A plucky little survivor from 1894 that outlived the railroad that brought it to life.

Legendary photographer Gordon Parks described Chicago’s Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church as “a temple of hope to thousands of Negro people caught in the backyard of this vast city” when he visited this African American congregation on the city’s Near West Side in 1953.

God this one is even more bonkers than I realized. It’s wonderful. Chicago industrialist Robert Ilg built his employees a 22-acre countryside ‘pleasure park’ in the suburbs and–since a regular old water tower would be inelegant–had it disguised as a half-size replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Interested in living in one of the first racially-integrated churches in Chicago? A developer is working on converting this striking Gothic church into 29 rental apartments and a small co-working space…a slightly unusual one, but a preservation and housing win nonetheless.