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THANK YOU to the nearly 33 thousand individuals who signed the petition to reject the proposed House Museum Ban ordinance. This petition by Preservation Chicago, our media outreach campaign, and advocacy effort in partnership with community organizations throughout Chicago played an important role in helping to defeat an ordinance that would have been devastating for dozens of house museums and cultural centers across Chicago.

In less than one week, the speed and magnitude of signatures helped thrust the proposed House Museum Ban ordinance out of the shadows and into the spotlight. This story seized the attention of Chicago and beyond. Many unknown details were revealed through the outstanding reporting of many Chicago reporters in over two dozen articles.

Preservation Chicago presented the petition along with a formal comment in opposition to the proposed house ban ordinance at the Zoning Committee of the Chicago City Council on March 23, 2021. Final petition totals were 1,488 pages of signatures and 35 pages of comments. Due to the advocacy effort and widespread opposition, the ordinance was withdrawn from a vote shortly before the hearing begin.

While the immediate danger has passed, the inspiring, diverse coalition of organizations and individuals that organized to resist the proposed ordinance will remain vigilant in the event that it resurfaces. We applaud every individual and organization that played a role in helping to oppose this legislation.

We strongly oppose any legislative maneuvers that seek to make more difficult the establishment of Chicago neighborhood house museums. In fact, we strongly encourage additional support to help nurture them.

Now is the time to recognize, honor and protect the many important contributions of African-Americans and traditionally underrepresented communities to Chicago. House museums are powerful vehicles for protecting the history and telling the stories of those who have come before us. House museums amplify the voices of those who have not been heard. It is essential that these voices be heard.

The following emerging museums would have been directly impacted by this ordinance:

Over the past few years, Preservation Chicago worked tirelessly with community members, Blacks in Green, Naomi Davis, the Till Family, 20th Ward Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, and city officials towards a Chicago Landmark Designation of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House.

The Justice D. Harry Hammer / Lu & Jorja Palmer Mansion was a Preservation Chicago 2019 Chicago 7 Most Endangered and we have been working with Angela Davis of The Obsidian Collection to restore and reactive the historic building.

The Phyllis Wheatley Home is a Preservation Chicago 2021 Chicago 7 Most Endangered and we have been working with urgency to protect and stabilize this historic home with owner Dr. JoAnn Cobb Tate so that a long-term solution can honor its important legacy.

Read more at:

Alderman withdraws ordinance that would have restricted ‘house museums’; The decision by Ald. Sophia King (4th) was announced at the start of Tuesday’s meeting of the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards, Maudlyne Ihejirika, Chicago Sun-Times, Mar 23, 2021 

"The former home of La Luce Italian restaurant, which was nearly torn down late last year, once again has been granted a reprieve from demolition.

"The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted unanimously Thursday to grant temporary landmark status for 1393-1399 W. Lake St. following impassioned pleas from preservationists and dozens of citizens. Commissioners also rejected the owner’s permit application seeking to tear down the building 19th century, Queen Anne Victorian building.

"The commission’s approval of initial landmark status triggered an expedited process for permanently protecting the 130-year-old Fulton Market building. Under the city code, the commission must schedule a public hearing and notify City Council of its recommendation within 90 days.

"Commissioner Maurice Cox said the developers were sitting on a 'vintage' and 'pretty rare asset' in Chicago architectural history. The city doesn’t lose structures like this as part of a mass demolition, he added. 'You lose them one building at a time, until you are hanging on to one or two exemplars,' he said. 'I would encourage the development team for this particular site to embrace those assets that will in fact enrich [development.]'

"Preservation Chicago Executive Director Ward Miller said the building’s red brick limestone, ornamental bays and copper features are 'nothing less than outstanding,' he said. The building was constructed in anticipation of the 1893 World’s Fair and is still visible for blocks, he added.

"Miller said the outpouring of support to try to save the building is the greatest public response the organization has ever seen.

"Petitioners also provided 24 pages’ comments opposing demolition. Lauren Zawilenski wrote, 'More of Chicago’s history needs to be preserved. Buildings like this are getting knocked down and overdeveloped left and right!'

"Gregory Stepanek wrote, 'I pass this building on a daily basis, and always marvel at its uniqueness. We have lost far too much of our history. Let us NOT lose this gem. Let’s stop erasing our history.'

"Diane Gonzalez, an Old Town resident and member of the Preservation Chicago board, said Fulton Market is one of the “fastest changing neighborhoods” in Chicago as old factories and warehouses are converted into bars and restaurants.

"'In the midst of newcomers sits the venerable 1393 West Lake,' she said. 'Now is the chance … to save this storefront.' Her great-grandfather Antonio Gonzalez was a Spanish cigar seller who frequented the Fulton Market district’s numerous tied houses. This history must be protected, Gonzalez said. 'It is a treasure,' she said.

