sixosix magazine chicago • 606mag.com • chicago magazine • awkward architecture

ISSUE 5
editor's note

features
crap, scraps and...
house of leaves

photos
odd buildings
uptown girl
no place like home
below the belt

regulars
marshall
technology
intersection section
asphalt
hopscotch
battery

irregulars
city gardens
vaginal architecture
unbuilt chicago

606 recommends
movies

new comments

04.28 feature - the politics of public space
04.21 the allure of gorey
04.11 the allure of gorey
04.10 the allure of gorey
04.10 the allure of gorey

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.