It is with great sadness that we share the news of the unexpected passing of Richard H. Driehaus of natural causes on March 9, 2021 at the age of 78. His brilliance for business was surpassed only by his passion for philanthropy.

He founded Driehaus Capital Management which became one of Chicago's largest and most successful investment firms. In 1983, he created the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and used his fortune to powerfully support historic preservation, the arts and community organizations throughout Chicago and the nation.

"Reflecting on nearly two decades in philanthropy, Richard wrote, 'I have devoted my professional life to the field of financial management and have been blessed with remarkable success. I recognize, however, that the measure of one's personal holdings is of less importance than the impact of our collective aspirations made real. I have further come to understand that maximizing the impact of donated dollars can be considerably more challenging than earning those dollars in the first place.

"Philanthropy enriched Richard's life immeasurably, and he would often paraphrase Winston Churchill's quote: 'We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.'  

"'Richard was a dear friend, my professional mentor, and a lifelong philanthropist,' said Anne Lazar, executive director of the Driehaus Foundation in their news release. 'He spent decades making an impact in Chicago and his legacy will live on through his foundation. He was a true gentleman of grace and humility, and it is the foundation's honor and privilege to continue Richard's legacy of support.'" (Driehaus Foundation statement) 

"'Richard led a life of zest and intellectual curiosity. His path and personal story were larger than life, and the impact he made as an investor is perhaps only rivaled by the extensive legacy he left as a philanthropist,' said Steve Weber, president and CEO of Driehaus Capital Management, in their news release. 'Our thoughts are with his daughters Tereza, Caroline and Kate, his sisters Dorothy and Elizabeth, and his extended family. Richard will be dearly missed by all who were fortunate enough to know him.'" (Driehaus Capital Management statement) 

"'Richard’s an amazing person,' said David Bahlman, the former president of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. 'The causes he supports and the projects he has funded over the years have had a great impact on the appreciation of art and architecture in Chicago.' (Sharoff, Chicago Magazine, 9/27/2007)

"In 2015, he received the AIA Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize his tireless support of historic preservation and sponsorship of architecture award programs and design competitions. Zurich Esposito, former AIA Chicago executive vice president, said, 'Richard's engagement with preservation, his recognition of working architects, and his philanthropic reach have had an immeasurable impact on the practice. His commitment to classical architectural and planning ideas, forms and principles—coupled with his willingness to support and embolden those actively working in the profession—has left a lasting legacy on the contemporary landscape.' (Massie, Architect Magazine, 8/6/2015)

His deep commitment to Chicago's architectural heritage lead him to purchase and beautifully restore the 1883 Samuel Mayo Nickerson Mansion which serves the Richard H. Driehaus Museum of Decorative Arts and the 1886 Richardsonian Romanesque Ransom Cable Mansion which serves as headquarters for Driehaus Capital Management. 

"'It’s my gift to the city. The museum is about protecting the past. The idea is to display the period, the materials and objects, and to organize that as a whole experience. It’s not about any one object. It’s about the environment, the space,' said Richard Driehaus in a 2007 Chicago Magazine profile regarding the Driehaus Museum of Decorative Arts and the restoration of the Nickerson mansion. (Sharoff, Chicago Magazine, 9/27/2007)

Richard Driehaus and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation was a longtime friend and supporter of Preservation Chicago. We are deeply grateful for his long support for our organization, our mission, and for the preservation movement in Chicago. He will be dearly missed, but his legacy will live on through all of his incredible achievements during his lifetime and through so many preservation wins yet to come. 

The Preservation Chicago 2021 Chicago 7 Most Endangered presentation was pivoted to a virtual platform due to the pandemic. The beautiful photos and mixed-media made the presentation the most polished to-date, but the attendance was truly remarkable. The maximum capacity of the virtual event was 1,000 registrations and it sold out. The presentation was viewed live by approximately 550. For those who missed the live event, the entire one hour presentation was recorded and has been posted on Preservation Chicago's website and YouTube channel.

The 2021 Chicago 7 Most Endangered announcement and presentation was held at noon on Wednesday, February 24, 2021. The event was held in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center. In 2022, we hope to be able make the presentation in front of a live audience in a large venue with live virtual simulcast.

Since 2003, the “Chicago 7 Most Endangered” has sounded the alarm on imminently threatened Chicago historic buildings to mobilize the stakeholder support necessary to save them from demolition.

The Chicago 7 Most Endangered 2021 Reporting has been robust.

These are Chicago's 7 most endangered places; Preservation Chicago's annual list includes a Washington Park greystone that housed Black women during the Great Migration, and the lakefront, which faces “multiple threats," Dennis Rodkin, 2/24/21

City’s 7 ‘Most Endangered Buildings’ Of 2021 Unveiled By Preservation Chicago; Preservationists revealed their annual list of the seven places and spaces in Chicago they fear may be lost to demolition, development and Mother Nature Wednesday, Maxwell Evans, Block Club Chicago, 2/24/21

“Forever open, clear and free” aligns with the spirit of a core American ideal, and almost appears to reflect the words, expression and thoughts of the Founding Fathers of our Nation.

Yet this quote in its fullness “Public ground”—“A common, to remain forever open, clear and free of any buildings, or other obstructions,” was an early ideal and vision of our City’s earliest pioneers and legislators, to protect the Chicago Lakefront and to insure it was accessible to the public. Dating to a year before the City’s incorporation in 1836, this forward-thinking vision was adopted by our City and State, and land was set aside in Chicago for parkland, greenspace and open space near the early lakeshore to be enjoyed by all. In theory, this larger concept is a very democratic ideal.

However, after more than a century of additions and parkland improvements along the lakeshore, recent years have brought various changes and proposals to the Chicago Lakefront which have raised a new awareness of and genuine concerns for this most amazing resource. These extend from the Lakefront sites proposed for the 2016 Olympics which would have adversely impacted almost all of Chicago’s parks, and eliminating thousands of old-growth trees, while adding stadiums and other ancillary structures, to the additions to Soldier Field. Also extending these same adverse and harmful ideas to proposals such as the relocation of the Children’s Museum in Grant Park and the Lucas Museum in Burnham Park.

The proposed 20-acre Obama Presidential Center on the Lakefront in Jackson Park poses a special burden on this tenet of “forever open, clear and free.” We have a remarkable president whose roots are connected to Chicago, and we welcome a center named in his honor located in Chicago. However, the Jackson Park proposal for the Obama Presidential Center would result in a clearing of 20 acres of trees, parklands, recreational facilities and ball fields, many for children, to an expansion and widening of Lake Shore Drive and Stony Island Avenue, and impacting more than 400 trees to be cut and discarded. There is the possibility for the loss of more trees, wildlife habitats and migratory flyways for this development, along with roadway expansions and incursions into Jackson Park at both the east and west perimeters of the park. In reality the roadway closures adversely impact other areas of the park, where closed roads are replaced with new asphalt surfaces, thereby widening other nearby streets and Lake Shore Drive.

While Preservation Chicago welcomes the Obama Presidential Center to Chicago and to the South Side, we are of the opinion that nearby private non-parklands would be a more appropriate site for these large structures and this new presidential complex. We also acknowledge that the Chicago parks have fallen into terrible disrepair, with many buildings needing extensive repairs, and in some cases even complete reconstruction to address long-deferred maintenance. It often appears that parkland giveaways have become a remedy for reinvestment in our neglected parks and portions of our Lakefront, which is really tragic, as these should be priorities to protect, maintain and steward in perpetuity.

Also alarming and of great concern on the Chicago Lakefront are proposed plans for revisioning and an overhaul of North Lake Shore Drive, one of Chicago’s most beautiful thoroughfares. The overhaul plans would rethink the lakefront from Navy Pier near Grand Avenue at the south to Hollywood Avenue at its northernmost border. The project is called “Redefine the Drive: North Lake Shore Drive,” with studies conducted by both the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Chicago Department of Transportation(CDOT), has the potential to destroy and ruin many of the unique characteristics of this world-class boulevard and drive.

The Lake Shore Drive redefining proposals have included such concepts as removing many of the historic overpasses and bridges, with their scenic vistas, undulating and rolling perspectives as they rise and fall over the dramatic panoramic views of the downtown buildings, the parks and Lakefront. This proposal also extends to the straightening of many of the gentile curves, while also adding vast areas of landfill and high berms, which will often obscure views of Lake Michigan for motorists. It also proposes widening the thoroughfare in certain locations and an underground tunneling of huge areas of the drive from Navy Pier to Oak Street Beach along with some areas to the north. The tunneling for automobile traffic is equivalent to a deep and wide dry riverbed set within a depression in the earth, and it is more akin to sections of Interstate I-90 and I-94–the Dan Ryan Expressway, and I-290–the Eisenhower Expressway than a boulevard fronting parklands and Lake Michigan.

Other sections of Lake Shore Drive will be expanded, with medians and their planted trees cut and removed, shrubbery and perennials lost, and parkland and greenspace incursions in Lincoln Park for new and expanded entry, exit and bus ramps. Preservation Chicago is of the opinion that everyone should have the experience of Chicago’s parklands — whether by walking, jogging, bicycling, or even driving in an automobile. These parklands and Lakefront lands are special to all of us no matter how they are enjoyed in many various ways and experiences.

Yet these public lands and spaces are often looked upon by some as vacant lands expendable for private development when indeed these are developed lands as public places and recreational environments. Some of these lands have been dedicated to the public for more than 150 years, and most all of them for over a century. These are sacred places that belong to us all as a place of refuge, reflection and recreation. These parklands and shoreline allow for a break from our daily lives, and to once again commune with nature — refreshing and energizing one’s spirits. Unfortunately, these same public and sacred grounds are also subject to political giveaways and gifts by elected officials for pet projects, sometimes to the highest bidder. Instead, we should be converting more private lands to public and using air rights over rail yards to expand these parks and lakefront lands, and if necessary, build new museums and facilities on newly created parkland sites.

Preservation Chicago supports a commitment to the Chicago Lakefront and its many parks, realizing that this is a very special feature of Chicago and a gift to its citizens which is to last in perpetuity. We continue to be grateful for these amazing parks and the great asset of Lake Michigan, its shoreline mostly “forever open, clear and free for all.”

In the future, the laws protecting the parklands with the “forever open, clear and free to all, without obstruction” regulations in downtown Chicago, specifically Grant Park and elsewhere, should be extended to include protections in perpetuity to the entire Lakefront and Lakefront parks system.

We realize the challenges in managing the vast Lakefront lands, and we want to encourage partnerships realizing the costs associated with this massive endeavor. To that end, we want to encourage the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District to pursue a national park designation for the entire Chicago Lakefront. Chicago can partner with the National Park Services to continue the legacy of protecting this precious resource for the enjoyment of all. Such an idea could lift and share the burden of maintenance of these sacred grounds, providing much-needed repairs to many of the park buildings and structures.

Some structures in Jackson Park, like the Daniel Burnham-designed Comfort Station on South Lake Shore Drive near 67th Street, are in a state of near total collapse. The Comfort Station’s roof is buckling and partially collapsed, with its concrete columns delaminating. Another Comfort Station, to the immediate south of the Museum of Science and Industry, is without a roof. Its massive fieldstone walls have been covered in blue tarps for more than two years. This is a sign of a lack of funding and resources to the parks, the long-term impacts of Tax Increment Financing projects and their unintended consequences to both our schools and our public lands and Lakefront.

The idea of a national park and shared responsibilities for these vast Lakefront parklands would allow for improved maintenance, less privatization of recreational lands and facilities, and access to more funds for new parklands in communities across Chicago. This concept would also free up funds for park programming and services for people of all ages.

The concept of a national park within the City limits of Chicago could be a huge asset, much like the Pullman National Monument on the City’s South Side potentially drawing additional tourism dollars to our City, which in turn supports both small and large businesses alike. National parks have a tremendous amount of visitors each year to different sites across the nation. The Pullman National Monument–a planned industrial development and community important for its links to architecture, planning, labor history, African-American history and Civil Rights, along with railroad history–is expected to draw 300,000 annual visitors when the former Administration and Clock Tower Building opens as a Visitor Center in the coming year. It would be a tremendous resource for Chicago to have two national parks within its borders, recognizing the significance of these public lands fronting one of the world’s largest freshwater resources–Lake Michigan.

Recently, the Indiana Dunes State Park and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore became one of our most recent national parks. After years of talk and discussion by numerous politicians and scholars, — including United States Senator Paul Douglas, United States Senator Paul Simon, University of Chicago botanist Henry Cowles, and local resident Dorothy R. Buell of the Indiana Dunes Preservation Council — the Indiana Dunes National Park was realized. This national park stretches along 15 miles of the southern shore of Lake Michigan and includes 15,000 acres of beaches, lakefront, dunes and forested area, just 25 miles from Downtown Chicago.

Such ideas should be embraced for the Chicago Lakefront National Park. This could also encourage the former South Works-United States Steel Sites, now a vacant brownfield site, to be transformed into an extension of Chicago’s legendary Lakefront parks. It would fulfill a great obligation and long-term vision with the National Park Service and the Federal Government to assist in the clean-up of this former steel mill and industrial site. It would return these now-toxic land into a public amenity for the people of Chicago and its visitors.

Similarly, another toxic site exists near the mouth of the Chicago River, where it meets Lake Michigan, located close to Navy Pier in Downtown Chicago. This area of land has been promised to be developed into parkland for many years, and named in honor of Chicago’s first non-native settler, Jean Baptiste DuSable whose home was once located nearby. Recently, developers of several large high-rise building projects, near this site have been tasked with making this toxic brownfield a public park. However, to date those plans have not materialized. However, a U.S. National Park designation may provide the funds required to realize this vision honoring DuSable.

Preservation Chicago embraces the idea of converting, rather than demolishing, the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place into a Mid-South Side Fieldhouse and Cultural Center. Such a concept would engage this little-used convention center into an indoor extension of the Chicago Lakefront recreational areas and part of the Lakefront Trail. The large glass-walled halls could serve a variety of recreational programs, from indoor running tracks, basketball and tennis courts, and include both indoor and outdoor cafés and restaurant service.

As an alternative option, the large glass-walled convention halls with views of the Lakefront and Chicago skyline could also be used for large cultural exhibits, much like the aviation museums of a similar scale in Europe. The lower-level convention halls of the base plinth structure of the Lakeside Center could be repurposed for aquatics, perhaps containing Olympic-sized swimming pools, that could overlook Lake Michigan. Adding windows in the brick walls could transform spaces into additional training facilities, gymnasiums, and community rooms.

All of this could be coupled with a reactivated Arie Crown Theater—the City’s largest theater space—to join the building together as a “Mid-South Bronzeville Cultural Center.” The rooftop of the Lakeside Center, measuring the size of three football fields, could contain a running track, outdoor recreational facilities, a green roof and perhaps a solar-cell network to provide power for the facility. The same could also hold true for the plinth and outdoor platform area, adjacent to the large glass-walled convention rooms, and hold cafes and restaurants, health and wellness classes and be considered an extension of the Lakefront parks. Such ideas would foresee this building as perhaps the world’s largest fieldhouse and cultural center, all under one roof, in a building of great architectural significance.

Lakeside Center at McCormick Place, when constructed, was comparable in both its architectural and engineering achievements to the City’s tallest superstructures like the Sears Tower and John Hancock Building. It was designed by the seminal firm of C. F. Murphy, notable for many large buildings including the Chicago Landmark Richard J. Daley Center and Plaza, and under the direction of architect Gene Sommers and Helmut Jahn.

It is a remarkable structure, which has the possibility to be one of Chicago’s greatest Lakefront assets and turning what was a building on the Lakefront for conventions into a year-round fieldhouse and cultural facility—an extension of the Lakefront parks under roof. Such ideas would be revolutionary for the Mid-South/Bronzeville/Douglas Community and perhaps even more popular than Millennium Park. It would be in the vein of the famous Daniel Burnham quote: “Make no little plans!”

As the City of Chicago works across all levels to become a more equitable place, we need to honor and elevate African American sites of significance like the Phyllis Wheatley Club and Home.