"Eight historic tied houses were included in a landmark district designated by the city in 2011. The Lake Street property was not included in the designation due to objections from its owners at the time, according to Preservation Chicago.

"Beyond their noteworthy architectural elements, Chicago’s remaining tied houses represent the city’s history, Hahn said. Known as the 'poor man’s' club, tied houses often offered services in an immigrant’s native language.

Preservation Chicago is thrilled at this outcome. We have advocated for the building's preservation since 2016 and with urgency over the past six months since its change of ownership. (Peña and Alani, Block Club Chicago, 4/1/21)

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

Petition to Save The Chicago Union Station Power House! with 28,019 signatures. 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. Graham, Anderson, Probst and White 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 repair costs, Amtrak wants to spend $13 million dollars to demolish it and replace it with a storage shed! But there is a better option....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 include a tech data center and possibly a café along the Chicago River. Its 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 the long overdue upgrading of train stations to meet ADA requirements. (Chicago Sun-Times, Amtrak reverses course,1/20/20)

But yet Amtrak is still stubbornly 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 hearings 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 two years, Amtrak has stubbornly refused to consider any purchase offers, hold 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!

We urge Amtrak to respect this important historic building and encourage the City of Chicago to designate the Chicago Union Station Power House as a Chicago Landmark to protect it from harm.

"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 his 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.

"Among the stern pandemic tutorials of 2020: Without full access to Lake Michigan’s wonderful waterfront, Chicago is a more cramped, less enticing place. Like Tennessee without the Great Smoky Mountains, or Wyoming without Yellowstone.

"Think of it as a valuable preview: If over time Chicagoans let buildings and projects that sound beneficial limit broad public access to the lakefront, the still life of 2020 gradually could return. A more restricted shoreline would be a damning memorial to modern generations that, incursion by incursion and restriction by restriction, allowed people with money and clout to say Keep Away.

"Fortunately a new and respected voice is rising to warn about threats to the Lake Michigan waterfront. In its latest annual list of the city’s most endangered buildings, the advocacy group Preservation Chicago placed the lakefront — obviously not a building — right at the top. “(The lakefront) frames our downtown,” says Ward Miller, the group’s executive director. “It gives us breathable space. It protects us from those rough days on Lake Michigan, and it’s really a spectacular attribute to Chicago that makes our city special. But we continuously see issues with giveaways of parklands, privatization of parklands. We really think this is not a good place to be.”

"Preservation Chicago’s recommended solution should be a conversation starter: Turn the entire lakefront into a national park. That designation, says the group, would protect the lakefront from further development, attract federal dollars for upkeep and — a factor that caught our eye — reduce local politicians’ role in decisions about lakefront land use.

"We would want to know much more the implications of the national park notion before endorsing it. But we applaud Preservation Chicago for pointing up the threats to what’s arguably this city’s most valuable natural resource.

"...That highlights the recurring problem with each generation’s bright ideas for developing the lakefront: Many proposed projects do have broad appeal. And, yes, each generation of Chicagoans — including each generation of local politicians — likes to leave its bold imprint.

"But always remember that the only reason today’s citizens can debate the lakefront’s future is that for almost 200 years, this city has generally stuck to principles that would defend the lakefront for future centuries of Chicagoans. That defense has meant repeatedly denying the grand dreams of well-intentioned civic leaders. Every proposal has some glossy allure; we’ve noted before that no one ever will propose a sheep slaughterhouse for Grant Park.

"Remember, too, that no other U.S. metropolis features an oceanlike waterfront buffered from a towering cityscape by such a necklace of open spaces. Special protections have stopped influential people and civic groups from overwhelming that lakefront expanse with their worthy-sounding pet projects.

"The pols often cave to the sales pitch that “just this one more exception” won’t harm the lakefront. But to look at all the construction already permitted there is to realize an unpleasant truth: Obstructions accumulate. The presence of structures such as the Field Museum makes the open space that remains all the more vulnerable to “just this one more exception.”

"Forgive us, then, if we don’t salute when the Park District frets that converting the lakefront to national parkland would diminish local control. That’s the point: If City Hall were a reliable steward, ready to fight each proposed encroachment and to create more public access, the lakefront’s future wouldn’t be in doubt.

"So we’re glad Preservation Chicago has started a conversation about permanently protecting some of the most rare and valuable urban real estate on earth. We hope Chicagoans will defend it for centuries to come." (Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, 3/12/21)

"A downtown alderman is proposing a zoning change that could clear the way for the James R. Thompson Center to be replaced by one of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers.

"Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, wants to allow more than 2 million square feet of space on the sprawling state-owned site, at 100 W. Randolph St., that is up for sale. The proposed ordinance is expected to be introduced Wednesday to the City Council’s zoning committee, and it could be up for a vote by the committee — and eventually the full City Council — as soon as April, he told the Tribune Tuesday.

