A Gotham City Police Car parked outside the Thompson Center during the filming of "The Batman." Photo Credit: Joshua Mellin https://www.instagram.com/joshuamellin/

Prints available by contacting photographer Joshua Mellin, joshuamellin.com/contact

"The latest incarnation of the Batman franchise, called fittingly enough 'The Batman,' is in Chicago shooting exterior scenes. Crew members were spotted doing prep work in the Loop near the Thompson Center, where overnight action scenes — involving motorcycles — were rehearsed. Gotham police cars were spotted in the Loop and posted on social media Friday, as well as tattered flyers for a Gotham music festival." (Metz, 10/17/20)

Emmett Till Home...Saved!

Cook County Hospital...Saved! Photo Credit: Ward Miller

Superior St. Rowhouses...Saved! Photo Credit: Ward Miller

Tell us through social media, call us at 312-443-1000 or email us at info@preservationchicago.com.

Since 2003, the "Chicago 7 Most Endangered" has sounded the alarm on imminently threatened historic buildings and community assets in Chicago to mobilize the stakeholder support necessary to save them from demolition.

"Officials finally are taking the first steps to landmark Pilsen’s iconic St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Church after a years-long fight by former parishioners to preserve it. The city’s Department of Planning and Development is beginning a preliminary landmark recommendation report for the former church at 1650 W. 17th St., Commissioner Maurice Cox said at a community meeting Tuesday night.

"Cox’s announcement is the first public commitment from city leaders to preserve the church, which was deconsecrated last year and twice has been put up for sale by the Archdiocese of Chicago. 'We’ve heard a lot about [how] St. Adalbert’s should be preserved, and we agree,” Cox said. “The city is ready to commit to preparing the designation report and to coordinate with the Archdiocese for designation and redevelopment of St. Adalbert.'

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

"Peter Strazzabosco, spokesman for the city’s planning department, said the preparation of a preliminary report was the 'first step in the city’s landmark designation process.' The report will 'propose protected features for the church structure, which typically include all exterior elevations, rooflines and other notable elements,' he said in an email.

"The planning department is also assessing whether the St. Adalbert church building and the convent could be included under the landmarks ordinance, Strazzabosco said. The preliminary recommendation could be considered by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in the spring." (Peña, 10/29/20)

"In September 2018, the Archdiocese hired commercial real estate firm SVN Chicago to try to sell the property again. A real estate listing at the time infuriated some Pilsen residents because it touted the church’s iconic towers as 'perfect for penthouse units.' The language was later removed.

"The development is the latest in a years-long battle Mexican and Polish parishioners have waged to try to save St. Adalbert Church from being closed and sold. Parishioners have appealed the deconsecration of the church, and the issue is making its way through the Vatican’s judicial system.

"The Society of St. Adalbert group has pitched plans for the site that would maintain the religious character of the church complex. 'We have a plan that’s supported by the community that doesn’t involve real estate development,' said group President Julie Sawicki.

"Following the deconsecration of the church in 2019, group leaders said they offered the archdiocese $2.03 million for the property — $1 million for the church and an additional $1.03 million for the rest of the site. But they never heard back about the offer, Sawicki previously told Block Club.

"'Catholic law is very clear that a Catholic entity has first right to a Catholic church,' Sawicki said. 'The church should have been turned over to any Catholic entity. The fact that it hasn’t been turned over is outrageous. Period.'

"'The [towers] could have been repaired at this point, but, instead, the scaffolding has remained for years and years and additional expenses have racked up.' The group said they are continuing to fight but understand the property is still for sale. While it’s still listed, 'we are fighting off developers and we just know that the property needs protection like exterior and interior landmarking in order to save it,' Sawicki said." (Peña, 9/17/20)

"As debate has raged over a proposed landmark district in Pilsen, activists kept asking why the city was moving to protect 900 buildings in the Near Southwest Side neighborhood, but not one of its most prominent structures, the shuttered St. Adalbert Catholic Church. This week, however, they said they would take the first step to grant the church official landmark status — and that they have authority to begin that process without the consent of the church’s owner, the Archdiocese of Chicago.

"'We have heard you,' Maurice Cox, commissioner of the city’s Department of Planning and Development, said Tuesday at the last of three online meetings about the proposed landmark district. 'This is an iconic landmark in Pilsen. That is without dispute.'

"The city, he said, would start to prepare a report to make the case that the building deserves to be protected from demolition or character-destroying alterations. City officials would work with the archdiocese on the proposed landmark designation and plans to redevelop it, he said. If a house of worship is still being used, its owner must consent before it can become a city landmark, but, if like St. Adalbert, it is no longer in use, the owner’s consent is not required, Peter Strazzabosco, a spokesman for the planning department, said Friday.

"In a statement, the archdiocese said it looks forward to working with the city 'to understand their goals and to develop a plan for the property that recognizes its historical significance to the community while supporting the needs of St. Paul parish.' St. Adalbert, which was officially desanctified last year, was combined with St. Paul Catholic Church in Pilsen as part of a consolidation that church officials attributed to a declining parish population and high renovation costs.

"Designed by prolific Chicago architect Henry Schlacks and located a block north of Pilsen’s 18th Street commercial corridor, the 106-year-old church at 1650 W. 17th St. combines the austere basilica form of early Christian churches with baroque flourishes that symbolize Polish national identity. Thousands of Eastern European immigrants, including Czechs and Poles, lived in Pilsen before it became predominantly Mexican American in the 1960s.

"Historic preservationists, who have been fighting to protect St. Adalbert, expressed satisfaction at the shift by city officials. 'We’ve been encouraging the city to demonstrate that the crown-jewel and one of the iconic and gateway buildings of Pilsen needs to be landmarked,' Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago, wrote in a text message Thursday." (Kamin, 10/30/20)

"The South Side house of Emmett Till, whose brutal murder helped spark the civil rights movement, has taken key steps toward becoming an official city landmark and a museum.

"The Commission on Chicago Landmarks on Thursday unanimously approved a recommendation to the City Council that the house, at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave., be granted landmark status. That would protect it from demolition or insensitive alterations.

"Separately, a local nonprofit seeking to turn the house into a museum confirmed Friday that it has purchased the property. The house will become an 'international heritage/pilgrimage destination,' said the group’s leader, Naomi Davis.

"Built in 1895 in the West Woodlawn neighborhood, the two-flat was the home of Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, before he traveled to Mississippi in the summer of 1955 to visit relatives. The 14-year-old was tortured and murdered Aug. 28, 1955, for allegedly whistling at a white woman at a convenience store. Till’s mother chose an open-casket funeral at a South Side church to show mourners and the world the horror and violence her son endured.

"Concern about the house, officially known as the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House, rose in September when the landmarks commission voted to give it preliminary protected status.

"Preservationists expressed fear that the house’s then-owner, real estate developer Blake McCreight of Chicago’s BMW Properties might demolish the property or dramatically alter it, destroying its historic value. McCreight buys distressed properties and sells them to investors that want rental income, according to his website.

"Blacks in Green has taken an active role in celebrating African American history in Chicago. It already owns a nearby parcel at 6354 S. St. Lawrence, home to the Mamie Till-Mobley Forgiveness Garden, and could acquire land to the north of the Till house as part of the museum’s campus, Davis said.

"Davis said it will take millions of dollars to convert the house, which she said had a string of building code violations and was occupied by squatters, into a museum. 'We’re undaunted,' she said. “We’re absolutely confident we’ll be able to raise the funds.”

"Blacks in Green has consented to landmark designation for the house, said Ward Miller, executive director of the advocacy group Preservation Chicago. (Kamin, 11/6/20)

Preservation Chicago has been advocating for the Chicago Landmark Designation of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley home since 2006. More recently, in 2017 we led another push for landmark designation. We're thrilled that, after all these years of advocacy, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley home will be landmarked. Preservation Chicago played an essential role in coordinating all the stakeholders and ensuring that all the pieces were in place to allow the process to successfully move forward. A special thanks to Naomi Davis of Blacks in Green, 20th Ward Alderman Jeanette Taylor, Maurice Cox Commissioner of Chicago Planning and Development, and the Chicago Landmarks Division Staff. Additional thanks to Mary Lu Seidel and Jonathan Solomon for researching and writing the outstanding Chicago Landmark Designation report.

"North Lake Shore Drive is getting rebuilt; make that redefined. As part of the yearslong Redefine the Drive project, the Illinois and Chicago departments of transportation have been gathering feedback and coming up with potential ways to overhaul the Drive from Grand to Hollywood. They’ve narrowed it down to a few options.

"Lake Shore Drive is iconic. But with icon status comes aging infrastructure. 'Some up to 80 years old and in need of full replacement,' said Nate Roseberry, assistant chief highway engineer with the Chicago Department of Transportation. 'This is the chance for us to … look at some opportunities to really reenvision the area and solve some problems while we rebuild the road.'

"Problems not just like crumbling infrastructure, but also safety, and mobility for all kinds of users. 'One of the things we heard, definitely, was improve access to not only North Lake Shore Drive itself, but really to the park, which is an iconic park,' said Steve Schilke, project and environmental studies section chief with the Illinois Department of Transportation.

"Based on roadway needs and public input, planners came up with what they’re calling the Essential: lakefront access every quarter mile, grade separation for the lakefront trail where it crosses east-west streets, getting rid of the pesky signal at Chicago Avenue, and reinforcing the shoreline, which has taken a beating of late. 'All the things that we see as critical to install regardless of what alternative we select,' Roseberry said.

"The alternatives look at improving travel for buses. The Addition would add a fifth lane in the center, just for transit. The Exchange would convert an existing lane for transit, leaving three for general purpose. Planners are also considering the Flex and Double Flex options: creating one or two lanes usable by buses, and by drivers willing to pay a toll.

"'How do we improve and how do we further manage the traffic? How do we further improve the reliability of that transit?' Schilke said. But, as always, a major project like this one has raised concerns about changing the character of the lakefront.

"'Lake Shore Drive needs its improvements, but we don’t want to see Lake Shore Drive reconfigured to a point where it becomes an interstate highway,' said Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago. He thinks past renovations, such as near McCormick Place, created a wide, interstate feel. He’s also hesitant about a trenched roadway, like what’s on the table at Chicago Avenue.' We want to keep that boulevard character to the drive,' Miller said.

"Friends of the Parks’ Juanita Irizarry agrees. She’s concerned expanding the Drive could put parks at risk.' Our preference is that improvements be made to make traffic flow better to improve transit access but not to create more lanes for cars,' Irizarry said. And while she appreciates the project’s eye toward shoreline stability, “we think this project really should be set within a much larger, more comprehensive conversation about our lakefront erosion problem.'" (WTTW, 10/22/20)

Preservation Chicago strongly supports investment in infrastructure, increased green space, bike lanes, and transit. Enlarged and improved lakefront parks are the headlines, however this plan is, at its core, a highway project. There is concern that these more popular elements are being used to "greenwash" a roads project that is largely an effort to bring it up to interstate highway standards and dramatically change the character of N. Lake Shore Drive from it original parkway intent.

To impose interstate highway standards on Lake Shore Drive would fundamentally change the character of this important and historic parkway. Destroying the slower speed, meandering pleasure drive qualities of N. Lake Shore Drive in order to increase the average traffic speed is futile as the string of traffic lights at Grant Park will remain unchanged.

Preservation Chicago would like to see no widening to the existing roadway. We would like to see the existing historic art deco bridges restored. We would like to see the existing green medians and mature trees protected and maintained. This plan is highly complex and robust public participation is essential for a good outcome.

