Archinect - News

Lee Bey explores Chicago’s overlooked South Side in new PBS special

2023-02-23T08:00:00-05:00

Chicago native and noted architectural photographer Lee Bey recently took PBS on a tour of his city’s overlooked South Side.

Among the stops on the Sun-Times critic’s excursion were his former high school, pioneering local architect John Moutoussamy’s self-designed private residence in West Chesterfield, Jeanne Gang’s overshadowed SOS Children’s Village Lavezzario Community Center, and the Art Moderne First Church of Deliverance from 1939.

Towards the end, he also mentions his optimism for young people, preference for the community-based development of religious projects, and what he called the “democratization” of historic preservation as the things that give him the most hope as a professional chronicler of the built environment.

Previously on Archinect: Lee Bey reminds us of the beauty and importance of Chicago's Black Churches

Bey also talked about the well-documented “heyday” of Bronzeville, a neighborhood that is now experiencing a new, contemporary renaissance with multiple ...

Northwestern Medicine announces $100M+ outpatient center in Chicago's Bronzeville

2022-06-03T15:09:00-04:00

Northwestern Medicine plans to spend more than $100 million to build a 120,000-square-foot outpatient care center in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood — after facing past criticism that it hasn’t done enough to serve patients on the South Side.

If approved by the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board, the proposed medical facility will be positioned on the 4800 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue. The center would include an immediate care center, primary care, specialty care, pharmacy services, mammograms, lab tests, chemotherapy, and programs to promote community health. It is expected to serve more than 50,000 patients a year. In addition, the project is expected to create 1,000 construction and 100 healthcare and related jobs. Construction could begin in summer 2023 with a scheduled opening in summer 2025.

The proposal aligns with Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s $1.4 billion INVEST South/West program, an initiative that aims to revitalize 12 commercial corridors within 10 South and West Side community areas. As detailed by the Chicago Tribune, Northwestern has faced criticism for its prioritization of investment in higher-income areas, rather than lower-income communities of color. While Northwestern Medicine dis...

Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood has a plan to become energy independent

2022-05-30T10:30:00-04:00

The Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago is the site of a proposed new microgrid project set to improve its resiliency as the historic and predominantly Black community pushes towards energy independence.

The microgrid will purportedly be the first of its scale found anywhere in the United States, and offers a major upgrade of a much smaller Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) run system, as well as a reduction in the phenomena known as Corona discharge.

According to the website Reasons to Be Cheerful, the project, which is being developed in unison with Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and funded (in part) by a $4 million grant from the Department of Energy, passed efficacy tests but still faces a number of engineering and permitting hurdles. After those tests have been passed, the report states, the Bronzeville microgrid will power more than 1,000 homes, businesses, and even public institutions like the local Provident Hospital.

Model of the ITT campus utilizing different colors to ...

Illinois grants $26 million to performing arts revitalization project in Chicago led by actor Harry Lennix

2022-05-02T17:53:00-04:00

Harry Lennix’s Lillian Marcie Center for the Performing Arts, a project located at 4343 S. Cottage Grove Ave. on Chicago’s South Side and designed to aid in the renaissance of Bronzeville, will receive capital funding from the State of Illinois to the tune of $26 million, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday.

The Chicago-born actor describes the project as “the Black version of the Lincoln Center.” It will house a 350-seat multi-level auditorium, flexible performance stage, a second smaller 100-seat theater, and related areas, such as rehearsal spaces, dressing rooms, offices, and outdoor gathering spaces. The building also features a museum dedicated to Black contributions to the performing arts. The center will occupy a former warehouse, and once revitalized, will be the home of the Congo Square Theatre Company. Chicago-based firm Nia Architects is carrying out the design.

Lennix hopes the project will draw tourists to the historic Bronzeville neighborhood. The new facility is expected to cost approximately $80 million and is scheduled for completion in the summer or fall of 2024.