Richard Nickel

It was my turn for jury duty today. I headed down to 26th & California with my summons and a big bag of library books to help pass time. The one I really wanted to read was Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City by Richard Cahan and West Ridge resident Michael Williams.

If you have any interest in Chicago architecture and / or preservation, you've probably already read this book. I'm about a year behind due to the activities around the past election here in the 50th Ward. If you haven't read it, put it on your list.

It's maddening in 2007 to continue to see our history being torn down around us. I can only begin to imagine what it was like for Nickel - one man trying to save the masterpieces of Adler & Sullivan.

"From one of the most distinguished cities architecturally we are rapidly moving toward anonymity, or, what is worse, a city of contrast: the superficial glitter of the new mixed with the slum of the old." - Richard Nickel

He's my hero.