A stalwart and resolute group of Black women in early 1900s Chicago joined together to create the Phyllis Wheatley Home, a program to house and educate other Black women and girls who either traveled to Chicago during the Great Migration or found themselves without stable housing. The well-known settlement houses at the time, like the Jane Addams Hull-House and the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association), were segregated and did not accommodate women of color. Recognizing the great risk that young women encountered when moving to an unfamiliar city, the founders of the Phyllis Wheatley Club created a safe haven for the flourishing development and protection of the young women they supported.

The third and final Phyllis Wheatley Home was built at 5128 S. Michigan Avenue. At its peak, it could house over 22 women and girls. It functioned as the Phyllis Wheatley Home for 50 years and has been in private ownership since the 1970s. In recent years, the 125-year-old home has suffered from deferred maintenance and significant water infiltration. A hearing is scheduled for March 16, 2021 in demolition court to address code violations. A plan for immediate action to stabilize and restore the home is essential to avoid a possible demolition order. The need is urgent to find a preservation solution to save this building which is a testament to the power of Black women and their role in addressing societal needs in 1900s Chicago.

We at Preservation Chicago continue to uncover additional stories of the extraordinary women in the Phyllis Wheatley Club and their work to improve the lives of African American women, girls, and the community at large.

Phillis Wheatley was a poet who lived from approximately 1753 to 1784, becoming the first English-speaking person of African descent to publish a book. She was also the second woman and author to be published in America.

Wheatley was kidnapped from West Africa, transported by slave ship to Boston, Massachusetts and sold into slavery in 1761. John and Susanna Wheatley, who purchased the young girl, named her after the slave ship she arrived in—the Phillis.

It is said that the Wheatley family was progressive for their time, allowing Wheatley to receive an “unprecedented education” for an enslaved person, learning to read both Greek and Latin.

While enslaved, she traveled to England, meeting with royalty and dignitaries there. She also had connections with George Washington, John Paul Jones, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock. After her emancipation in 1773, she lived the remainder of her years as a free woman, later marrying John Peters, a free Black man. Her remarkable accomplishments are surprisingly well-documented, but it’s heartbreaking to imagine what works and stories of her experiences have been lost since she died.

She and her accomplishments have been memorialized many times in the years since her death, demonstrated by the fact that many schools across America today bear her name. Surely her greatest posthumous legacy, however, is the Phyllis Wheatley Home.

Inspired by Wheatley’s strength and talents, Phyllis Wheatley Clubs were formed in multiple cities throughout the United States. While the spelling of Wheatley’s name is acknowledged as “Phillis,” the clubs were formed under the spelling of “Phyllis”. The club’s focus was on improving the lives of young women through education, job training, sewing classes, and economics classes, or, as noted by the organization, “housing, health, vocational guidance, recreation and religious education”.

The Chicago branch of the Phyllis Wheatley Club was formed in 1896 by a group of Black women led by Elizabeth Lindsay Davis who, via connections to strong social networks and philanthropic efforts throughout the city, had the means to address impoverished living conditions for women and young girls, especially single women arriving during the Great Migration. This movement saw Southern Blacks heading north to find great opportunity and fill industrial jobs. As Davis wrote: “The burden of caring for this newly transplanted population was left entirely to the colored citizens of the city, who are, in the mass, already overburdened, hard-working people with little accumulated surplus among them.”

It was one of the oldest such Black women’s clubs formed in Chicago and was part of a vast network of programs organized under the National Association of Colored Women’s (NACW) Clubs. Davis was the Illinois delegate to this national organization along with journalist and anti-lynching advocate Ida B. Wells Barnett. Ms. Davis also authored a book, “The Story of the Illinois Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs covering 1900-1922.” The book outlines the various clubs throughout the state, and the women who helped found them.

The Phyllis Wheatley Home also provided opportunities for Black women entering the newly professionalized field of social work. Many African American women graduates of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy found positions as lead workers and residents at Black settlement houses. The Phyllis Wheatley Home hired Jennie Lawrence, a graduate of the program, to oversee its operations, and Lawrence introduced modern social work methods to the Home.

The first Phyllis Wheatley Home at 3530 S. Rhodes was purchased for $3,400 in 1906-07. The nine-room home was opened to women as a settlement house in 1908. The Wheatley Home then moved to 3256 S. Giles, originally known as Forest Avenue, where it operated until acquiring the home at 5128 S. Michigan Avenue in 1925-26. Sadly, the first two Wheatley Homes have been demolished.

Originally constructed in 1896 for William H. Ebbert, the 6,600 square foot home at 5128 S. Michigan Avenue was designed by architect Frederick B. Townsend. Townsend, a prominent Chicago architect, is also credited with designing the “Five Houses on Avers Avenue”, now a Chicago Landmark District, along with 4808 S. Kimbark Avenue, all of which are noted in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey.

Preservation Chicago has been able to connect with the relatives of one woman who used to live in the Phyllis Wheatley Home, and they were able to share with us stories of what life was like there. Charlotte Pearson Weaver lived in the Wheatley Home on Michigan Avenue until she married her husband George Weaver in 1928. In the late 1960s, she returned to the home to serve as a house mother for three years. Charlotte was born in 1902, and she migrated to Chicago from Demopolis, Alabama, moving into the Wheatley Home. Her daughter Georgetta Cooper recalls her mother’s stories about the rules of the home. Guests, especially men, could only be entertained on restricted days and times to visits on the first floor of the home. The second and third floors were where the women’s bedrooms were. Women were screened and interviewed by the Home’s Board of Directors. The women on the Board ran the home, according to Ms. Cooper, and they were correct, “cultured” women — active in their churches and civic organizations. The women who resided in the home had strict curfews, and there was no smoking or drinking of alcohol allowed. The women had to arrive well-dressed for dinner, which was formal every day.

The house rules were significantly loosened by the time Ms. Weaver returned to serve as a house mother in the late 1960s. Her granddaughters, Kathy Scott and Maria Scott recall visiting their grandmother at the Wheatley Home. They remembered all the wood finishes and paneling in the house, and they were especially fond of the old-time pop machine in the kitchen where they would buy 5-cent bottles of Mountain Dew and Orange Crush.

The work of women’s organizations and clubs, like the Phyllis Wheatley Home, to support and advance women’s lives was critical in this time period. They functioned as job and leadership training centers and their advocacy for increasing and protecting women’s rights, including suffrage, was critical when those rights were nonexistent or emerging. Preserving historic buildings like the Wheatley Home makes the stories of this work real and present in a way that books, websites, and other media do not. Saving the places in our landscape where such important work happened makes it possible for us to understand the past and use it to continue the work today. The Phyllis Wheatley Home holds the memories of the countless Black women who left behind the Jim Crow South for a new life in Chicago.

Water infiltration and temperature fluctuations are always significant threats to historic buildings across the country. These same elements have harmed the Phyllis Wheatley Home. The roof is in need of full replacement as it is highly compromised. The home’s rear wall has greatly deteriorated and requires major repairs or perhaps complete reconstruction. Water damage and other failures have also wreaked havoc on the Wheatley Home’s interiors. However, the home’s basement, foundation, and remaining elevations appear to be in stable condition. Despite these many issues throughout the property, original wood cabinetry, decorative trim mouldings, doors, historic light fixtures, and the original wood staircases are all intact.

The current homeowners, Dr. Ariajo “JoAnn” Cobb Tate and Martin Tate, are committed to restoring the property and its important history, although they are struggling to secure the resources needed for a complete restoration and renovation of the building.

Without an immediate and viable plan for restoration, along with funding, the home could be potentially ordered demolished at its March 2021 hearing before the City of Chicago’s Buildings Division Court.

Chicago has an unfortunate record of demolishing settlement house buildings. Even the Hull-House, the most renowned settlement house in the city, suffered this fate—during the 1960s, all but two of its thirteen buildings were destroyed to make way for the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. As few sites of Black social settlements remain in Chicago or across the nation, preserving the Phyllis Wheatley Home is essential. Preservation advocates and the City of Chicago should prioritize elevating this history as we strive to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion in everything we do.

The Phyllis Wheatley Home is one of few surviving testaments to the power of Black women who were committed to being part of the solution toward housing and living conditions that were especially hard on Chicago’s Black residents. It is imperative that all divisions in the City of Chicago (especially the Building and Planning Departments) work with the current owners, the Alderwoman, the Washington Park community, and the preservation community to find a solution that will ensure its protection from demolition and a solid plan for its restoration.

The building’s estimated rehabilitation costs are roughly $700,000 for the necessary exterior repairs and range from $1 million to $1.5 million for the entire structure. These costs may exceed the post-rehabilitation value of the home, so public subsidies or philanthropic contributions will be required to make these substantial repairs.

Preservation Chicago is committed to working with all stakeholders to achieve a preservation outcome of restoring this place that tells the important story of Black women’s clubs, suffrage efforts, and settlement houses in Chicago. In a full circle moment of great synergy, a group of professional Black women has organized to find solutions to save the Wheatley Home. Preservation Chicago would be honored to support their work in every way we can.

Update: Preservation Chicago has been working with urgency to generate stakeholder support and emergency funding prior to the March 16 Building Court date. Due to the advocacy around this building, the building court date has been extended to July 14. Additionally, Preservation Chicago recommended the Phyllis Wheatley Home as a suggestion for Chicago Landmark Designation on January 26 at the Program Committee hearing of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.

This year, the Cornell Store & Flats has been selected once more as a Chicago 7 Most Endangered after first being listed in 2017. Designed by Walter Burley Griffin, a prolific designer of both buildings and landscapes, this exceptional building is an outlier in Griffin’s career. Compared to his largely residential designs here in the United States and his city plans in Australia, the Cornell Store & Flats is the rare example of a combination commercial and residential Griffin-designed building.

The Cornell Store & Flats is located on once-bustling East 75th Street near its intersection with South Chicago Avenue. Considered by some architectural historians to be one of the most significant buildings in Chicago, this Prairie School structure has been beset by years of neglect. This has been further exacerbated by disinvestment in the neighborhood of Greater Grand Crossing, near the western border of the South Shore community. The building’s future has been uncertain since the passing of its long-time owner, even approaching permanent loss after entering demolition court in 2016. Preservation Chicago is of the opinion that with the right owner and development plan, a viable path for reuse exists for this irreplaceable structure.

In an additional effort to further spotlight the significance of the Cornell Store & Flats, our statewide preservation partner, Landmarks Illinois, listed it as one of the “Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois” in 2016. Still, the building remains vacant and further deteriorating with each year that passes. We are hopeful that the Cornell Store & Flats can still be preserved and repurposed, ensuring that this landmark by one of the country’s most accomplished architects continues to serve its community long into the future.

Completed in 1908, the Cornell Store & Flats was created as an investment property by the estate of Paul Cornell. A New York-born lawyer who moved to Chicago as a young man, Cornell bought 300 acres of land bounded by what would eventually become 51st and 55th Streets in 1853. The sizable parcel was named Hyde Park and Cornell developed it rapidly, advertising it to well-off Chicagoans as a luxury lakeside retreat. By the time of his death in 1904, Cornell was able to witness the tremendous growth and annexation of Hyde Park Township to the City of Chicago in 1889, the establishment of the University of Chicago in 1890, and the success of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.

Cornell’s family sought to maintain his legacy of development after his death. They decided to erect an unparalleled modern building on Greater Grand Crossing’s 75th Street corridor that would provide his estate with rental income from residential and retail spaces. To create this investment property, Cornell’s estate hired architect Walter Burley Griffin for the commission.

At that time, Griffin, in his early 30s, was enjoying a very successful career. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1899, Griffin worked for two years under Prairie School practitioners Dwight H. Perkins, Robert C. Spencer, Jr., and Henry Webster Tomlinson. Soon after in 1901, Griffin began a five-year career as a draftsman in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park studio. However, even before employment in these offices, Griffin had shown interest as a student in non-Western architecture, especially Japanese and pre-Columbian styles. This mix of influences can be observed in several of Griffin’s designs and, to some extent, in the overall massing of the Cornell Store & Flats.

The building is an exemplar of the Prairie School of architecture and displays multiple trademarks of the style. Drawing on the boundless expanse of the Midwestern landscape, the Prairie School often implemented low-hipped or flat rooflines, an emphasis on horizontality, natural construction materials, and little to no ornamentation. In this regard, the Cornell Store & Flats adheres faithfully.

The building features imposing and monumental facades on both its north and south elevations. The building’s ground floor storefront, which faces East 75th Street, originally boasted a glass display window that projected outward from the body of the structure. This feature has since been replaced with a brick wall containing glass block windows. From the clerestory of the first floor to the roofline, five massive brick piers extend upward, creating the structural bays of the building’s facade. On the second floor, slender masonry piers separate pairs of narrow, deeply inset windows. The vertical piers are further defined by both continuous and noncontinuous bands of limestone lintels and sills which frame the recessed windows and emphasize the building’s horizontal massing. Reaching the top of this facade, the larger brick piers terminate at a thick horizontal limestone slab. Due to the deep recessed reveal, this stone slab appears to float above the facade at the roofline, further emphasizing the horizontal design qualities of the building.

The north façade, which originally faced towards a narrow right-of-way and residential street, is equally impressive. Employing a similar articulation to the 75th Street facade, the massive vertical Roman brick piers extend from the base of the building upward to another floating limestone slab platform. Griffin adds visual interest by way of a staircase hidden behind a wall of Roman brick that leads up to an arched entrance. This opening once guided residents into an open-air courtyard on the second floor which featured a glass block floor through which natural light flooded the retail space below. Four apartment units encircle and open onto the courtyard, creating a communal space for tenants while also maximizing sunlight and fresh air circulation. This courtyard offered a secluded outdoor space in the midst of a busy commercial and industrial environment.

After the construction of Cornell Store & Flats, Griffin rarely returned to commercial designs, especially those with residential spaces attached. In 1912, Griffin won an international competition in which he was selected to design the layout of the new capital city of Canberra, Australia. Later, Griffin and his wife, Marion Mahony Griffin—an accomplished architect in her own right and a former employee of Wright as well—would go on to complete numerous designs in India where Griffin would eventually pass away in 1937 at the age of 60. Still, elements of the Cornell Store & Flats appear in some of Griffin’s later work, most notably at the Langi Flats in Melbourne. The Cornell Store & Flats even bears more than a passing resemblance to Wright’s City National Bank building in Mason City, Iowa, which was completed roughly a year and a half after Griffin’s building was completed. This further suggests that the Cornell Store & Flats’ architectural significance is one of truly great importance.

In recent decades, the building has deteriorated rapidly due to neglect and exposure to the elements. While much of the exterior masonry is in good condition, the same cannot be said of the Cornell Store & Flats’ interiors. The structural integrity of the ceilings and floorboards is greatly compromised with sagging and buckling evident throughout. However, recent visits to the building indicate that other later modifications can be successfully reversed, including changes to the storefront windows fronting East 75th Street and those made to the upper courtyard.

Due to deferred maintenance and disinvestment in the neighborhoods of Greater Grand Crossing and South Shore, the Cornell Store & Flats remains in as precarious a position as it did when it was first listed as a Chicago 7 in 2017, if not worse. As each winter passes, additional decay erodes the building. Of additional concern is the fact that the site is largely unsecured: unlocked front gates allow access to a rear entrance where the absence of a door allows unrestricted entry. This leaves the Cornell Store & Flats vulnerable to occurrences of vandalism or destruction. The building has been in demolition court once already—a second time may further jeopardize the future of the Cornell Store & Flats.

Preservation Chicago enthusiastically supports the designation of the Cornell Store & Flats as an official Chicago Landmark. Numerous Griffin-designed buildings have already been Landmarked including multiple houses in the Walter Burley Griffin Place District within the Beverly community. Landmarking the Cornell Store & Flats would be another logical testament to Griffin’s place in Chicago’s architectural legacy.

It is additionally crucial to the survival of the Cornell Store & Flats that its current owners, South Shore Management LLC, make progress towards renovation or transfer the property to an owner with clear plans for restoration.

Returning the site to a residential and retail mixed-use purpose, for example, would serve the local neighborhood and honor the legacy of the Cornell Store & Flats’ original design. As an additional incentive, because the site is adjacent to the 75th Street/Grand Crossing Metra station, a transit-oriented development here could secure additional state or federal funding. The building should also be explored for potential as a transit hub and train station for both the Metra Electric and South Shore train lines, and perhaps a bus line, serving both Chicago and nearby suburbs.

