Looks like the re-facing of Somerset Place is finished. We like the big display windows on the first floor (ahem, hello, Aldi, are you listening?)But we're not sure about using three different colors of brick on a grand vintage building. Quirky design statement or Home Depot salvage sale? You be the judge.
Complaints about Somerset Place were never about aesthetics -- they were about the loitering and panhandling that its residents do around the neighborhood. What good is a new facade when there are still people standing around and sitting on the sidewalk in front of the building?
ReplyDeleteDreck.
ReplyDeleteLooks alot better then it did. If they could keep the residents from hanging around the front puffing away on smokes that would be great too.........
ReplyDeleteLooks really bad... What else is new in Uptown these days with building owners who could care less about the past or Uptown history.
ReplyDeleteIt looks better on the Sheridan side, but the Argyle side looks fugly. Oh well, could have worse I guess. I give them a C+ for effort.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the other posters are right, the real problem is the loitering.
I downloaded some pics of the original facade...it was beautiful in it's day!!!
ReplyDeleteYou must admit, the architect has flawlessly captured "the institution look" with the new design.
ReplyDeleteDisgusting. Looks like a stripmall attached to an apartment building.
ReplyDeleteSince I walk by here nearly every day.....I too am amazed at the miss-matched brick. It doesn't seem to make any sense... why the architect wouldn't object?!
ReplyDeleteThere's always a 'show' out front. That said, I'm totally comfortable walking by, unlike the scene a few blocks south on Sheridan.
I'll take a seemingly 'unstable' person asking for money, over a herd of thugs any day.
(life in the 46th Ward)
Question - Is Somerset a nursing home or SRO building?
ReplyDeleteI've caught some of the Somerset residents vandalizing property up and down Argyle, near where I live. Sometimes its just harmless things like going through the garbage, but a few have had their moments where their mental illness overcomes them and they start thrashing at anything within reach.
If Somerset is a nursing home/facility, are they ever held accountable for damages caused by their residents?
Freddie: When I ran the Unique thrift store, my security would catch residents from somerset every other day taking clothing and causing damage to store property. When they where brought to the office and I called the CPD to press charges and they told me that they would not arrest them as being from somerset they have mental problems and I have to call them out to send out a employee and bring them back home. I told the residents not to come back into the store but they always did and it was a everyday event. I guess living at this place protects you from the law so, good luck trying to get satisfaction from what the residents do to you or personal property.....
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