"Reilly’s proposal is an important and long-awaited step in the cash-strapped state’s ongoing efforts to sell the glassy, postmodern building. It was designed by Helmut Jahn, a German-born architect based in Chicago.

"'It’s one of the premier blocks in the entire city of Chicago and the potential for a 2 million-square-foot tower on this site would have a dramatic impact on Chicago’s skyline,' Reilly said. 'It could potentially add a lot more energy and activity to the Loop, at a site that has been underutilized for government functions.'

“Restoring the underlying zoning will allow it to reach true market value,” Reilly added. “Now everyone will have clarity on what is within the art of the possible for this site.”

"The Thompson Center is seen by real estate investors as a rare opportunity to redevelop an approximately 3-acre site in the heart of the Loop. But there are several hurdles.

"Preservation groups want to see the 17-story structure saved and redeveloped by the buyer. But the state has said the building is costly to heat and cool and is in need of well over $300 million in repairs.

"Some developers would prefer to knock down the glassy structure and start with a clean slate, but demolition would be costly and time-consuming because of heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area — and because the building is connected to the CTA’s Clark and Lake train station.

"Another obstacle is a master lease for the retail space in the building’s glass-enclosed atrium and lower-level food court that doesn’t expire until 2034. Officials have evaluated legal options with regard to the master lease, held by Boston’s Winthrop Realty Trust and Chicago’s Marc Realty, but it’s an issue that may ultimately be left to the buyer to resolve.

"There also is the challenge of record-high office vacancy downtown a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as struggles the central Loop already was facing because of moves by banks and other tenants to newer towers along the Chicago River and elsewhere.

"The state has been looking to sell the Thompson Center for several years, starting with efforts under previous governors Pat Quinn and Rauner, who had hoped to sell the property for $300 million.

"Efforts to sell the building have accelerated under Pritzker, and the state in December 2019 hired Ernst & Young Infrastructure Advisors to oversee the process to sell the Loop property

“This site has sat fallow for far too long,” Reilly said. “It’s costing Illinois taxpayers a lot of money in unnecessary maintenance costs, and it’s depriving Chicago taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars in property tax revenue each year.” (Ori, Chicago Tribune, 3/23/21)

The Thompson Center has been a Preservation Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020. We continue to advocate for the preservation and adaptive reuse of this important historic building as well as a Chicago Landmark Designation.

"A city commission has signed off on landmarking the iconic and historic sign on the Morton Salt building.

"The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted unanimously Thursday to offer landmark designation to the old factory. In February, City Council approved a zoning change needed to convert the factory, 1357 N. Elston Ave., into office space and a music venue. The landmarks commission approved preliminary protected status for the building and surrounding properties that same month.

"Mary Lu Seidel, of Preservation Chicago, praised the developers’ commitment to reusing a historical structure as opposed to tearing it down.' It is really encouraging to have a developer like this come in and create a phenomenal asset … We encourage future developers to model this behavior,' she said.

"City leaders reviewed a plan to convert the Morton Salt building near Goose Island into a concert hall and office building.

"Co-developed by Blue Star Properties, the development arm of 16 on Center, and R2, a Chicago-based commercial developer, the $30 million project is expected to create 200 construction jobs and about 50 permanent jobs. It will generate $4.5 million in annual tax revenues, according to plans submitted to the city.

"The developers sought landmark status for the old salt factory as they planned to keep the factory’s iconic sign, which shows a girl in a yellow rain jacket holding an umbrella.

"Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), has said he was happy the project would retain the sign, which 'most of us have known for all of our lives.'" (Alani, Block Club Chicago, 4/1/21)

"For anyone who likes old Chicago movie houses or performance venues, those ornate places meant to transport patrons of years past to a romanticized place far away, I have good news and — well — I won’t call it bad news, but it’s disappointing nonetheless.

"To the good news: Despite the pandemic, which has knocked the props from under any business in the performing arts or that requires crowds to gather, a developer is undeterred in his plans to restore Bridgeport’s Ramova Theatre at 3518 S. Halsted St.

"The Ramova deal is one of those dreamy projects that seemingly had no chance against the economic imperatives forced by a pathogen that silenced some businesses, helped others and generally led investors in risky projects to say, “Whoa.”

"But Tyler Nevius said he’s still ready and able to proceed at the Ramova, despite having to put plans on hold for a year. Turning the Ramova into a community hub as a performing arts center, with a brewpub and a reimagining of the old Ramova Grill, was always a 'cause-focused project.' The delay during our plague only reinforces that mission, he said.

"The project has its necessary authorizations from the city, including an agreement for up to $6.64 million in tax-increment financing. Nevius said he now plans to begin work in late spring or early summer and have the project completed in late 2022.

