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muckefuck ([personal profile] muckefuck) wrote2008-11-15 01:46 pm
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A gem on the roadside

I really didn't want to go anywhere last night, but it was [livejournal.com profile] cuore_felice34's birthday and he wanted everyone to gather for dinner at Adobo Grill. Now this is a restaurant I like (even though Mixteco Grill pummels it senseless), but he had chosen the inconvenient Ukrainian Village location at the inconvenient time of 8:30 p.m.

The major flaw in Chicago's public transport grid is that it's overwhelmingly oriented towards getting people downtown; crosstown transit is another thing altogether. As a result, West Town is an area I barely visited even when I lived in Lincoln Park and every subsequent move has made it less and less accessible. Rather than succumb to the tyranny of CTA planners and go east in order to go west, I decided to do the reverse and try an alternative route down Western. As it happened, things went swimmingly along this stretch--it was waiting for the Devon bus that killed. Forty minutes at Clark street, and of course three came along bunched together--the same three, in fact, that we'd all seen bunched together and heading east twenty minutes earlier. Another forty minutes or so and I was at the southwest corner of Clemente Park, Western and Division.

As I strolled east past the modernist tower of the St Mary of Nazareth Medical Center, I began glancing about for the anticipated associated church. I thought I spotted it about a half block off the thoroughfare until I realised I was looking at an onion dome. Even though I was horribly late for the party, I couldn't resist a detour; for my inconstancy, I was rewarded with a glimpse of the last Louis Sullivan-designed house of worship in existence: Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox (OCA) Cathedral. Apparently, this modest structure has just undergone renovation; there's still scaffolding outside and some alarming-looking cracks in the walls.

Further east, I found a neighbourhood which has only gotten more trendy since I was last there (having gelato at a little café just across the street from Adobo after drinks at the Blue Line Club Car). One of [livejournal.com profile] cuore_felice42's friends, a snarling Jersey princess, said it was the only neighbourhood in the city that reminded her of New York. When I told her I'd have to come back and explore it in the daylight, she said, "It's mostly pricey boutiques." Actually, I meant the architecture. (According to their website, Holy Trinity offers tours on Saturday afternoons.)

HOLY TRINITY CATHERAL ON LEVITT ST./UKRAINIAN VILLAGE

[identity profile] darkphuque.livejournal.com 2008-11-15 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Endowed by Nicholas I and designed by Louis Sullivan... the only Church that Sullivan ever designed. Look at the windows, they are typical Sullivan Windows. It was once home to the TIKVIN ICON which was returned to Russia a year or so ago. The TIKVIN ICON was smuggled out of Russia and into Latvia right after the revolution. It was under the care of Archbishop John (Garklavs) of blessed memory. The Riza covering the Icon was solid gold and encrusted with real precious gems and it was brought out, for veneration only at Great Feasts.
There used to be several good Ukrainian Restaurants on Chicago Avenue and some great shops for Ukrainian Tschachkies (sp?)

Just about a block away from Holy Trinity is the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St Nicholas, and it is something to see. Its a copy of the Holy Wisdom Orthodox Cathedral in Kiev. Its exactly like an Orthodox Church... but has statues, and a side altar dedicated to The Sacred Heart of Jesus and across from it is and altar dedicated to the of Sacred heart of Mary. Both of which are done in classic Byzantine Mosaics. The Church boasts the only confessionals in any Eastern Rite Catholic Church. They were once on the Julian Calendar, but either the last Ukrainian Catholic Bishop or his predecessor moved it to the Gregorian Calendar.

There was a riot at Pascha, because no one was available to bless Easter Baskets on Old Calendar Holy Saturday. The Priest on Duty that day got the hell beat out of him. The Congregation split and the Old Calendarists built Sts. Olha and Vladimir, 2 blocks south of the original Cathedral. They are of course, Uniat Churches.
Edited 2008-11-15 21:50 (UTC)

[identity profile] innerdoggie.livejournal.com 2008-11-17 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[livejournal.com profile] tyrannio and I were near there on Saturday. We'd taken the Milwaukee ave bus up to Irazu for lunch before going to a friend's place in Wicker Park.

We walked down Western, but not as far south as Division, so we saw St. Elizabeth hospital rather than your St. Mary of Nazareth.

I'd be interested in a tour of Holy Trinity. I'll try to do that.