06 Apr falling to pieces: continued neglect and abandonment takes its toll on south side von holst-designed substation
for over three years now, i’ve been documenting the slow and painful declination 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 subsequent 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.
sadly, another south side chicago von holst sub-station has already been destroyed since the existing station was first threatened in 2018.
ANOTHER EARLY 20TH CENTURY SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO VON HOLST-DESIGNED SUBSTATION FACED WITH DEMOLITION
DOCUMENTING DESTRUCTION OF VON HOLT’S HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO 40TH STREET SUBSTATION
i’m greatly concerned that my next visit may be the last, with the building undergoing demolition or wiped away from the cityscape altogether. the latest images offer a detailed visual record of its current condition as of march, 2021.
any and all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive unless otherwise noted in captions.
further reading:
DEMOLITION LOOMS OVER TWO VON HOLST COMED SUBSTATIONS, A POST-FIRE COTTAGE, AND 1880’S DOWNTOWN CHICAGO RESIDENCE
HERMAN V. VON HOLST’S SOUTHSIDE CHICAGO PRAIRIE STYLE GAITAN BUILDING (1924) THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION
