Architecture Wednesday: Harry Weese Designed Modern Tudor

This extraordinary Harry Weese designed home, with pool and tennis court, sits along the Kishwaukee River just 65 miles from downtown Chicago. The mashup of Tudor and Modern, features a stunning main level with teak and oak floors, a full height stone fireplace, soaring ceilings and large windows, and sunken conversation pit. Bluestone pavers in the foyer extend to the patio and pool area, while multiple decks cantilever over the river.

The renovated kitchen is equipped with premium appliances, cherry cabinets and a breakfast area solarium overlooking the river. The primary bedroom suite has a spa-inspired bath, walk-in closet with original built-in cabinetry, and opens to a second story office loft. The second story also includes two other offices, two bedrooms and a full bath, connected by a suspended bridge above the main living and dining areas. The upper and lower levels are accessed by a spiral staircase and an open riser floating staircase on opposite side of the catwalk. The lower level has a bedroom, full bath, recreation area, game room and gas fireplace.

This four bedroom three-and-a-half-bathroom home is made for entertaining. There are multiple gathering areas, from the leaf shaped outdoor pool, the interior whirlpool, to the outdoors along the river, perfect for kayaking in the summer, jogging along in the fall, or cross-country skiing in the winter.

Yours for just $899,000.

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Dwell

Jesse & Nicholas Show Their True Colors For Pride

Oh, this is how it’s done.

You can put up your flags, or douse your house in rainbow lights, but if you’re Jesse Campbell and Nicholas Vazquez  and it’s Pride Month, you create a paintbrush leaking a rainbow down the porch and across the walkway of their front yard.

Jesse and Nicholas live with their 16-month-old son in the Chicago neighborhood of Andersonville and decorated their house for Halloween, fall, and the neighbors loved it. So along comes Pride, and  they decided to decorate again but, you know, anyone can hang a Pride flag.  Jesse, who is an interior designer, and Nicholas were inspired by a quote Jesse saw on the internet:

“Don’t be afraid to show off your true colors.”

And they Cyndi Lauper-ed their home! They made the paintbrush out of Styrofoam, then hung rainbow taffeta at the entrance of their porch and painted up the walkway, including adding their inspiration quote.

Nicholas, who works at a credit counseling firm, says sometimes he sits inside the house, windows open, listening to passersby talk about the art piece:

“Kids are kids, and they start asking questions. I can hear them, and the parents are taking the time and explaining [Pride[ to them and what this means and the colors and how this makes people feel.”

Jesse and Nicholas are also using their display to raise money for The Trevor Project. They installed lawn signs with QR codes leading people to donate and are close to reaching their $10,000 goal.

Happy Glorious Pride!

Block Club Chicago

Architecture Wednesday: Frank Lloyd Wright's Charles F. Glore House

Kill me now. This is an original Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian-style house—smaller than his sprawling Prairie style residences, with little ornamentation and no basements or attics—in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest that just sold for nearly $3 million, and I missed it!! Kill me now.

This, the Charles F. Glore House, built in 1954, is the only Wright work in Lake Forest, and of course it features Wright trademarks like clerestory windows, built-in bookshelves, mahogany panels, four fireplaces—three of which are cantilevered—and an abundance of brick. The home has been updated, but in a way that doesn’t detract from the FLW-style; a formal dining room was added after enclosing a portion of the deck, and the windows have been upgraded. In additional, the traditional FLW red concrete floors, on the main level, have been replaced by gray concrete floors resulting in a brighter look that contrasts with the extensive woodwork.

The house sits on a nearly two-acre lot, just one block from the lake, with over 4,300 square feet, four bedrooms, four baths, large living areas, and expansive outdoor spaces.

The entry runs along the front of the house and also acts as a library space, as well as a spot to marvel the suspended staircase to the second floor. Off that hallway is the dining room and wet bar addition to the home, but it’s what’s at the end of that long book-lined hall that’s the prize.

As in many of Wright’s designs, most of the bedrooms in the home are not large, because, he felt, it forced the residents to congregate in the main common areas. But why would you not, when the living room has dramatic double-height cathedral windows that open out to the park-like setting of the backyard. Upstairs, there are the four bedrooms; the master suite with en suite, fireplace and private terrace; a large guest room with walls that move to open it to the living room below; and two additional bedrooms.

The kitchen has also been updated, as have the bathrooms, but with cabinetry and counters that recall FLW’s original design, but make the rooms more efficient for the 21^st century.

I can’t with this house… it’s too big for us, but what I wouldn’t give to call it home.

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Dwell

Say Her Name: Courtney “Eshay” Key

Courtney “Eshay” Key, a trans woman, was found murdered on Christmas Day  in Southside Chicago, Illinois.

Her death was initially reported as a car accident … except for the gunshot wounds to her head. I guess the police thought it was like COVID; if you have cancer and get COVID and die, the cause of death is COVID. So, if Courtney “Eshay” Key was driving a car and got shot in the head, the cause of death is car accident.

