Motorists on Lake Park Avenue near 39th Street have been swerving to the curb lately to gawk at a building that’s just gone up there between two vacant lots. Sometimes they ask neighbors about the elliptical concrete-block structure.
The master bedroom suite on the second floor is reached by an airy open staircase of metal piping painted silver. Hidden behind a bookcase off a basement bedroom is what the owners initially intended to be a “panic room.” But, says Sebrina, “I said to Farries, ‘Hey, if a nuclear bomb hits we’ll be the only ones here,’ and what good is that?” The panic room is now a spare bedroom.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“Nelson had money now, and he hired me to build his house,” says Wilson.
Wilson, who is 42 and single, travels extensively, often to the Caribbean and Europe with McLemore and their girlfriends. But he’s oblivious to the architecture he sees. “I don’t look to other people’s work,” he says. “In doing a job I consider a client’s needs, the budget, and the site, and I try out this scheme or that–something that’s expected or something that’s totally unexpected.” His most productive thinking time comes during long flights, when he makes drawings in a small sketchbook.
The Jenningses moved into their house from a condo in early April. “We aren’t in the best neighborhood in the world,” says Farries. “People are loud. They drink and throw their bottles around. But things haven’t happened here yet.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Robert Murphy.
