The downtown igloo built in the median of a downtown intersection is no more.
The city took down the ice house on Wacker Drive, just east of Michigan Avenue, on Friday, the igloo’s architect told RedEye.
The igloo went up earlier in the week – the creation of David Sudler, 58, who lives in a nearby high-rise. He said he used ice from unshoveled sidewalks and crosswalks to make a point about safety and, well, just for the spectacle, he told RedEye last week.
“I didn’t want people falling. I started chopping the ice up and decided to cut it into squares and rectangles. I’d move it at night when there was less traffic and it was safer,” Sudler told RedEye. “I sort of felt like an elf.”
Sudler said someone from the alderman’s office called him and asked him to get in touch with the the city’s streets and sanitation department to remove the ice structure. He said they were trying to prevent him from getting cited by the city for impeding a walkway with an artificial structure.
“An artificial structure has to have some sort of artificial substance in it, but my ice fort was made of water. I cleaned an intersection that they neglected to clean for one of the largest events in the city [Chi-Town Rising],” Sudler said. “I did everything legal and proper.”
While Sudler was sad to see his ice fort go – he said it wasn’t an actual igloo – he was happy with the conversation he said he had with Charles Williams, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation.
“Everything turned out really well; the city found out I’m not a crazy homeless man and that I may know more than their engineers about this area,” Sudler said.
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