"The Preston Bradley Center could be getting a new owner for the first time in its nearly 100-year history. The church, cultural center and social services building at 941 W. Lawrence Ave. is listed for sale.

"The Preston Bradley Center was built by its namesake, Rev. Preston Bradley, in 1925 to house his Peoples Church of Chicago. It has been owned by the church ever since, though the building has taken on new lives and tenants throughout the years.

"After years of seeking to preserve and reposition the building in Uptown’s burgeoning entertainment district, the Peoples Church is seeking offers for the building.

"The six-story building includes a nearly 1,300-seat auditorium with two balconies. It has a large hall or event space, office space and art studios, according to the listing. A parking lot is also included on the 15,000-square-foot property.

"The Preston Bradley Center is currently home to the Peoples Church, two other church congregations, a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen, the Uptown Arts Center and the Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles.

"The Preston Bradley Center is included in the Uptown Square District, which was given city landmark status in 2016. The building is “orange” rated in the city’s historical survey, meaning plans to demolish or substantially alter the exterior of the building would require approval from the Chicago Landmarks Commission. (Ward, 10/21/20)

While the exterior of Preston Bradley Center / Peoples Church is protected by the Uptown Square Landmark District, the interior is not explicitly protected. In 2015, Preservation Chicago advocated for a individual Chicago Landmark Designation for the building that would include both the exterior and significant interior features including the large 1,300 seat sanctuary/auditorium and the highly decorative Masonic Hall located on the top floor of the building. At that time, the ownership agreed to the Individual Landmark Designation, but unfortunately the Individual Landmark Designation did not proceed. We'd like to revisit the possibility of creating an Individual Landmark Designation for Preston Bradley Hall/Peoples Church which would both protect these important interior spaces and provide assistance to support the creation of a cultural center to serve the greater Uptown community.

Neely Printing Building, Built in 1922 by architects Fugard & Knapp with additions in 1936 and 1941 designed by Thielbar & Fugard, 871 Franklin St. Photo Credit: Google Maps

"A Chicago developer wants to build 2,680 residential units on the Near North Side, one of the most ambitious proposals in the city in decades. JDL Development’s plan, which includes towers rising 587, 512 and 500 feet tall, is on 8.1 acres the developer has a deal to buy from Moody Bible Institute, JDL founder and CEO Jim Letchinger said Monday.

"The project would include rental apartments, condos and low-rise residences such as town homes. The project will create 236 affordable units on-site and 110 off-site, Letchinger said.

"Big plans have been in the works for months, but the exact scale of JDL’s vision was unknown until Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, informed constituents of an upcoming community meeting in an email Monday afternoon. Hopkins and Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, both will weigh in on the project, with input from neighborhood groups.

"In addition to support from local aldermen, JDL needs an amendment to an existing planned development, which requires approval of the Chicago Plan Commission and the City Council.

"North Union’s master plan is designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture.

"The site is roughly bound by CTA elevated train tracks and Oak, Chestnut and Wells streets.

"Moody Bible plans to remain on its main campus at 820 N. LaSalle Drive south of the North Union site it is selling." (Ori, 10/27/20)

There are a number of historic buildings within the boundaries of the proposed “North Union" development site. They should be retained and repurposed. As part of this project, Preservation Chicago would like to see protections for the historic buildings defined by a written agreement and included in the PD-Planned Development.

Eastern areas of the development site contain many surface parking lots and newer structures, particularly along Wells. However, there are a number of historic buildings located within or near the site, particularly around the Franklin Street Corridor and the CTA’s Brown Line Tracks. The list below includes a variety of historic structures which may or may not be owned by Moody or JDL, but should be considered and potentially protected as part of the master redevelopment plan.

The Neely Building is three-story building at 871 N. Franklin St. and originally housed the Neely Printing Company. Built in 1922 by architects Fugard & Knapp with additions in 1936 and 1941 designed by Thielbar & Fugard. Link to Wikipedia article for this building.

917 N. Franklin at the southeast corner of Franklin and Walton was also built in 1922, and was designed by August C. Wilmanns. It originally housed the Ernest J. Kruetgen engraving plant and later housed Franklin Offset Litho, an affiliate of the Neely Printing Company.

221 W. Walton - The Lighthouse Institute, a 2-story c. 1890s brick building

917 N. Franklin – 2-story brick c. 1910-1920 era building (appears empty)

920 N. Franklin – 4-story brick building

900 N. Franklin – 8-story brick building c. 1910-1920s

871 N. Franklin- “Neely Building” 3-story building (boarded-up entry)

868 N. Franklin – 2-story brick building, with a green clay tile roof c. 1910-1920s

870 N. Franklin – 3-story brick residential building, c. 1880s-1890s

312 W. Chestnut/315 W. Locust – “Borden’s Building” a 2-story yellow brick Art Deco/Art Moderne Building (next to the Brown Line Tracks)/coffee shop building

210 W. Chestnut – 2-story limestone clad Art Moderne building

315 W. Walton – “Instrument Laboratories” - a two story highly ornamented brick façade (next to the Brown Line Tracks) – orange-rated in the CHRS.

312 W. Walton – “Western News Company Garage Building” - a two story highly ornamented brick façade (next to the Brown Line Tracks)

"The Garfield Central Railroad is one of the largest model railroads in the country. Its steward--the Garfield-Clarendon Model Railroad Club--was established in Garfield Park in 1947 and moved to Clarendon Park in 1963. The club meets regularly in the Clarendon Park Field House to build and operate the railroad with the goal of educating the public and their members about the history and operations of railroads. The fifth and current model layout began in 1974 after a remodeling of the field house. It includes approximately 1,500 feet of hand-laid track with reliable operations controlled by a state-of-the-art signaling system. The railroad loops for 25 minutes through a landscape complete with mountains, scenery, towns, and people from 1950's Appalachia." (Open House Chicago) Photo Credit: Eric Allix Rogers

"The future of an Uptown community center is settled, even if what’s in store for the railroad club whose sprawling track and clanging trains call the historical building its home is less certain. The Clarendon Park Community Center, for years caught in a back-and-forth between community members who wanted to see the ailing Chicago Park District building renovated and others who hoped for brand-new construction, will remain on the North Side just off the lake.

"Last month, the Park District board voted to enter into a $1.12 million contract with Booth Hansen architects for the rehab. The overall project, funded in part from nearly $7 million in TIF funds, is expected to include two phases. Construction is anticipated to start by mid- to late 2021, according to the Park District, and it will remain partially open during construction.

“'I think the real benefit is that the Park District is saving a historically significant building,' said Scott Baumgartner, a member of the Garfield-Clarendon Model Railroad Club. 'There’s still some remnants remaining of the original structure, and to be able to preserve that for generations down the road, I think, is very important. And the other thing is that had the building been demolished, the train club would no longer exist, quite frankly. We would have had to close down.' So, being able to one day open again to wide-eyed kids and railroad enthusiasts alike will be a plus, Baumgartner said.

"The possibility of what a teardown would mean for the railroad club’s miniature world (created on a 1/87 scale) worried community members. Last year, more than 2,000 people signed an online petition to save the center, named as one of Chicago’s most endangered buildings by Preservation Chicago in 2015.

"In a survey about program preferences, community members placed the 'train display' second in importance, only after the gym. Concerns of community members also included building operation during construction, and what that would mean for programming like the youth arts and hip-hop organization Kuumba Lynx, and gardening programs outside the center.

"If the railroad club had to relocate, members estimated it could take years to get the display, anchored at the center since 1963, up and running again. The club estimates the current railroad, with 1,500 linear feet of hand-laid track, to be one of the largest model railroads in the country.

'It’s kind of like, could you deconstruct the Eiffel Tower and move it somewhere?' Katharine Boyda, president of the Clarendon Park Advisory Council, said last year as debate over the future of the center grew. 'Well, maybe. But what would that take?'

“'Improving Clarendon Park Community Center has long been the desire of the community,' Gleason said. 'The planning process resulted in a vision for that project that will fix fundamental problems — like the leaky gym roof and lack of accessibility, and create a more functional floor plan, as well as update the interior of the historic building,' Gleason said.

"The renovation was celebrated at the meeting by both the board and Ald. James Cappleman, 46th. 'It’s a dream come true,' Cappleman said at the virtual meeting, noting the center is situated in a North Side census tract with a high rate of poverty. He called the rehab 'remarkable.'

'Because this community center serves as a beacon for all the residents,' Cappleman said. 'Going to the ribbon-cutting for this will be the highlight of my entire time as alderman.'

"Parks Superintendent Michael Kelly said the project stretches back decades. 'This project, for me and many folks on our team, goes back so far for me. Personally, I had always wanted this to be a teardown and a new field house,' Kelly said." (Greene, 11/2/20)

Six Corners Sears Roebuck & Company, Nimmons, Carr & Wright, 1938, Photo Credit: Six Corners Association

"There was a time when the Six Corners commercial district in Portage Park was a real community nexus. It was where you went for shopping big and small, for shows at the Portage Theater and for business such as medical appointments. It laid claim to being the busiest retail stretch in the city outside of downtown.

"Today — not so much. The place where Irving Park Road, Cicero and Milwaukee avenues converge looks more like a patient awaiting a heart transplant. Prime sites are vacant or unused, although plenty of traffic still flows by — 70,000 cars a day by one consultant’s count. They’re just headed somewhere else for the most part.

"What’s the problem? Three come to mind: First, there’s the coronavirus and its chilling effect on everything economic. It’s made it harder for even well-capitalized investors to move forward with real estate projects. Second, and maybe more important for the long term, is the identity crisis facing the retail sector. Do we need as many stores in the age of online shopping? Finally, there’s the old bugaboo of political tensions.

"Exhibit A for the ailing Six Corners is the old Sears store at the northeast corner of Irving Park and Cicero. Opened in 1938 to what Sears archives said was a crowd of almost 100,000 people, it was the retailer’s last outlet in Chicago when the store closed in 2018. It had been in the hands of Seritage Growth Properties, investor Eddie Lampert’s vehicle for making money from Sears’ real estate.

"With Chicago-based Tucker Development, it cooked up a plan to convert the building to a retail arcade on the lower levels with homes above it, plus more multi-family homes next door to replace an old Sears Auto Center.

"It got positive reviews from neighbors and a sign off from Portage Park’s alderman, Jim Gardiner (45th). But Seritage has been selling assets because the coronavirus has hurt its rent collections across its national portfolio. So why not sell a parcel producing zero income?

"Gardiner said on social media that Seritage and Tucker sold the site to Chicago’s Novak Construction. Novak deals in big-box stores and traditional shopping plazas, not multi-use projects, so there’s concern about a change in plans.

"'They haven’t come up with any plans,' said Joe Angelastri, chairman of the recently formed Six Corners Chamber of Commerce and owner of the City Newsstand coffee shop and magazine store. 'We heard rumors they want to demolish the building.'" (Roeder, 10/26/20)

Preservation Chicago would like to see the Six-Corners Sears Store designated as a Chicago Landmark which would provide protections to the two principal facades.

Chicago Harbor Lighthouse. Photo Credit: Rickdrew at English Wikipedia

"The federal government is clutching its pearls at how the city has taken care of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse since it transferred ownership of the aging icon more than a decade ago — and now they want it back.

"In particular, they scoffed at the idea of turning the lighthouse into a luxury hotel with a helicopter pad; two Chicago developers floated that concept, but it stalled then died in the spitballing phase after both concluded it’d be too tough to turn a profit.

