11 Jan revisiting von holst’s badly neglected and abandoned south side comed station in 2022

for nearly five years now, i’ve been methodically documenting the slow decay of one of hermann v. von holst’s finest chicago comed substations (completed in 1924) located at located at 6141 s. prairie ave. while the building thankfully dodged a demolition permit issued in 2018, the continued abandonment and neglect it has endured over the course of multiple freeze/thaw weather cycles has left the façade crumbling to the ground, including the lose of one of the distinctive hand-carved bedford limestone rondels containing an emblematic electric lightbulb, echoing the building’s functionality as a power sub-station. 

its only a matter of time before the substation will be wiped away from the chicago’s cityscape. the latest images offer a detailed visual record of its current condition as of january, 2021.