"Neighbors will welcome any progress at the Ramova, which has been empty and decaying for about 35 years. The cinema was built in 1929, the work of architect Myer O. Nathan. It’s considered a twin of the Music Box Theatre on the North Side. Getting the Ramova back in shape would give Bridgeport a commercial anchor and do a little for South Side pride as well.

"While the smaller Music Box has been lovingly preserved, the Ramova was neglected. The city got control and paid for emergency work in 2001 after water damage threatened to wreck the interior beyond salvation. Many who grew up in Bridgeport remember its lobby in the style of a Spanish courtyard and the faux stars in the auditorium ceiling.

"Nevius’ $22.9 million plan calls for dividing the 1,800-seat auditorium into two performance spaces. The balcony can be converted into space for acts drawing about 200 people. He also has emphasized a desire to host events for schools and community groups."(Roeder, Chicago Sun-Times, 3/22/21)

"One of two main parties working to reopen the Uptown Theatre has backed out of the project, but plans to renovate the historic theater are still in the works, according to the venue’s owner.

"Farpoint Development is no longer involved in the efforts to revitalize the Uptown Theatre, the legendary movie palace and concert hall that has been shuttered since 1981. Jerry Mickelson, owner of the theater and founder of JAM Productions, and Ald. James Cappleman (46th) confirmed the news Monday.

"Mickelson and Farpoint Development joined city leaders in 2018 to announce a $75 million plan to restore and reopen the Uptown Theatre, 4816 N. Broadway. The project was meant to revive a landmark building that would anchor a revamped Uptown entertainment district, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at the time. Construction was originally slated to begin in summer 2019, but the date came and went.

"Then the coronavirus pandemic swept in, causing a shutdown of the entertainment industry that endures one year later. Farpoint Development’s decision to back out of the project throws up yet another obstacle for the project. The Sun-Times on Monday first reported the news of Farpoint’s decision.

"Despite the setbacks, Mickelson said his efforts to reopen the Uptown are moving forward.

"Mickelson and Farpoint Development’s plans envisioned restoring the venue to its Jazz Age grandeur. On top of restoring the building’s facade and historic features, the project would have increased capacity from 4,300 to 5,800, installed removable seats on the first floor and added a new marquee.

"The project was boosted by $40 million in public funding, including from an Uptown tax increment financing district and the city’s adopt-a-landmark fund. Project leaders were on their own to secure the remaining $35 million, which proved to be a challenge. By November 2019, Mickelson and Farpoint still needed to raise $26 million, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time.

"Cappleman said the project still retains its public funding and is likely to get back on track in a post-coronavirus world." (Ward, Block Club Chicago, 3/22/21)

Preservation Chicago has been a longtime advocate for the restoration and reuse of the Uptown Theatre.

"While Chicagoans eagerly await the return of live music and entertainment to venues across the city, Chicago’s newest venue has been putting on live indoor shows already. Epiphany Center for the Arts, which includes the former Church of the Epiphany at 201 S. Ashland Ave. along with other buildings on its 42,000-square-foot campus, is home to three unique venues — Epiphany Hall, The Sanctuary and The Catacombs — along with a cafe and a courtyard.

"Developer David Chase and his wife, Kimberly Rachal, converted the former church and adjacent property into a $15 million venue to host live music, art exhibits, weddings, galas and other private events.

"The church, constructed in 1885 with additions built in 1895, was bought by a team led by Chase in 2017 in what he described as the most complex deal of his career — and one he first viewed through the lens of a developer rather than a venue owner.

"Additionally, he said it was 'too premature' for a residential development. However, while various people were looking at his new property, one remarked that the sanctuary would make an amazing music venue. Another told Chase the same thing about Epiphany Hall. And a third told him that it would be perfect for art exhibits, and it made him think of using it for events. But at the time he was thinking short-term.

"After closing in 2017, it took almost two years to restore the venue. Chase said the entire project cost $14.7 million, and was privately funded and came in under budget.

"While the church’s 'bones' were in very good shape, Chase said they restored the stained glass, installed a new HVAC system, new plumbing, electrical and excavated two feet from the floor of the basement. While they brought things up to date, crews were diligent about preserving much of the church’s original character, like the terracotta tiles inside the church and the woodwork throughout all the buildings.

"Up one floor is the Sanctuary, a smaller venue with a capacity of 150 that in the 1960s was the meeting spot of the Black Panthers. It also hosted Fred Hampton’s memorial. (Chiarito, Block Club Chicago, 3/15/21)

Preservation Chicago has been an advocate for the preservation and adaptive reuse of the Epiphany Center for the Arts / former Church of the Epiphany for many years. We're thrilled by the current reuse plan and hope that its becomes template for the creative reuse of other shuttered religious buildings.

"The Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, where Mamie Till-Mobley showed the world the brutality of American racism by holding an open-casket funeral for her murdered son Emmett Till, could soon be named a national historic site.

"U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) introduced a bill to place the deteriorating church at 4021 S. State St. into the care of the National Park Service. They’re calling for the building to be preserved and managed by the federal government.

