Old Buildings
…and some cool links
Old Willy Necker Dog Kennel
Not my usual thing…but that’s ok. Two photos in this blog post of old buildings in the general neighborhood that I came across. The first one featured is the OLD Willy Necker Dog Kennel about a quarter of a mile from our house! It’s currently being demolished and I walked past to see a view that I never was able to get. When we moved in here about 28 years ago, one could hear the dogs barking and see activity going on around the building off of Milwaukee Avenue, just north of Deerfield Road (in the area of what is now Riverwoods). But there wasn’t much of the building you could actually see since the entire area was shrouded in a thick growth of bushes and trees. In any event, like many of the businesses that existed in this area from way long ago, it closed as a kennel a number of years ago, but the building and grounds still remained. As I was making my way for a walk on the Des Plaines River Trail (with my camera, of course!), I noticed that there was noise and commotion at Willy Necker’s and I ventured to take a peak. The gates and fences were down, so I walked around the back of the building and saw the kennel part of the building (note the small doors at ground level) and the general appearance of decay. You can almost hear the faded barks from the dogs from years ago. I couldn’t resist capturing the scene of this old building with so much texture…so I took the photo. I imagine the entire building will be gone very, very soon!
Log Cabin on Willow Road
I have driven down Willow Road, east of the Edens Expressway hundreds of times and I’ve noticed this old building (above) at various times of the day in a huge open field. It’s the Schmidt-Burnham Home in Winnetka, the oldest log cabin building in Cook County, built in 1838. This is not the original location…it was moved to this spot in about 2003. As I drove by last Thursday night, I thought the evening lighting gave this old historic building an arresting and different appearance, so I pulled over and took this shot.
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Please take a moment to look all the way down at the bottom section of this page to the area titled, “Photographers I Follow.” There’s something there for everyone.
Check the links you’ll find there for:
John Barclay– Great collection of stunning photos with interesting descriptions and lots of interaction. Cool photo workshops and trips. Very nice guy, too!
Cole Thompson– Extremely creative photographer with a distinct personal vision. If you like B&W, you’ll absolutely love this. Also, a very nice guy.
Brandon Stanton– You all know him…right? You should. He’s the guy from “Humans of New York.”
Andrew Miller– I’ve never met him, though we’ve chatted via e-mail. I like his style and the way he treats his subject material.
Angie McMonigal– Architectural photographer from Chicago specializing in modern buildings. Nice work.
Anne Belmont– If you like flowers (and who doesn’t?!?!), check out Anne’s stunning images. Lots of amazing stuff from the Chicago Botanic Garden and elsewhere.
Artsy Vivian Maier Page– You may have heard of Vivian Maier. If not, check her story online and look at this page to see some of her images.
(There are obviously many more I follow and admire, but this list is a good start!)
Enjoy.
-Stephen M. Levin
“Life Scapes”
www.stephenmlevinphotos.com
Thanks for capturing Willy Necker’s before the building is gone – not that it is “historically important” or “architecturally valuable”, it is a piece of the past that will soon be gone and we will wonder – “was it ever really there”?
I imagine it will leveled within a week or so and soon forgotten.
Glad I was able to capture an image before it’s totally gone. (Though I may go back for the next stage of demolition!)
I absolutely adore the image of the Schmidt-Burnham House in Winnetka. Photographing it in the evening light makes for a powerful image. You’ve inspired me to want to go back and photograph the house again. It’s a part of our Winnetka history and I’m so glad it has been lovingly preserved.
It’s so cool. I always glance at it as I pass and never knew the history until I got out of the car and walked over…and then followed up reading about it online.
The funny thing is, we saw an older Log Cabin, from 1837, a couple of days later, but that was in Lake County. Casper-Ott, near Kipling School in Deerfield.
Very nice. You should consider asking the village to send you notices of demolition permits and create a record before all the old stuff is gone.
Thanks!
Oy. I’d be busy taking photos of places like that every day!
Steve,
I love the picture of the dog kennel and the name!
This is a hidden treasure that I knew nothing about.
Carol…it’s actually right across the street from Sky! On Milwaukee.
Thanks.
Love the two images. It is a shame any building will come down… don’t they understand we need them to photograph? 🙂 Thanks for including me on your “Photographers I follow” list. Keep up the GREAT work!
Thanks! Appreciated, John.
Yes….those old buildings are hard to resist.
Pretty cool shot Stephen. Never knew that was there and probably would have noticed if I wasn’t always in such a hurry to get to the Roman House! Just curious, did you have to bring along a “pooper-scooper”? As always, thanks for sharing!
Roman House!?! Wow. I had totally forgotten about that place!
Yes…I did take a cautious look as I stepped around the Willy Necker property. Seemed “safe” after all these years.
Thanks, Jay!
I lived in an apartment on the second floor of Willy’s kennels in the early 90’s. I’ll never forget the place – or the man – or the dogs for that matter
Wow! I never realized those were apartments!