"The city has owned the lighthouse since the Coast Guard, National Park Service and General Services Administration signed off on handing over the deed in 2009 under an agreement the city would figure out a way to restore the deteriorating building for public use and education.

"The city initially hinted at the possibility of turning the lighthouse into a museum with a cafe. The idea of a bed and breakfast was kicked around. A ready supply of curiosity seekers could be ferried over from nearby Navy Pier, the thinking went.

"'No decisions have been finalized on the fate of the building’s ownership, according to Langel and city spokesman Peter Strazzabosco. In explaining the city’s lack of progress, Strazzabosco cited 'challenges involving the site’s location, seasonal usage limitations, lack of docking facilities, unknown market demand and other issues.'

"If the federal government retakes possession, the lighthouse could be offered for free to non-profit organizations. If no one bites, then it could be auctioned with preservation requirements outlined in the deed, Langel said.

"The lighthouse was built in 1893 and reconstructed at its current location — about a mile offshore of downtown — in 1917. It’s been all but abandoned for decades. It still functions. But it’s been fully automated, no longer needing a lighthouse keeper, since the 1970s.

Whatever happens, one thing is certain: Every year, the weather chips away at the lighthouse.

"'With the freeze-thaw process, there will eventually be no other alternative than to take the thing down, and that would be a huge loss,' he said.

"It has no dock, heat, plumbing or running water, and electricity is limited. But the bones seemed to be in decent shape, according to a city-commissioned assessment completed in 2015.

"'I’ve been all around the country, and I can’t think of any lighthouse that has such a magnificent urban vista,' Terras said." (Dudek, 1/11/20)

Preservation Chicago included Chicago's Lake Michigan water cribs as a 2017 Most Endangered. We recognize that the location of these iconic structures pose a unique challenge for reuse. However, the Lighthouse and cribs are the definition of a “landmark” – they can’t be missed by anyone on Lake Michigan or the shoreline.

Additionally, they are of architectural note and historical importance to Chicago’s water supply and engineering history. They should be designated Chicago Landmarks and creative adaptive reuse options be sought.

If repurposed, they would make extraordinarily unique and interesting destinations. Perhaps the Lighthouse and cribs could be repurposed as a restaurant, museum, excursion site, educational facility related to environmental issues, bird sanctuary, or other similar use that can be accessed via boat. If not reused, they should simply be preserved in situ with minimal structural maintenance so that they remain offshore landmarks to be enjoyed by boaters, sailors, and kayakers for years to come.

"It’s been nearly two years since plans to build a boutique hotel in the heart of Logan Square won City Council approval. Since then, the site has seen virtually no activity, raising questions about whether the much-anticipated hotel will actually get built. But, according to zoning attorney Rolando Acosta, who works for the developer behind the project, Blue Star Properties, the project is moving forward.

"Acosta said the developer has been working behind the scenes to secure the final pieces of approval in what has become a long and unruly process/ 'It’s not a very big project, but it has had so many layers of approvals that it’s just taken a long time,' Acosta said.

"After several months, Blue Star finally determined the city owns the property and the development team is now on its way to obtaining a special use permit from the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals, which is needed to open a hotel in the city, Acosta said. The zoning attorney said he expects the application to go up for approval at the board’s January meeting.

"Another reason the project has taken longer than anticipated is because it had to be approved by the Chicago Commission on Landmarks after securing final zoning approval from the City Council, Acosta said.

"Chicago has been battling the coronavirus pandemic since March but Acosta said the public health and economic crisis hasn’t had a significant impact on the development plan, which has already been approved by city planners. Blue Star is still planning to build a boutique hotel with 44 rooms and two restaurants on the site.

"The developer has enlisted 16″ on Center, the hospitality group behind Longman & Eagle, the Empty Bottle and other popular restaurants and music venues, to both serve as the hotel operator and run the restaurants, according to Acosta.

"The Grace’s Furniture building is one of the most prominent structures overlooking Logan Square and the Illinois Centennial Monument.

"Redevelopment of the building was held up for many years by a legal battle over the billboards on the side of the building facing the square. The city banned billboards on the side of the building in 2013, and the billboards’ owner, Visualcast, fought the measure in court. The city won the lawsuit and the last billboard was removed in May 2016.

"If the special use permit process goes smoothly, Acosta said construction on the hotel could begin early next year. The developer had hoped to begin construction this past spring. 'It’s a matter of when the building permit gets issued … they’re itching to start. Everybody’s itching to start,' he said." (Bloom, 11/4/20)

Logan Square Preservation, Preservation Chicago, and neighbors including Andrew Schneider, Patricia Lauber, Steve Heir, Lew Coulson, Bruce Anderson and others advocated for many years to protect this historic building and have been involved in on-going redevelopment conversations, which has contributed to the current preservation-oriented redevelopment proposal.

Preservation Chicago supports this development plan and encourages the City and developer to respect, retain, and even consider restoring the “L” station canopy entry and English cross bond brick wall designed by Myron Goldsmith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) in 1970. This is an example reflecting the Mies van der Rohe courtyard building studies.

Sumner Elementary School, 4320 W. 5th Avenue, Photo Credit: Google Maps

Lawndale Community Academy, 3500 W. Douglas Boulevard, Photo Credit: Google Maps

"Some West Side parents are pushing back against a proposal to consolidate three underutilized neighborhood schools in favor of a new, high-tech public school in North Lawndale. Parents and community organizers rallied Thursday outside Sumner Elementary School, one of three schools that would close to support the launch of the North Lawndale STEAM Partnership Academy.

"Neighborhood leaders have spent years developing the school, which would specialize in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Sumner, Lawndale Community Academy and Crown Academy all would close, and their pre-K to eighth-grade students would be moved to the new school.

"All too accustomed to seeing local schools close, opponents said Thursday the proposal doesn’t address the real reason students are leaving Lawndale: existing neighborhood schools are underfunded.

"'We have schools that are already open, and we are underfunded,' said Shavon Coleman, a parent of two Chicago Public Schools students and a teaching assistant at Lawndale Community Academy. 'Take the money that you were going to invest in the new STEAM school and invest that into our existing schools.'

"Parents said Sumner, Lawndale Community and Crown should be given the funding to have full STEAM programs, improved technology facilities and full-time social workers, nurses, librarians and speech pathologists.

'School closures concentrated on the South and West sides have not worked out well, parents and teachers said.

"'There were no savings. There were no discernable academic impacts that would justify the trauma of shutting down schools in communities that actually need a better deal,' Gates said. 'I’m sick of them telling me closing three down and building one means investment.' (Sabino, Block Club Chicago)

"Some applause is in order for a network of Englewood community organizations working now to transform a vacant and crumbling Chicago public school building into a community center designed to serve the needs of the area. If successful, the effort gives people in Englewood a place to get much-needed free transitional housing, vocational training and health care. And it helps the neighborhood heal a bit from former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2014 decision to suddenly close 50 schools all at once — and failing to develop a reuse plan for the vacated structures.

"On Wednesday, Chicago Public Schools approved transferring ownership of the former Granville T. Woods Math & Science Academy building, at 62nd Street and Racine Avenue, to the city.

"City officials are working out a redevelopment agreement with the nonprofit Inner-City Muslim Action Network — known as IMAN— which is leading a set of community organizations that is behind a plan to repurpose the three-story, 65,000-square-foot midcentury building. 'How do we sit by in these communities and allow 60,000-square-foot facilities to be vacant, vandalized and contribute to the decay and death in a neighborhood?' Rami Nashashibi, executive director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network, asked Sun-Times reporter Nader Issa.

"According to school officials, 37 of the vacated buildings have either been sold or are pending sale, transferred to the city for reuse, or internally repurposed since 2013. But it’s been a long haul. School buildings located in wealthier neighborhoods have been snapped up relatively quickly — no surprise given that repurposing a structure the size of a school is a multimillion-dollar expense — while many South and West side schools await new uses.

"For instance, the old Lyman Trumbull Elementary School, at 5200 N. Ashland in the North Side’s Andersonville community, now houses the upscale and private Chicago Waldorf School. But the former Crispus Attucks school, at 3813 S. Dearborn on the South Side, sits vacant after seven years.

"And the old Overton School, at 221 E. 49th, has received national attention for the pop-up artistic functions that have been held there.

"There is a particularly bright spot on the Far South Side where the 125-year-old former West Pullman Elementary School, at 119th Street and Parnell Avenue, has been turned into 60 units of affordable housing for seniors and military veterans.

"We like this effort. And we urge the city and CPS to support more creative efforts like this. The unplanned and unexpected shutdown of schools like Woods caused unnecessary harm to neighborhoods such as Englewood. Allowing them to remain abandoned and unused only aggravates the offense." (Chicago Sun-Times Editorial, 11/1/20)

"Ald. Matt Martin’s office (47th) said in a letter Friday he has approved developer Hayes Properties’ proposal to turn the old screw factory, which has been vacant at 4050 N. Hermitage Ave. for almost a decade, into a 19-unit, sustainably-minded apartment building.

"Two of those affordable units are fully wheelchair-accessible, and Hayes Properties is partnering with Access Living to make sure they are rented out to people with disabilities.

"The building will be designed to meet LEED energy standards and will have solar panels on its roof.

"The developers also said they’ll remove the building’s fire escape and replace the brick wall in front with materials 'lighter and friendlier to the streetscape and community.'

"The building has been vacant since 2012, when its last occupant moved out of a small apartment in the building’s corner, developers said.

"Joe Hayes, of Hayes Properties, previously told neighbors they planned to 'spruce up' the building’s exterior while maintaining its original architectural character.

“We’re going to try to restore it to what it looked like in 1920 on its first day,” he said." (Wittich, 11/2/20)

"Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in South Shore held its final Mass Sunday, just a day shy of its 101st anniversary. As part of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s ongoing consolidation efforts, Our Lady of Peace is among three Catholic churches on the South Side whose congregations will join St. Philip Neri, another parish in South Shore.

"For many churchgoers, the service was bittersweet.

"Eileen Langan, of Oak Lawn, grew up in South Shore and was baptized at the church in 1954. She brought a photo of her first communion class to Sunday’s service, showing her and other kids posing in front of the church’s altar. 'It’ll always be my home church. That’s the way I think of it,' Langan said as she fought back tears.

"Andre Rowell, who started coming to the church as a child in 1966, raised concerns about the closures and questioned why St. Philip was chosen as the new home base for all four congregations. He claimed Our Lady of Peace actually garnered the most support in a vote leading up to that decision.

"Rowell said he and other parishioners sent letters to Cardinal Blase Cupich and Pope Francis seeking clarity on the decision but never heard back. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

"When Rowell started at the school, which closed in 1999, he was one of fewer than 10 African American students. After decades of demographic change to the neighborhood, the final makeup of the church and its leadership was largely Black. As Rowell sees it, parishioners like him are now being pushed to an 'all-white church.' (Shuba, 9/6/20)

Preservation Chicago wishes to work with the owner the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Alderman, and the South Shore community towards a preservation reuse of this magnificent church and complex. It was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by Joseph W. McCarthy in 1933. Its complex of limestone buildings is highly symmetrical in composition with the convent on the east, the rectory on the west, and the school behind.

"Elected officials and residents celebrated the pending completion of renovations to Drexel Boulevard at a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday afternoon.

"The $4 million project to bring concrete pathways, accessible crosswalk ramps, irrigation systems and plant life to the historic boulevard will be complete by spring. The final phase will bring improvements to the stretch from 47th Street to Hyde Park Boulevard. Renovations from Oakwood Boulevard to 47th Street began in 2018 and wrapped up earlier this year.