"'The Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ is both extraordinarily and heartbreakingly important to the nation, and in many ways to the world,' Duckworth said. 'Especially for today’s youth, understanding where they come from and knowing their history — as painful and traumatic as it was — is lifted up and valued by the country is important.'

"Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr., Emmett Till’s cousin and last living witness to the teen’s abduction, said in a joint statement with relatives that their family is 'grateful for the introduction of legislation to preserve the legacy of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley by making Roberts Temple a National Historic Site.'

"Last year, the Roberts Temple church was named one of the nation’s “11 most endangered historic places” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The church “has severe structural issues,” is rarely used by the congregation and needs funding to be properly renovated, the organization said at the time.

"Legislators intend to get the bipartisan bill passed during this meeting of Congress, which ends in January 2023, Duckworth said. If passed, a plan for creating the national historic site must be in place no later than three years after funds are approved for the designation.

"Duckworth said she is 'humbled' that the Till family continues to partner with her and other national leaders, as they work to recognize sites honoring Emmett’s life and brutal death — both in Chicago and Mississippi. (Evans, Block Club Chicago, 3/18/21)

Preservation Chicago played an active role in the Chicago Landmark Designation of Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in 2006. At that time, we also advocated to landmark his home and school. The Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley Home finally became a Designated Chicago Landmark in 2021. We continue to advocate to designate the McCosh Elementary/Emmett Till Academy public school as a Designated Chicago Landmark. It would be marvelous to consider creating an Emmett Till Memorial Path connecting his home and school.

"When Bernard Loyd first ducked into the Checkerboard Lounge in 1995, he didn’t realize he was stepping in the shadows of musical giants.

"Loyd, a perennially traveling consultant in his early 30s, was new to the neighborhood and just wanted to enjoy a Heineken while chatting about the weather and Chicago Bulls. He picked the Checkerboard — despite the cigarette smoke that lingered in his hair and clothes — mostly because by that time, much of the retail corridors of Bronzeville already had been gutted, leaving scant other options.

"The hole-in-the-wall charm of the nightclub’s mismatched chairs, no-airs crowd and commanding live vocalists made it easy to go back. So did the stories Loyd later heard of those who had graced its stage, such as Muddy Waters, the Rolling Stones, Junior Wells, B.B. King and more.

"Today, a square of bumpy grass sits in the former footprint of the Checkerboard Lounge, some of it growing wild and starting to creep into sidewalk cracks on 43rd Street. A sign on the empty lot, detailing plans for five rowhouses to take over that space, bills the upcoming development as 'extraordinary.'

"'It’s gone,' Loyd said about his old haunt, which moved to Hyde Park nearly two decades ago. 'There’s no trace of it.'

"Loyd, now the project leader of a community revitalization campaign called Build Bronzeville, said he doesn’t want other historic anchors of his neighborhood to disappear. He and other community leaders support federal legislation introduced last month in Congress by Democratic U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush of Chicago in the House, and Illinois U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth in the Senate.

"The proposal would designate the neighborhood as a National Heritage Area and pump $10 million into preserving its remaining buildings and traditions. Such areas are maintained by community organizations with assistance from the National Park Service, whose website says the program “tells nationally important stories” about heritage, although they aren’t national parks.

"In Illinois, only two such heritage areas exist: the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Proponents of the bill say it’s long overdue that Bronzeville, also known as the Black Metropolis for its outsize footprint on Black culture, is noted for being just as influential on America’s historical landscape. They contend it’s not enough as the neighborhood tries to leave behind the recent decades’ trials with population loss and disinvestment, but they believe the funding and acknowledgment could jump-start a new era of revitalization.

"The Bronzeville-Black Metropolis National Heritage Area Act has been introduced before, but with Democrats now controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House this year, Rush said he believes 2021 is the year the legislation will see movement.

"'It is important for us to maintain and protect and promote the historical legacy of Bronzeville so that future generations, African Americans and otherwise, but African American particularly, can understand and appreciate the tremendous sacrifice that was made to make Bronzeville an important aspect of American history,' Rush said in a recent phone interview. (Yun, Chicago Tribune, 3/24/21)

"Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood was one of the most influential stops of the “Great Migration.” The southside neighborhood became the home to hundreds of thousands of Blacks fleeing the South. African Americans created a “city-within-a-city” that provided all the essentials for living. It helped to frame “Black Chicago.” In Bronzeville, there was a flourishing economy and jobs. Bronzeville also enjoyed an immense art, music, and cultural scene, attracting people from across the city. Bronzeville gave rise to a Black Arts Movement. Between 1920 and 1960, Bronzeville was the Chicagoland destination for black culture for its residents.