Fuck the police. For that, and for the fact that, after she was discovered murdered Chicago police classified her as a John Doe, the standard name for an unidentified male victim. Even after being told by family and the media that Key was transgender, officers intentionally referred to her as a male.

How the fuck do you find the murderer of a woman when you say you are looking for the murderer of a man.

Call.Her.By.Her.Name.

She deserved that little bit of respect in life and deserves it even more so in death.

Even more disgusting … detectives assigned to the case are now treating it as a homicide but haven’t committed to investigating it as an anti-transgender hate crime. 

Seriously? With so many of our trans brothers and sisters being murdered they’re just calling it another homicide; just like it was just another traffic death until you noticed the bullet holes in her body? And when contacted by the media, the detectives still refused to acknowledge that Key was a woman. How can you find a killer when you can’t even bring yourselves to say a woman, not  a man, was murdered?

I am so over this misgendering of people; a trans woman is woman, so call her by her name; talk about her as a woman; use female pronouns. What the fuck does it hurt?

Courtney “Eshay” Key’s death is the 43rd death of a transgender or gender non-conforming person in 2020; nearly one a week.

And still, they are being misgendered in their death. If you don’t care about them in life, how can you be bothered to care about them when they’ve been murdered.

Say her name: Courtney “Eshay” Key. She deserves that much.

Gay City News

Bobservations

I’ve said many times that we don’t shop at Walmart but this past weekend we went in to get some ink for the printer at home. And, while inside the store we bought some Boboli pizza crusts because this is the only store in Smallville that sells them. I also needed some Panko bread crumbs because I was making meat loaf—don’t judge, I lurve meat loaf—for dinner, and this is the conversation that went down as we looked for the bread crumbs; I said:

“Nope. Not on this aisle.”

“How about the aisle with the baking things.”

“Nope, not here either.”

“What about the cracker aisle?”

“Honey, we’re in freakin’ Walmart, every aisle is the cracker aisle. I could throw a stick and hit twenty crackers. Look! There goes one now!””

Uh huh.

I’m nothing if not an equal opportunity abuser so here goes …

For those of you who believe the sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden because he’s a Democrat but did not believe the sexual assault allegations against Justice Frat Boy because he’s a Conservative, shut up.

On the other side, those of you who think the woman who made the allegations against Biden should have spoken up sooner but stood by Dr. Blasey-Ford when she came forward after a couple of decades are just as hypocritical.

Just because the accuser is on the other side doesn’t make them right or wrong, and just because the accused is one the other side doesn’t make them innocent or guilty.

That said, holding a woman down and attempting to rape her is does not rise to the same level of assault as sniffing her hair and kissing the back of her head.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Back in 2006, when Pete Buttigieg was 24 years old, more than half of all Americans said they would be “very uncomfortable” or have “reservations” (19 percent) about a gay presidential candidate.

Cut to 2019, when 68% of Americans say they would be either enthusiastic or comfortable (54 percent) with a gay presidential candidate.

Times do change.

The United States is cutting off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras after _____ blasted those countries for sending migrants to the United States.

So, he’s going to punish three countries because people have left those countries? Won’t that just make the people who stayed there want to leave?

And … if shutting down the border ends the issue of immigrants seeking asylum in this country then why did he shriek about a National Emergency? I mean, keep the border shut, and problem solved, right?

Well, except for that pesky trade business.

Mitch McTurtle wrote an article for Politico entitled Time to Stop the Democrats’ Obstruction.

Seriously. This from a man who obstructed President Barack Obama from filling a Supreme Court seat and over 100 federal court seats.

Fuck off, Mitch.

Okay, so we all know _____ has lied like 9,000+ times since waddling into the Oval office, but even this is a stunning bit of news. This week he said:

“My father is German, was German. Born in a very wonderful place in Germany, so I have a great feeling for Germany.”

Now, while Fred _____ is of German descent, and his father was a German immigrant, Fred ­­­­­_____ was born in New York.

But you know, a lie is just easier. Next up we’ll learn Melanie was born in Dayton.

Oops, I spoke too soon, because he just said that wind turbines cause cancer:

“They say the noise causes cancer.”

To be clear, wind turbines do not cause cancer, though some people blame the noise for causing a variety of other health ailments …claims that have zero scientific validity.

Again, contrary to the Fat Bastard, cancer is not caused by noises of any kind.

This week Chicago elected Lori Lightfoot as its next mayor, defeating Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Lori Lightfoot is Chicago’s first black female mayor, and its first openly gay mayor, making Chicago the largest city to have elected an openly gay mayor.

And Satya Rhodes-Conway has become the first openly gay and second woman mayor in Madison, Wisconsin’s history.

The march goes on ….

Today’s Hot Slab is Israeli model Ariel Ben-Attar, 23-year-old competitive fitness model and was named Mr. Israel.

I hear he likes long walks on the beach and snuggling.

I’m in …