The West Loop of Chicago was my home for roughly 6 years until I moved a little farther west to the Near West Side 5 years ago. The West Loop was once home to meat packers, produce purveyors, manufacturing, machine shops, and all the retails establishments supporting these industries. During the late 1990s, the neighborhood began to change as trendy restaurants moved in, industrial lofts were converted to artists’ studios and apartments, and new condo building were constructed. This process stagnated some in 2008, but began accelerating again around 2011. By 2013, it was announced that Google would move into the former Fulton Cold Storage Facility following a process of adaptive reuse. This move followed the establishment of a range of restaurants in the area and precipitated a number of corporate offices to move to the neighborhood. In many ways, it was the beginning a complete transformation of the entire Fulton corridor through re-building the street. This was accompanied by the construction of a range of buildings that replaced many of the old meatpacking facilities. This work documents the traces of the old neighborhood on the eve of transformation. Included in the work are images of the interior of the Fulton Cold Storage Facility that would become home to Google.