"Located at 318-328 East 43rd Street (next to the Green Line CTA station), still stands The Forum. Built-in 1897, the building contains one of the city’s essential performance halls and possibly the oldest hardwood ballroom dance floor in Chicago. The Forum played a significant role in Chicago’s cultural scene.

"Since 1897, The Forum’s existence at 43rd Street and its distinctive “Forum Hall,” with six large retail slots, made it a South Side Hub for prominent performers, powerful politicians, parties, and all walks of life. After the closure of “Forum Hall,” the second-floor performance space and the building fell into disrepair.

"After four decades of neglect, Build Bronzeville of Urban Juncture Inc. is working to revitalize The Forum. Urban Juncture Inc. founder and Bronzeville resident Bernard Lloyd began developing a plan for returning commerce to the community. These efforts led to the creation of “Build Bronzeville.” This is a series of connected initiatives that utilize Bronzeville’s unique assets to restore commercial activity and revitalize this historic neighborhood. Over the past few years, Urban Juncture Inc. has lead in the restoration of The Forum. Their efforts saved the landmark location from Chicago’s Emergency Demolition List in Spring 2011.

"Urban Juncture completed many critical repairs to the building. In 2020, they replaced the roof over Forum Hall. The Forum received an incubator grant of almost a quarter-million dollars to rehab the six retail slots on 43rd Street. The complete vision of restoration remains a work in progress.

"There are plans to fully renovate Forum Hall, located on the second floor of the building. Plans for the Forum hall include providing performance space for established and emerging artists in music, dance, and theater. Events can also be hosted at the Forum Hall. The six retail spaces known as Forum Retail will hold various activities that combine hospitality with unique performances. The Forum complex will also include nearby customer parking and an outdoor public square.

For more information on The Forum, visit www.theforumbronzeville.com." (Strange, Chicago Defender, 3/22/21)

Preservation Chicago has been a longtime advocate for the restoration and reuse of The Forum.

"South Shore economic leaders should build on recent momentum and work to bring back a 'Main Street' feel to struggling business corridors, urban planning experts said at a community meeting Wednesday.

"South Shore Works and the South Shore Chamber hosted a panel discussion to brainstorm how to spark business growth and activity along 71st, 75th and 79th streets in the neighborhood. Joining the panel were chamber Executive Director Tonya Trice, University of Chicago urbanism professor Emily Talen, UrbanMain Program Director Dionne Baux and Kenya Merritt of the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

"South Shore’s commercial strips battle high vacancy rates, and existing businesses are struggling to navigate the pandemic. More than half of storefronts are empty along 75th and 79th streets, and there are vacancies along 71st Street. But zoning changes, educating business owners on online sales and public-private partnerships could facilitate a turnaround, panelists said.

"The neighborhood is primed for growth, Trice said, and 71st Street in particular has 'a large number of older buildings that have architectural characteristics that we want to preserve in the community, but also attract new businesses.'

"Some plans for preservation and growth are already in place, including those surrounding the historic Avalon Regal Theater along 79th Street, an entertainment corridor along Stony Island Avenue and a quality of life improvement plan for the neighborhood with LISC Chicago.

"Forces have decimated the “classic American Main Street” in Chicago, Talen said. She defines 'Main Street' blocks as those offering services to nearby residents, providing opportunities for local entrepreneurship and being walkable and attractive to pedestrians.

"It’s not enough for us to have commercial corridors that are vibrant and thriving, and other parts of the city are desolate,' Merritt said. 'We want to be able to have that same quality of life across the city.'" (Evans, Block Club Chicago, 4/1/21)

Immediate steps should be taken to reverse the demolition permit and save the Jeffery Theater and Spencer Arms Hotel. A Preservation Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2014, the historic Jeffery Theater and Spencer Arms Hotel is located at the crossroads of what was once the bustling heart of the South Shore business district located at the northwest corner of 71st Street and Jeffery Boulevard adjacent to the Jackson Park Highlands Landmark District of fine historic homes. Built in 1923 it was opened as a vaudeville venue and movie house.

After a 90 Day Demolition Delay in 2020, a demolition permit was released for the Jeffery Theater. A developer plans to replace this historic building with a new theater and mixed use space, but the plans seem to have stalled during the pandemic.

If protected and restored, the Jeffery Theater Building could be the key to a revitalized 71st Street commercial and entertainment district.

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)

"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)

Update: Sellers withdrew the demolition application for 1932-34 N. Seminary Avenue after a concerted effort by neighbors, community organizations, and the Alderman's office.

"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)

"A grand Georgian townhouse designed by David Adler that was mothballed for nearly 20 years will be listed tomorrow, extensively restored and expanded, at $7.2 million.

"Tucked behind a sedate brick façade that gives little hint of what's inside, the five-bedroom home has a grand central gallery, 29 by 27 feet and two stories high with a skylit ceiling and a fireplace, all trimmed with classical moldings and frames. There's a stylish new kitchen that opens onto an enclosed terrace, a dramatic oval staircase with a skylight hanging above it and a row of tall windows in the master bedroom that look out onto the lawns and trees of Lincoln Park.