Preservation Chicago is confident that there are multiple opportunities for a redevelopment project that will ensure the retention and reuse of the Cornell Store & Flats while also investing in the communities of Greater Grand Crossing and South Shore.

Another grand Masonic Temple, designed by Clarence Hatzfeld, the architect of the now-demolished South Side Masonic Temple, could be headed toward demolition as well.

Despite decades of being vacant, there is no denying the grand building on the southeast corner of 91st and Exchange is extraordinary and worth exploration for adaptive reuse potential. With $26 million being invested in the former South Chicago YMCA just two blocks east, this is a great opportunity to further spur redevelopment with a plan to restore the South Chicago Masonic Temple.

The Classical Revival 1916 Temple was designed by noted Chicago architect Clarence Hatzfeld. Hatzfeld designed several Chicago Park District fieldhouses, and has 30 properties listed in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey either under his name individually or his firm, Hatzfeld & Knox.

South Chicago was a bustling community when steel mills were operating along Lake Michigan. The Southeast Side neighborhood has always been a haven for new immigrants—Polish, Irish, Mexican, Swedes, Croatians, Slovaks, Serbians and Italians to name a few of the ethnic groups that settled in the area.

When the mills closed, the community struggled with loss of population and disinvestment. Ancillary businesses closed their doors as well. The people of South Chicago are a testament to the strength and bonds of communities in the City of Chicago. While they work together and united to resolve the issues that trouble the neighborhood, they are also working to inspire art and artists. The residents of South Chicago support their local businesses, and they stand up firmly against environmental polluters who want to locate their industries in the community, such as General Iron who have been working to move a metal scrap business to the area after shuttering its existing location, near the Lincoln Park Community on the city’s North Side.

The South Chicago Masonic Association was established in 1906, the same year it acquired the land on the southeast corner of 91st Street and Exchange in the South Chicago neighborhood. The land was purchased from local real estate developer Niel Lykke, who just one month prior had acquired the parcel from the First Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church of South Chicago.

The Freemasons are the oldest fraternal organization in the world. Founded in the Middle Ages, they began as skilled builders. Their square and compasses logo adorns the buildings where they used to conduct club business as well as the headstones of notable Freemasons. While the issue is sometimes disputed, the “G” in the logo stands for God, or geometry, depending on an individual’s perspective.

Notable Freemasons include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Buzz Aldrin, John Wayne, and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. The Freemasons are not a religious order, but members believe in a Supreme Being, and in morality, charity, and obedience to the laws of the land. As recently as the 1990s, the Roman Catholic Church forbade its members to be Freemasons, yet had their own affiliated order known as the Knights of Columbus, or K of C. The Shriners, originally known as “The Imperial Council of Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine” and founded in 1870, are an offshoot of the Freemasons. For the most part, the Freemasons remain a mens-only club, with a separate order composed of mostly women called the Order of the Eastern Star.

The South Chicago Masonic Association commissioned architect Clarence Hatzfeld to design the 3-story brick Classical Revival building, and construction began in 1916. Ruffner-Bloss Co. was listed as the mason on the project. The total construction budget was $100,000.

Hatzfeld designed fieldhouse buildings for the Chicago Park District including Indian Boundary Park, Athletic Field, Independence Park, and Portage Park. He was also the architect of the South Side Masonic Temple, which was built in 1921 at 6400 S. Green Street, in the Englewood Community. The structure was part of several long-term preservation advocacy campaigns and a “Chicago 7 Most Endangered” building in 2004 and 2015. Despite these efforts, including a plan to reuse the building as part of the new Kennedy-King College Campus in 2007, the South Side Masonic Temple was demolished in 2018. Clarence Hatzfeld is known to have been the architect of record of five of the historic homes in the Villa Chicago Landmark District and is believed to have designed as many as 20 more. Listed individually and with his firm Hatzfeld & Knox, he has 30 buildings listed in the Chicago Historic Resource Survey. His partner, Arthur Knox, was an associate of Dwight Perkins while the design of Carl Schurz High School was underway. Schurz School is also a designated Chicago Landmark.

The last Masonic Lodge, “Triluminar Lodge #767,” left the South Chicago Masonic Temple building in 1975. That Masonic lodge is still in existence, operating now out of a location in the nearby suburb of Lansing, Illinois. In 1978, the South Chicago Masonic Association sold the building to Mary Ann Grochal, who lived at 3030 E. 92nd Street.

The Mexican Community Committee owned the building from the mid-1980s until 2006, when it lost the building to foreclosure. During its ownership tenure, the building housed the Welded Tube Company of America, as well as serving as the temporary site for the South Chicago Branch of the Chicago Public Library for three years while its permanent location (9033 S. Houston) was being extensively renovated.

While Preservation Chicago has been unable to tour the building’s interior, most Masonic temples have a grand lodge on an upper floor for ceremonies and large events. The Masonic temples served as a hub for the community.

The current owners, under the name “91st and Exchange LLC” and Mark R. Reynolds, purchased the property in 2008. The building has remained vacant since.

Years of vacancy have left the South Chicago Masonic Temple in a badly deteriorated state. Even while in use, maintenance appears to have been lax on the building. The property taxes have remained unpaid since Tax Year 2010. The annual tax statement due on the property is now over $100,000. Tax bills and notices sent to the owner of record have been returned to the County, giving the impression that the current owners have walked away from this building.

The property was listed for sale, but the $750,000+ price tag likely exceeds the value of the building in light of the extensive work needed to restore it to a viable reuse. The prior listing agent has noted that she is no longer the agent for the South Chicago Masonic Temple.

Despite the disinvestment and blight which overwhelmed the South Chicago community after the closing of the steel mills, there are positive indicators that the neighborhood has tremendous redevelopment potential. South Chicago was chosen as one of the City of Chicago’s INVEST South/West communities, and redevelopment of the shuttered YMCA at 3039 E. 91st Street into affordable housing represents an estimated $26 million investment in the immediate area. Claretian Associates, in partnership with Interfaith Housing Development Corporation, is also planning a 78-unit affordable housing development at 3211-3229 E. 92nd Street. The $30 million development is expected to be complete in 2023.

Redeveloping the South Chicago Masonic Temple would have a great impact on the immediate commercial area. The building sits adjacent to the Chicago Family Health Center, a thriving health facility with several locations throughout Chicago.

The City of Chicago can package INVEST South/West incentives and resources for a catalytic redevelopment project in South Chicago. Placing this property back into a vibrant use would further advance historic preservation as an economic development engine in the community. South Chicago has its share of vacant land, and it is well-represented by strip mall-like development. Keeping this history and character alive will contribute to a revitalized South Chicago – one that values its history as it grows stronger.

In the immediate area of the South Chicago Masonic Temple are at least two other vacant buildings, facing an uncertain future, that could be grouped together in a larger redevelopment plan.

Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church: Started in 1882 as a Roman Catholic Church that served German families, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church at 2938 E. 91st Street is a remarkable Art Moderne church and school that was built in 1941. The church conducted its first Mass on April 2, 1882, in the original church and school building. The school opened on November 25, 1882. The land, which was originally in the Village of Hyde Park, was annexed to the City of Chicago on June 29, 1889.

The original church campus included a rectory, church hall, and convent building. The church had originally planned to build a new facility in 1932, but the Depression impacted those plans. The grade school continued to grow its membership in these years, and they opened the high school in 1939.

Construction began on the new church and school in July 1941, with an estimated construction budget of $140,000. The architect was G.S. Smith. It was built with brick walls, and concrete floors and roof. In 1948, the high school became a girls’ school. The high school program ended in 1969. The school and church finally closed their doors in 1987, as it and two other South Chicago parishes were closed.

In 1997, the building was transferred from the Catholic Bishop of Chicago to CLCET, Inc., a charitable title holding corporation for the Chicago Legal Clinic, Inc. It held title to the property until it was sold in 2017 to the Chicago Family Health Center, which operates a facility in the 9100 block of South Exchange Avenue.

The church and school building are currently vacant. The Sts. Peter and Paul Church and School building appears to have some deferred maintenance issues, but overall the building looks to be in good and stable condition.

The Sts. Peter & Paul Church and School building has an estimated 35,000 square feet – including the basement which housed the auditorium and stage, the church on the first floor, with ancillary rooms, and most of the school’s classrooms on the second and third floors. The church and school site includes a substantial parking lot as well.

The South Chicago Masonic Temple, located just across 91st Street, is estimated to be just over 30,000 square feet. The interior condition is unknown, but based on the roof condition, it can be anticipated to be deteriorating, due to water infiltration. There is no off-street parking available at the Masonic Temple site.

Also of note is a two-story Art Deco/Art Moderne store and office building at 9135 S. Exchange, which appears prime for a reuse, along with a restoration of its façade. Built in 1935, the colorful polychromed terra cotta tile remains intact on the building’s façade, and would be even more stunning if it were restored.

South Chicago is a strong community of people who care about their history and their future. It is a neighborhood that is worth a combined private and public investment to bring greater economic opportunity. The South Chicago Masonic Temple can be a wonderful anchor for future planned and targeted redevelopment.

Eckhart & Swan Company Mill/ B.A. Eckhart Mill/ ADM Wheat Mill, Flanders and Zimmerman, 1897 with later additions, 1300 West Carroll Avenue in West Loop/Fulton Market District. Photo Credit: Serhii Chrucky

Eckhart & Swan Company Mill/ B.A. Eckhart Mill/ ADM Wheat Mill, Flanders and Zimmerman, 1897 with later additions, 1300 West Carroll Avenue in West Loop/Fulton Market District. Photo Credit: Serhii Chrucky

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Chicago’s Loop central business district was surrounded by a ring of fine-quality industrial buildings. Often these loft buildings were of mill construction, and typically employed masonry construction on its exterior facades, with a heavy timber structure behind. This was later followed by fire-proof reinforced concrete construction methods, to accommodate the heavy loading required by many industrial uses of the era. These structures are often characterized by a brick façade and expansive windows to maximize natural light. Ceiling heights were tall, often ranging from 10 to 14 feet. They are typically low to mid-rise, often between three to seven stories and have a wide footprint.

Ornament in industrial buildings is typically restrained for reasons of economy, but many exhibit a high level of architectural design. Pride of ownership likely contributed to the attractive design. These industrial buildings were typically owned and built by the business owner and as such, the buildings came to represent the company to visitors including customers, vendors, and professionals. Additionally, these buildings served as collateral for business loans to support growth. As a result, many of Chicago’s finest architects were commissioned to design these buildings.

Henry J. Schlacks is best known for designing some of Chicago’s most beautiful Roman Catholic churches. Certainly, there were vast differences between designing religious buildings and an industrial building. When he was hired in 1902 to design a new factory and headquarters for the Tyler & Hippach Glass Company Building, Schlacks applied his architectural brilliance to this very different genre and focused on material, massing, and composition. The results were an impressive building and an outstanding example of the “Chicago School or the Chicago Commercial style.”

The same design elements that were so important to industrial users in the late 19th century, including wide, open floor plans, expansive windows to maximize natural light, tall ceilings, and fireproof construction are many of the same design elements that are important to contemporary residential developers and residents. This helps to explain the success and desirability of many of the Chicago School Industrial buildings that have been converted to condos or apartments.

While many Chicago School Industrial buildings have been successfully converted to residential or office lofts, those that remained industrial have more recently been targeted for demolition and replacement by developers of high-rise residential or office towers. The proximity to the Loop central business district makes the location attractive to developers looking to convert an industrial use to a residential or office use. Additionally, the typical wide footprint covered by a single building and owned by a single entity creates an ideal site for a new high-rise tower which requires a large parking garage on the lower floors.

Chicago School industrial buildings are highly adaptable for residential or office use, but the critical factor that determines whether a developer will choose conversion or demolition is typically the underlying zoning. If the height allowed by the zoning generally matches the existing building, then developers typically find it more economical to adaptively reuse the existing historic building and convert it to residential or office.

However, if there is a zoning mismatch where the underlying zoning allows for a building that is twice, five times, or even 10 times taller than the existing building, this essentially ensures the demolition of the historic building. The potential profits from a 25-story building versus a five-story building are simply overwhelming. Regardless of the quality or significance of the building, even if the historic building were built of solid gold, the zoning mismatch seals the ultimate fate of the structure and condemns it to demolition. The primary method to redirect these powerful market forces into a more preservation-sensitive direction are to adjust zoning to match the historic buildings or in certain extraordinary cases to designate the building as a Chicago Landmark.

The Eckhart & Swan Company/ B.A. Eckhart Milling /ADM Wheat Mill and Silo complex at 1300 West Carroll Avenue at the west end of the Fulton Market District is an amazing series of buildings which should have been creatively reused for an innovative development. The existing 250,000-square-foot ADM mill facility sits on a 2.2-acre site and includes a series of brick loft buildings ranging from three to six stories tall and a soaring concrete structure with more than a dozen silos. The oldest buildings in the complex were built in 1897 and were designed by William Carbys Zimmerman and John J. Flanders. It was reportedly the largest mill in Illinois at the time it was built.

The grain elevator was designed by M. A. Lang in 1927 and the grain silos were built by Bulley and Andrews in 1948. The complex was in constant operation until it was shuttered by ADM in 2019. It was reported to be Chicago’s last active grain elevator.

Shortly after Archer Daniels Midland announced plans to close the historic wheat plant in June 2017, the property was sold to Sterling Bay, one of the most active developers in the Fulton Market District and Chicago. Preservation Chicago met with Sterling Bay to encourage adaptive reuse of at least some portion of the historic building complex. Sterling Bay has experience with the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, and initial renderings released by Sterling Bay in January 2020 indicated the adaptive reuse of the 6-story mill building and a few of the silos.

Preservation Chicago would have celebrated the development if it had proceeded per the rendering. It would have been a creative adaptive reuse that recognized and honored this interesting building and the Chicago history it represents.It also would have represented a significant investment in the construction of a large, modern office building.

But the renderings were only conceptual and aspirational. With no protections in place to prevent demolition of the historic building, a demolition permit was applied for, issued, and demolition commenced the following day in February 2021. When pressed, Sterling Bay admitted that they planned to clear the entire site.

Experience developers know that it is far easier to develop a vacant lot than to replace a historic building, so they often will seek to demolish historic buildings prior to beginning the process of seeking approval for a new construction project. This way community stakeholders will be presented with the option of supporting either a building or a vacant lot.

The timing of the demolition is unfortunate, but not surprising. Neither the specific development plan nor the necessary increased zoning request has yet been presented by the developer to the City, Alderman, or neighborhood. By the time these stakeholders have an opportunity to comment on the proposed development, all of the historic elements will have been demolished. Any potential future negotiation to grant a highly valuable zoning increase in exchange for preserving some of the historic building has been eliminated by the timing of the demolition.

Preservation Chicago recommends that the City of Chicago eliminate this problematic “scorched earth” loophole. If the demolition permit and construction permit were issued simultaneously, this issue would be addressed. One of the potential solutions is the City could require a two-year freeze on zoning increases for properties after they demolish a building 50 years or older, unless the demolition permit and construction permit were issued simultaneously. Another option would be to mandate detailed review of all demolition requests for buildings 50 years or older. Recommend reuse where appropriate, and place greater fees and building material reclamation requirements to foster more opportunities to consider reuse.

The Tyler & Hippach Mirror Company Factory / Wm. J. Cassidy Tire Building, located at 344 N. Canal Street, is threatened with demolition to make way for a new 33-story apartment tower.

Tyler & Hippach Glass Company was founded in 1887 and produced high quality glass and mirrors for furniture companies in Chicago and across the country. In 1902, they hired renowned architect Henry J. Schlacks to design their new headquarters and factory on Clinton Street. Schlacks was a highly accomplished architect who is better known for designing many of Chicago’s most beautiful churches. He was no stranger to commercial architecture and began his architectural career working in the office of Dankmar Adler & Louis Sullivan. The building is an excellent example of a “Chicago School” or “Chicago Commercial Style” and is a fine example of a steel-framed structure of its era.

