No one is too thrilled with the construction underway on CTA el tracks, but there have been some positive side effects, such as Belmont Army Surplus’ creation of a new home at 855 W Belmont Ave, pictured under construction above (the store also has opened a second location at 1318 N Milwaukee Ave, in Wicker Park).
The silver undulating facade broken by large, jutting glass bays is perfect for the funky operation that is Belmont Army, and it’s a pretty great addition to the street. Some might complain about the contemporary design’s lack of respect for context — it’s book-ended by vintage facades — but to my mind, the new building is a classy complement to the historic white facade and classic cornice of the building immediately west.
The new store should be open in late July or early August.
Please please tell me this is some kind of a prank. No, take it from an architect, this is NOT in any way a “classy complement” to the surrounding buildings. It is a juvenile thumb-your-nose-at-everything-around-it grandstand. It takes a good deal of talent and sophistication to make an infill project that is both inventive AND respectful of the surrounding context. This is definitely not in that category.
I like it as well. I’m glad that they did something more than the obvious brick infill we see EVERYWHERE. It would be great to have some more inventive projects out in the neighbhorhoods instead of only downtown.
The style is eloquent post-modern allusiveness to the business it hosts.
The protruding windows appear to be classic army surplus, while the lack of a cornice and coherent roofline says “cheap, cheap, cheap.”
What sort of a cornice would you put on this design? A clear Chicago School cap would look ridiculous here, and recent postmodern buildings, including some mostly good ones by SCB, fall apart at the roofline precisely because they attempt what you’re suggesting.
Would anyone really want to see a cornice on Lake Point Tower?
It probably would have been cheaper to build a flat facade with the same thin course of red brick veneer you see on virtually everything these days than to build this undulating face, which has a little life in it – and actually does reflect not just this bohemian business, but a Lake View corner that hosts The Alley, the Gallery of Condoms, Igor’s Dungeon, Ragstock, the Punkin’ Donuts – and more multi-colored punk rocker hair than you can shake a slide rule at.
The architect did take this context into account.
No offense, Paul, but “architects” have all but destroyed the look and feel of neighborhoods all over Chicago in recent years by being “respectful of the surrounding context.” The context they’re respecting is some Disneyfied version of 19th century London, not 21st century Chicago.
In terms of scale, the new building is only one story taller than its immediate neighbors, and from the sidewalk, the silver actually plays well against the light-colored terra cotta of the building to the west.
For a real example of bad thumb-your-nose design, head around the corner to Price Baker’s mixed-use building at Wellington and Sheffield. While you’re there look at the red brick canyon that’s developed on Sheffield. If respectful means, “doesn’t give a reason to look up,” that stuff’s dripping with respect.
I agree. I like the design of the building because it adds to the mix, not detracts from because it’s trying to replicate something in history that it can’t even come close to. It fits the business well, though I like their old building better as well as the one they opened on Milwaukee. It seems like they’ve strayed from what they were 15 years ago when they had more of a thrifty/punk feel than the expensive brands they order in these days.
Although you would be hard pressed to call this brilliant architecture, I give them props for doing something different. I think “context” is one of the most abused bits of terminology in the architecture/urban development lexicon. The “context” here is so wildly ecelctic that there really is no context at all, and while this design screams “look at me,” I think it will be an effective draw for the Army-Navy store.