Chicago murals: Near West Side alley’s garages transformed into a drive-thru gallery of 15 murals

When new garages went up in the 2500 block of West Polk Street, it wasn’t long till they were covered with painted words and images.

But not by taggers defacing them with graffiti. Instead, this was the work of artists hired by the developers of 15 new homes to cover the garage doors with an array of colorful and intricate murals.

Chicago’s murals and mosaics sidebar

Chicago’s murals & mosaics

Part of a series on public art in the city and suburbs. Know of a mural or mosaic? Tell us where and send a photo to murals@suntimes.com. We might do a story on it.

They were installed this past fall and feature everything from cartoonish figures and giant grasshoppers to a cosmic scene of planets and streaky “energy.”

And with another 15 homes planned for the 2500 block of West Lexington Avenue — which will share the same east-west alley — another 15 murals are slated to go up.

“To the best of my knowledge, it’s a first-of-a-kind” project, says Sara Dulkin, owner of the Chicago Truborn gallery that was hired by the developers, Home&, to curate the effort.

Sara Dulkin of the Chicago Truborn gallery, which oversaw the alley mural project.

“There will be 30 homes, so there will be 30 murals,” Dulkin says. “Alleys are a very Chicago thing. New York doesn’t have them. We have power lines and water towers and alleys. So, to beautify that” the developers were looking for “fun and a colorful part of a home that’d attract people.”

A view down the alley of the 2500 block of West Polk Street, where murals were painted on all of the garage doors of new homes.

It’s touted as “Chicago’s most Instagrammable alley.”

The development is on the former site of William H. King Elementary School, which was shut down during Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s tenure — part of his controversial policy that saw the permanent closing of dozens of Chicago Public Schools buildings that were deemed “underutilized.”

“Normally, you come into an alley, and all the garages are the same, all the doors,” says developer Alex Nakonechny, who says his company plans to donate $5,000 to CPS for each home sold. “This way, people have something different. The idea is to dress up the alley.”