The Tyler & Hippach Glass Company was a leading glass manufacturer in Chicago during the late 19th and early 20th century, and research suggests that it likely glazed or supplied the glass windows and elements to many celebrated Chicago School buildings, many of which are designated Chicago Landmarks. The Tyler & Hippach Glass Company name is not familiar to many Chicagoans today perhaps due to the extraordinary series of tragedies suffered by the family which owned the company. The Hippach Family was in the audience at the Iroquois Theater in 1903 and lost two children during the disastrous fire that impacted life safety standards across the country. After a European vacation, the family set sail in April 1912 on the maiden voyage of a new ship called the Titanic.

The Chicago & North Western Rail Company purchased the building from Tyler & Hippach and made plans to move the entire 6,000-ton structure approximately 220 feet to the south and east. William Grace & Company was hired, and they brought in Harvey Sheeler, a highly regarded engineer and building mover, to prepare plans to move the massive brick factory building. Sheeler had patented a system for moving large and heavy objects on steel rollers, a system which was celebrated for its great successes.

In 1908, tracks, screw jacks and teams of workers were assembled to move the building 52 feet south and 168 feet east to the building’s current location at 344 North Canal. At the time, Sheeler claimed it was the largest building ever moved. Others marveled that not a single crack formed in the masonry or that even one brick was loosened.

In 1908, The Engineering Record reported in their September 19, 1908, page 317 that it was the largest building move ever completed. This article from the period also noted details regarding the remarkable contribution of the original owners to Chicago’s architecture and their tragic personal story.

The factory remains largely intact from its original appearance. Most of the original windows remain in place, with the exception of in‐filled openings and newer units on the first and second floors on the north and south elevations.

Preservation Chicago believes the building could be considered for Chicago Landmark designation as it was designed by a prominent architect. Other structures by Henry Schlacks are protected under a Chicago Landmark designation, and this is a rare surviving example of an industrial building by him.

Preservation Chicago has encouraged the City of Chicago to take steps to create a Chicago Landmark designation and encourage the developer to incorporate the Cassidy/Tyler & Hippach Glass Company Building into the larger residential development proposed for this site. There is ample room for both new and old to coexist.

Current zoning would allow for a 33-story building, but a zoning change is required to allow for a residential use and the proposed 50% increase in the total unit count from 228 to 343 units. Preservation Chicago strongly encouraged 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly to require that the historic building be incorporated into the new construction $150 million development plans as part of the zoning change.

Due to skyrocketing valuations, the Salvation Army is planning to sell it’s building complex at 509 N. Union Avenue. The Salvation Army had considered renovating the four buildings on the site, but ultimately decided to offer the property for sale. The complex of buildings is expected to sell for between $30 million and $40 million. The underlying zoning would allow new development much taller and denser than the existing structures.

The Wrigley Lodge / Salvation Army Building is a unique blend of two distinct architectural styles. A soaring Streamline Modern element joins the 5-and 6-story red brick industrial lofts to create wonderfully balanced asymmetry. The result is an iconic building. Its distinctive appearance and important history make this building an important one to save.

Wrigley Lodge / Salvation Army Building has an important history. The building was designed by C. J. Furst and Charles Rudolph in 1891. Furst & Rudolph also designed the stunning John York Store building at 1932 S. Halsted. Charles Rudolph later served as the Chicago Board of Education’s architect and designed many beautiful Chicago Public Schools including the James Mulligan Public School Building at 1855 N. Sheffield, which has since been converted into apartments.

William Wrigley Jr. repurchased the building in 1929 with a very different intention. The Black Friday stock market crash occurred on October 25, 1929. Approximately one year later, Wrigley donated the property to the Salvation Army for use as a lodging house for unemployed men. A formal ceremony was held on October 23, 1930 to open the “New Start Lodge,” soon to be renamed the “Wrigley Lodge.” Lewis E. Myers, chairman of the Salvation Army’s board and president of the Chicago Board of Education, presided over the event, and it featured many prominent local civic and religious leaders as speakers.

Wrigley Lodge had the capacity to lodge 1,200 men nightly and to feed over 2,000. But the goals were more broad and included rehabilitation services, paid employment opportunities within the buildings, and assistance in finding employment. Baths were available and clothing was fumigated each night. Plans included the installation of a barber shop, tailor shop, and shoe repair shop, each to be manned by craftsmen found among the lodgers. The craftsmen were to be paid, but their services were to be free to the lodgers.

The Wrigley Lodge served as a homeless shelter throughout the Great Depression and World War II. Following the war, it increasingly served as a veterans’ rehabilitation center to assist returning servicemen.

After the war, the Salvation Army began a fundraising campaign to remodel the building, and on December 9, 1947, a permit was issued for the alterations. It was remodeled in the Streamline Moderne style including the striking, asymmetric, vertical entryway with glass block and rounded corners.

Once an important element of Chicago’s historic urban skyline, the number of rooftop water tanks in Chicago has declined steeply. However, the Salvation Army water tank atop the building was restored in 2017. The Salvation Army is to be commended for restoring the building’s highly visible and iconic rooftop water tower and saving an important remnant of a once ubiquitous part of Chicago’s cityscape.

Due to skyrocketing valuations, the Salvation Army is planning to sell the building complex at 509 N. Union Avenue. The underlying zoning would allow new development much taller and denser than the existing structures. It is likely that a developer would demolish the historic buildings and clear the site.

The Salvation Army building is an outstanding structure that should be protected and preserved as part of any redevelopment of the site. Preservation Chicago encourages the Salvation Army, 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett, and the City of Chicago to make this a requirement upfront so that potential buyers will accommodate this in their plans from the outset.

Last year, Preservation Chicago announced the selection of the Central Manufacturing District’s Pershing Road District as part of our Chicago 7 Most Endangered list. This year, the Central Manufacturing District’s Original East District (CMD East) has been selected for inclusion. CMD East was in fact the precursor to the Pershing Road District and served as a first chapter in the story of the development whose financial success ensured the construction of CMD Pershing Road just over a decade later.

The Central Manufacturing District was the nation’s first planned industrial park, a revolutionary design that gathered many of the city’s manufacturing powers together in one localized region. The concept and idea was such a well-executed experiment that it further spurred on Chicago’s industrial might and inspired imitations throughout the nation in the first half of the 20th century. Its significant historical background is further bolstered by the robust architectural heritage found throughout CMD East. Designed in a variation of styles that include Art Deco, Gothic Revival, Prairie School, Classical Revival, and Mid-Century Modern, Central Manufacturing District’s Original East District is unlike any other architectural complex and grouping in Chicago.

CMD East is a crucial and irreplaceable artifact of industrial history and design both in Chicago and the United States. Unfortunately, without designation as a Chicago Landmark District, CMD East is threatened by a combination of demolition and neglect. While recent efforts to help protect the district have increased, those efforts are still insufficient. In an effort to acknowledge the importance of this site and the need for its continued preservation and maintenance, CMD East was listed in 2015 on the National Register of Historic Places with support from Preservation Chicago and our statewide preservation partner, Landmarks Illinois.

In 1902, Frederick H. Prince, an owner of the Chicago Junction Railway (CJR), and A.G. Leonard, president of the nearby Union Stock Yards Company, founded what would come to be known as the Central Manufacturing District (CMD). At once a solution to Chicago’s unstoppable industrial expansion as well as a savvy economic move on the part of these two industrial magnates, the CMD East was a radical experiment in city planning.

The following Roman Catholic Churches are to be consolidated, closed or sold and are of great concern to us at Preservation Chicago and to the larger communities of our City.

Despite CMD East’s industrial purpose, the visual beauty of the buildings, overall design quality, and detailing were also important factors, as still evident and witnessed today in the many structures located in this complex. Advertising materials created to entice local businesses to CMD East highlighted the overall appearance of the district. Handsomely paved roads, manicured parkways, and elegant lamp posts were featured prominently in this new industrial park, as were the architecture and overall characteristics of the warehouses themselves. CMD East boasted its own Architectural Department office on West 35th Street, which collaborated with business owners on the design of their new properties. The administrators also assembled a team of highly talented architects to bring this new industrial center to life, including A.S. Alschuler, Postle & Mahler, and Samuel Scott Joy. Many of these same architects would later be commissioned to design an addition to the CMD on West Pershing Road, along with smaller nearby CMD spinoffs.

The buildings of CMD East were constructed in a variety of sizes suiting each company’s specific needs. Mostly consisting of pressed brick or concrete, these structures were then adorned with ornate details, often in terra cotta, unlike many typical industrial buildings of that time. These warehouses and offices embodied architectural trends of the 20th century and exhibited trademark features of the Art Deco, Late Gothic Revival, Prairie School, Mid-Century Modern and Classical Revival movements.

CMD East’s attention to aesthetics aside, the district enjoyed great popularity thanks to the innovation and introduction of an all-inclusive offering of services—the first of its kind. Notable among these were unparalleled electric wiring, postal delivery, street cleaning, telegraphic connections, private water lines, preventative fire protections, private centralized banking, and even a social club. Amenities such as these were understandably appealing to smaller manufacturers who would have struggled to facilitate such a wide range of logistics on their own. As a result, this “package deal,” meant to aid manufacturing and factory operations, became one of the biggest motivators to relocating to CMD East.

Hundreds of companies have called CMD East home over the past century. Household names like the William Wrigley Company, the Walgreen Company, Standard Sanitary, Spiegel (of catalog and mail order fame), and Westinghouse Electric all operated out of CMD East in its early days. However, as the years passed, CMD East lost little of its appeal and continued to attract a roster of big-name tenants including: Sears Roebuck, Goldblatt’s, Procter & Gamble, Sylvania, the Glidden Company, the Oppenheimer Casing Company, Jewel Food Stores, and the Larkin Soap Company. The demolition of the Larkin Soap Company’s building this year is not the only lamentable architectural loss in that business’s history: the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Larkin Administration Building, which served as the centerpiece of their Buffalo headquarters, was controversially and regrettably demolished in 1950.

The greatest danger confronting the CMD East is that of rampant demolition unrestricted by any historic protections. Nowhere is this clearer than along the district’s western boundary of South Ashland Avenue, which is marked by multiple vacant parcels where once stood impressive hubs of industry. A 32-acre lot at the corner of South Ashland Avenue and West 35th Street, owned by real estate investment company Avgeris and Associates, has been the site of some of the most widespread demolition in CMD East. These losses include the Wrigley Company’s historic factory and the Larkin Company Building, which housed both the Larkin Soap Company and Jewel Food Stores during its long history.

The demolition of the Wrigley Company’s factory was the final act in a series of missteps that could have been easily prevented by a Chicago Landmark designation. In 2002, the City of Chicago agreed to provide the Wrigley Company $16 million worth of incentives to remain in Chicago, build additional facilities on Goose Island, and keep their historic factory open. However, the city never secured a written promise from Wrigley. Once Wrigley was acquired by Mars Inc. in 2005, it was announced that the factory would be sold. Its demolition began in 2013, a year after being purchased by Avgeris & Associates, with the company claiming that the razing was “safety related.” In the absence of any historic protections, the demolition moved ahead with no ordinances in place to delay it.

The most pressing issue facing CMD East is demolition, a danger that can be countered by designating it a Chicago Landmark District. Although CMD East is indeed listed under the National Register of Historic Places, this honor still leaves it vulnerable to the wrecking ball—a reality made clear by this year’s loss of the Larkin Company Building. Preservation Chicago wholeheartedly supports the protection of the area’s remaining structures through the creation of a CMD East Historic Landmark District. The recent Landmarking of the Spiegel Administration Building is an encouraging sign that Landmark status can and should be extended to the remaining structures of the CMD’s Original East District.

Furthermore, there are numerous buildings that exist within or on the periphery of the official CMD East boundaries outlined by the National Register of Historic Places that we at Preservation Chicago feel are worthy of inclusion in future advocacy efforts. Even if these structures do not fall within the official scope of CMD East’s development, they contribute to the historical and architectural continuity of the district. We would be remiss to ignore these buildings as part of any future Landmark designations as they strengthen the district’s cohesion and paint a fuller picture of CMD East and its environs. (Link to list)

In keeping with the spirit of the Central Manufacturing District’s mission to support smaller businesses and serve the Chicago area, we feel that CMD East offers opportunities to invest in the nearby McKinley Park and Bridgeport communities. Vacant structures could easily be adaptively reused as a myriad of uses including: housing, dining, commercial offices, art and performance studios, and educational spaces.

To further support adaptive reuse developments, the City of Chicago must make it policy to deny demolition permits when future plans have not been approved and financing has not been secured. Since the Chicago Historic Resources Survey overlooks countless historic buildings, policies like these could function as additional roadblocks to demolition so as to avoid the unimpeded loss of our built environment. Demolition as a first option leaves our city scarred by vacant lots, accelerating disinvestment and blight. Instead, requiring clearly defined proposals for what a developer or owner plans to do with a historic property is imperative for the retention of these irreplaceable structures, both in CMD East and across Chicago.

We also support the option of employing architecturally sensitive infill development to densify CMD East and eliminate many of the vacant lots in the area. Replacement developments such as the proposed Amazon distribution center or the ComEd training center next door solve the problem of vacant parcels but detract from the visual and historic fabric of CMD East. Through thoughtful design and community-sensitive uses, we can create additional space for local communities that is still true to the spirit of this revolutionary district. Reuse developments of industrial areas have been shown time and again to be popular destinations for local businesses and communities, both worldwide and here in Chicago. We are confident the same is possible at CMD East.

This year, for a second time since 2019, Preservation Chicago has chosen to “spotlight” the consolidation, deconsecration, combining, closure and sale of many of our City’s finest religious structures. We are focusing once again on the decisions by the Archdiocese of Chicago to consolidate or close so many parishes and churches.

These immensely beautiful structures were constructed at great cost, and often at significant sacrifice, with pennies, nickels and dimes, by the faithful of the community. They are often the very cornerstones of our communities and neighborhoods, throughout Chicago. In addition to their sheer beauty and providing the necessary space for religious services for worship, they are also community centers, providing everything from food pantries, shelter services, counseling and child care. In days of the past, and even today in some places, a resident may refer to their parish church and community to define the neighborhood in which they live.

When one of these churches close and the parish is disbanded, relocated or merged, the impact is often felt hard and even beyond the traditional borders of a community–by the community at large. It’s not only the loss of an institution, but the loss of human services, often a lifeline to both families and individuals. These closings, consolidations, sale of buildings and sometimes demolitions, are painful in every way, and the loss of these institutions and their sacred spaces, should not occur in such ways and in such magnitude.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has many complex and complicated issues, many extending back more than 50 years, that are seen elsewhere in the nation and world. However, the rush to closures under a relatively new program called “Renew my Church,” appears to be anything but renewal. The speed of closures risks losses similar to the Urban Renewal programs of the 1950s and 1960s, where so much was lost and discarded due the fast pace. This often results in demolition, as the buildings are often left vacant, rather than mothballed, often without the required and necessary care of their structures, including heating during inclement months, which in turn can lead to more costly repairs by future potential uses or buyers. To further complicate potential reuse efforts, by another congregation of the same faith or another entity, the costs of acquiring these structures is often exorbitantly expensive, as the asking price can often be equated simply to the land value or the community’s conceived land values by a developer.

This is all very concerning, as these glorious structures, and their ancillary buildings were built by the faithful and given to the Archdiocese of Chicago, to steward, maintain, and staff for use in perpetuity, as sacred places and sites. While some structures may be more modest than others, over the past 50 years, we’ve often witnessed a disregard for these holy and consecrated buildings, with many of us in Chicago, descendants of the original builders–the parishioners.

Reasons for these closures given by the Archdiocese, extend from a shortage of priests, to suggestions that parishioner enrollment decline is not what it once was, to costly repairs that were not addressed by the self-insured owner—the Bishops and Archbishops of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Yet, the threshold for consideration of closure is a parish of 800 members, and yet many other religious organizations would be honored to have a fraction, or even half of that number of parishioners/members in their congregations.

In 1980 the Archdiocese of Chicago had 447 parishes, with 278, which may have been perhaps closer to 298 in Chicago and 169 in the suburbs. At the time their records indicated an estimated 2,341,500 parishioners in total within the Chicago Metropolitan Area, according to their documents, making it still the largest Catholic Archdiocese in the nation. In the years since, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has become the largest Archdiocese in the nation, with Chicago second in the number of congregants.

