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The United Church of Hyde Park
A Presbyterian/ Congregational church
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I grew
up in the historic Hyde Park/Kenwood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side.
Think of it as home to the University of Chicago, several Frank Lloyd Wright
homes, and a lot of diversity. It was a wonderful place to grow up—the threat
of violence not included—and I treasure those memories. Today, the bulletin of
the Hyde Park Historical Society included some pictures that sent me reeling
back in time.
The
first was of the United Church of Hyde Park. As a child of the city, I was fortunate
to have the church and the YMCA as the centers of my teenage social life. Although
my parents attended a different church, they allowed me to attend United after I
was part of a Brownie troop there and made many friends, several of whom became
lifelong friends. I sang in the youth choir, belonged to the youth group—strangely
named Tuxus which I don’t understand to this day. We were a close-knit group,
and we pretty much avoided the temptations that beckon to many city teens. When
I think of parties, I think of pizza and chess games. The mother of one of my
best friends was the church secretary, and we pretty much had the run of the
church. I remember creaking floors in Fellowship Hall, serving as a waitress
for church dinners (how I loved those dinners), and being in Girl Scout
productions on the stage in that hall.
Today
the church is in trouble. Church leaders hope to get a historical designation
that will save the building, and they are working to come up with creative, yet
acceptable non-worship uses of the building. Preservation Chicago is supporting
their efforts.
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| Promontory Point |
The
lake picture is of Promontory Point, known simply at The Point. It is a finger
of land that juts out into the lake at 55th Street. There is indeed
a shelter at the Point, a roofed
structure without walls but with all important restrooms. You could rent it for
parties and picnics and the like. But our crowd didn’t care about the shelter.
We spent long summer weekends on blankets thrown on the grass above the rock retaining
walls that held the waters back. There was no beach, and the water was deep.
Swimming required climbing down the rocks, chancy in itself, and then plunging
into cold, deep water. Although I happily swam in Lake Michigan on the beach at
our Indiana Dunes cottage, I never got in the water at the Point. One of the
younger and shy kids, I was just anxious to be part of the crowd, so I lay on
my blanket and pretended to have a good time.
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The Cook County Medical Examiners Office
An example of Brutalism in architecture
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My
mind was on Chicago today anyway, because of the novel I’m working on, and I learned
a new term—Brutalism. I was trying to describe the Cook County Office of the
Medical Examiner. It’s one of those concrete, stark, cold buildings with deeply
recessed windows that seem to characterize municipal architecture from the Fifties
and Sixties. I wrote to my friend Carol Roark, whose architectural knowledge
far exceeds mine, and she wrote back to say it was called Modern, but she liked
to call it Brutalism or Brutal architecture. I thought at first it was a term
she invented to express her disdain for the style, but she provided a Wikipedia
link. It is a real style that plagued (my term) much of the twentieth century.
The city halls of both Dallas and Fort Worth are also examples.
Always
a good day when you learn a new word. But probably those pictures of
Chicagoland made my day. Hope yours was good and you are safely quarantined.
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