"Pathways along the final stretch will 'hopefully' be completed in a few weeks, and plantings of trees and flowers will occur in the spring, said Ald. Sophia King (4th).

"The renovations, ongoing since 2018, have used city funds cobbled together from various sources over the years, like tax increment financing and bond funds, a CDOT spokesperson said.

"King, who said she regularly runs along the boulevard, praised transportation Commissioner Gia Biagi for finding the funds to support the final phase. 'This has been a community effort, something that we all have to be proud of,' King said. 'I couldn’t have dreamed it more perfectly, as I see all of you who are using the boulevard on your bikes, walking your dogs — it’s bringing so much vibrancy. I hope to get even more as we finish all of the sidewalks here.'” (Evans, 10/26/20)

"A landmarked, historic Lakeview mansion, known as the Daniel O. Hill House and once at risk of demolition, sold Aug. 31 for $1.7 million.

"The museum owner listed the mansion in 2016, and it became the subject of a yearslong tussle. Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, backed efforts to get the home on the city’s preservation list as the museum sought to demolish it.The city landmarked it in 2018, which barred owners from demolishing the historically significant home. At the time, museum leaders said the move would be a financial hit for a cultural organization already suffering 'extreme hardship.'

"As of Aug. 31, developer Campbell Street Asset Management has bought the mansion and intends to rehab the building and convert it to apartments, co-founder Gabriel Horstick told Elite Street.

'That’s the game plan, while preserving the historical significance and as much detail as we can,” he said. 'We’re preservationists at heart,' Horstick said. 'My group essentially buys historic or vintage Chicago properties, tries to preserve and maintain the original character, and find the highest and best use through creative design planning and construction. It’s going to be fabulous.'

"Noted architect Frederick Wainwright Perkins designed the nine-bedroom house, which was named after its first owner. The 11,403-square-foot, American Foursquare-style mansion was built in 1902 and sold as-is. It has seven full bathrooms, two half-bathrooms, six fireplaces, 12-foot-high ceilings, a theater and a full basement. The 0.3-acre property is also equipped with a coach house." (Goldsborough, 9/2/20)

Preservation Chicago and community stakeholders remained vigilant until the building’s future was secured. Preservation Chicago applauds 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney for his strong leadership and vocal opposition to the demolition of this important historic building and East Lake View landmark. In addition to the Alderman's support, the successful outcome is due to Preservation Chicago's rapid-response advocacy effort in partnership with community leaders, the Serbian American community, community organizations and residents, Landmarks Illinois, and DPD Landmarks staff which considered the request for Landmark Designation and recommended that the Commission on Chicago Landmarks grant preliminary protections and begin the landmark process.

We continue to support a new East Lake View Chicago Landmark District as proposed by 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney in addition to a “Meekerville” Chicago Landmark District of historic mansions east of Sheridan Road in the Lake View community.

"The Campaign to Create the Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park has released a report identifying sites in Chicago associated with Julius Rosenwald, a highly influential Jewish businessman and philanthropist of the early 20th century. The report will eventually be presented to the National Park Service (NPS) to assist the agency in performing a special resource study of the sites associated with Rosenwald and the Rosenwald Schools, the first step in developing a national park.

"The Campaign envisions a National Historical Park with a visitor center in Chicago that would interpret Rosenwald’s contributions to Sears, Roebuck & Company as well as highlighting his innovative and important philanthropic activities. The Park also would include a small number of Rosenwald Schools in their original locations in the South, to be selected by the NPS.

"The report entitled 'Analysis of Sites in Chicago Associated with the Life and Legacy of Julius Rosenwald' covers six locations: the Sears, Roebuck and Company Administration Building; former Wabash Avenue YMCA; Museum of Science and Industry; Rosenwald Courts Apartments; South Side Community Art Center; and Rosenwald Home. The first five sites are considered possible candidates for the park's visitor center.

"'This report is a key piece in the effort to create the park that would be the first in the National Park System to honor a Jewish American,' said Dorothy Canter, President of the Campaign's board. 'Julius built his career and raised his family in Chicago and conducted most of his philanthropic activities there. It is entirely appropriate that the visitor center that would tell his inspiring story be located in Chicago and educate people about this part of Chicago’s varied and vibrant history.'

"Rosenwald earned his fortune by transforming Sears, Roebuck and Company into the retailing powerhouse of the early twentieth century. He used the great wealth he amassed to assist many groups and institutions and, in particular, to expand the opportunities available to African Americans.

"In addition to the former Sears, Roebuck and Company Administration Building at Homan Square, four other sites were studied as possible visitor center locations in Chicago.

"In 2018, the Campaign sponsored a historic context study that concluded that Julius Rosenwald and the Rosenwald Schools are of national historic significance and that a National Historical Park would be an important addition to the National Park System.

"The Campaign also solicited recommendations of Rosenwald Schools for inclusion in the park from the 15 states in which the more than 5000 school facilities were built. These schools educated one-third of African Americans in the South prior to the end of segregation. Fifty-six school facilities were nominated by 14 states, and board members have visited 34 of them in 12 of the states.

"In addition, the Campaign is working with the National Parks Conservation Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a number of other partners to pass The Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools Act of 2019 in this session of Congress. The bill, which would be a key first step toward creation of the historical park, would require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study of the sites associated with Julius Rosenwald, with a special focus on the Rosenwald Schools.

"'In these troubled times, the nation needs stories such as that of Julius Rosenwald, the son of German Jewish immigrants who didn't finish high school but went on to become richer than his wildest dreams. Rosenwald invested in people, and his investments are still paying dividends.' Canter added.

"Please join the Campaign by visiting the website at www.rosenwaldpark.org."

Please "Follow" the Rosenwald Campaign at www.facebook.com/CreatingRosenwaldPark

Preservation Chicago has been working to support this vision with Dorothy Canter and the Rosenwald Campaign honoring Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools for several years. We were the first Chicago organization to sign on as a sponsoring partner and hope to see a strong Chicago presence for the Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park.

"A two-story worker’s cottage that collapsed in Wicker Park on Tuesday will be rebuilt, according to a realtor.

"The house, 1243 N. Marion Ct., collapsed around 7:20 p.m. September 22, 2020 he Sun-Times reported. No one was injured, but one of the building’s walls fell onto a home next door, where one adult was evacuated.

"The home was under construction by Blake Group and will be rebuilt, said realtor Sharon Gillman, of Gillman Group. The initial plan was to preserve the exterior and rehab the interior. But now the entire home has been demolished and will have to be rebuilt, she said.

"'They were trying to preserve the house,' she said. 'It was a super old house.'

"The worker’s cottage was built 140 years ago, according to Cook County records. Gillman Group — the realtor for several rehab projects in the area — had previously listed the 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom worker’s cottage for $1.6 million.'

"An early 1900s church on Cortland Street in Logan Square will soon come down to make way for a single-family home, much to the disappointment of Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) and local preservationists.

"New Life Church at 3518 W. Cortland St., which was built in 1903, will soon face a wrecking ball. Developer MK Construction & Builders Inc. was issued a demolition permit Oct. 7, according to city records.

"Last year, the developer was issued a construction permit to build a single-family home with a detached two-car garage and a 6-foot-tall wood fence in its place. An attempt to reach the developer was unsuccessful Tuesday.

"La Spata and preservationists oppose the demolition of the two-story brick church, which was built for Pacific Congregational Church, a congregation organized in 1883.

"'The historic churches were a core of our communities for so long. Seeing them knocked down piecemeal like this … it’s troubling,' said Andrew Schneider, president of Logan Square Preservation, a group that works to preserve historical buildings in the neighborhood.

"The developer does not need aldermanic approval to tear down the church and build anew, said Nick Zettel, La Spata’s policy director. The project is allowed under current zoning parameters, Zettel said. And while old, the church is not a protected city landmark.

"By razing the Logan Square church, MK Construction is bucking a trend among developers to restore churches and convert them into apartments, condos or single-family homes.

"Schneider said the small, mid-block churches, like New Life Church, are 'particularly in danger' of demolition because they often sit on a lot of land, which makes them 'attractive' to developers.

"'Too often we don’t get to have a conversation about what happens to these buildings. I think that’s a real shame,' he said. (Bloom, 10/28/20)

"A fire at Belmont Snack Shop on Thursday evening [October 8, 2020] caused significant damage to the Avondale restaurant, but no injuries were immediately reported.

"The fire started on the second floor of the building that houses Belmont Snack Shop at 3407 W. Belmont Ave., according to the Chicago Fire Department.

"It took firefighters about an hour to put out the blaze, which was caused by grease build-up in the exhaust hood in the restaurant, according to fire department spokesman Larry Merritt.

"Belmont Snack Shop has been a local favorite for years. The 24-hour spot is known for its old-school vibes, greasy diner food and affordable prices.

"In May, the restaurant’s owners launched a GoFundMe to save the restaurant from closing due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to its Facebook page. The owners were able to raise more than $3,000 and reopen the restaurant for indoor service in late June, according to a post." (Bloom, 10/8/20)

The iconic and beloved R.V. Kunka Pharmacy art deco storefront was overpainted with black paint in October 2020. Perhaps this is part of the owner's effort to make the building look more generic to attract a new tenant. The hope is that one day the paint can be removed and the signage restored. Archer Avenue was a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2007 and would be a strong candidate for a Chicago Landmark District designation.

"The building housing the R.V. Kunka Pharmacy is part of a long line of commercial structures on the south side of Archer Avenue. It is located at a 6-way intersection with Loomis and Fuller Streets.

"This typical late 19th Century building got a snazzy update some time around the 1930s. Glazed panels, modern fonts, a two-tone color scheme, and an emphasis on horizontal lines combine to form a Streamlined slipcover storefront.

"Though easy to overlook, the entryway to the store is the focal point of the remodeling. Two vertical plastic 'pilasters' appear to light up from within, marking the main door. The doors themselves feature stylish door pulls. Even the concrete step was given a reddish tint to harmonize with the facade." (A Chicago Sojourn Blog, 7/21/2008)

"Ever pined for a pint of craft beer during your evening bus commute? Now you can finally scratch that itch for transit-adjacent imbibing, thanks to this new private drinking area located aboard a vintage CTA bus outside Goose Island's Fulton Street taproom in West Town.

"The bus, which dates back to 1963, has been rehabbed and outfitted with tables, a heating system, Bluetooth speakers and a touchless ordering system to encourage social distancing. Once onboard, you and a small group of friends can hang out and admire the bus's retro charm over a pint of 312 (or your brew of choice) for up to two hours.

"You can book a $10, two-hour reservation—which comes with a free beer—on Resy. In the meantime, take a sneak peek at the bus below." (Krupp, 10/23/20)

After renovation, the modernist home at 6500 S Eberhart Avenue designed in 1959 by the pioneering African-American architect Roger Margerum is back on the market.

The following is from an article by Dennis Rodkin that appeared in Crain's Chicago Business, in March 2018 prior to the renovation.

"A California man who bought a modernist house in Woodlawn is a fan of its pioneering African-American architect, the late Roger Margerum, and plans to carefully restore it before putting it on the rental market.

"William King paid $117,500 on Feb. 27, 2018 for the the five-bedroom house, built in 1959 on Eberhart Avenue. He told Crain's that he estimates the rehab, which will update all utility and mechanical systems as well as the home's kitchen and two baths, will cost about $60,000.

"Margerum, who died in 2016, began his architecture career at prominent Chicago firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill, assigned to the firm's design of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, under visionary architect Walter Netsch. Margerum designed a small structure for the campus, the enclosure for an incinerator, but for a black man and a recent college graduate, 'these opportunities were amazing,' a former colleague told the Chicago Sun-Times when Margerum died. Margerum's later work in Chicago includes the Austin branch of the Chicago Public Library and Libby Elementary School in Englewood.

