Ashland Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River - Chicago, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 55.298 W 087° 40.120
16T E 444555 N 4641292
Handsome Art Deco bas-relief sculptures on the block-like bridge tender houses, framed by tall steel pylons on each end of the bridge.
Waymark Code: WMDKCY
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 01/25/2012
Views: 3
From January 18, 2009 Chicago Tribune article entitled "Art Deco darlings" -
"Ashland Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River The threats to Deco extend beyond buildings. Take this North Side bridge, which was dedicated in 1937 and was designed by an architect that the Deco Society can only identify as "S. Del Campo." Some of its limestone balusters are crumbling, their steel rebar visible. They're fenced off by an orange plastic barrier. On one of the span's tender houses, a limestone block around a beautiful bas-relief sculpture is cracked. Just below another bas-relief, showing a godlike figure holding up a miniature skyscraper, is a scar of red graffiti. A city Department of Transportation spokesman blames the bridge's condition on a lack of sufficient infrastructure funding from Washington and Springfield."
The bridge, dedicated in 1937, was designed by Scipione Del Campo, a Chicago architect who died in 1957 at age 62.
From a poster on Flickr at (
visit link)
"His Chicago Tribune obituary said that Del Campo "designed and supervised construction of Arlington Park race track" in 1927 and that he retired as a city architect in 1952. The Art Institute of Chicago has a bas relief, attributed to Del Campo, in its collection. It's from the Ogden Avenue Bridge, demolished in 1995. Del Campo also has been credited with designing the French-inspired balustrades, luminaires and pylons along Wacker Drive. And in 2007, Chicago magazine featured a house that he designed in Beverly."
The bridge rattles and rumbles underfoot as you cross it. There are walkways on either side and street parking nearby.