like to call it, New Ravenswood East

3142

Reposted by Eric Erins

Robert Loerzel @robertloerzel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Just announced: The Uptown Theatre has been added to the Chicago Architecture Center's Open House Chicago. "Visitors will enter though the main lobby and take a short guided tour of the auditorium. No photography will be permitted." 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 17 and 18.

openhousechicago.org

Uptown Theatre

The Uptown Theatre is the crown jewel of theater developers Balaban and Katz and renowned movie house architects Rapp and Rapp. Built in 1925, the Uptown is the largest freestanding theater in North A...

810626

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Finished this one last night it really all came together

150

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Obsessed with the concept of a sushi casserole I must attempt www.nytimes.com/2023/08/23/d...

nytimes.com

California Rolls for a Crowd (Published 2023)

010

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

What is going on with affordable housing developers in this city?

4101

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Apparently they built the residences at the Winchester Mystery House and one bedrooms rent for over $4K/month. Okay

050

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Christmas tree displays in September??

160

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I ordered this page from an 1895 copy of Harper’s Weekly to frame for obvious reasons but to my surprise the back contains a contemporary article about Tenement design. Talk about serendipity

Dog I tried but this article blew right past the character limit

090

Reposted by Eric Erins

Lady Topham Catt @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This year I returned to this Black, modernist enclave in Chatham to write about the late Jolyn Robichaux. After the death of her husband, she took over Baldwin Ice Cream, transforming that venerable, small operation into a major corporation, all the while keeping her community centered.

southsideweekly.com

Best Historical Home for Community Empowerment: Robichaux Home

Best of Chatham

49629

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It took me an hour and a half to get back to Edgewater from West Loop saturday night and half of that time was spent waiting on trains. On a Saturday night. Not good

1170

Reposted by Eric Erins

Robert Loerzel @robertloerzel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I saw a pig in Ravenswood. His name is Snoopy.

A large black pig in the front yard of a house

2185287

Reposted by Eric Erins

Chicago Tudor Revival AF @tudoraf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Once again talkin' up mouchette wheels

Color photo of the top floor and parapet or an over-the-top revival apartment building in light brown brick. Edges of window bay absolutely mobbed with quoins. Terra cotta mouchette wheels on window spandrels and parapet, which features central curved section with tagine pot-looking finials. Rest of parapet asymmetrical with section to right maybe 3 feet higher than left.

Color photo of cream terra cotta panels, in center a mouchette wheel, resembling yin and yang but without the dots.

2375

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The Massachusetts lesbian bar drama isn’t juicy enough to have gone nearly as viral as it did I don’t get it

120

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I have to let go of these arm chairs in my sunroom. I love them but they straight up do not fit in my apartment they take up too much room

350

Reposted by Eric Erins

Barry Butler Photography @barrybutler9.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Fire on Friday. Today's sunrise over the Chicago skyline.

544779

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Near every local folklore book I read as a kid spoke on the ghosts of people who hung themselves to escape suffocation during the great Chicago fire. Half of them would opine on the supernatural qualities of Joliet limestone. I always check but I have yet to see anything up there

081

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Seen in a vending machine on my way to a play about Tennessee Williams. Serendipity

051

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Kind of weird that it's right on North Avenue. Still, a victorian row house for sale right in the heart of Wicker Park. Three floors, 4 bedrooms, a yard, 2 car garage. It's only asking $800K which almost seems like a bit of a deal. www.realtor.com/realestatean...

1291

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I have to stop hesitating on eBay

1181

Reposted by Eric Erins

Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

My architecture column today. "The new hall would be almost 30-feet tall and a whopping 458-feet — nearly three-quarters of a city block — in length: A big old wide-brimmed hat blocking the screen at the movie theater."

chicago.suntimes.com

Griffin MSI's new design must go back to the drawing board: 'Carbuncle in the park'

The two-story, 458-foot long entry pavilion threatens to visually overpower the landmark museum's historic entrance and great lawn.