"In 1959, Margerum designed a 1,600-square-foot house on Eberhart Avenue for Emmett Ingram, a physician. In a neighborhood of classic Chicago brick and greystone multi-flats and bungalows, the low-slung, emphatically modern house stands out as much as it must have then. On the outside it's a blond brick box with walls of windows on both ends. Inside, the main feature that warms up the severity of the box is a pair of walnut walls, one straight and one curved. There's more walnut in the basement, wrapping a family room and bar area.

"'What Roger Margerum did with brick, glass and some walnut there is beautiful," King said. "You can see he was influenced by Mies van der Rohe. I can't wait to get in there and bring it back up.' He said the renovations will 'keep as much of it original as possible.'

Rodkin, 3/2/18)

Preservation Chicago is working with Sheridan Park neighbors to bring the beautiful historic home at 4706 N. Malden Street in the Sheridan Park National Register District to the attention of preservation-oriented buyers.

"Victorian home with elaborate trim and interior woodwork. Nestled on Malden street with mature trees and an iron gate fence, this home features a large driveway, front yard, elaborate cone tower on the left side of the house. Seven bedrooms and a basement give plenty of room for bringing this home to its former glory. Wood and iron wrap around staircase leads to the second floor. This can be a perfect home to renovate to all of your specific tastes and desires. Additional six parking spaces in the rear of the property are rented out for additional income. Needs work from water leak damage."

Preservation Chicago has been working with Sheridan Park neighbors, community and elected officials for over a decade to encourage a larger Chicago Landmark District that would encompass the Sheridan Park National Register District.

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: 116 N. Willard Court, West Loop

#100897650

Date Received: 11/04/2020

Ward: 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett

Applicant: PLD Holdings, LLC

Owner: Mark and Beverly Paulsey

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

Status: Under Review

Address: 1947 N. Fremont Street, Lincoln Park

#100897264

Date Received: 11/04/2020

Ward: 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith

Applicant: Patrick Balthrop, Sr.

Owner: City of Chicago

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

Status: Under Review

Address: 4500 N. Spaulding Ave., Albany Park

#810086753

Date Received: 08/13/2020

Ward: 33rd Ward Alderman Rossana Rodriguez 

Applicant: Taylor Excavating & Construction, Inc.

Owner: Chicago Milal Church

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

Address: 1500 N. Wieland Street, Old Town

#100883600

Date Received: 07/23/2020

Ward: 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett

Applicant: Precision Excavation, LLC

Owner: Ner Holdings, Inc. C/O Nader W. Hindo

Permit Description: Wreck and removal of a 2.5-story masonry, multi-family residential building.

Status: Released 10/22/20

Address: 1319-1325 S. Ashland Avenue/1544-1554 W. Hastings Street, Near West Side

#100875210

Date Received: 05/22/2020

Ward: 28th Ward Alderman Jason Ervin

Applicant: Alpine Demolition Services, LLC

Owner: 130 Ashland Opportunity, LLC

Permit Description: The demolition of a three-story masonry church, while preserving the foundations and footings.

Status: Under Review

Preservation Chicago has advocated for St. Stephenson for many years. We are actively outreaching to the development team to encourage retention of the exterior walls and adaptive reuse of the interior space. Previously, we found multiple developers interested in adaptively reusing this historic building for a residential use. Multiple offers for purchase that were presented, but the church ownership declined all offers.

Address: 2114 N. Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Park

100855857

Date Received: 04/22/2020

Ward: 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith

Applicant: JAR Corp.

Owner: Frederic Boyer

Permit Description: Partial demolition to accommodate third floor additions and a side addition.

Status: 90-day hold extended to 10/19/2020 by mutual agreement

“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.

Preserving the Past, Fortifying the Future: The Economic Case for Historic Preservation. Image credit: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

Preserving the Past, Fortifying the Future: The Economic Case for Historic Preservation presented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

"From enhancing real estate values, to fostering local businesses, preservation keeps historic main streets and downtowns economically viable. In places that have preserved their historic character, heritage tourism is a real and tangible economic force.

"Developers are discovering that money spent rehabilitating historic buildings is an investment in the future—these structures become showpieces of a rejuvenated city and spaces for new and existing businesses to prosper.

"Featuring preservationists, economists, businesses, and regional success stories, this virtual program will provide a deep dive into the lesser-known advantages of revitalizing and repurposing historic spaces.

Watch the panel discussion link with guests including Carolyn Cawley (US Chamber Foundation), Katherine Malone-France (National Trust), Donovan Rypkema (Place Economic), Alex Weld (Wheeling Heritage), RJ Wolney (Bedrock Detroit), Michael Carney (US Chamber Foundation)

"A couple days ago, Governing ran a story entitled 'Historic Preservation is Great, Except When it Isn’t.' Written by Scott Beyer who calls himself a 'market urbanist,' the piece focused on preservation in New York City. Since PlaceEconomics just finished a study of preservation in New York, I thought we were uniquely situated to respond.

"Beyer was right on several things. He cited research that showed that properties in historic districts had higher values than similar properties not in historic districts (we usually call that the 'preservation premium') and that even non-historic properties nearby see an increased value (we call that the 'preservation halo effect'). While we usually look at rates of change in values rather than the values themselves as a more accurate picture, the findings he cited are consistent with research we’ve done.

"But two things are interesting here. First, when we first began systematic research on the impacts of historic preservation 30 years ago, the most common complaint was 'we don’t want those historic districts. It will be another layer of regulation and that means property values will go down.' When, as Beyer notes, the opposite has been true, now the complaint is 'those damn historic districts, they just make property values go up.' I suppose Beyer’s general libertarian ideology towards land use laws means whichever the outcome, that regulation is still bad.

"What is even odder, however, is that one learns in Economics 101 that prices ARE the expression of the marketplace. That buyers are willing to pay higher prices for properties in neighborhoods of protected character is the market at work. Our findings reveal a general rule of thumb that the 'preservation premium' is about 2/3 driven by the character of the neighborhood and 1/3 from the protection that local historic districts provide.

"In fact, in economics there is a name for that—revealed preference. Revealed preference is the principle that the best way to measure consumer preferences is to observe their purchasing behavior. If purchasers are willing to pay more for a product of the same utility, they are revealing their preference—in this case to live in a historic home in a historic district. This is 'market urbanism' at work.

"But as demonstrated in our New York study, it is not just in housing prices where a revealed preference for historic districts emerges. Businesses, and their employees, that disproportionately choose to locate in historic districts include knowledge workers, tech workers, restaurants, and the creative class occupations. They are choosing where to locate based on the quality of the character of those historic neighborhoods with the confidence that that character will also be there tomorrow. And by the way, in Manhattan, historic districts have a disproportionate share of businesses owned by women and minorities and very small firms.

"Beyer suggests that having historic districts is constraining needed development. However, in the City of New York less than five percent of the developable parcels are under the purview of the Landmarks Commission. We are such believers in 'market urbanism' that we think the real estate development community is smart enough to make a living on 95% of the land not historically designated. It should be noted that, in each of the five boroughs, the historic districts are among the densest neighborhoods. Low density areas in New York? A whopping 1.1% are in historic districts; 98.9% are not.

"The oft repeated claims 'you can’t build new in historic districts' and 'historic districts are preventing the creation of affordable housing' are among the other pieces of misinformation common among preservation’s critics. The 'Housing New York' initiative was established with the intent of creating and preserving 200,000 units of high-quality affordable housing. Over the past five years, more than 1,700 units in that program have been created or preserved in local historic districts. Nearly a quarter of those have been through new construction, a rate not dissimilar to the 33% share of new affordable housing units created in the rest of the City.

"Beyer also repeats a common pattern of critics of historic preservation—critique by vignette. He cites an example of a church that stood vacant because redevelopment plans were not approved by the Landmarks Commission. Well the plans were ultimately approved, but that’s not even the point. Less than 1% of applications to the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission are rejected. Far more people are run over by taxis in New York every year than receive a 'no' on their landmarks application.

"A little research might have helped this article. Beyer praises Seattle for having a transferable development rights ordinance (TDR) to allow density to be transferred from historic buildings in exchange for being able to build higher elsewhere. Well, New York had among the first such ordinances, and much of the redevelopment of the Theater District happened because that tool was effectively used.

"The article celebrates the redevelopment in Atlanta of old brick warehouses to accommodate new uses. He’s exactly right. It’s just too bad that in his criticism of historic preservation in New York, he didn’t point out that Facebook, Google, Netflix, Apple, and Amazon have within the last year made major investments, either in redevelopment or in long-term leases, in exactly those types of historically designated properties.

"Beyer is all for using incentives, including not just TDRs but property tax assessment freezes, tax credits, and other tools. Absolutely right. But every example he cites reflects the understanding that effective market-based preservation uses both carrots and sticks. Seattle, Atlanta, New York City, Savannah, and most of the California cities using the Mills Act property tax relief use incentives in conjunction with, not instead of, the regulatory protection of their historic properties.

"Finally, Beyer, along with other preservation critics, seems to be stuck in the historic preservation of the 1970s. First, they are for designating buildings based on grand architectural character but think buildings 'that aren’t distinctive' and 'uninteresting' and should be razed. It was preservationists’ recognition that our cities’ histories are incorporated into more than just the buildings of rich, dead, white guys that led to a much broader and more diverse set of criteria of what merits protection.

"Second, the article ends with this: 'The idea of putting historic status around whole districts…is straight out of the top-down planning playbook.' Even a most cursory examination of the reality of historic preservation would have shown the author that today in most American cities (including New York if he would have but asked), local historic districts are only created when local residents ask that the quality and character of their neighborhood be protected—the polar opposite of top-down planning.

"We at PlaceEconomics are all for Market Urbanism. And historic preservation is market urbanism at its best." (Rypkema, 10/7/20)

Donovan Rypkema is president of Heritage Strategies International and principal of PlaceEconomics.

"For many Chicagoans, the story of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 is a familiar one: a devastating blaze that destroyed the city, the resurrection of the city from the ashes. The Great Chicago Fire: A Chicago Stories Special, which revisits the fire, reveals new details with recreations and animation that bring the fire to life.

"The show narrates the Fire through the lens of three people: Irish immigrant Catherine O’Leary, who was wrongly accused of starting the fire; Chicago Tribune publisher William Bross; and head custodian of the Board of Trade, Joseph Hudlin, a former slave who became a hero.

"The story of the Great Chicago Fire is 149 years old. What are some of the challenges in telling a story that happened so long ago?" (WTTW Chicago, 9/22/20)

Ask Geoffrey: Landmarking in Chicago. Image Credit: WTTW Chicago

"The Woodlawn home of Emmett Till received a preliminary landmark designation last month from the City of Chicago. It’s one of the latest chapters in the battle to preserve Chicago’s historic buildings, which officially began fifty years ago this month. Geoffrey Baer traces the half-century story that cost at least one preservationist his life, in this week’s Ask Geoffrey.

"When did Chicago start landmarking buildings, and why? Does it truly save them from being torn down? — Chicago Tonight team

"Landmark status in Chicago usually protects from demolition the parts of a building visible from the public way, like the façade. Today we take it for granted that many buildings with historic and aesthetic value are preserved as landmarks, but it’s a relatively new practice here.