Current trends have noted a drop in population and attendance across almost all faith communities in recent decades, due to a number of factors, resulting in the painful loss of these houses of worship and the communities of people which are often left behind. While the architecture and preservation community may not be able to address these issues of faith, we can assist in the preservation and reuse of these many buildings, which in themselves are cornerstones and landmarks in our communities across Chicago and elsewhere.

Since its beginnings, the Archdiocese of Chicago has closed approximately 110 churches and parishes in just the city limits of Chicago, until about 2019, with approximately 57 of the 110 churches also demolished over time. In 2020-2021 the program “Renew My Church,” under Cardinal Cupich is responsible for more than 88 churches and parishes are scheduled to consolidate, merge and close, with 25 of the 88 to be sold. This does not include the ancillary structures of convents, rectories or school buildings, which in total are potentially hundreds of properties. The magnitude of these closings have been devastating, and what appeared to be a rock-solid institution, here for the ages—in perpetuity and along with these massive Diocesan organizations stewarding these basilicas of faith, have also fallen sharply. Something must be done to save these sacred structures and several non-profit organizations are challenging these consolidations, closings and the sale of structures in the Vatican. These 19 cases, all from the greater Chicago metropolitan area, are the largest number of Canon Law filings challenging any archdiocese in the United States.

The individuals involved in these legal actions are parishioners seeking to save their parishes, their communities and their sacred shrines. Assistance is offered though pro-bono services of a Canon Law attorney and these cases are filed in English, translated into Italian and then once again into Ecclesiastical Latin, where they are debated each third Thursday of the calendar month, before the Vatican Courts. When a verdict is reached it is translated from Latin, to Italian and then to English, where it is then conveyed back to the parishioners. In some instances elsewhere in the United States, Canon Law rules and structures have not been properly followed, or violations have been observed occurring in these closings, resulting in a wide volume of churches and parishes reopened.

Canon Law also suggests that if faith options for the church buildings exist and are aligned with Catholic liturgy, for them to be gifted or first offered to another owner or religious body for the continuation of the faith. Those rules are oftentimes not shared as an option, and adherence to such policies are sometimes further challenged and debated.

Furthermore, protecting religious structures in Chicago has been extremely difficult since the introduction of the religious buildings consent ordinance of 1987, introduced to the Chicago City Council, by former Alderman Burton Natarus. This City Ordinance was invoked to protect the plans of the Fourth Presbyterian Church on North Michigan Avenue from potentially replacing one of its ancillary Gothic-Revival inspired structures with a new tall residential building.

The theory was that a Chicago Landmark Designation of the church and its complex, could potentially prohibit such plans from materializing, which could also be an additional future source of income for the well-to-do church. As time passed, it was clear that the Near North Side neighbors were not pleased with such plans and the tall residential building concept was shelved. In its place on the site of the demolished ancillary Gothic structures has risen a community center structure, which has had tremendous benefits.

Yet the damage of the religious buildings consent ordinance has continued to hamper efforts to give Chicago Landmark Designation to active congregations and their historic religious buildings, without their consent. In almost every instance, the Archdiocese of Chicago has refused designation of its most amazing church properties and has often greatly challenged attempts to Landmark its buildings. This all despite these are viewed as shared community assets, often built and gifted to them by parishioners, yet those assets like the Landmark Buildings of our City are not allowed to be honored, shared and designated and become official Chicago Landmarks, with all of the accolades and protections offered our Landmark buildings in Chicago. This is very unfortunate on so many levels.

Preservation Chicago has been working to preserve many of Chicago’s historic buildings since our founding, twenty years ago in 2001. This preservation advocacy work has extended to religious buildings, churches, synagogues and houses of worship since our early years.

Preservation efforts and campaigns include the Landmarking of the former St. Clara-St. Cyril/St. Gelasius, now known as The Shrine of Christ the King, and the Minnekirken Chicago—The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church on Logan Square. Also, advocacy efforts to preserve St. James Roman Catholic Church on South Wabash Avenue (demolished), Anshe Keneseth Israel on West Douglas Boulevard (demolished), Stone Temple Baptist Church, originally known as the First Romanian Synagogue and the site of many visits by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which is now a Landmark, The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, the Landmark building now to be reopened as the Epiphany Center for the Arts. The list also continues to include Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation Synagogue (converted to residential), St. Peter Episcopal Church on Belmont Avenue, the Church of the Advent on Logan Boulevard (converted to residential), which is also a Designated Chicago Landmark. Efforts to save, preserve and Landmark St. Adalbert in Pilsen, All Saints-St. Anthony in Bridgeport, St. Michael the Archangel in South Shore-“The Bush ” and 17 others have been ongoing. These are just several of the religious structures that have been part of our advocacy efforts, with many more in which we have provided supporting testimony towards a Chicago Landmark Designation.

We want to encourage the Archdiocese of Chicago to consider inviting other Religious Orders to Chicago, as was done under the direction of Cardinal Francis George, OMI (1937-2015), in the past, to occupy and staff many of these remarkable and sacred structures, when the Archdiocese can no longer support them. Many of these buildings can be retained and reused as chapels, monasteries, places of contemplation, retreat houses and sites, and a retreat from a visitor’s hectic traverses of the day.

We at Preservation Chicago are also requesting that the 1987 religious buildings consent ordinance be overturned, as for 34 years, all other buildings and structures in the City of Chicago can be considered for Chicago Landmark Designation without the consent of the owner. Yet this special provision and ordinance applies unfairly to buildings in which religious services are conducted, often creating an unbalanced playing field. This ordinance hamstrings many potential Chicago Landmark Designations, of some of the City’s finest buildings, some constructed by the same world-famous architects of our downtown Landmarks.

We are also of the opinion that since many of these structures were gifted to organizations like the Archdiocese of Chicago, by the many faithful, that they should not vigorously challenge such efforts, but share them with the community and work with parishioners and the community to determine a path to preserving these sacred places and buildings.

Additionally, if it is determined that a church or house of worship can no longer function in such a capacity by all stakeholders and the City, plans should be considered to encourage cultural reuses for these most sacred structures. Such reuse efforts may include a reuse as concert venues, music centers, cultural centers for the community and other such respectful uses.

After all, many of these religious structures, and in this particular case, Roman Catholic Churches are often cornerstones and visual gateways, which are so associated with our communities across Chicago. They are worth the effort and robust conversations to find alternative owners and potential and creative reuses for these magnificent structures, which were built for the ages and designed to inspire all who gaze upon them in perpetuity.

The following Roman Catholic Churches are to be consolidated, closed or sold and are of great concern to us at Preservation Chicago and to the larger communities of our City.

Highlighted Endangered Catholic Churches include:

Chicago Union Station Power House, Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, in 1931. Photo Credit: Darris Lee Harris http://darrisharris.com/industrial

Chicago Union Station Power House, Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, in 1931. Photo Credit: Darris Lee Harris http://darrisharris.com/industrial

The iconic Art Deco Chicago Union Station Power House is threatened with demolition.

This streamlined architectural masterpiece was designed in 1931 by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, one of Chicago’s greatest architecture firms. They designed many of Chicago’s most iconic and beloved landmark buildings including Chicago Union Station, Wrigley Building, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Lyric Opera House, Merchandise Mart, and the Old Chicago Main Post Office. The Chicago Union Station Power House should take its honored place among these world-class buildings.

To avoid maintenance, Amtrak wants to spend $13 million dollars to demolish it and replace it with a parking lot or storage shed! There is a better way. Just sell it!

One of Chicago’s most experienced and successful developers wants to buy and restore the long-vacant Chicago Union Station Power House.

Their restoration plans for the historic building includes a tech data center and possibly a café along the Chicago River. It’s located directly across from the “78”, the largest high-tech R&D development in the Midwest.

If sold, it would be a powerful win-win. Amtrak would save $13 million dollars, avoid maintenance, and earn money from the sale. These funds could better be used for true priorities like upgrading train stations to meet ADA requirements. (Chicago Sun-Times, Amtrak reverses course,1/20/20)

But stubbornly Amtrak is still pushing hard for demolition. But there’s a hitch.

In order for Amtrak to use federal tax-payer funds to demolish a historic building, they must be able to claim during the Section 106 hearing on February 3, 2021 that they have exhausted all other options to save this significant National Register-eligible and Chicago Landmark-eligible building.

Perhaps this helps explains why despite frequent and repeated outreach for over a year, Amtrak stubbornly refuses to consider any purchase offers, allow a meeting or even allow a site visit!

Amtrak may be able to ignore a few lonely voices, but they will have no choice but to listen when we all speak together!

"Whether its future holds a second life as a data center, an addition to the city’s expanding Riverwalk or something even more distinctive, the building should be saved for future generations to enjoy, Ward Miller said, noting that London’s Tate Modern Museum was once the Bankside Power Station.” (Chicago Sun-Times, Iconic South Loop power station should be saved, 10/9/19)

At the February 3rd hearing, Preservation Chicago strongly defended the importance of the historic Union Station Power House and countered many of the claims stated by Amtrak's development team.

Preservation Chicago applauds 25th Ward Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez for this strong leadership in this effort and for writing letters to the City of Chicago and Amtrak confirming his support for a Chicago Landmark Designation for the Chicago Union Station Power house and a preservation-sensitive outcome for the building.

With your help, the voice of the people will be heard. This petition will ensure that the sale and restoration option can’t be ignored at the hearing!

"A surviving Victorian building in Chicago’s rapidly developing Fulton Market district, originally a Schlitz tavern and later the home of the Italian restaurant La Luce, has been temporarily spared a date with the wrecking ball.

"City officials on Wednesday revoked a demolition permit for the building, located at 1393-1399 W. Lake St., that was mistakenly issued Monday, according to Peter Strazzabosco, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Planning and Development.

"The permit has been put on hold through March 1 [revised to March 30 and again to April 30] under Chicago’s so-called demolition delay ordinance, which requires city officials to review applications to tear down potential landmark buildings.

"'This sort of slipped through,' said Ward Miller, executive director of the advocacy group Preservation Chicago.

"An online Preservation Chicago petition that calls for the building to be permanently saved had gathered more than 1,000 signatures as of Thursday morning. [Now up to ~8,000 signatures]

"Built in the early 1890s and featuring such flourishes as a corner turret, the four-story structure is rated 'orange,' the second-highest rating, in the city of Chicago’s color-coded survey of potential landmark buildings.

"This time, preservationists hope the delay will give them time to persuade the city to confer landmark status on the building or to convince the owner to save its facades as part of an upcoming development.

"The building is “beautifully designed and crafted,” Miller said. “It’s really an intriguing building that just your regular citizens who walk and drive by have such an affection for it.” (Kamin, Chicago Tribune, 12/3/20)

Preservation Chicago's research indicates that the Schlitz brand belted globe symbol designed by artist Richard W. Bock was introduced at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, one year after the Lake Street Tied House was built. This may explain why the characteristic Schlitz brand belted globe does not appear on the building's façade. Artist Richard W. Bock was also credited with designing the lunettes and large spandrel friezes which framed the stage in Adler & Sullivan's Schiller/Garrick Theater completed in 1892 and demolished in 1961.

Preservation Chicago has advocated for the building's preservation since 2016 and over the past six months since its change of ownership.

"A vacant West Side bank will be redeveloped into a café, a business incubator, and a museum celebrating the history of Chicago blues, city officials announced Monday.

"The Laramie State Bank building at 5200 W. Chicago Ave. was selected to anchor investment and revitalization efforts in Austin as part of the city’s INVEST South/West program. City leaders chose the proposal from Austin United Alliance — a team of developers, architects and designers led by Heartland Alliance, Oak Park Regional Housing and Latent Design — to redevelop the 92-year-old bank building.

"'“It’s a milestone in our city’s journey of improvement from the inside out by empowering residents to become changemakers within their communities,' Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

"The $37.5 million redevelopment will preserve the bank’s notable architecture but rehab its interior to suit several community needs. The building still will house a bank to improve access to financial services for residents in the areas as well as a café and an incubator to support emerging entrepreneurs and attract businesses to the corridor.

"A museum honoring the contributions of Chicago artists to blues music also will be launched inside the building, aligning with efforts to rebrand Chicago Avenue as Soul City Corridor by the Austin African American Business Network Association.

"Plans also include several lots surrounding the old bank building, which will be developed into 72 units of mixed-income housing. There will also be a courtyard between the bank building and the housing complex that will include a community plaza, gardens, and several public art installations, developers said.

“This is part of how we can use design as a tool to undo some of the spatial and systemic injustices that we see,” said Katherine Darnstadt, founder of Latent Design.

"The Laramie State Bank building has been vacant since it was foreclosed on in 2012. Despite many deferred maintenance issues, the former bank’s Art Deco architecture and long history in the area has made it a designated Chicago Landmark.

"'There is literally nothing like it anywhere else in Chicago. … It will be a fitting anchor to the evolving soul city corridor,' planning department commissioner Maurice Cox said." (Sabino, Block Club Chicago, 3/8/21)

This is an ideal development project for INVEST South/West and we strongly applaud Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Maurice Cox for selecting Laramie State Bank for the program. We recognize and applaud their strong leadership in ensuring a outstanding outcome for the building and community, and their commitment and efforts to strongly reinvest in Chicago's neighborhoods. 

Preservation Chicago has been advocating for Laramie State Bank building for many years, but with more urgency since it became vacant after its 2012 foreclosure. It was a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2019. We have attended many building court hearings to provide support for the building. We been in regular communication with the owners and stakeholders with ties to the building, including the alderman and Cook County Land Bank. We have attempted to find private developers with an interest in tackling this restoration and reuse of this building. We're thrilled the City has stepped forward. This is a outstanding outcome for the building.

"Sterling Bay is demolishing a former Archer Daniels Midland flour mill in the Fulton Market district, after preservationists unsuccessfully urged the Chicago developer to preserve the buildings. Demolition of the more-than-century-old property at 1300 W. Carroll Ave. began Thursday. The work will last about three months as the developer eyes a mixed-use development of the site, Sterling Bay managing principal Keating Crown said.

"The nonprofit Preservation Chicago has pushed Sterling Bay to keep at least portions of the structure, a patchwork of silos and brick buildings built over time. The mill opened in the late 1800s, and ADM closed it in 2019.

"'It’s very disappointing that a first-rate developer in Chicago isn’t able to save an important Chicago building,' said Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago. 'This is one of those buildings we felt was important to have saved because of its architectural pedigree, and because it’s one of the oldest mills and food production facilities in the Fulton-Randolph landmark district.'

"Sterling Bay had planned to keep parts of the structure. It considered incorporating the silos into an office or residential building or adapting them for recreational activities, perhaps building climbing walls inside them, Crown said. Sterling Bay now plans a ground-up development that could include some combination of office, residential, hotel and retail space, Crown said. It must secure zoning, and the firm has yet to present plans to city officials.

"The mill was built by the Eckhart & Swan Milling Co. in 1897, with additions made in 1910, according to Preservation Chicago research. Grain elevators were added in 1927 and silos in 1948, according to the historic preservation group.

"When Sterling Bay executives met with neighbors just over a year ago to discuss plans for the 1200 W. Carroll site, renderings showed ADM silos preserved in the background, which gave preservationists hope they would be kept, Miller said.

"At the time, Sterling Bay still was considering saving them, Crown said. 'We take great pride in preservation in Chicago and other markets we’re in,” he said. 'On every project, we try to pay respect to what was there before us.'"

Preservation Chicago has been advocating for the ADM Mill and Silos since the announcement that they would be closed and sold to Sterling Bay. Sterling Bay is a large developer with significant capacity and adaptive reuse experience. We met with Sterling Bay decisionmakers in 2019 to encourage that certain important buildings within the complex be incorporated into the final redevelopment plans. The conceptual rendering released in early 2020 showed partial reuse. Current plans changed to full demolition. Preservation Chicago remains hopeful that some portion of the historic fabric, especially the 6-story building at the southeast corner of the site, can be saved and incorporated into the development plan.

"A Bronzeville-based archive of Black media is preparing to buy a long-vacant home on King Drive once owned by community organizers Lutrelle 'Lu' Palmer and Jorja English Palmer.

"The Obsidian Collection, founded in 2017, digitally archives photographs, video and documents to make Black history publicly accessible. The nonprofit got its start by organizing images from the Chicago Defender’s archives, Executive Director Angela Ford said.

