Gary J Sibio
5757 N Ridge (2012-07-09 14-35-00b)
The odd little building is located at 5757 N Ridge, Chicago, Illinois in the Edgewater neighborhood.
There’s an interesting story circulating about this building. It claims that it was originally built by silent film star Charlie Chaplin to show his movies. Unfortunately the rumors are not true. Chaplin did live in Chicago for a while, although a few miles south of this location and he made many of his films for Essanay Studio which is only a mile from here. However, by the time this building was built in 1918, Chaplin had already relocated to Hollywood.
It is possible that the building was built as an automobile showroom. The building has also served as an auto repair shop. It was purchased in 2007 by an artist named Rosario Rosi to be turned into an art studio but that plan fell through. It is currently available for sale or lease.
The photo was taken with a Panasonic DMC-FZ50 camera and edited using Luminar 2018. First I cropped the image and applied the Accent-AI and Polarizing filters. I used the Tone filter to reduce the SmartTone and the Advanced Contrast to raise the contrast in the highlights and midtones. Lastly I increased the clarity.
Phot © Gary J. Sibio. All rights reserved.
Interesting building,unusual architecture.
I have to agree. There aren’t too many like this one around.
There are a couple of others like it in Chicago. Unfortunately they are not as easy to get to as this one.
By the architecture it is better suited for artsy stuff than an automobile shop but it’s a cool looking building.
True. I found out today that someone has purchased the building but, so far, no one seems to know what the new owner intends to do with it.
What an incredible find. I love the details in this building.
I lived about two blocks away from it for several years when it was an auto body shop but it had fallen into disrepair. In the early 2000s they did a lot of repair work on it.
Super strange in such a modern city hehe
Chicago has a lot of unusual architecture. After the Great Fire of 1871, the city had to be almost completely rebuilt and was a haven for architects.