|
Preservation Station
Recent
Stories
Louis Sullivan bank likely to have suffered flood damage
By Robert Powers
...The bank is far from the only architectural victim of the
floods; much of the city's old downtown is reported to have
sustained damage.
A Chicago Sojourn - http://achicagosojourn.blogspot.com/
ILLINOIS STYLE: Professor restoring prairie castle
Chicago Tribune
And deciding he needed a house fit to overlook his expansive
property, Larson commissioned a Chicago architect to design
him a house patterned after a ...
Interview:
Jonathan Fine, Preservation Chicago
Chicagoist
Other famed architecture like the two Adler & Sullivan
buildings that went up in flames (the Pilgrim Baptist Church
and Wirt-Dexter building) in one year ...
First
Introductions: The Lincoln Park Theater
Broadway World - New York, NY
The façade was recently designated as landmark architecture
by the city of Chicago. Over the years the building has
housed offices and an antique shop, ...
The
Lincoln Park Theater To Open in Chicago Landmark Building
Chicago architect John Morris, whose previous projects
include the design of Steppenwolf Theatre and Lookingglass
Theatre, is designing the space. The Lincoln Park Theater
has hired Stearns as Executive Director. ...
Businessman restores Gilded Age mansion into museum
Chicago Sun-Times
Driehaus grew up in a bungalow in the Southwest Side
Brainerd neighborhood and caught the architecture bug while
delivering newspapers. ...
Featured
Buildings, Structures or Properties
The Illinois Legislative
Chambers Registration in Springfield
Preservation Project of the
Year
21 Landmark Buildings
Recognized for Preservation Excellence
Sept,
2007-The Commission on Chicago Landmarks has
recognized over 20 historically significant area structures
for their excellence in preservation work for 2007. Chicago
Landmark Awards for Preservation Excellence were determined
from over 2,000 permits of properties that are Chicago
Landmarks or are within a designated Chicago Landmark
District. Several winners this year include the renovated
art deco exterior and interior of the Chicago Board of
Trade, a former residence of Marshall Field Jr. at 1919 S.
Prairie Ave., a Motor Row showroom at 2246-2248 S. Michigan
Ave which was recently damaged by a fire, and the Chicago &
North Western Railway Powerhouse on Clinton St. which was
re-adapted into retail and office space in the West Loop.
Former Field mansion at 1919 S. Prairie Ave.
Restored Art Deco Interior of the CBOT
The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts at 3015
W. Division
Possible Landmark Status?
At
a recent press conference, Landmarks Illinois, a state
preservationists organization publicized its annual list of
what it considers to be the structures most in danger of
demolition throughout Illinois for 2007. According to
their website
www.landmarks.org,
“This list
calls attention to remarkable sites throughout the state,”
said David Bahlman , Landmarks Illinois president. “In doing
so, we also hope this will generate solutions for their
preservation.” said David Bahlman , president of Landmarks
Illinois. The buildings are chosen for their architectural
and/or historical significance and uniqueness and cover a
diverse range of architectural styles and building types.
Landmarks Illinois 10 Most
Endangered List for 2007
Barat College's Sacred Heart Chapel
The Monadnock Building
53 W. Jackson Boulevard,
Chicago
When it opened in 1892, the
Monadnock was the world's largest office building. It was
Burnham & Root's last and boldest design; some call its
sweeping curve the start of modern architecture.
The Monadnock was the last
skyscraper built as a masonry wall-bearing structure,
requiring walls 6-feet thick at its base to support the
weight of its upper floors, according to the City of
Chicago's Landmarks Web site.
Designed by Chicago architects Burnham & Root and Holabird &
Roche and completed in 1893, the Monadnock was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and designated
a Chicago city landmark in 1973, according to its Web site.
For Donnell, the restoration of the building has been a
28-year labor of love. He has spent more than $30 million to
maintain the architects' initial intentions, from the carbon
filament lighting the hallways, designed to mirror lighting
from the late 1800s, to the intricate red and yellow mosaic
tile purchased from a village in Italy.