38223

Reposted by Eric Erins

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21/09/2026

this is a bit of an obsession of mine especially here in charlottesville. the cost of commercial real estate is prohibitive if you want to experiment and the city seems categorically opposed to small lots and small units that could allow people to start businesses without a huge capital investment

1483695470

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I'm curious what kind of art exactly Marhshall Fields was selling out of its Fine Arts Department. There are probably museums with paintings hanging that were bought down on State street, right?

2210

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The demolition of Marshall Fields massive victorian mansion on Prairie Avenue was such a loss not just because of Field himself and the merits of its grand second empire design, but for its role as the headquarters of The new bauhaus in America and I think about this one a lot.

0101

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This was $45 the last time I bought it a couple weeks ago??

3111

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Need to look into a travel sabbatical seriously but I kind of enjoy having an income

140

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Let’s do it. 3M Chicagoans www.chicagobusiness.com/politics-pol...

2150

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

What happens in Streeterville? It’s so mysterious

5210

Reposted by Eric Erins

ChicagoVintageTileFloors @chicagovtfloor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Floors and walls today.

Looking down from inside an open doorway to the entrance hallway below with black and white tiled floors and walls, marble steps and an arched window above the front door.

935345

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This feels so wrong being able to see the inside of the wall like that

070

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The 1K cops thing in Giannoulias’s agenda really is an accounting policy if you take the time to go through the cities annual financial statements but the unfortunate optics are frankly kind of hilarious in how unfortunate they are

3121

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Been eyeing this house for sale in St Louis. It sits right across the street from Benton Park. Big old house that needs some work. Still, it's only $189K. Dream early retirement house honestly

1180

Reposted by Eric Erins

Chicago 🏳️‍⚧️🌱 @chicagotrans-plant.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

alrighty i am my living room watching the NITA board meeting and they have just figured out audio. Recapping the coalition and process that resulted in the reforms NITA is supposed bring, and the funding it came with

2324

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Kind of a cool funky 1950's bungalow in Mt. Greenwood. Only $245K which seems kinda decent for the neighborhood. I like whatever going on with that huge front window. Would clean up nice if it were restored, but a renovation seems more likely. www.realtor.com/realestatean...

171

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

FIRE people tricked me into maxing my 401K when I should have been aggressively funding my brokerage

020

Reposted by Eric Erins

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

It's Sunday. Here's a church. St. Jane de Chantal worship site, part of St. Faustina Kowalska Parish, 5252 S. Austin, Chicago. 1964, William Pavlecic, architect.

Church completed in 1964 has a serrated roof line with overhanging eaves culminating in a soaring A-frame supported by a massive beam. The area under the A-frame is filled in with a floor-to-ceiling grid of windows, many of which are frosted and contain portraits of religious figures. The walls of the church that aren't glass are variegated buff brick.

1659

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Been thinking about The Windy City Moniker ericerins.substack.com/p/the-windy-...

010

Reposted by Eric Erins

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Detail on the Patio Theater, 6000-6012 Irving Park Rd., Chicago. Rudolph Wolff was the architect.

A riot of cream and brown terra cotta covers the facade of the Patio Theater in Chicago. This photo shows one corner of the building. The parapet wall has a brown terra cotta background that is absolutely plastered with decoration, including cherubs, urns, foliage, and flowers, and a large medallion with a couple of fleur de lis on it and topped with a smiling face. Below the parapet is an arcaded cornice supported by fancy brackets. The walls of the building are covered in cream terra cotta tiles with a mottled brown finish punctuated at regular intervals by rosettes. There is a cream, red, and green shield on a blue back ground plopped in the corner. The photo also shows the top of an arched window bordered by urns, rosettes, angry fish, and lots of flowers and leaves.

4809

Eric Erins @ericerins.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I went into Camp Miasma blind that was crazy

290