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4 Eras of Architecture
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While I was taking a walk the other day I had noticed a mid-80s Old Cutlass that was decked-out in aftermarket products and 22-inch rims. Under Reagan, there was a drastic change in car styles (The "K" car) shaved down and boxy, all with small engines--even the Cadillacs. It was amusing to see that car looking "cool" the way someone in their 20s in the 1970s thought 1950s beaters were cool when the older generations didn't see the point. Across the street was an apartment building in a 70s style, perhaps built under Nixon or Carter, that exuded the environmental movement and the curvilinearity of Robert Indiana text art and Laugh-In sets.
Architecture, especially in older cities like Chicago, compress into "geological" layers. One can look down various streets, such as Adams looking west, and see these strata: late 19th century (Marquette Building), Art Deco (135 S. LaSalle, FDR), Postmodernism (190 S. LaSalle, Reagan/Bush), then modernist 80s green-glassed towers with zero personality (Reagan/Bush)--until viewed from 40 years into the future, when it gains "coolness".
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