"The organization is looking to establish a physical presence by moving into the Palmers’ former Bronzeville mansion, 3654 S. King Drive.

"'I know Chicago … but I didn’t know as much as I learned with all of these images of accomplishment, beauty and fabulousness,' Ford said. 'These people were fly, and I felt like they were saying, ‘We’re here; we’ve been here the whole time.''

"The nonprofit’s archives and image licensing business would be located at the new 'Obsidian House,' along with a coworking and community space for Black media makers.

"'Our goal is to bring it back online as a kind of museum, library and archival space for Black journalists and content creators,' Ford said.

"After two years of planning, Ford hopes to close on the Palmer mansion within the next 45 days. With the help of the Chicago Community Trust, she’s secured a $1.25 million loan to buy the home.

"The total project cost — including buying the home, performing 'an extensive rehab and restoration' of the decaying building and creating community programs — is estimated at $3.8 million.

"The Obsidian House plans to open by mid-2022, Ford said. In the meantime, she’ll continue to seek funding for the renovation and programs through private lenders and donors.

"The Bronzeville mansion was completed in 1888 for Justice D. Harry Hammer, according to Preservation Chicago. The group listed the home on its list of Chicago’s “most endangered” buildings two years ago, citing its vacancy and disrepair.

"The Palmers purchased the home in 1976 and lived there until Lu’s death in 2004. They worked to boost political participation among Black Chicagoans during their three decades in the home, founding Chicago Black United Communities in 1980 and the Black Independent Political Organization in 1984." (Evans, Block Club Chicago, 3/3/21)

Preservation Chicago has been concerned about the deteriorating condition of the Justice D. Harry Hammer Mansion/Lutrelle ‘Lu’ & Jorja Palmer Mansion for years. To help raise awareness and to pressure stakeholders, it became a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2019. We have played an active role working with community organizations, local leaders, and decisionmakers to help bring about a preservation-sensitive outcome for this building.  

We are thrilled to support Angela Ford and The Obsidian Collection's effort to adaptively reuse the Palmer Mansion for a nonprofit digital archives for photographs, video and documents to focused on making Black history more available and accessible. This is an incredibly exciting development and we will continue to do everything we can to support the effort.

"A historic, century-old comfort station on the southeastern end of Jackson Park was struck by an SUV and damaged last week.

"But the single-story open-air pavilion was a wreck long before a driver lost control of her Jeep last Monday and ran into it. The Chicago Park District has neglected the building for years, allowing a design by one of early Chicago’s most important architecture firms, D.H. Burnham & Co., to rot in plain sight.

"The building’s condition is an embarrassment. And it is a reminder of how poorly the city and the park district still too often treat Jackson Park, a 551-acre lakeside treasure listed on the National Register Historic Places.

"The Chicago Park District must fix the damaged pavilion. And it must do right by Jackson Park overall.

"The comfort station was built in 1912 near the 9th hole of the park’s 18-hole golf course. With its Prairie School-like details and concrete aggregate exterior, the building belongs to the same architectural family as the better-known 63rd Street Beach House located a half-mile to the north. And like the beach house, the comfort station was designed to take advantage of its lakeside location.

"'Its center-open loggia, with men’s bathrooms on one side and women’s on the other, allowed beautifully framed views of Lake Michigan,' historian Julia Sniderman Bacharach wrote in a 1995 report to the Chicago Park District. But that beautiful frame is falling apart. The building’s Spanish tile roof has collapsed. Its concrete aggregate exterior is cracked and decaying. Weeds mingle with the construction fence that surrounds the structure.

"It didn’t have to be this way. The park district’s exhaustive South Lakefront Framework Plan in 2018 called for the restoration and reuse of the comfort station — even rebranding it as the Burnham Building — among other big-ticket improvements for Jackson Park.

"But many of Jackson Park’s landscapes and structures, all intended to enhance the experiences of visitors, are in need of critical attention and repairs.

"Among them is the picturesque former U.S. Coast Guard station at 64th Street and Lake Shore Drive. And a pedestrian span near the Museum of Science and Industry, the 126-year-old Columbia Bridge, has been closed off for years because it is in such bad shape. Popularly known as the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge, it was designed by Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root.

"Parks officials are 'currently assessing the damage to the Jackson Park golf pavilion, caused by the recent accident,' a spokesperson said. 'No costs or timeline for repairs is available at this time.'

"We understand restoring a large, complicated city park such as Jackson is an expensive undertaking that can’t be done — or funded — overnight.

"But Jackson Park is more than a big park. It’s a remarkable place in terms of design, location and history. The park played host to the famed 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition that introduced Chicago to the world.

"We urge the park district to step up here and remain mindful that the specifics of Jackson Park’s bridges, details and, yes, comfort stations — designed and sited with care and beauty — are just as important as the whole." (Chicago Sun-Times Editorial, 3/2/21)

"Officials finally are taking the first steps to landmark Pilsen’s iconic St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Church after a years-long fight by former parishioners to preserve it.

"The city’s Department of Planning and Development is beginning a preliminary landmark recommendation report for the former church at 1650 W. 17th St., Commissioner Maurice Cox said at a community meeting Tuesday night. Cox’s announcement is the first public commitment from city leaders to preserve the church, which was deconsecrated last year and twice has been put up for sale by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

"'We’ve heard a lot about [how] St. Adalbert’s should be preserved, and we agree,' Cox said. 'The city is ready to commit to preparing the designation report and to coordinate with the Archdiocese for designation and redevelopment of St. Adalbert.'

“This is an iconic landmark in Pilsen; that is without dispute,” Cox said. “The city can begin the process of designation without the consent of the Archdiocese.”

"While the Archdiocese owns the property, the city would begin the designation report and would coordinate with the Archdiocese for any redevelopment scenarios, Cox said.

"Peter Strazzabosco, spokesman for the city’s planning department, said the preparation of a preliminary report was the 'first step in the city’s landmark designation process.'

"The report will 'propose protected features for the church structure, which typically include all exterior elevations, rooflines and other notable elements,' he said in an email. The planning department is also assessing whether the St. Adalbert church building and the convent could be included under the landmarks ordinance, Strazzabosco said.

"The preliminary recommendation could be considered by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in the spring.

"Under the city’s landmarks ordinance, owner consent is required for designation of active religious houses of worship. However, “owner consent is advisory for buildings no longer used for religious services,” Strazzabosco said. Archdiocese spokesman Alejandro Castillo declined to comment. (Peña, Block Club Chicago. 10/29/20)

Preservation Chicago has been advocating for Chicago Landmark Designation of the St. Adalbert Church in Pilsen for years. It was a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2014 and 2016. It was also included in the Chicago 7 Most Endangered Roman Catholic Church categories in 2019 and 2021. We have worked closely with local leaders in the Latinx and Polish communities to resist the closure of the church and possible demolition of the building. Since the Archdiocese of Chicago deconsecrated the church and ceased holding religious services within the building, we have strongly encouraged stakeholders and the City of Chicago to move forward with Chicago Landmark Designation. We are thrilled that this important building will finally get the protection it deserves. 

"Summit Design + Build has completed construction at 1900 W. Lawrence in the North Side’s Ravenswood neighborhood. The nearly 100-year-old building was the former home of the first ground-up Sears store, which opened in 1925 and permanently closed in 2016.

"Spanning the length of a city block, the adaptive reuse project included the renovation and conversion of the former department store to 59 rental residences and first-floor retail. The centrally located five-story tower, a trademark of early Sears department stores, now houses the development’s first floor lobby, and amenity and lounge spaces on floors two through four.

"The retail space spans the length of Lawrence Avenue with DeVry University already occupying 90% of the available retail space.

"CA Ventures and Springbank Capital Advisors partnered on the deal to redevelop 1900 W. Lawrence."(Bubny, ConnectCRE News, 3/5/21)

Preservation Chicago has been advocating for the Sears Store on Lawrence since before it became a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2016. We are thrilled by this preservation sensitive outcome and applaud the stakeholders and decisionmakers who played a role in making it happen. 

Save Our Church Protest on March 3, 2021 at All Saints - St. Anthony Church, 518 W. 28th Place. Photo Credit: Ward Miller / Preservation Chicago

"Over two dozen parishioners called out the Archdiocese of Chicago on Wednesday for what they say is putting profit over the faithful by closing a number of churches over the last several years.

"Julie Sawicki, president of the Society of St. Adalbert, which looks to preserve St. Adalbert Church in Pilsen, said immigrants like her family came to Chicago to help build these churches that are now on the verge of being sold to developers.

"'When our immigrant ancestors toiled and saved their pennies, nickels and dimes to build these magnificent houses of worship for our entire community, these churches were turned over to the Catholic church for stewardship' Sawicki said. 'I don’t think any of my Polish immigrant ancestors imagined a day would come where negotiations for this would be done with real estate developers.'

"Parishioners gathered in front of the defunct All Saints St. Anthony Church, 518 W. 28th Place, in protest of the archdiocese’s Renew my Church program, which they say has been used for closing churches in the Chicago area.

"The self-proclaimed “God Squad” represents 25 parishes and churches that have shuttered or are on the cusp of closure and have filed canonical appeals to save the buildings.

"'It is especially disappointing and painful that the Archdiocese of Chicago embarked on a path of closure, liquidation and sale instead of one of renewal and revitalization,' Sawicki said. 'Cardinal [Blase] Cupich we ask you please follow canon law, guide the faithful, cater to the faithful, not to investors.'

"The news of church closures and subsequent sales of them has also gotten the attention of Preservation Chicago, a group working to protect historic buildings in Chicago. The organization recently listed all the city’s Roman Catholic churches on its annual '7 Most Endangered Buildings' list.

"These are architecturally significant, as well as historically, culturally and all embracing of each of our communities,' said Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago. 'It is really tragic to see these being closed in such a wholesale way without the sensitivity that is really required.” (Ramos, Chicago Sun-Times, 3/3/21)

"Despite a three-year delay, a neighbor’s plans to preserve and redevelop the St. Boniface church building in West Town’s Noble Square are still in motion, the church’s owner said Monday.

"Michael Skoulsky told neighbors during a virtual East Village Association meeting Monday his 2018 plan to convert the church into 17 condos remained unchanged — albeit 'very, very' delayed.

"'The project is on track and at full speed right now,' he said. 'We’re gonna probably start pre-sales in the next couple months.'

"Skoulsky bought the church for $2.2 million in September 2016 after working with the city to save the structure from demolition. Another developer planned to tear it down and build single-family homes.

"During the summer of 2018, city leaders approved a redevelopment agreement for Skoulsky to preserve the church at 1438 W. Chestnut by carving 17 condos inside, plus building a new four-story, 24-unit condo development on vacant land next to the church. (Alani, Block Club Chicago, 3/2/21)

"The former home of Mildred King Hyde, who launched with her first husband the Fannie May candy business and may have funded the startup herself, will soon go up for sale in Uptown. The brick and limestone house was built about 1902 [at 854 W.] Castlewood Terrace, an Uptown street three blocks long lined with handsome homes built from the 1890s through the 1920s.

"The asking price for the home four-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot home is $995,000, according to Ward Miller, the head of Preservation Chicago. His group wants to get landmark designation for the house, 'home of a woman who in the 1920s started a business that we still enjoy today,' Miller said.

"At its height in the mid-1980s, Fannie May had about 330 candy shops. The company, now owned by Italian firm Ferrero Group, had 55 stores, mostly in the Chicago area, in 2020, its centennial year.

"Miller said he believes the interior was stripped in preparation for a rehab project, but that many historical finishes were put in storage to be reinstalled.

"Crain’s couldn’t determine the state of the interior, but the exterior has missing windows and battered wood trim, and much of the underside of an overhanging porch roof is falling apart. Seemingly in fine condition are the major exterior materials, limestone, brick and copper.

"Mildred King Hyde lived in the home at the time of her death, in 1937, although Crain’s couldn’t determine how long she owned it. In 1920, Mildred and her first husband, H. Teller Archibald, opened the first Fannie May candy store on LaSalle Street.

"The chain quickly became a hit and by 1930 had 30 stores in Chicago and annual revenue of $300,000. According to a 2013 article about Mildred King, she told the Chicago Tribune in 1928 that in the early years of the store, her husband kept working in real estate while she “was willing to work night and day” in the candy shop." (Rodkin, Crain's Chicago Business, 3/2/21)

"Some neighbors who want to preserve a 19th Century, Victorian-era home in Lincoln Park now have more time to try to save the house after the city postponed any possible demolition.

"The home and coach house, located at 1932–34 N. Seminary Ave., was built in 1894 and has been on the market since last year. An unnamed developer is interested in buying the property, but its sale is contingent on builders getting approval to tear down the properties, according to its Redfin listing.

"Some neighbors have opposed the demolition, arguing the buildings have historic qualities that should be preserved. Residents also have shared concerns about the type of construction that would replace the historic structures.

"A demolition ban on the property, slated to expire Monday, was extended for another month.

"'I’m optimistic this delay could mean there’s a path forward that appeases everybody’s interests,' said Alex McGhee, who lives next to the property and has fought its demolition. 'I hope this delay indicates the parties involved are open to considering alternative options [to demolition].'

"The two-story, 5,500-square-foot property in the Queen Anne style is being offered for about $2.5 million, according to the listing. Tucked into a corner between Armitage and Clybourn avenues, it sits across from a playground park and a few blocks from the North Branch of the Chicago River in the Sheffield Historic District, which itself made Landmarks Illinois’ list of most endangered historic places in the state in 2019.

"A demolition permit for the buildings was requested in December 2020, according to city records. But the property was placed under a 90-day demolition delay because it’s rated “orange” in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, meaning it possesses “some architectural feature or historical association that made them potentially significant in the context of the surrounding community.”

Demolition delay holds are placed on certain buildings to allow time to consider whether they should and can be preserved, according to the city’s Department of Planning and Development website. Howard confirmed the hold on her property was extended until March 31 so she and the developers could continue “looking for an option that preserves the house.”

"We were all surprised that none of us got any notice about the demolition happening, so it wasn’t an amazing first sign in terms of how communication with us might go," McGhee said. "There’s a big unknown if the developers will be good neighbors while their building over the next few years."

"We don’t know that what they build will be fitting for the neighborhood," McGhee said. “It’s a total unknown, which is a huge concern for us, whereas this Victorian home is clearly one of the oldest homes in the neighborhood, it sits right across from the park and it contributes to the family feel of this neighborhood.” (Wittich, Block Club Chicago, 3/2/21)

Morton Salt Redevelopment, 1357 N. Elston Ave. Rendering Credit: Blue Star Properties

"Morton Salt’s former warehouse along the Chicago River could soon begin its transformation into a music and events venue, after a $50 million redevelopment plan was approved Friday by the City Council.

"Friday’s vote was the final step Chicago developers Blue Star Properties and R2 needed to allow nonindustrial uses for the former salt storage facility, which sits on 4.25 riverfront acres on the city’s North Side.

"The complex will be able to accommodate crowds as large as 3,600 inside one of the former salt sheds, and 7,000 people outside, Golden said. Multiple events can happen simultaneously, such as a wine festival outside and a show inside, he said.

“We’re very optimistic about the future of live entertainment and live experiences in general,” Golden said. “We want to redefine what a live music experience is in Chicago. Having that fairground allows you to have some food, walk around, look at some jewelry or books, and after the show you have a drink on the river or take a boat ride. It is a magical type of place. At night it’s beautiful.”

"The developers are in talks with groups such as breweries, coffee roasters and small manufacturers of products such as furniture to lease space in the main brick structure, Golden said.

"The developers have lined up construction financing, which is expected to be finalized next month, and hope to begin the project by this summer. The first tenants could move in by early next year, and the indoor events venue should open by late summer 2022, Golden said.

"The Morton Salt redevelopment has been envisioned for years. The salt storage and packaging warehouse shut down in 2015, after Morton Salt used it for 86 years.

"The distinctive sign will stay, as will most of the existing structures. The developers are seeking Chicago landmark status for the building. Earlier this month, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted to approve preliminary landmark status. Formally landmarking the building would place restrictions on how the building is altered, but it would preserve the unique structures and create tax incentives for the developers. (Ori, Chicago Tribune, 2/26/21)

"For six years, expensive and unattractive scaffolding has surrounded West Town’s historic Goldblatt’s Building, but the eyesore might finally come down soon.

