080/366 - They just don't make them like they used to

This picture was taken of my old apartment building. I lived there for the first three years I lived in the city, which coincided with my first three years in graduate school. The first year I shared a two-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor with another girl in my program. It was a huge apartment, and I loved it. The only real downside was that the bathroom was in between the two bedrooms, so that you had to go through one of the bedrooms to get to it. Still, it was an excellent apartment. It had an eat-in kitchen with lots of cabinet and counter space, a really big living room, and two large bedrooms. We also had a large linen closet. It was great.

After that year my roommate wanted to change neighborhoods, so I moved into a studio on the 9th floor. It was the biggest studio I have ever seen, before or since. The main room was large and full of windows. It had the same size eat-in kitchen as the two-bedroom apartment had. In fact, there was so much cabinet space that, besides my food and cookware, I was able to keep my school papers in the kitchen cabinets. There was a huge walk-in closet and the same huge linen closet. It was a great apartment. I tried to make the living room look like an actual living room, so I put my desk and bed in the part of the kitchen where the dining table was supposed to go. Yes, that may be odd, but it made my living room look like a real living room. I actually miss that apartment a little bit sometimes. It faced west, and since it was nine floors up I was able to see over all the other buildings nearby. I could see all the way to O'Hare. At night I could see planes lined up to land in four different directions. I also had fantastic views of lightning storms. It was great.

The only reason I moved was because the building was being renovated. When tenants moved out, their apartments weren't rented out right away. Instead they were being completely redone, with a huge increase in rent of course. Before my lease was up I was told that I would have to move out of my apartment so they could renovate it. When I found out what the rent would be I decided to move. At the time I wasn't too sad to go, but part of me misses that building.

I believe that building was built in 1924. I think the building I'm currently living in was built in 1912, although I could be wrong about that. After spending two years in older buildings I have developed quite a distaste for newer apartments. Everything about them seems to be so plain in comparison.