"Bouwman said his goal when he bought the property was "to modernize it while protecting the sanctity" of Adler's refined design. He attached a formerly detached garage, made the kitchen integral to the living space (when the house was built, only servants would have used the kitchen) and added a theater, a gym and a family room.

"In choosing finishes, Bouwman often echoed Adler. He used bold geometrical black-and-white tile to reflect the tile patterns Adler often used, and in a first-floor sitting room, a forest scene hand-painted onto wallpaper also evokes the style of the home's original era.

"The townhouse, now more than 10,000 square feet, is one of a string of four attached homes on Lakeview Avenue designed in the 1910s by a trio of young architects: Adler, Henry Dangler and Ambrose Cramer. This one was originally the home of Abram Poole, an artist who may have used its central gallery as his painting studio. One of his works, painted directly onto the wall above the fireplace in the central gallery, is still there and comes with the house.

Next door to this townhouse is the largest home in the row, built for a survivor of the Titanic. That 16,000-square-footer also is undergoing restoration, by Foster Design Build, which bought it for $2.7 million in March 2017.'" (Rodkin, Crain's, 3/13/21)

Preservation Chicago played an active role with owners, neighbors, community organizations, and 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith to landmark these four seminal rowhouses by architects David Adler and Henry Dangler in 2016.

"A Lincoln Park rowhouse, part of a 19th-century cluster built to generate rental income for the McCormick Theological Seminary, is for sale for the first time since 1975.

"Wayne Russell is asking a little under $1.28 million for the six-bedroom, 5,200-square-foot home on Chalmers Place. The middle unit in the photo at the top of this story, it’s in the McCormick Row House landmark district, about 50 row houses on Chalmers, Fullerton and Belden that are now mostly surrounded by the DePaul University campus.

"Represented by Connie Grunwaldt of @properties, the row house retains many of its original features from 1889, including tile surrounds on its five fireplaces, ample wood details on the staircase, walls and fireplaces, a pocket door, and an operable skylight for letting heat rise up through the house to cool the interior.

"Chalmers is a double lane, with a common lawn space running down the middle that is known as the green. That and the fact that it’s accessed only through a gate, which sharply reduces traffic, makes it 'a coveted location,' Grunwaldt said.

"The McCormick Seminary, which was founded in 1829 in Indiana, was at Halsted and Fullerton from 1859 and used the row houses as residences for students and faculty and for rental income. In the mid-1970s, planning a move to Hyde Park, where it still is today, the seminary’s officials did not want the old rowhouses replaced by a high-rise, Russell said, so they sold the entire rowhouse cluster to an investor group that in turn sold the units to individual buyers.

"Having lived in the rowhouse cluster for decades, Russell has been inside many of them and said he believes his is among those with the most original features intact. He said that may be because, as an internal unit with no side windows, it was assigned to lower-level faculty.

"Some have been demolished over the years, but the seminary originally built 64 rental units, designed by A.M.F. Colton & Son with, according to a history of the district, extensive input from Nancy 'Nettie' McCormick. She was the wife of Cyrus McCormick, whose McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, later International Harvester, made them one of Chicago’s wealthiest families in the late 1800s. The idea for the central green and much of the look of the homes came from her, according to the history.

"'To each building in addition to money she had given uncounted hours in consultation with architects, builders, seminary committees' and others, the historical article quotes a biographer writing of Nettie McCormick. 'Those who know her ways have said, with pardonable exaggeration, that she knew every stick and brick in any building that she gave.'" (Rodkin, Crain's, 3/26/21)

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 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.

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: WIN-Application withdrawn 03/23/2021  

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: 4500 N. Spaulding Avenue, Old Town

#100908603

Date Received: 02/18/2021

Ward: 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith

Applicant: D. S. Construction, Inc

Owner: Chicago Milal Church

Permit Description: Demolition and removal of a 2-story masonry church

“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)

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)

"One of Chicago’s most intriguing buildings from the 1940s sits on an isolated patch in the West Loop, mostly hidden from view by elevated Metra tracks and a Kennedy Expressway exit ramp.

"But if you make your way to this spot at 509 N. Union Avenue, you’ll find one of the most dazzling pieces of Art Moderne architecture in the city — The Salvation Army building.

"Art Moderne, known for streamlining and curves, is an offshoot of Art Deco. You can see those curves in the way a pair of 19th century red brick loft buildings are joined by blonde brick columns and a five-story “zipper” of glass blocks.

"Inside that glass-block zipper is a staircase lined all the way up with fireproof enamel brick. Those materials, multicolored linoleum floors and a sleek chrome handrail give the stair tower a wonderful retro look that has barely changed in almost eight decades.