"The city-owned historic building at 1615 W. Chicago Ave. was set to have tuckpointing and window work completed in 2015 — but it still isn’t finished. While workers are rarely seen near the scaffolding, Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) said crews were set to wrap up the work in mid-December. But again, there were delays.

"'There were some fabrication issues related to it being an older landmark building, but we now expect the project to be finished by March 2021, with the scaffolding coming down shortly thereafter,' La Spata said.

"Owned by the city and managed by the Department of Assets, Information and Services, the Goldblatt’s Building has sported a scaffolding canopy since 2015 in anticipation of the repairs. CBS 2 reported last year the estimated cost of the canopy itself was $12,000-$15,000, and the canopy costs $1,000-$3,000 a month to rent. That means city taxpayers have coughed up $60,000 to $180,000 in rental fees alone.

"The city 'would never leave a canopy around the Daley Center,' McKnight said. 'Not for years.'

"Just west of Ashland Avenue, the building was constructed in the 1920s as the site of the Goldblatt’s Department Store. It was designed by architect Alfred S. Alshuler, whose other work includes the London Guarantee Building, the K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple and the Florsheim Shoe Co. building, all designated Chicago landmarks.

"In the fall of 1996, Delray Farms bought the building for $5 million with plans to tear it down, according to the Tribune. Neighborhood activists from the East Village Association fought the proposed demolition. In 1997, the city bought the building from Delray Farms for $3.5 million, according to the Tribune.

"McKnight walks past the Goldblatt’s Building every day on his walk to work. The building is deserving of full and complete preservation — even if it comes two decades late, McKnight said.

"'It's been a long, storied history for the building and the neighborhood,' he said." *(Alani, Block Club Chicago, 2/25/21)

"On the off chance you’re in the market for a massive 19th century home, the famed O’Leary mansion is back on the market and looking for a new owner.

"Gambling boss James 'Big Jim' O’Leary had the four-story mansion at 726 W. Garfield Ave. built for and in honor of his mother, Catherine, according to realtor Jose Villasenor. Spanning 6,720 square feet, the 18-bed, 10-bath home is listed for $535,770.

"The listing says it was built in 1885. The Cook County Assessor website said the building is 130 years old, dating back to 1891.

"Catherine O’Leary’s cow famously was suspected to have started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, but the man responsible for the rumor — a local reporter — would confess to making it up more than 20 years later. But the lore stuck, forever becoming a part of her reputation.

"It’s the only property in the city to have its own dedicated fire hydrant — an interesting tidbit considering the family’s place in Chicago history. The mansion also has two large vaults on the first floor and in the basement.

"'Sometimes I’ll get 50 calls in a week from people interested in the home,' Villasenor said. 'It’s truly a beautiful place, from the hardwood floors, the coffered ceilings, the wainscoting…it’s like going back in time.'

"A coach house at the edge of the property sheltered the family’s horses. Villasenor said the stepping stone mother O’Leary used to enter her carriage has remained intact for more than 130 years.

"Another unique feature is the secret tunnel once connecting the O’Leary mansion to another home next door. It’s been sealed off for years but the owner has the original blueprints for it, said Villasenor, who added that O’Leary’s Prohibition-era vices may have been behind the tunnel’s construction.

"Ward Miller, president of Preservation Chicago, said the mansion is not currently landmarked but the group would like a new owner to seek landmark protections especially if they plan major changes to the interior.

'Ideally we would like it to remain single family, but if the only means of preservation is to convert it into condominiums it would have to do be done carefully, with certain interior rooms kept intact,' Miller said. 'These are the wonderful stories that are sometimes overlooked. We would like to see the city be more proactive in protecting these buildings and promoting them.' (Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 2/16/21)

St. Stephenson M.B. Church/former Zion Evangelical Lutheran, Theodore Duesing in 1905, 1321 S. Ashland Avenue, built 1905, demolished 2021. April 16, 2017 Photo Credit: Noah Vaughn

St. Stephenson M.B. Church/former Zion Evangelical Lutheran, Theodore Duesing in 1905, 1321 S. Ashland Avenue, built 1905, demolished 2021. January 26, 2021 Photo Credit: Noah Vaughn

St. Stephenson M.B. Church/former Zion Evangelical Lutheran, Theodore Duesing in 1905, 1321 S. Ashland Avenue, built 1905, demolished 2021. February 11, 2021 Photo Credit: Noah Vaughn

St. Stephenson M.B. Church/former Zion Evangelical Lutheran, Theodore Duesing in 1905, 1321 S. Ashland Avenue, built 1905, demolished 2021. February 19, 2021 Photo Credit: Noah Vaughn

St. Stephenson M.B. Church/former Zion Evangelical Lutheran, Theodore Duesing in 1905, 1321 S. Ashland Avenue, built 1905, demolished 2021. February 23, 2021 Photo Credit: Noah Vaughn

St. Stephenson M.B. Church/former Zion Evangelical Lutheran, Theodore Duesing in 1905, 1321 S. Ashland Avenue, built 1905, demolished 2021. February 25, 2021 Photo Credit: Noah Vaughn

St. Stephenson M.B. Church/former Zion Evangelical Lutheran, Theodore Duesing in 1905, 1321 S. Ashland Avenue, built 1905, demolished 2021. February 27, 2021 Photo Credit: Noah Vaughn

"After demolishing a century-old church on the Near West Side, a developer aims to build an office building in its place. Highland Park-based developer 4S Bay Partners plans to build the five-story office building near Addams/Medill Park at the site that housed the old St. Stephenson Missionary Baptist Church, 1319-1325 S. Ashland Ave., according to a newly filed zoning application. The building would house community service businesses and nonprofit collaboration space, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Billionaires Steve and Jessica Sarowitz manage 4S Bay Partners. The couple recently helped buy a building for the Chatham Workforce Center.

"Preservationists and city officials attempted to save the St. Stephenson Missionary Baptist Church, which had served as home to several congregations over the years, according to city records. A city-mandated 90-day demolition delay was imposed on the project last year, but it expired before the end of the year.

"Last fall, the Maxwell Street Foundation urged city officials to 'broker an agreement with the developer' to at least save the façades for preservation and reuse before a granting a demolition permit. The church, built by Theodore Duesing, was previously home to the Second German Evangelical Zion Church, according to the Maxwell Street Foundation.

"'This building has significance for our group because this was the church built by a German congregation when they vacated a German church and school in the old Maxwell Street area, the history of which we protect and interpret,' foundation secretary Laura Kamedulski wrote in a letter to the city. 'This is a time-sensitive matter as demolition is imminent.'

"Planning and Development Commissioner Maurice Cox encouraged the new owners to explore reuse of the church building instead of demolition, according to city records. During and after the demo-hold period, city officials discussed reusing parts of the church with the developer, a spokesman for the city’s Planning and Development department spokesman previously told Block Club. Officials pointed to the Epiphany Center for the Arts and St. Boniface Church as examples of adaptive reuse, according to city records.

"Ward Miller, Preservation Chicago executive director, hoped the developer would’ve worked to at least preserve the Ashland-facing façade of the church and incorporate the project into the development. The loss of another century-old building underscores the need for an ordinance to better protect buildings more than 50 years old, Miller said." (Peña, Block Club Chicago, 2/25/21)

The Demolition Delay Ordinance, adopted by City Council in 2003, establishes a hold of up to 90 days in the issuance of any demolition permit for certain historic buildings in order that the Department of Planning and Development can explore options, as appropriate, to preserve the building, including but not limited to Landmark designation.

The ordinance applies to buildings rated red and orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey (CHRS), but it should be modified to include all buildings included in the survey. These buildings are designated on the city's zoning map. The delay period starts at the time the permit application is presented to the department's Historic Preservation Division offices and can be extended beyond the original 90 days by mutual agreement with the applicant. The purpose of the ordinance is to ensure that no important historic resource can be demolished without consideration as to whether it should and can be preserved.

Preservation Chicago is advocating to extend the existing Demolition Delay Ordinance to at least 180 days or longer, in order to create the time community members, stakeholders, decision makers, and elected officials need to conduct robust discussions regarding the fate of these historic buildings and irreplaceable Chicago assets. The support of the Mayor and City Council is necessary to advance this effort.

Address: Second Church of Christ Scientist 2700 N. Pine Grove Avenue, Lincoln Park

#100903102

Date Received: 01/07/2021

Ward: 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith

Applicant: Second Church of Christ Scientist c/o Fenton Booth

Owner: Second Church of Christ Scientist

Permit Description: Alterations to the interior of the existing masonry church building, including seven-story and basement additions containing 26 residential units, and 30 basement-level parking spaces. Work includes the demolition of the interior structure, the roof and the north wall of the existing church, exterior east, west and south walls to remain on the building.

Status: Under Review

Preservation Chicago has been advocating to save the Second Church of Christ Scientist for many years and it was a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2019. Second Church of Christ was designed by Solon S. Beman in 1901. By any measure, it should be a Designated Chicago Landmark.

Preservation Chicago was able to secure the interest of a major philanthropic foundation with plans to restore the magnificent church building and convert it into a cultural arts center. The congregation would have continued to have access for religious services. The congregation flatly rejected the offer preferring to monetize the value of the land. The decision of the development team to save the exterior walls is an improvement over the initial plans, but the building, including its magnificent dome, should be preserved in its entirety.

Address: 1399 W. Lake Street, West Loop (Lake Street Schlitz Tied House / La Lucé)

#100901650

Date Received: 12/02/2020

Ward: 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett

Applicant: Spirit Wrecking and Excavation, Inc.

Owner: Veritas Chicago, LLC C/O Anthony Giannini

Permit Description: Demolition of a 4-story, multi-family, mixed-use masonry building.

Status: 90-day hold extended to 03/31/2021 and again to 4/30/2021 by mutual agreement.

Address: Address: 7443 S. Kimbark Avenue, Near West Side

#100907049

Date Received: 01/28/2021

Ward: 8th Ward Alderman Michelle Harris

Applicant: KLF Enterprises

Owner: VILA CO. c/o Vitalija Sileikyte

Permit Description: The demolition of a 3-story frame residential building.

Status: Under Review

Address: 3837 N. Kenmore Avenue, Wrigleyville

#100901999

Date Received: 12/4/2020

Ward: 46th Ward Alderman James Cappleman

Applicant: Viewpoint Services, DBA Brophy Evacuation

Owner: 3837 Kenmore, LLC C/O Kevin Derrig

Permit Description: Demolition of a 2-story masonry residential building and garage

Status: Released 12/21/20 after 17 days

Address: 1932-34 N. Seminary Avenue , Old Town

#100901459

Date Received: 12/1/2020

Ward: 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith

Applicant: Platinum Homes Development

Owner: Seminary Trust c/o Sarah Howard, Trustee

Permit Description: Demolition of a 2-story, multi-family masonry building

Status: 90-day hold extended to 03/31/2021 by mutual agreement.

Address: 116 N. Willard Court, West Loop

#100897650

Date Received: 11/04/2020

Ward: 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett

Applicant: PLD Holdings, LLC

Owner: Mark and Beverly Paulsey

Permit Description: Demolition of a 3-story brick building and a detached garage.

Status: Released 2/5/21

Address: 1947 N. Fremont Street, Lincoln Park

#100897264

Date Received: 11/04/2020

Ward: 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith

Applicant: Patrick Balthrop, Sr.

Owner: City of Chicago

Permit Description: Demolition of a 3-story, single family home and detached garage.

“It’s an old, common cry in a city where demolition and development are often spoken in the same breath, and where trying to save historic homes from the wrecking ball can feel as futile as trying to stop the snow. My Twitter feed teems with beautiful houses doomed to vanish in the time it takes to say ‘bulldozed.’ Bungalows, two-flats, three-flats, greystones, workers’ cottages. The photos, posted by people who lament the death of Chicago’s tangible past, flit through my social media feed like a parade of the condemned en route to the guillotine,” mused Mary Schmich in her Chicago Tribune column on July 12, 2018.

"When Mitzi Haynes’ daughter Taylor moved back to Chicago in 2017, escalating rents forced her to move in with Haynes and Haynes’ mother in a cramped two-bedroom apartment in South Shore. “It’s going okay, for now,” Haynes said. “But the main problem’s lack of space.”

"A year before her daughter’s return, Haynes listened with cautious optimism as the Obama Foundation announced its partnership with the city and the University of Chicago to build the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) in Jackson Park, a few minutes’ drive north from her apartment.

"In the vision presented by the city and the foundation, the OPC would be a sprawling complex, replete with athletic facilities, open-air gathering spaces, Obama’s Presidential Library—and a museum, whose design, as the foundation’s website proclaims, 'embodies the idea of ascension.'

"President Obama and his surrogates pledged that the OPC would not displace longtime South Side residents, and tendered lofty promises of job creation and economic development for Woodlawn and South Shore—the historically disinvested neighborhoods surrounding the OPC. Haynes wanted to believe.

"But by the time her daughter returned to Chicago a year after the announcement, Haynes’ hope that those promises would be kept had evaporated.

"'As time went on,' she said, 'with the rising rent, yeah. That, to me, did not ring true.'

"The Haynes family are multigenerational South Side residents. Both Haynes and her mother were born here, and Haynes raised her daughter in Hyde Park. 'My family’s considered ‘lifers’,' she notes with pride.

"Over the past four years, however, Haynes has watched in alarm as neighbors in her building are priced out of or evicted from their apartments. Haynes’ brother, a fellow lifer and longtime resident of Hyde Park, recently considered moving after the rent on his one-bedroom apartment tripled in the past five years.

"After her own rent ballooned by thirty percent in just three years, Haynes, a pharmacy technician, decided to move her and her mother out of the city, before their rent spikes again.

"Haynes explained that the magnitude of the Obama family’s celebrity status can cause some to look away from the OPC’s local impact. 'He’s the golden boy. You have some people out here, who, doesn’t matter what he does, what he says, he’s still Obama…so he could do no wrong.'

"But for her, the OPC’s impact is clear. 'To me,' she said, 'it’s not for the community.'

"Meanwhile, the prices of land, for-sale properties, and rent have skyrocketed in all the neighborhoods surrounding Jackson Park since the 2016 announcement. A 2019 study from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Urban Planning found that in the two-mile radius surrounding the OPC’s planned site, nearly ninety-one percent of renters 'cannot afford their monthly rent,' and that 'the majority cannot afford' rents in newly renovated and new construction units either.

"Within the OPC’s two-mile radius, which primarily includes Black, low-income households, eviction rates are some of the highest in the city, according to the study. In South Shore—not two miles away from where the museum designed to embody ascension will stand—1,800 households, or about nine percent of renters, are evicted annually.

"Now, as the coalition fights to secure protections for South Shore and beyond, Bennett said their message remains focused on the needs of families like Haynes’—not on critiquing President Obama, nor sparing him or his foundation accountability.

"'We don’t have time to waste in the discussion of 'well it’s Obama, trust him,' or ‘he’s the first Black president and you’re trying to stop him,'' said Bennett. 'It’s way beyond Obama. We have to focus on saving our lives, our homes.'"(Murney, South Side Weekly, 3/3/21)

"It was hot on the August day in 2016 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel presented the Obama Foundation with nearly 20 acres of Jackson Park as the site for the Obama Presidential Center. Emanuel might have handed over a 99-year, $10 lease for 50 acres without getting a rise out of that sweltering captive audience.

"If any of them were thinking about the battle over a similar gift to George Lucas, resolved barely two months earlier, when he gave up and took his museum to California, I didn't hear them mention it. Besides, the difference was as clear as the panorama of lagoon and woods stretching before us: Lucas is a moviemaker with no Chicago roots; Obama is the nation's first Black president, a hometown hero of unprecedented status, nurtured and launched on this very ground.

"When Foundation chairman Martin Nesbitt stepped to the microphone that day, he said the center would open in 2021. That turned out to be a bit optimistic. Given government regulations, community demands, and legal challenges, construction on the Jackson Park land has yet to begin. But this month, in the wake of an appeals court decision favorable to the city and the recent completion of federal reviews, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that the Obama Presidential Center, including a 235-foot tower and major taxpayer-supported infrastructure, would finally be getting underway.

"'Chicago is now officially the home of the presidential center for our country's first Black president,' Lightfoot said. The new target date for opening is 2025.