The Chicago
Seven
Chicago's
Most Endangered Landmarks
Fawell Building Rosenwald Apartments
Historic Archer Avenue
660-664 N. Michigan Ave 4618-4646 S. Michigan Blvd
2700 - 3100 South Archer
Wicker Park Commercial District
Julia C. Lathrop Homes
Milwaukee Avenue
Clybourn Ave & Diversey Pkwy
between Division and Damen
east of the Chicago River
North Avenue Bridge
Pilgrim Baptist
Church
Lake Shore Drive
near North Avenue
3301 South Indiana
Avenue
Historic Stretch of Wicker
Park Granted Preliminary Landmark Status
The
Commission on Chicago Landmarks granted a preliminary
landmark designation to a commercial area comprised of
several blocks of North Milwaukee Ave., West North Ave., and
North Damen Ave in the Wicker Park neighborhood. The new
district would be named the Milwaukee Avenue District.
Efforts toward receiving a landmark designation for this
stretch has been a work in progress since 1991. "Today is a
day we feared would never come," said Jonathan Fine,
president of Preservation Chicago. "The corridor is the
oldest and perhaps the most intact in the city. It is high
time we did this." Many of the commercial buildings date
back to between 1877 and 1921 including the prominently
placed Northwest Tower, a 12-story, limestone art deco-style
building at 1606-08 N. Milwaukee. The proposed district
would be
in effect an extensive of the Wicker Park District which
received landmark status in 1991. This area has been
refereed to by many as the "city within a city" as it served
as a vital center of commerce and community for European
immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Much
of the architecture of the storefront-levels and upper
residential-levels facades reflect German, Polish, and
Scandinavian influences.
Interior of the LaSalle Bank Theatre
Facade of The Marquette
Building
Architecture Week
has recognized the winners of the 2006
Chicago Landmark Award for
Preservation Excellence. The awards recognize outstanding
projects that involve notable improvements to individual
Chicago landmarks or to buildings within Chicago Landmark
Districts. The winners
were selected by the Commission's Permit Review Committee,
based on the previous year's projects that received its
approval. Only properties that have been designated by the
City Council as individual Chicago landmarks or as part of a
Chicago Landmark District were eligible. The awards are
presented to owners in recognition of their critical role in
preserving the city's historic landmarks and keeping them in
active use.
This year 21 restorative
projects were honored among which were:
-
The $60 million
restoration of Louis Sullivan's Carson Pirie Scott
Building
-
The $40 million
restoration of the LaSalle Bank Theater (1906)
-
Wrigley Field's (1914)
addition of bleachers and alterations historically
consistent with the park's original design
-
The Marquette Building
restoration of the
brick and terra cotta façade of the 1895 Holabird and
Roche designed structure
-
Various other residential
and commercial structures
Before and after photos of
restored Landmark Orlikoff House
So why should I care about a bunch of old buildings anyway? Well,
that can certainly be a legitimate question in many instances, but seeing how this is Chicago, that question would arguably rate much deeper consideration of the issue. Consider that inquiry in the context of “old”
paintings by Van Gogh or Rembrandt or ancient ruins in Greece and Rome. As one would no doubt immediately recognize the priceless nature of the afore-mentioned items, the structures produced by Chicago’s renowned
architectural design masters must be equally revered, valued and protected.
These monuments to aesthetic and functional mastery are the soul of
this city and every effort should be made to ensure that the gift of this legacy doesn’t disappear before our eyes in the name of progress and greed. Additionally, these buildings serve as a link to our vanishing past-a
past in which our character was routinely connected in the quality or our work and one which serves (hopefully) as the conscience of our current civic architectural mindset.
As has been quoted, the sad fact is that Chicago has lost more great
buildings than most cities have ever had. Yet, there remain many built treasures still officially unrecognized and unprotected.
Chicago Architecture Today is committed to doing its part to help
avert the senseless tragedies which raze our heritage and our history by calling attention to some of these structures targeted for redevelopment or destruction. To learn more and discover how you can help, visit
www.landmarks.org and www.preservationchicago.org. Also, please take a moment to comment on our message board concerning these matters or send us an opinion piece for Featured Friends.
|