"In the 1930s and ’40s, the Chicago headquarters of The Salvation Army, which oversaw an 11-state region, hired Chicago architect Albert Fehlow to build a series of Art Deco and Art Moderne buildings in Indianapolis, Detroit, St. Paul, Minn., and Elgin, Ill.

"But Fehlow didn’t build on Union Street in the West Loop. Sometime in the ’40s or ’50s, he remodeled the building, adding the sleek Art Moderne flourish between red brick buildings, one six stories and the other five.

"Those two buildings date to the 1890s and were built as the Braun & Fitts Butterine factory. Butterine is an early name for margarine. At the time, the margarine makers were underdogs against the powerful dairy farm lobby — and were subjected to very high taxes if they dyed their naturally white product yellow to look like butter.

"In 1916, chewing gum king William Wrigley Jr. bought out the successor to Jelke’s firm. In 1930, Wrigley donated the two buildings to The Salvation Army, which operated it as the New Start Lodge for jobless and homeless men. It was later renamed the Wrigley Lodge.

"Major Kendall Matthews, who works for The Salvation Army, said men could get 'soup, soap and salvation' all in this building. There are still traces of a ’40s-style 'canteen' that served nonalcoholic drinks. Much of the space looks like a 19th century factory, with brick floors, concrete ceilings and support beams in large open rooms.

"In 2019, The Salvation Army put the property up for sale. Matthews said the Army only uses about 25-30% of the space and wants to combine this operation with another in Lincoln Park.

"While a new owner might tear down the building, which doesn’t have landmark protection status, Matthews said he hopes the 'layers of history' are instead repurposed." (Rodkin, WBEZ 91.5 Chicago, 3/18/21)

"When WBEZ listener Kevin Borgia bikes along the Lakefront Trail, he regularly passes a 'seemingly abandoned building in Jackson Park.'

"'It is kind of a neoclassical structure with a tile roof. It’s pretty dilapidated and it’s fenced off right now,' Borgia recently wrote to WBEZ. 'Is this a building from the Chicago World’s Fair?'

"The short answer is no, the Jackson Park comfort station isn’t from the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, but it’s no surprise Borgia would think so. With its columns and pilasters, it looks like a miniature piece of the neoclassical grandeur we recognize from the Museum of Science and Industry, which was constructed for the World’s Fair.

"The comfort station was designed in 1912 by the architecture firm D. H. Burnham & Co., whose chief, Daniel Burnham, famously oversaw design and construction of the World’s Fair two decades earlier. However, Burnham died in 1912, so it’s unlikely he designed this small Jackson Park structure. An unnamed architect working for Burnham’s firm likely made a nice homage to the original look of the fair.

"The structure, about 40 feet long and a story high, is isolated on a knoll in the Jackson Park golf course, close to the shoulder of Marquette Drive. The comfort station, or what we today would just call “restrooms,” was designed with men’s bathrooms on one side, women’s on the other and an open-air space between them where columns frame a view of Lake Michigan.

"The structure was built because the surrounding golf course was so busy that existing comfort stations couldn’t handle all the traffic, according to the Chicago Park District. Today, the building near the ninth hole is protected by a chain-link fence because much of the roof is collapsed and the steel rods reinforcing the crumbling columns are visible.

"The placement of the building was chosen by another firm with a long history in Jackson Park: Olmsted Brothers, the successor to Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed the original grouping that includes Jackson Park, the Midway Plaisance and Washington Park in 1871.

"It’s not clear when the comfort station went out of use, but its decline is alarming, both because of its lineage and because of its visibility." (Rodkin, WBEZ 91.5 Chicago, 4/1/21)

"Chicago’s old passenger railroad stations for decades acted as the city’s front door, where people from all over the country arrived seeking out a better life – or just the thrills of the big city. Geoffrey Baer takes us back to the golden age of rail travel in this week’s Ask Geoffrey.

"Could you do a story on the old train stations that once stood in downtown Chicago? – Larry G., Skokie

"In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, millions of people traversed the United States by train, with Chicago acting as a central hub for the entire country.

"It’s hard to believe, but as late as the early 1960s, there were six major passenger train stations serving downtown Chicago.

"Today all passenger trains that come into the city from beyond the suburbs go through Union Station, which is now owned by Amtrak.

"Its beaux-arts design recalls the grandeur of rail terminals in those glory days, designed to wow the traveler the way many airports do today.

"That was certainly the goal of another neo-classically designed terminal owned by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway which stood at what is today Ogilvie Transportation Center, currently operated by Metra.

"The newer version of the station opened in 1911, and included ornate concourses, waiting rooms and even dedicated spaces for barbers and hairdressers.

"The Chicago and Northwestern Railway traced its roots to Chicago’s very first railroad, the Galena and Chicago Union, established in 1848 by Chicago’s first mayor William B. Ogden. (Baer, WTTW Chicago, 3/11/21)'

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:

"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.