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The Leaning Tower of Niles
6300 Touhy Avenue

I'm a pretty cynical guy. So, as amazed as I had been every time I've ever driven by the Leaning Tower of Niles – a smaller replica of the famous building in Pisa, Italy, sandwiched between a YMCA and a Ford dealership – I've always started into my rant about Americans having no culture and looking to replicate something from a country that does to break up the monotony of their SUV-driven-suburban-soccer-mom-strip-mall world. Thus I was completely aghast when I discovered this structure was built in 1934, before the advent of the American Cultural Wasteland. Thank you, Baby Boomers. And therefore I put my Hat of Cynicism back on its rack and bow before thee, almighty Leaning Tower of Niles. You have my full respect.

 



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comments: awkward architecture
subject: art lesson
date: 07.12.2004
name: micky
comment:
Wonderful, bizarre buildings. If I were teaching elementary art in Chicago, I would load up my little innocents in a bus with sketchbooks and drawing pencils and give them a an unforgettable art lesson.
 
subject: St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital building
date: 04.01.2005
name: Veevee
comment:
This building has fascinated me ever since I first noticed it a couple years ago-but you did'nt highlight the stupendously odd outcroppings on a few sides that are what really kick the structure into the future for me. WTF are THEY?
 
subject: St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital
date: 04.01.2005
name: Veevee
comment:
It's especially profound to see it at night from a few blocks distance
 
subject: The Mafia House
date: 04.01.2005
name: Veevee
comment:
I agree-this place is really I don't want to say creepy, since it is cliche, but I don't know what else to say.
Super creepy at night, when I saw it.
 
subject: The Mafia House
date: 08.04.2005
name: rat
comment:
I too have been too frightented to pull on the door knocker. But this place is far stranger than you imagine. Try googling its address to find out about the bizarre cloning experiments that go on in its dungeon laboratories!
 
subject: The Reliable Building (Tromp'e' loi Building)
date: 01.08.2006
name: R
comment:
I'm sure you're very clever and all, but at least Rupert knew it was "trompe l'oeil" and not "Tromp'e' loi". Do you look things up before you spew forth nonsense from your cake hole?

You may also want to do a little research on Richard Haas.