"In fact, the first official Chicago landmarks were designated just 50 years ago this month: the Glessner and Clarke Houses in what we now call the South Loop. The idea of landmarking in Chicago got off of the ground several years earlier. In the late 1950s, several groups started worrying about the number of pioneering skyscrapers of the so-called 'Chicago School' that were being torn down and started pushing the city to do something about it.

"In 1960, the city granted more than 30 Chicago buildings 'honorary' landmark status. But that didn’t come with any legal authority to keep buildings standing. This was put to the test later that year, in one of Chicago’s first huge preservation fights to save the Garrick Theater in the Loop – which had received that honorary status. The building, with its stunning auditorium and 'Chicago School' exterior, was designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler.

"The battle to save the theater ultimately failed, but out of it emerged an unlikely hero: a photographer named Richard Nickel. For decades he fought to save Chicago’s architectural treasures, especially the work of Louis Sullivan. His passion would ultimately cost him his life.

"Nickel was killed in 1972 when part of Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange collapsed on top of him during demolition while he was inside scavenging ornament. Four years before Nickel’s tragic death, in 1968, the city had in fact passed a new landmark ordinance that actually had the legal power to protect buildings."(Meyers, 10/8/20)

"The National Trust has a long history working to save Rosenwald Schools, including a place on the 2002 America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places List.

"Recently, Antiques and the Arts conducted a Q&A with Brent Leggs, the executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. Leggs explains the importance of Rosenwald Schools, saying “Arguably, the Rosenwald Schools story is equal to Brown vs Board of Education. It’s one of the most important educational stories of Twentieth Century America. It’s also important in today’s time, telling how a multiracial community, including Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald—men from different backgrounds—came together as social justice champions in their fight against the inequitable and poor educational facilities that Black kids and families had to endure across the South.”

"Leggs also said, 'The National Trust and National Parks Conservation Association have collaborated on the newly created Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Campaign with the goal of establishing a multi-site park in the National Park System telling the story of Julius Rosenwald and Rosenwald Schools. This would be the first of more than 420 National Park Service units to commemorate the life and contributions of a Jewish American.” (SavingPlaces.org)

"In the early 1900s, a first-generation Jewish American from a German immigrant family would become one of the most successful business magnates in all of America. But unlike many other magnates of the Gilded Age, Julius Rosenwald did not sit on his hands and eat his wealth away. He instead helped build a vast landscape of school buildings for the Black community across the South in what would be one of the most ambitious educational initiatives of the Twentieth Century. Recognition is on its way as Brent Leggs, the executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust For Historic Preservation, and his team move forward legislation that will preserve a number of Rosenwald Schools in the National Park System. We spoke with Leggs to learn more about the initiative and the impact Rosenwald has left across the Southern United States.

"Let’s start from the top: who was Julius Rosenwald and what is a Rosenwald School?

Julius Rosenwald was a first-generation born immigrant to the United States who made a fortune in retail with Sears, Roebuck & Co. His family had fled persecution in Germany, so his own experience with bigotry and hatred made him empathetic to the plight of African Americans. Between 1917 and 1932, the Rosenwald School Fund invested $4.3 million and, along with $4.7 million contributed by the Black community, more than 5,300 architecturally advanced school buildings were created for Black children in the South across 15 states. They were built for educational purposes and community use, and you can imagine what it meant for the Black community to have state-of-the-art schools that were the centerpiece of community pride. Rosenwald was a social innovator, a champion of human rights and a justice-driven philanthropist.

"Where did his drive come from? Who helped him along?

Rosenwald felt a social and personal responsibility to use his power, influence and privilege to uplift the Black community in the South. He was impressed by educator Booker T. Washington and moved into action and joined the board of Washington’s Tuskegee Institute in 1912. These two men shared a belief in self-help and self-reliance and the power of architecture as racial justice to envision a radical revolution in American education.

"Why is the Rosenwald Schools story important?

Arguably, the Rosenwald Schools story is equal to Brown vs Board of Education. It’s one of the most important educational stories of Twentieth Century America. It’s also important in today’s time, telling how a multiracial community, including Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald – men from different backgrounds – came together as social justice champions in their fight against the inequitable and poor educational facilities that Black kids and families had to endure across the South. By 1928, one-third of the South’s rural Black school children and teachers were served by Rosenwald Schools." (Smith, 10/6/20)

"When Tom Hoen was a boy in the early 1970s, he would visit his father’s factory on school field trips. At the time, A. Hoen & Co. was the oldest lithography firm in the country. Its massive printing presses produced everything from Topps baseball cards to the detailed maps folded into National Geographic magazine. Hoen would ride the bus with his classmates to the company’s East Baltimore plant, and very often it was his father himself, Townsend Hoen, who would greet them. He’d usher the students into the company’s buildings—which covered an entire city block—and show them around. 'As soon as you’d walk in, you’d get a distinct smell of ink and paper, and see and hear these great big, loud machines going ‘ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk,’' Hoen, now 56, recalls. 'What more could a 10-year-old boy want?'

"But by 1981, the cacophony had stopped, silenced in part by the development of newer presses that ran faster and cheaper but arguably did not match the quality of Hoen’s. A. Hoen & Co. became yet another East Baltimore manufacturing plant to shutter, leaving the people of the surrounding neighborhoods without the well-paying jobs they had counted on for generations.

"The building, as well as the Collington Square community surrounding it, deteriorated. Other businesses left, vacant rowhouses became the norm, and the drug trade flourished. By the 2000s, 'vacancy and abandonment had reached extraordinary levels,' says Michael Braverman, commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing & Community Development.

"The grim landscape of East Baltimore’s boarded-up houses and languishing Hoen building, which the city then owned, was travelers’ first view of Baltimore as they arrived on Amtrak trains from the north. The negative impression was something that particularly bothered developer Bill Struever. As a fervent city booster who had made a career of redeveloping woebegone landmarks, he took it personally.

"In 2015, when he learned that the city was soliciting requests for proposals for the Hoen complex—six separate buildings encompassing roughly 83,000 square feet—his company, Cross Street Partners, and co-developer City Life Historic Properties applied. By 2016, the buildings were effectively theirs—for just $200,000.

"After meetings with members of the community and Karen D. Stokes, who was then the CEO of nonprofit Strong City Baltimore, the firms decided to redevelop the Hoen campus into a neighborhood hub, filled with agencies that could address local challenges. The complex would offer job training programs, adult education, and offices for community nonprofits and researchers committed to solving Baltimore’s problems. With Strong City involved as both a nonprofit partner and the site’s first tenant, the developers dubbed the complex the Center for Neighborhood Innovation and began the formidable task of trying to recruit other renters to a decrepit property that had sat vacant for 35 years." (Sugarman, Summer 2020)

Preservation Chicago is thrilled to announce the newest member to our team! Max Chavez, a recent graduate of New York University in London’s Historical & Sustainable Architecture graduate program, has joined us as an intern for the next five months.

A Los Angeles native, Max has come to Chicago thanks to the National Trust for Historic Preservation which selected him as a recipient of the Mildred Colodny Diversity Scholarship. We are excited to work with Max who has enthusiastically jumped into a number of challenging and interesting Chicago preservation projects.

Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, Max was given the option of completing his National Trust internship with a local preservation organization as a way of continuing his work during the pandemic while also contributing to on-the-ground preservation efforts where help is needed most. This is how Max came to reach out to Preservation Chicago.

Max was drawn to preservation as a way to tell more diverse stories about our cities and the people that live in them. His graduate thesis, which won NYU in London’s Gavin Stamp Memorial Award for Outstanding Thesis, focused on managing and reusing sites of what Max termed “burdened architecture”: contentious sites marked by historical traumas and injustices.

He is also committed to preservation of underrepresented heritages, most specifically those of the LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities. In addition to his interests in social and community issues, Max is also a self-avowed enthusiast of architectural history and is very excited to be in a new city full of beautiful sites to explore.

We consider this local/national partnership a best practice and are hopeful that this model that can be replicated in the future. This approach represents an outstanding opportunity for the National Trust to further their efforts to support the next generation of talented, diverse preservationists by providing them the opportunity for direct, hands-on advocacy experience. Additionally, these bright and enthusiastic emerging preservationists bring valuable additional capacity to local preservation organizations on the front-lines of preservation efforts.

Virtual Conference 2020: Saving Wright Now

November 11-14, 2020

"The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy’s virtual conference, Saving Wright Now, offers an unprecedented chance to convene the global community of Wright specialists and aficionados from November 11-14, 2020. Preservationists, homeowners and public site leaders will participate in lively panel discussions and open their doors to attendees through video and photographic tours, providing a broad look at the current state of the movement to save Wright. From the comfort of home, journey to nearly twenty sites, many not regularly open to visitors—an itinerary that spans Wright’s career and reaches from his Midwestern origins to Japan

"Conference Agenda includes:

"While coronavirus canceled Mary Lu Seidel’s plans to run in the Chicago Marathon, she wasn’t going to let her year of training go to waste. After all, the preservation advocate had already told herself this was the one and only year she would run 26.2 miles in a day.

"'It’s a very powerful thing to train for a marathon, but I’m never going to do this again,' she said.

"Seidel, who works as director of community engagement with Preservation Chicago, has redirected her energy into her own marathon tour of historical sites on the South and West sides.

"Early Sunday morning, she’ll start off at Old Fashioned Donuts in Roseland and run a winding route to the Central Park Theater in North Lawndale. Along the way, Seidel will pass Emmett Till’s Woodlawn home, the Forum in Bronzeville, a historic tavern in East Side and more, hoping to draw attention to some of Chicago’s storied properties and the neighborhoods they inhabit.

"All six are sites Preservation Chicago has been 'actively involved with recently,' either in renovating them or designating them as one of Chicago’s seven 'most endangered' properties, Seidel said. The owners of the properties will be there when she arrives, she said.

"Also important to Seidel’s marathon is lifting up Black-owned local businesses — including Old Fashioned Donuts and Ain’t She Sweet Cafe in Bronzeville — and community organizations involved in preservation along the route.

"'In this era where … many people are wondering what they can do to make our city stronger and more equitable — start shopping in these neighborhoods and supporting local businesses,' Seidel said.

"Seidel said she might even take a break during her marathon to support a local business. 'If I”m hungry and passing one of those restaurants … I’ll eat along the way,' she said. “I’m not this elite athlete that is trying to set a record.' (Evans, 10/9/20)

Historic buildings, districts, and neighborhoods will be highlighted along the route, along with great groups working to strengthen their communities. Particular focus will be paid to:

The website also highlights great community partners that are working in these neighborhoods, including:

And Mary Lu's creative approach inspired other alternate marathons including the Chicago Historic Boulevards Marathon 2020 from Walter K.

Over 250 people registered to watch and participate in Preservation Chicago's Investment Through Preservation In Roseland Panel Discussion in partnership with Open House Chicago on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. A huge thank you to our panelists, OHC partners and Preservation Chicago staff for making it such a tremendous success.

"After decades of disinvestment, could historic preservation be used as a tool to help rebuild vibrancy in the Roseland neighborhood? Watch the roundtable discussion, co-convened with OHC 2020 community partner Preservation Chicago.

"In its prime, South Michigan Avenue in Roseland was a well-regarded shopping district that supported the Roseland and Pullman communities and drew in visitors from other areas of the South Side. Once referred to by residents as “The Avenue,” Roseland's Michigan Avenue Commercial District is now on the "Chicago 7 Most Endangered" list, compiled annually by Preservation Chicago. In addition, Roseland is included in the City of Chicago's INVEST South/West initiative.

"This program looked at the toll divestment has taken on the Roseland community, what it will take to revitalize the area, and how historic preservation might be a successful tool for spurring economic development.

