For many years, this amazing building at Wilson and Ashland (built in 1899) served as the Ravenswood Club Building, a.k.a. the Paul Revere Masonic Lodge. A few years ago, when it was on the market, I feared for its existence. It was such a large building, in need of many repairs, and was sitting on a very desirable corner that was zoned for multi-unit structures.Luckily, it was purchased by a Buddhist group before it could fall victim to the Chicago condo boom and is now the Truc Lam Buddhist Temple. The work they've done restoring it is incredible. A series of photos can be found on the Truc Lam site that show off the building in detail. For pictures of how it looked before, visit the Landmarks Illinois site.
3 comments:
That building looks great now! I was wondering if you knew what the Zephyr restaurant building used to be, and what it is going to become? I saw some work going on when I drove by last week.
The Zephyr had been around for thirty or so years; before that, I'm not sure what was there. Does anyone else know?
As a kid, I always wanted to go inside that place, having lived across the street. It somehow seemed out of place amid all the apartment buildings.
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