The Chicago Tribune is reporting on the successful effort by Windy City preservationists to save the landmarked vacant Century and Consumers buildings, the “last vestiges of the Chicago School of Architecture” after two years of fighting. Their owners, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), have decided in favor of an adaptive reuse scheme that will save them from the wrecking ball, albeit with a list of 15 restrictions pertaining to any future redevelopment. These include limitations on residential development.
"We’re hoping the remaining $45 million of this demolition earmark could be invested in the terra cotta and the exterior cladding and roof structures, along with the windows," Preservation Chicago’s executive director Ward Miller told the outlet. "I think at a minimum, the GSA and federal government could help with restoring some of these features of the exterior that have languished for so long, almost 20 years, under their ownership."
The buildings were completed in 1913 and 1915, respectively (the taller of which was designed by William Le Baron Jenney, the architect oftentimes credited with designing the "first modern skyscraper" in 1885).
4 Comments
Yes!
Thank god! Amazing that we're still having these fights after soooo much beautiful building stock was lost.
Great news!
Shows you how inhumane and anti-design the US bureaucracy is that they would think of tearing these down
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