The Base, a new residential development where the United Christian Church used to stand at 1055 West Diversey Parkway, is taking form in Lincoln Park. Developer and general contractor Contemporary Concepts has progressed to the second floor, with exterior brickwork rising as they go. The building, designed by Studio Dwell, will top out at five stories.
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
The Base will have 24 apartments and one off-street parking space. A new construction permit (using the address of 2763 North Seminary Avenue) issued by the City of Chicago on September 4 calls for a roof deck. An additional permit came through on November 20 to install a passenger elevator.
Photo by Daniel Schell
Taggers sucks. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
This Transit Oriented Development lies three blocks from the Diversey Brown/Purple Line elevated platform to the east just past Sheffield Avenue. Stops going east and west for the Route 76 Diversey bus are located within a single block’s walk.
Demolition began shortly after the demo permit was issued on September 25. Below are a few photos from the demolition process taken over the last two weeks of October 2024. Brophy Excavation did the demolition and excavating here.
Demolition progress on October 20, 2024. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Demolition progress on October 25, 2024. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Demolition progress on October 29, 2024. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
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Yikes, that’s some cheap brick. It’s already efflorescing.
When you see efflorescence like this on new-installed brick less than a year old, and uniformly over the installed surface it’s not a problem. It’s called “new building bloom” and it’s normal.
The source of the crystals on new-construction brick is an interaction between the brick and the mortar. Wet mortar is applied to the brick on all sides and the brick absorbs this water like a sponge. It picks up salts and moves them to the surface of the brick. All bricks have this to some degree, but in this building the brick is very dark, so the dried salts are a lot more noticeable. When the mortar dries, no more salt moves, and rain will clean the surface naturally.
Efflorescence on old bricks is a problem, because that usually means some water is moving through the bricks but it’s from a leak somewhere.