PROGRAM MODERATOR: Mary Lu Seidel is the Director of Community Engagement for Preservation Chicago, working throughout the City of Chicago to save significant built and natural environments. Her current projects include leading a community-driven planning process in disinvested neighborhoods to identify what is important to the community and strategies to keep those places intact. Prior to joining Preservation Chicago, she worked at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She has extensive community building experience over 30 years in the Chicago area market working in economically and ethnically diverse areas.

PROGRAM SPEAKER: Andrea Reed has been the Executive Director for the Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce since its inception in 2009. She is on the board of Preservation Chicago, the Illinois Green Alliance, and Women Gathering for Justice.

PROGRAM SPEAKER: Paul Petraitis is a lifelong Chicago resident who is a musician, photographer and historian. A local expert on Roseland history, he was a historic advisor to the writing of "Down an Indian Trail in 1849: The Story of Roseland."

PROGRAM SPEAKER: Clevan Tucker Jr. is the President of the Roseland Heights Community Association (RHCA) and a member of the Red Line Extension Coalition (RLEC). As President of the RHCA, Clevan works for the needs of the community, covering all aspects of neighborhood living—socially, culturally and economically.

PROGRAM SPEAKER: Erika Sellke, AICP, is an urban planner with the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development. She is the lead planner for the Far South Region, which includes the INVEST South/West corridors of Michigan Avenue, 111th Street and Commercial Avenue.

"This 12-week 'Architecture Crash Course' series is like a summer study session in Chicago’s most renowned feature. Your rental is for the entire series of recordings of our live, virtual tours. From grand commercial structures to humble neighborhood cottages, from urban redevelopment to the historic preservation movement, these 30-minute presentations illuminate the human experience of the city’s architecture. You get access to all 12 videos, which are added weekly until Aug 20. *Bonus: Virtual Architectural Boat Tour Video (Chicago Detours)

"Neighborhood group Logan Square Preservation has hosted a September house and garden walk for nearly 40 years, giving neighbors a peek inside historical homes along and around Logan Boulevard.

"But this year, with the coronavirus pandemic, the organization canceled the walk and launched a self-guided history tour that allows residents to learn about neighborhood landmarks and historically significant homes safely and on their own time.

"The Pillars & Porticos tour, which doubles as a membership drive, launched online this weekend. It is only available to members of Logan Square Preservation. A membership costs $20 annually.

"Neighbors can pull up the map — on their phone or computer — and travel to any of the 22 curated sites they want to visit. At each site, there are accompanying 'stories of those who have built, lived and worked in these places' over the years.

"Group member Shana Liberman, who helped organize the tour, stressed that while the house and garden walk served as inspiration, the self-guided tour has grown into 'so much more.'

"A group of Logan Square Preservation volunteers spent hundreds of hours compiling historical facts, anecdotes and photos for the tour, creating a 'downloadable reference people can keep forever,' Liberman said.

"'The value the docents provide [at the house walk] is they can point out things like the moldings and the architects … the appeal of this guide is it gets into far greater detail than a docent would ever able be able to go into,' she said.

"Participants can find a range of sites on the map, from the Illinois Centennial Monument to an early 1900s mansion designed for the founder of an ice company.

Chicago Humanities Festival presents The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Lecture on Architecture

Carl Smith on Chicago’s Great Fire.

"Reaching much deeper than the myths that still surround this justifiably legendary urban disaster, historian Carl Smith’s new book, Chicago’s Great Fire, recounts both the harrowing destruction of the dynamic young city on October 8-10, 1871, and the extraordinary recovery that immediately followed. Join Smith for a richly illustrated lecture in which he will consider how this catastrophe irreversibly altered the physical cityscape and reflect on how Chicago’s destruction and resurrection, impressive as they were, revealed and deepened troubling social divisions. Smith will also discuss how the maps created for his book attempt both to enrich the narrative and tell their own story.

"Carl Smith is Franklyn Bliss Snyder Professor of English and American Studies and Professor of History, Emeritus, at Northwestern University. His books include Chicago and the American Literary Imagination, 1880-1920; Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: The Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman; The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City; and City Water, City Life: Water and the Infrastructure of Ideas in Urbanizing Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago. William Bridges, Perspective Group and Photography Gallery."

"The Cream City~Windy City podcast explores thought-provoking connections between Milwaukee and Chicago, two cities on Lake Michigan, only 90 miles apart. Hosted by Wendy Bright, these short stories dive into the fascinating but little known links between the people and events of Milwaukee and Chicago."

The Preservation Chicago 2020 Chicago 7 Most Endangered Book is now available for purchase at the Preservation Chicago webstore.

The Preservation Chicago 2020 Chicago 7 Most Endangered Book is the most impressive since the program was established in 2003. Its 100 pages of original research, creative solutions, and beautiful photographs is a pleasure to read.

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

The 2020 Most Endangered include the following:

Please note that all sales proceeds directly support Preservation Chicago and the mission.

"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.

Unity Temple: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Modern Masterpiece

An original documentary film by Lauren Levine and narrated by Brad Pitt

"Frank Lloyd Wright’s Modern Masterpiece, Unity Temple is an homage to America’s most renowned architect. The film pulls back the curtain on Wright’s first public commission in the early 1900’s to the painstaking efforts to restore the 100 year old building back to its original beauty. The dedicated team of historians, craftspeople, members of the Unitarian congregation and Unity Temple Restoration Foundation reveal the history of one of Wright’s most innovative buildings that merged his love of architecture with his own spiritual values. The film intersperses the architect’s philosophies with quotes narrated by Brad Pitt."

Praise for Unity Temple: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Modern Masterpiece:

"Wonderful to see this magnificent building restored, beautifully captured."

"What a wonderful film! You captured the restoration of Unity Temple and Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece so beautifully."

"I watched your film last night and thoroughly enjoyed it! I’ve seen many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings, but have yet to see Unity Temple. I will definitely have to visit it now. Well done!"

"I visited 25 years ago. The wonder of this film and the magnificence of the building is luring me back. Thank you."

"A stunning film about a remarkable building. Congratulations to Lauren Levine, her colleagues in film and those who restored a masterpiece."

"Perhaps no two names in Chicago movie theaters were better known than Balaban and Katz, a family operation that, during its heyday, built, owned, and managed more than 100 theaters. Most were in Chicago, including the Chicago, Oriental, Uptown, and Riviera, but they spread across the suburbs and state - in venues such as Bloomington, Peoria, and Joliet - plus beyond Illinois' borders, South Bend, Indiana, and Toledo, Ohio, among them.

"As Balaban and Katz family historian, author, and documentarian David Lee Balaban recounts, the seed for the success of the family - there were seven Balaban brothers and one Katz, the husband of the brothers' lone sister - was planted by the matriarch, Augusta 'Gussie' Mendeburskey Balaban. A Russian Jewish immigrant, she ran a small grocery store around Maxwell Street in Chicago's old Jewish immigrant neighborhood at the turn of the 20th century.

"'Instead of squeezing cantaloupes, which they never buy, you can get a nickel'" from paying customers for movies - and they can't get their money back if they don't like them. That was Gussie's advice to her sons, said Balaban, the author of The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz, published in 2006, and grandson of one of the brothers, also named David.

"The eldest two, A. J. (Abraham) and Barney, embarked on the movie theater business in 1909. Eventually, all seven were involved. Barney subsequently was named president of Paramount Pictures, which bought a controlling interest in Balaban and Katz, and brother-in-law Sam Katz became a bigwig at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The youngest two, Harry and Elmer, father of actor Bob Balaban, formed H & E Corporation, which ran the Esquire theater on East Oak Street.

"The Balaban and Katz theaters were known for their ornate interiors and exteriors - heated entryways, plush carpeting, majestic balustrades, gilded fountains, original murals, and chandeliers. Some even featured playgrounds. Many were built by the Chicago architecture firm Rapp and Rapp, and were the first to feature air-conditioning, a godsend to Chicagoans eager to escape blisteringly hot summers.

"Escape was key to the Balaban and Katz entertainment philosophy. As the country reeled from the Great Depression and World War II, Balaban and Katz moviegoers, for a coin apiece, could take in vaudeville acts and stage shows before enjoying film shorts and a feature flick, along with music by a live organist - all in luxurious surroundings.

"'People of modest means could experience the world,' said David Lee Balaban." (Miller, 10/5/20)

Chicago’s Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City

by Carl Smith

"From an acclaimed historian, the full and authoritative story of one of the most iconic disasters in American history, told through the vivid memories of those who experienced it.

"Between October 8–10, 1871, much of the city of Chicago was destroyed by one of the most legendary urban fires in history. Incorporated as a city in 1837, Chicago had grown at a breathtaking pace in barely three decades, from just over 4,000 in 1840 to greater than 330,000 at the time of the fire. Built hastily, the city was largely made of wood. Once it began in the barn of Catherine and Patrick O’Leary, the Fire quickly grew out of control, twice jumping branches of the Chicago River on its relentless northeastward path through the city’s three divisions. Close to one of every three Chicago residents was left homeless and more were instantly unemployed, though the death toll was miraculously low.

"Remarkably, no carefully researched popular history of the Great Chicago Fire has been written until now, despite it being one of the most cataclysmic disasters in US history. Building the story around memorable characters, both known to history and unknown, including the likes of General Philip Sheridan and Robert Todd Lincoln, eminent Chicago historian Carl Smith chronicles the city’s rapid growth and place in America’s post-Civil War expansion. The dramatic story of the fire—revealing human nature in all its guises—became one of equally remarkable renewal, as Chicago quickly rose back up from the ashes thanks to local determination and the world’s generosity and faith in Chicago’s future.

"As we approach the fire’s 150th anniversary, Carl Smith’s compelling narrative at last gives this epic event its full and proper place in our national chronicle."

Praise for Chicago’s Great Fire:

“A wonderfully thoughtful and concise retelling of the tragedy and its aftermath. More important, the book reminds the reader that many of the issues battled over today—the place of immigrants, the nature of poverty, the efficiency and reliability of a democratic government—have cycled through American affairs for more than a century and a half . . . Chicago’s Great Fire goes beyond the disaster and its causes to recount the remarkable way the city sprang back.”—Richard Babcock, Wall Street Journal

“Simply put, the best book ever written about the fire, a work of deep scholarship by Carl Smith that reads with the forceful narrative of a fine novel. It puts the fire and its aftermath in historical, political, and social context. It’s a revelatory pleasure to read.”—Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune

“An important book of Chicago history, highly readable, and deeply researched . . . Smith’s gripping account of the blaze, itself, however, is only the beginning . . . A thoroughgoing look at the fire, its aftermath, and its meaning . . . A crackerjack history that is rousing, thought-provoking, and a necessary addition to the city’s historical bookshelf.” —Third Coast Review

Chicago Apartments: A Century and Beyond of Lakefront Luxury

Neil Harris and Teri J. Edelstein

With a Foreword by Sara Paretsky

368 pages | 344 duotones | 8-1/2 x 11 | Published 2020

"The Chicago lakefront is one of America’s urban wonders. The ribbon of high-rise luxury apartment buildings along the Lake Michigan shore has few, if any, rivals nationwide for sustained architectural significance. This historic confluence of site, money, style, and development lies at the heart of the updated edition of Neil Harris's Chicago Apartments: A Century and Beyond of Lakefront Luxury.

