{"id":6529,"date":"2012-05-18T20:57:09","date_gmt":"2012-05-19T00:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=6529"},"modified":"2012-06-24T07:16:36","modified_gmt":"2012-06-24T11:16:36","slug":"another-postcard-weird-chicago-gothic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=6529","title":{"rendered":"Another Postcard: Weird Chicago Gothic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From my twenty-second floor hotel room window, I have a great view of some of Chicago&#8217;s most interesting downtown buildings.\u00a0 I call the architectural style here Weird Chicago Gothic.\u00a0 Tall 100 year-old stone structures wear spires, buttresses, ornate carvings and even a clock tower or two.\u00a0 The look reminds me of a seminary or a cathedral.\u00a0 I wonder what god these exuberant buildings were built to praise: American hard work, commerce and success maybe?\u00a0 New York City still feels a little European to me, a tad restrained and proud of its lineage, but Chicago proclaims with unselfconscious brashness, &#8220;Behold my greatness, my wealth!\u00a0 Know my vast success.&#8221;\u00a0 I enjoy marveling at this place but I could never live here.\u00a0 (As if the architecture where we live now is humble and not self-consciously grandiose too?)<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6534\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5408.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6534\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6534\" title=\"Chicago Gothic\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5408-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5408-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5408-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5408.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6534\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Why, this eccesiastic-looking architecture on commercial buildings?<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_6535\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5407.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6535\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6535\" title=\"Weird Chicago Gothic\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5407-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5407-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5407-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMG_5407.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6535\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The towering, buttressed spire of the Chicago Tribune Building just outside my window<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From my twenty-second floor hotel room window, I have a great view of some of Chicago&#8217;s most interesting downtown buildings.\u00a0 I call the architectural style here Weird Chicago Gothic.\u00a0 Tall 100 year-old stone structures wear spires, buttresses, ornate carvings and &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=6529\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1012,13],"tags":[1031,1013],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6529"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6615,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529\/revisions\/6615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}