"In this frigid, masked, pandemic February, that should be welcome news. Every Chicagoan I've talked with says they want the OPC here and thinks it should be on the south side. But some of those to whom it occurred—even before that sweaty day in 2016—that the presidential complex shouldn't be planted on parkland, haven't changed their opinion. A half-billion dollar project planned for a future when people will once again gather? Sure, but they're still talking about an alternate site.

"Preservation Chicago, for example, which has had Jackson Park on its annual list of the city's seven 'Most Endangered' places for the last four years, is now advocating, not only for the relocation of the OPC out of the park, but for the entire lakefront park system to become a protected National Park or Monument, like the Indiana Dunes or the Pullman Historic District.

"And Friends of the Parks, which led the legal battle against the Lucas Museum, is still saying (as it did in a recent statement about a proposed new school building in Riis Park), 'We wish the Obama Center had been sited on vacant land across the street from Washington Park.'

"FOTP isn't the organization that's taken it to court, however. That would be Protect Our Parks, a quixotic little ad hoc group that says it isn't caving now. POP president Herbert Caplan claims the federally mandated reviews were not adequately conducted. (A charge also made by Jackson Park Watch.) He's fired off a letter about that to President Biden's newly installed secretaries of transportation and the interior, asking them to 'stop this project now,' and "properly review all feasible and prudent alternatives."

What kind of reception is this likely to get from the administration of Obama's former vice president? 'It's a long shot,' Caplan admits, 'but the Biden administration has declared that they're all in favor of environmental protection.'

"But this was the big news: POP was getting ready to unveil its own architectural plan for the Obama Center on a site abutting Washington Park. Created by architect and preservationist Grahm Balkany, this detailed plan would better serve both the public interest and Obama's legacy, Caplan said. 'He could start building immediately; the lawsuits would be moot. All he'd have to do is turn it over to his construction company.'

"Once Obama sees it, Caplan said, "We think he might suddenly decide, 'Yeah, that's a better plan.'" (Isaacs, Chicago Reader, 2/17/21)

"A North Lawndale church will take a step toward landmark status today — a potentially good sign in a larger fight to preserve Chicago’s classic church architecture. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks will vote whether to grant preliminary landmark designation to Pentecostal Church of Holiness, a 90-year-old Romanesque Revival-styled edifice at 4208 W. 15th St.

"Given the church’s beauty and history, it should be a shoo-in. We applaud the move and hope a permanent designation ultimately is granted. We also like that the church’s senior pastor, Chaun L. Johnson, took the initiative to get the designation rolling. The city usually doesn’t landmark religious structures without a congregation’s consent. Here, Johnson is consenting.

"'There is beauty on the West Side and its landmarks,' Johnson said as he told us why he seeks a landmark designation for the church. 'We want people to see [it’s] not a wasteland but a promised land. Our community needs to see something that’s beautiful.'

"‘Critical time’ for houses of worship: Many religious congregations in Chicago are struggling with the stratospheric costs of maintaining, repairing and restoring elaborate buildings that are, often, at least a century old. This has put so many of these beautiful places at risk.

"Right now, just 4 miles east of Pentecostal Church of Holiness, a demolition crew is razing the long-vacant and tattered 115-year-old former St. Stephenson Missionary Baptist Church, at 1319 S. Ashland Ave.

"And on the Far South Side, the former St. James Temple, 11336 S. State St., was demolished in 2019 under an emergency order after residents reported loose bricks from the vacant building raining onto the street. The church was built in 1890.

"We live in critical times for historic houses of worship. Many congregations shy away from landmark status for fear the designation would mean increased building repair costs. But other congregations, such as Pentecostal Church of Holiness, have embraced the designation, seeing it as a way to draw attention to their rich history or striking architecture.

"Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, an imposing 111-year-old Greek Revival beauty at 4600 S. King Dr., where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., once spoke, was granted permanent landmark status in 2020. So was Blackwell-Israel Samuel A.M.E. Zion Church at 3956 S. Langley Ave., a Romanesque-Revival pile, built in 1886, that became prominent during Bronzeville’s 20th century heyday as a Black city-within-a-city.

"Johnson said the church needs “some necessary repairs,” and landmark status could help draw attention — and money — to assist with the building’s upkeep. But preserving the building, he said, also serves the church’s mission.

"'If we don’t take stock of some of the historic buildings in the community, it’ll become a wasteland,' he said. 'Where are people going to get food, [or seek] housing,' he said. 'This church needs to be here after we’re gone — to be a beacon in the community.' (Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board, 2/3/21)

Chicago Crusader Investigative Report: "Black Historic Sites That Are Not Chicago Landmarks. Image Credit: Chicago Crusader

"Alderman Sophia King (4th Ward) had a problem in her ward in 2017. Developers were jockeying for some fresh real estate to build skyscrapers in the fast-growing South Loop neighborhood along Michigan Avenue. In the middle of the hustle and bustle was a small, vacant 11 story-building that was once the home of Johnson Publishing Company, which produced the iconic Ebony and Jet magazines. Amid the power point presentations and board room discussions, there were concerns that the house that trailblazer John H. Johnson built would be demolished to make way for Chicago’s next skyscraper.

"With her political influence and connections, King moved quickly to save the Johnson Publishing Company property from hungry developers possibly demolishing a vulnerable, yet significant piece of Black history important to Chicago and the nation. By the end of the year, the Johnson Publishing Company building was an official Chicago Landmark whose future was safe and secured. Today the building at 820 South Michigan remains the same as it was in 1972. The building now houses modern apartments with remnants of its past adorning the halls.

"But many Black historic buildings have not been as fortunate. Since 1972, Black Chicago has lost some of its most important buildings that despite their historical significance were not official Chicago Landmarks. They include the Regal Theater, Metropolitan Theater, the Palm Tavern, the South Center Department Store and the homes of Sam Cooke and pilot Bessie Coleman.

"At a time when downtown and white neighborhoods were off limits, many of these locations provided Blacks pride, culture, entertainment and a taste of the good life in Bronzeville. Today, all of those buildings are gone. In their place are new buildings or vacant lots, and no markers to educate new generations of Blacks on the significance of the properties to their cultural heritage and past.

"More historic buildings and homes that still stand today also are not Chicago Landmarks and remain unprotected from demolition. In an extensive analysis of city records, the Crusader has identified a number of structures among at least 44 properties that are not official Chicago Landmarks. They include the shuttered Griffin Funeral Home, Parkway Ballroom, the Forum, the Swift Mansion, the Lu Palmer Mansion, and the homes of Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and Muddy Waters. Without the critical Chicago Landmark status they can be altered anytime or even worse, demolished with no opposition from city officials.

"Of 353 Chicago Landmarks across the city, only 72 represent historical significance to the Black community on Chicago’s South and West Sides, according to data from the Chicago Commission on Landmarks, a group within the city’s Historic Preservation division in the Department of Planning Development.

"While the tomb of slave owner Stephen A. Douglas remains a Chicago Landmark, the Bronzeville home of the doctor who performed the nation’s first heart surgery, Daniel Hale Williams, is not. Not even the Stony Island Trust and Savings Bank Building, which houses the acclaimed Stony Island Arts Bank and Library is a Chicago Landmark.

"The Bronzeville home of the pioneer Dr. Daniel Hale Williams still stands at 445 E 42nd St, Williams made history in 1893 when he performed the first heart surgery at the predominately Black Provident Hospital, then located at 29th and Dearborn. The house remains privately home and is not a Chicago Landmark.

"Of the 72 Black Chicago Landmarks, the Crusader found that Bronzeville, Chicago’s oldest Black neighborhood, is home to 33 of them, more than any community in the city. Seven Chicago Landmarks are on King Drive in Bronzeville alone. South Shore has four, Washington Park has three and Woodlawn has two Chicago Landmarks.

"The home of 14-year-old Emmett Till, brutally murdered by two white men in Mississippi after being accused of whistling at a white woman is one of Woodlawn’s landmarks. Till’s home at 6427 S. St. Lawrence became the newest Chicago Landmark last month after Alderman Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) threw her support behind a campaign to protect the two story flat after similar campaigns in previous years had failed.

"The actions of Aldermen Taylor and King to save historic Black structures are part of a new wave of activism by Black political officials to salvage important relics of Black history.

"Like residents, urban renewal, a changing racial climate and the plans of developers have awakened political officials to the grim realities of forgotten Black historic sites in a city that for decades has overlooked their significance. Today residents’ involvement remains more critical than ever as development booms in Bronzeville and Woodlawn grow, sparking concerns of gentrification.

"With their rich history and connection to Black Chicago’s past, the two neighborhoods are among dozens of communities whose Black culture and identity are threatened more than ever as home values grow and whites move in, reversing white flight. With an influx of cash, they seek to capitalize on development projects like the impending Obama Presidential Center and Library. Such projects have turned Black historic neighborhoods into potentially attractive locales for whites to live.

"Amid the hustle are decaying Black historic sites that gave Black neighborhoods life, culture and identity. Many are gone. Many are vacant and some have fallen into disrepair. Most important, many are not official Chicago Landmarks, protected from demolition or alteration by hungry developers seeking to plan their next project."

"Ward Miller, executive director for Preservation Chicago, has been campaigning for years to preserve Black historic sites on the city’s South and West Sides. Miller told the Crusader that in the past 20 years, unprotected Black sites have been threatened with demolition more than ever. He said the support of aldermen is critical to the success of getting a Black historic site designated as a Chicago Landmark.

"Miller also said unlike in the past, the city is more willing to review requests to landmark Black historic sites that have building and code violations. 'I think we are experiencing a new vision and new day with these Black sites,' Miller said. 'We are growing more aware of these places and it’s about time.' (Johnson, Chicago Crusader, 2/26/21)

"A handsome brick building featuring rows of arches in Bronzeville has puzzled Kimshasa Baldwin, who lives a few blocks away: Why was it built? Is it connected to near-identical buildings in Back of the Yards and Lincoln Park?

"Baldwin asked 'What’s That Building?' to investigate the history behind the three buildings. The structures look similar enough, she told me on our first phone call, that “they must have been related.”

"And Baldwin’s instincts were right. The buildings look the similar because of their shared purpose: to house giant power-generating equipment, which requires abundant windows for cooling the interior. But they are located miles apart at 48th and S. Honore streets in Back of the Yards; on Lill Avenue near Sheffield Avenue in Lincoln Park; and at 4200 S. Wabash Avenue in Bronzeville.

"The Lill Avenue building has a clue in the middle of the facade to the identity of all three: 'C. RYS. Co, 1909.' That’s an abbreviation for Chicago Railways Company, one of several that operated Chicago’s extensive network of streetcars.

"From 1859 to 1958, Chicagoans moved around the city by streetcars, first pulled by horses, then using cable-car technology developed in San Francisco. Beginning in 1890, the city utilized electric-powered streetcars. The streetcar system covered more than 500 miles, with 3,700 streetcars ferrying people around the city. The private operators of the system were eventually folded into the public Chicago Transit Authority, which ran the last streetcars in 1958.

"Powering that network required electrical substations, or transformer buildings, where a high-voltage electrical current was transformed into smaller doses of current to power the wires for the streetcars.

"That’s where these three buildings come in: Each one powered a segment of the city’s streetcar network.

"The structures were essentially giant boxes holding generating equipment, and the big windows provided ventilation for the heat that the generators produced. The Lill Avenue building, built in 1909, was a substation for Chicago Railways Co., which operated on the North and West sides. The buildings on Honore and Wabash, built in 1910, were part of Chicago City Railway Co., which operated on the South Side." (Rodkin, WBEZ 91.5 Chicago, 3/4/21)

"Musician Toronzo Cannon had dreadlocks and was into reggae — until visiting the “Blues Bus” on Maxwell Street.

"Back then in the mid-’90s, Maxwell Street was home to street vendors and blues men, who often played outside the market on the weekends while shoppers negotiated for everything from tube socks to hubcaps.

"Cannon said he was invited on the bus by its owner, Rev. John Johnson, who sold blues tapes and CDs from it for four decades near Maxwell and Halsted Streets. The bus, which had its seats removed, was a rolling music store filled with the music of blues greats, many of whom started their careers on Maxwell Street. It operated in the area from the 1960s to the late 1990s.

"'He was encouraging,' Cannon said. 'He gave me a CD of Luther Allison’s album, ‘Where You Been?’ He said, ‘I want you to take this home. I want you to study.’ It was kind of like in the movies, the older dude giving the younger dude some jewels.'

"Although most people who bought blues music from Johnson’s bus didn’t go on to become world-renowned bluesmen like Cannon, it was the way many were introduced to blues music. The Maxwell Street market, old storefronts and market are long gone. But now there is an effort to restore the bus, which, over the years, fell into disrepair and was vandalized.

"The move to revive the bus and create a permanent blues exhibit is being led by Steve Balkin, a professor emeritus at Roosevelt University who also is in charge of the Maxwell Street Foundation. Balkin is well known in blues circles as the man who led the charge to save Maxwell Street, which he refers to as the “Ellis Island of Chicago” because of the number of immigrants it attracted.

"Balkin said he has already approached the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and the Museum of Science and Industry with plans for the bus and a possible blues exhibit, but he was turned down. His plan now is to reach out to the state of Illinois, which controls the old Pullman Factory building on the Far South Side, in hopes they will agree to house the bus and create a permanent blues exhibit.

"'There are several links between Pullman and Maxwell Street,' Balkin said. 'Pullman Porters, who were Black, traveled all over the United States, working on the trains. And one of the things that they did when they got to towns was tell people about the music in Chicago.'

"'They would often bring blues records from Chicago and bring them to stores that didn’t have much exposure to black music, so they helped to disseminate blues and jazz around the country, which is what Maxwell Street did, as well. There were also important labor events at Pullman and in the Maxwell Street area.'

"Balkin envisions a permanent blues exhibit inside the Pullman factory, alongside a replica of Jim’s Original polish sausage stand which was housed at the corner of Halsted and Maxwell Streets for decades, and a Maxwell Street-style market on the grounds on weekends." (Chiarito, Block Club Chicago, 3/2/21)

"Roseland’s South Michigan Avenue Commercial District is the commercial center and heart of this Far South Side community, located approximately 15 miles from downtown Chicago. Situated on a hilltop ridge, the corridor extends between 100th Street and the viaduct just south of 115th Street, with the central core of the existing commercial district located between 110th and 115th Streets.

"Once referred to by local residents as 'The Avenue,' the street’s viability as a commercial corridor began to deteriorate and fade in the mid-1970s. Over the decades, some historic buildings have been remodeled and covered with new facades, and many other notable and significant commercial buildings, which further helped to define the district, have been lost to demolition.

"However, it is important to protect, restore and reuse the remaining structures, many of them noteworthy in their overall design and materials. This would honor the legacy and history of this remarkable community and encourage a holistic approach to further promote economic revitalization along the South Michigan Avenue commercial corridor." (Preservation Chicago)

Special thanks to project partners including the Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce, the Roseland Community, Andrea Reed, Alderman Beale, Open House Chicago, Chicago Architecture Center, and Preservation Chicago staff!

Host, Ward Miller, Executive Director of Preservation Chicago guides you on a tour of one of Lincoln Park's most important historic districts.

Learn how the district developed following the 1871 Great Chicago Fire: from modest frame homes to enormous mansions built by noted architects for prominent Chicago families.

Ward meets restoration expert, Susan Hurst with Bloom Properties for an exclusive tour of the newly restored Sarah Belle Wilson House at 522 W. Deming Place.

Features special guests, historian and Preservation Chicago board member, Diane Rodriguez; and Ed Vera, Formlinea Design+Build and Vera Rice Architects.

Due to popular demand, the 2020 Thompson Center “Chicago 7 Most Endangered” poster is now available for sale on the Preservation Chicago webstore.

Previous years' “Chicago 7 Most Endangered” posters including Union Station Power House, Jackson Park, and Holy Family Church are also available. The posters are available in three sizes; 8x10, 16x20 and 24x36.

Additionally, we've begun to offer additional Chicago 7 swag including mugs and bags featuring the wonderful Chicago 7 artwork. Please let us know what you’d like to see offered, and we can work to make it happen.

Please note that between 30% and 40% of the sales price helps to support Preservation Chicago and our mission.