A nifty bit of Gothic Moderne designed by Jansson and Venning, the Walther League of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod opened their national headquarters here in 1942, but you’d only know that from the brick and beige sliver of the old Lynch Residence next door.

Borrowing the Polynesian word for ocean to give an exotic sheen to an otherwise ordinary middle-class residential hotel, the Hotel Moana in Chicago housed mechanics, soldiers, typists, students, bail bondsmen, and elevator operators after it opened in 1917, designed by T.R. Bishop.