Illinois Beach Bathhouses
Along the Lake Michigan shoreline at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, Illinois, a group of abandoned mid-century bathhouses and picnic shelters stands quietly amid the dunes and grasses. Built around 1960–1961, the buildings’ sweeping concrete roofs, geometric screens, and slender rooftop towers reflect a distinctly Modernist vision of public recreation. Once serving generations of beachgoers, the buildings were eventually closed as shoreline erosion shrank the beaches around them.
I came upon these remarkable structures just a few minutes into a walk through the park. Their unusual forms immediately caught my attention, and I was struck by how futuristic they still looked, even after decades of weathering and disuse. In this black-and-white series, I explore the architecture through its repeating curves, concrete textures, and the interplay of light and shadow. The empty spaces and occasional sunbursts lend the photographs a quiet, almost otherworldly atmosphere, revealing an unexpected beauty in these remnants of a once-busy lakefront.
