Hello Everyone:
It is a lovely Tuesday afternoon in Blogger land. The May grey clouds are clearing to let a little in sunshine. Speaking of weather and other natural phenomenon, the island of Hawai'i is feeling the wrath of volcano deity Madame Pele. Since Mount Kilauea's eruption, lava continuous to flow into the Pacific Ocean while a 30,000 foot plume of ash (yes you read correctly) is choking the residents and wildlife. The toxic combination of sea water and lava has created a dangerous situation for all ocean creatures. The island's residents seem to be taking it all in stride. Yours Truly thinks that us mainlanders would be freaking out. We shall see what happens once the lava finally stops flowing and the ash settles. In the meantime, we are heading way inland to Chicago, Illinois for today's subject.
Chicago has a problem. Blogger knows, so what else is new. This problem is more historic preservation than socio-political-economic in nature. The problem, according to A.J. Latrace's Chicago Magazine article "Is Chicago Experiencing a Historic Preservation Crisis?" "Lots of buildings flagged by preservationists for their importance have come down in recent years. 2018 could be just as bad." For fans of American modern architecture, Chicago and its surrounding communities, are literal treasure troves of architectural gems. In the city alone, there are buildings by designed by Giants such as Louis Sullivan and Ludwig Mies Van de Rohe. If you are a fan of Erik Larson's finely researched and written book The Devil in White City (a must read), then you know that the founding father of American planning Daniel Burnham created this architectural and urban wonderland for the 1893 Columbine World Exposition, which helped put the United States on the global stage. It also served as a point of inspiration for Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles and Henry Greene. So you can understand why it is important to save as many of these gems as possible. Let us start in the West Loop.
Excavators are standing on the site of, until a month ago, a rare industrial building designed by Daniel Burnham stood. Built over 100 years, the three-story building sat at 1217-1227 West Washington Boulevard, it was unceremoniously razed in April. Its gorgeous ornamentation and glazed reduced to a pile of rubble.
Developers (and others) often reference Mr, Burnham's famous aphorism "make no little plans" when unveiling new proposals for the city, "but what are Burnham's words worth when little to no value is attracted to the buildings crafted by his firm?" True. In 2015, Chicago City Council assed a new landmark district (cityofchicago.org; Sept. 24, 2015; date accessed May 22, 2018) to protect buildings like this low-slung structure like this one but this property, somehow, slipped through the cracks.
The West Loop is not the only community that has witnessed the unceremonious demolition of its unique buildings. "Englewood's South Side Masonic Temple, a broad-shouldered red brick structure with a near-identical twin in Logan Square, was abruptly razed in January (sixthward.us; Jan. 15, 2018; date accessed May 22, 2018), while buildings of historic nature in Humboldt Park (chicago.suntimes.com; Jan. 6, 2018; date accessed May 22, 2018), Edgewater (edgevillebuzz.com; Mar. 14, 2018; date accessed May 22, 2018), and along North Branch have also been lost in recent months. Preservationists are waging ongoing battles in Logan Square to ensure the future of a former synagogue (medium.com; date accessed May 22, 2018); in LIttle Village, efforts to save the shuttered Crawford Station (chicago.curbed.com; Mar. 5, 2014; date accessed May 22, 2018) built by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White is loosing momentum and time.
A comprehensive review and inventory by the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, published (webapps.cityofchicago.com; date accessed May 22, 2018), published in the nineties, cited the majority of these buildings as "either architecturally or culturally significant." Here is something important to remember, "While a designation in the survey does not protect a building from demolition, there are special privileges granted for particularly sensitive ones--such as a 90-day hold on demolition permits--to allow the city and preservationists to further investigate a structure's historic characteristics and contributions."
The CHRS assigned each of the buildings a color according to sensitivity: "green, signaling an entry of note, to rogange and red, indicating the most significant of structures." Based on city records, most of the buildings that fall into the "sensitive orange- and red-rated" categories have been demolished, wards that are experiencing a major upswing in new development are also the ones witnessing the greatest losses of their historic resources.
A.J. Latrace reports, "Since 2013 there have been 165 entries made in the city's demolition delay hold list, but not all of the structures listed have been demolished as some applications were eventually withdrawn or tabled. In addition, many of the demolition applications submitted this are still pending release." The wards that have experienced the greatest loss of historic resources included the neighborhood's of Lincoln Park, Lakeview, the West Loop, and Logan Square. If you go to chicagomag.com, you can check out a chart that illustrates the number of orange- and red-rated buildings demolished since 2013.
Preservation Chicago's executive director Ward Miller told Chicago Magazine, "The data helps to illustrate that Chicago's neighborhoods are experiencing a true preservation crisis,..." This is regardless of the 90-hold on demolition permits for buildings designated by the city as historic. Mr. Miller added, "that some city council members have used aldermanic prerogative to fast-track the eventual destruction of significant structures. But more often than not,..., communities and preservation advocates simply do not have enough time to line up a buyer or produce a plan for adaptive reuse when demolition threats surface. Specifically,
While three months may seem like an ample amount of time. We fond that we're often scrambling to find stewards for these buildings,....There are some structures that require a lot of conversation and attention--how do you do all that in the the middle of winter and in a three month time?
Ward Miller also believes that new development and preservation are not necessarily mutually exclusive but says that the CHRS functions as a tool to help a community's future. He said, "However, neighborhood preservation advocates have been stretched beyond capacity in recent years, overburdened by frequent demolitions,..." Essentially,
I think we've experienced that crisis for a number of years now, but idea of working within the framework of historic buildings and investing in them really does create a more complex, more beautiful idea that forces one to go back to the drawing board to get things right.
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