"The book features more than one hundred buildings, stretching from south to north and across more than a century, each with its own special combination of design choice, floor plans, and background story. Harris, with the assistance of Teri J. Edelstein, proves to be an affable and knowledgeable tour guide, guiding us through dozens of buildings, detailing a host of inimitable development histories, design choices, floor plans, and more along the way. Of particular note are recent structures on the Chicago River and south of the Loop that are proposing new definitions of comfort and extravagance.

"Featuring nearly 350 stunning images and a foreword by renowned Chicago author Sara Paretsky, this new edition of Chicago Apartments offers a wide-ranging look inside some of the Windy City’s most magnificent abodes."

"NEIL HARRIS is the Preston and Sterling Morton Professor of History and Art History Emeritus at the University of Chicago. His books include Capital Culture, The Chicagoan, The Artist in American Society, Humbug, and Cultural Excursions, all published by the University of Chicago Press. TERI J. EDELSTEIN is an art historian and museum professional. SARA PERETSKY is a prolific crime and mystery novelist, as well as the author of Words, Works, and Ways of Knowing, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Purchase a signed copy from 57th Street Books The Seminary Co-op 

You may order a copy signed by the authors from Seminary Co-op at no extra charge. When you order your book, scroll down to the box: Order Comments and indicate there that you want a copy signed by the authors of the book. The store has curbside pickup, delivery, and mail order

Modern in the Middle

Chicago Houses 1929-75

Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino; foreword by Pauline Saliga

THE FIRST SURVEY OF THE CLASSIC TWENTIETH-CENTURY HOUSES THAT DEFINED AMERICAN MIDWESTERN MODERNISM.

"Famed as the birthplace of that icon of twentieth-century architecture, the skyscraper, Chicago also cultivated a more humble but no less consequential form of modernism–the private residence. Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929-75 explores the substantial yet overlooked role that Chicago and its suburbs played in the development of the modern single-family house in the twentieth century. In a city often associated with the outsize reputations of Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the examples discussed in this generously illustrated book expand and enrich the story of the region’s built environment.

"Authors Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino survey dozens of influential houses by architects whose contributions are ripe for reappraisal, such as Paul Schweikher, Harry Weese, Keck & Keck, and William Pereira. From the bold, early example of the 'Battledeck House' by Henry Dubin (1930) to John Vinci and Lawrence Kenny’s gem the Freeark House (1975), the generation-spanning residences discussed here reveal how these architects contended with climate and natural setting while negotiating the dominant influences of Wright and Mies. They also reveal how residential clients–typically middle-class professionals, progressive in their thinking–helped to trailblaze modern architecture in America. Though reflecting different approaches to site, space, structure, and materials, the examples in Modern in the Middle reveal an abundance of astonishing houses that have never been collected into one study–until now."

Praise for Modern in the Middle

"Modern in the Middle significantly expands our understanding of modern architecture in the Chicago area by bringing to light a number of lesser-known yet talented architects. The houses and interiors designed by IIT graduates like myself demonstrate that the Miesian legacy was more complex than it might appear at first sight."

—JOHN VINCI, FAIA

"Modern in the Middle looks beyond Chicago’s iconic skyscrapers to show us that this city’s residential buildings have also been paradigmatic in shaping modern architecture. The book’s scope goes beyond just 'midcentury' making the 'Middle' a signifier that explores Chicago’s central place in the nation’s geography and the essential role of the American middle class in defining the idea of 'modern housing.' Every piece of this carefully assembled volume is insightful and still resonant in our lives today."

—GWENDOLYN WRIGHT, COLUMBIA GSAPP

"This rich and fascinating compendium places the modern houses in and around Chicago in historical and philosophical context. In addition to the descriptions not only of the houses and architects but also the crucial role of the clients, the accompanying original photographs and plans are important parts of the thorough documentation. There is much to be discovered here!"

—CYNTHIA WEESE, FAIA

"The timing of Robert Loerzel’s Walking Chicago — his revamp of Ryan Ver Berkmoes’s 2008 book of the same name — couldn’t be better. Long before shelter-in-place made boulevardiers of us all, the writer, Tribune and Chicago copyeditor, and man-about-town regularly documented his jaunts around the city on Twitter. His eagle-eyed observations and zest for local wildlife has charmed thousands of followers, many of whom replicate his itineraries. Loerzel recalls once live-tweeting his stroll around Big Marsh Park on the city’s southeast side; as he exited the trail, he saw an editor at the Tribune entering. 'I saw your tweets and wanted to check it out myself,' the editor said.

"On Monday, the day before Walking Chicago hit bookshelves, Loerzel and I followed an abbreviated version of a route close to his heart: through Andersonville to Uptown, where Loerzel has lived for the last 14 years. We walked south down Clark from Bryn Mawr, cutting through St. Boniface Cemetery, then east on Argyle to Broadway. We ended at Lawrence, in front of the Green Mill. The following is an edited account of our conversation." (Edgar, /8/13/20)

"Biketropolis and Arcadia Publishing have collaborated to bring you Chicago's Mansions Self-Guided Cycling Tour - North Side Edition. Author John Graf did a fantastic job researching and assembling the content for this beautiful book. The relaxing route created by Biketropolis is meticulously curated to take you along some of Chicago's north side's most architecturally scenic historic neighborhoods.

"The recommended start location is outside the Ransom Reed Cable Mansion located at 25 E. Erie Street kitty-corner from the Driehous Museum, you can also start the tour anywhere you wish along the route that will be provided via Ride with GPS which includes audio cues and information covering 50 points of interests with corresponding page numbers to quickly refer to the book. The Near North Side, The Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Uptown, Edgewater, and Wicker Park are just a few of the neighborhoods you will explore to catch a glimpse of these lavish mansion's exteriors dating back to at least the 1880s.

"The entire route is a 30-mile loop and can be broken up to enjoy across multiple days. Bring along your Images of America series book, enabling you to learn more about the many architects, styles, and residents who lived in these magnificent homes. The cost is $40, which includes a copy of the book. The first 50 people who register will receive an author autographed copy."

"The historic Central Park Theatre is the mothership movie palace of collaborations between theater operators Balaban & Katz and Architects C.W. Rapp and George L. Rapp.

"Located in the North Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, it has been in the care of the House of Prayer Church of God in Christ since shortly after the movie palace closed in 1971.

"The church is working with a collaboration of non-profits and historic preservation professionals organized as the Central Park Theatre Restoration Committee. The long-term goal is a phased plan to fully restore the theater, which was built in 1917.

"Immediate stabilization needs are to install a furnace in the building as well as address some final water infiltration issues. The repair funds are needed by January 2021:

1. Replace existing furnaces in the auditorium area and provide new spiral ductwork to improve distribution.

2. Address water infiltration

3. Dispose of water damaged material from basement."

"The Chicago Printers Guild is rallying its members and community to support the efforts and contributions that the South Side Community Art Center continues to make in the Bronzeville Neighborhood and community at large.

"The South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) is the oldest independently-owned African American art center in the United States. Founded by Dr. Margaret Burroughs and other African-American artists in 1940, the SSCAC boasts connections to printmakers Charles White and Elizabeth Catlett, photographer Gordon Parks, and the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Gwendolyn Brooks. Today, SSCAC serves as an exhibition space, a venue for film and literary events, and a host for educational talks and panels including: 'Black and Informed” a series of discussions and political consultation for Black Millenials in Chicago; 'Existing Between Line & Space' an exhibition which featured CPG member Thomas Lucas among others; and, currently artist Jesse Howard’s solo exhibition 'The Spirit of Community'.

"The historic wood-paneled walls of the Margaret Burroughs Gallery at SSCAC contain 80 years worth of holes made by artwork hung there. The space is full of energy and gravitas. The ceiling and lighting, however, are in need of improvement. The CPG and SSCAC leadership have identified this project as the focus for our fundraising campaign."

"Ambrosia Homes, a local developer based on the northwest side of Chicago, has teamed up with Lake Effect Brewery, a local brewer of craft beers based in the 45th Ward, to redevelop and repurpose the old Jefferson Park Firehouse, which is currently owned by the City of Chicago and is vacant.

"Starting back in 2016, Ambrosia began developing concepts to share it’s vision of the future project. It’s initial concept was to add two stories to the building with the brewery on the 1st floor and apartments on floors 2 through 4. In 2017, Ambrosia began the Negotiated Sales Process with the Planning Department of the City of Chicago to purchase the building and rebuild it according to this vision.

"In 2018, Ambrosia and Lake Effect participated in a neighborhood meeting held at the Copernicus Center to share it’s vision for the project with all of the neighbors and solicit feedback. The meeting was standing room only with close to 200 people in attendance, including members of the local neighborhood groups such as Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association, Jefferson Park Forward, and the Northwest Chicago Historical Society. Representatives of the City of Chicago Housing & Planning Departments were also present.

"The meeting was widely covered by the local media, including the Chicago Sun Times, Nadig Newspapers, Block Club Chicago and Curbed Chicago. Two stories would be added to create a four story building, using as much of the same material as possible. The existing building condition was also discussed. While the feedback at the meeting was overwhelming positive, it was clear that the neighborhood groups had ideas that would make the plan better and that would need to be incorporated into the drawings.

"In 2019, Ambrosia, after receiving feedback from both Preservation Chicago and the Northwest Chicago Historical Society, decided to significantly change the plan for the redevelopment of the Firehouse. The fourth floor was removed entirely from the project and the remaining third floor addition was set back on the property while also changing exterior materials for the addition. Balconies were added to the Ainslie side of the project make up for the reduction in size of the project. With these changes, both of these historical groups offered letters of support for the project. Jefferson Park Forward has shared a letter of support for the project. The project has also received support letters from both the former Alderman and current Alderman of the 45th Ward.

"Staring in 2020, the City asked Ambrosia to pay for a new boundary survey of the property. In June of 2020, Ambrosia paid for additional architectural drawings that could be used for the zoning change needed for the property’s new uses. In July of 2020, the Chicago Development Commission approved the sale of the property to Ambrosia Homes. The zoning change was officially approved by the City Council in September 2020. In October of 2020, the Chicago Plan Commission reviewed the project and approved it. The final sale of the project needs to be approved by the City Council of Chicago." (Jefferson Park Firehouse Website)

"Chicago’s only Castle: No depiction of the Beverly-Morgan Park neighborhood is complete without the iconic turrets of the Givins Beverly Castle located at 10244 South Longwood Drive in Chicago.

"The Current Need: Time and 130 icy, windy Chicago winters have taken a toll on the 1886 limestone structure. The turrets have begun to decompose.

"Temporary stabilization was completed in 2018, and the cost to complete the necessary restorations will approach $1,000,000.

"With the endorsement of the Beverly Area Planning Association (BAPA), the Ridge Historical Society, the 19th Ward Alderman, Matt O'Shea, and historic preservation advocates across the city, we launched a capital campaign with an initial goal of $800,000. A successful grant proposal to Landmarks Illinois in 2019 is testimony to the importance of this historic preservation campaign, as is the selection of the Givins Beverly Castle for a Rebuild Illinois state capital project grant and the award of an Citywide Adopt-A-Landmark Fund grant.

"Your Role: The restoration campaign requires extraordinary generosity from many members of the local community and those across Greater Chicago who value historic preservation.

"Members of Beverly Unitarian Church, the 'Castle Keepers' since 1942, have pledged more than $400,000 toward the restoration campaign goal. We are now seeking matching gifts from the larger Chicago community.

"Please support the campaign to preserve and restore Chicago's Only Castle.

"To make a donation online, go to www.givinsbeverlycastle.org. Check donations may be made to the Castle Restoration Fund at 10244 S. Longwood Drive, Chicago IL 60643. Gifts are tax deductible.