dmercer.bsky.social (@dmercer.bsky.social)

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 9:01 PM

On Broadway

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 8:57 PM

Why?

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 5:10 PM

😂

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 4:42 PM

Park Grove Manor, Oak Park, Illinois. Built between 1922 and 1927, E. E. Roberts and his son, E. C. Roberts, architects.

Part of a multi-sided bay on a Tudor Revival apartment building clad in red brick and stone (I think. Sometimes it looks like terra cotta.) Rounded stone columns form the borders of the sides of the bay. Each column is topped with an amusing round-headed face wearing and cap and appearing to reach downward to grasp the columns. Above the grotesques is a balustrade of large stone acanthus leaves that connects the tops of the columns.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 4:28 PM

169 N. Grove, Oak Park. I read somewhere about the tile in the lobby and thought I could get in there to photograph it. Nope.

Six-story plus lobby mid-century modern apartment building clad in cream brick in the center and panels of turquoise metal? on both sides There are balconies on both corners, the lobby on the lower left, and an entryway to a parking lot on the right.

An attempt to photograph the tile decoration in the lobby by pressing my phone to the outside glass. It appears to be an abstract design using small (1" x 1"?) mosaic tile in aqua, blue, gray, white, olive green, and reddish-brown.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 4:02 PM

Who is "they?"

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 1:00 PM

Posted for Indigenous Peoples' Day

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 12:56 PM

Wounded Knee, South Dakota

Chain link fence decorated with colorful cloths surrounds a cemetery.

Wounded Knee Massacre Monument. A tall monument, perhaps marble, carved with the names of prominent chiefs and warriors who lost their lives at the hands of U. S. Army troops in December of 1890.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 12:27 PM

😲

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 12:22 PM

The neon must have been great at night!

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 12:21 PM

#ManholeCoverMonday Columbus Park, Chicago

Manhole cover decorated with concentric circles and lines that radiate out from the center. Parts of it are covered with gravel.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 12:16 PM

Oh, wow!

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 12:16 PM

I think it is the side.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 10:57 PM

It's driving me crazy. Maybe it's been torn down? I need to drive around more tomorrow.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 10:56 PM

The mailboxes could have gone somewhere else.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 10:40 PM

WHY ISN'T THE DOOR CENTERED?? N. Luna and W. Bryn Mawr, Jefferson Park, Chicago

Yellow brick 6-flat with balconies outside apartments on the 2nd and 3rd floors. In the center of the photo there is a one-story projecting entryway with a shingled roof. In the entryway on the left are multiple mailboxes. Just right of center, but for some reason not centered, is a shiny aluminum storm door and behind that a beige door decorated with wood-framed triangles. Again, the door is not centered!!! Above the entryway and centered are two panels of white and green sculptured glass modules decorated with the leaf pattern.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 10:01 PM

OP E N24 H RS

Large green triangular sign for the Esquire Motel. "Esquire" is spelled out in white cursive letters and "Motel" in white all caps. An arrow, lit by bulb lights, points down from upper left and then across the middle of the sign.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 9:56 PM

It was a grocery store in 1897. Still looking for evidence of life as a tavern.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 4:36 PM

Breeze block, louvres, concrete blocks, siding, lattice. . . 3908 N. Nottingham, Chicago,

1-5 story home with a gable roof and dormer on the right side. The area inside the gable is clad in white siding at the top and something resembling rough concrete blocks below it. The first floor has an addition on the front, covered in breeze blocks and siding, with two louvred windows. On the far right, white lattice covers what I think might be an external staircase.

@dmercer.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 4:27 PM

If you ever want to know what community area or neighborhood a Chicago building is in, this map is helpful. I did not make it. www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...