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A one-time nightclub where the roots of house music spread from a group of Chicago DJs to worldwide prominence is now an official city landmark. [...]
“The Warehouse at 206 South Jefferson is where Black and Brown Chicagoans celebrated life and love and the birth of house music, a genre that has taken over the globe [...] The Warehouse is where Frankie Knuckles, a Grammy winner and proud openly gay Black man, created a safe space for everyone.”
— Block Club Chicago
The Chicago City Council approved a landmark designation on Wednesday, June 21st, for The Warehouse at 206 S. Jefferson Street in the city’s West Loop. The three-story structure, built in 1906, served as a dance club between 1977 and 1982. It was where world-renowned artist and House... View full entry
A key building feature on one of Kevin Roche’s most ingenious New York City designs is under threat of being erased, according to the preservation group Docomomo US. The late Pritzker winner’s 60 Wall Street building is undergoing renovation by Kohn Pedersen Fox this summer, and the group says... View full entry
The William Pereira-design Hunt Branch Library in Fullerton, California has received funds for a new renovation. Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silvia issued a $2.5 million budget request in 2019 which has since been approved and allocated to the City of Fullerton to be utilized in the renovation of... View full entry
After a landmarked home in San Francisco's Twin Peaks neighborhood was illegally razed last year, the city has ordered the property owner to rebuild an exact replica. One of only five remaining homes in the city designed by the famed modernist architect Richard Neutra, the Largent House was... View full entry
The designation protects the exterior of the building, including the facades of the office tower, annex, and enclosed covered passageway, and notably preserving its rose Stony Creek granite cladding and the broken pediment at its crown. Going forward, any proposed alterations to the exterior will require approval and permitting by the [NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission]. — Architectural Record
It's official. The AT&T Building is now a designated landmark. Late last year, Snøhetta's plans to redesign the historic building sparked months of heated debate among architects, preservationists, and critics. View full entry
[...] historians were dumbstruck last week when Chase announced plans to demolish the 52-story glass-curtain-wall skyscraper, which opened in 1961, and replace it with an even bigger structure.
The news prompted two immediate responses. The first was an outcry by preservationists. That part was predictable; what is surprising this time around was their wistful sense of resignation.
News of the Union Carbide building's demolition a little over a week ago has incited commotion, yet there is a level of resignation to many of the outcries. Jeffrey Lieber takes a deeper look into why this relinquishment may exist around the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill skyscraper. The... View full entry
It’s shaping up to be one bummer of a summer for Marina City, where some residents have been banned from their balconies.
City inspectors discovered trouble with nearly 2,000 balcony railings [...] While crews work to fix 1,920 handrail posts, 1,300 balusters and 1,020 bottom rails, some residents have been banned from using the balconies for four months or longer. [...]
“What’s worse is that we’re not allowed to open the door to the balcony to let the breeze in.”
— DNAinfo
The iconic Marina City towers—now officially a city landmark—recently in the Archinect news:Chicago's Marina City designated official landmark status — it's about time!Only one vote left before Marina City can become official city landmarkChicago's famed Marina City seems destined for... View full entry
If someone told you today that a new, brightly lit neon sign was going up across the street from where you live, you might react with disgust at the thought of such a commercial eyesore invading the skyline of your community. Yet when some older sign or billboard is threatened, everyone is suddenly up in arms, rushing to its defense. How does something as mundane as outdoor advertising grow to become considered an essential piece of the urban fabric? — Consumerist
“They become landmarks, loved because they have been visible at certain street corners — or from many vantage points across the city — for a long time,” writes Michael J. Auer in the brief. “Such signs are valued for their familiarity, their beauty, their humor, their size, or even their... View full entry
...it's tempting to turn cartwheels over the Chicago City Council's vote to grant permanent landmark status to Marina City, the city within a city best known for its iconic corncob-shaped towers.
Marina City was a landmark building that lacked official landmark status and was therefore vulnerable — if not to demolition, then to insensitive additions that chipped away at the sculpted beauty of its curving concrete.
— Chicago Tribune
Since the process began last July, Chicago City Council unanimously voted 48-0 (with the absence of two aldermen) to designate Bertrand Goldberg's midcentury icon as a historic city landmark as of Wednesday, according to Loop North News."Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, deserves credit for championing... View full entry
[On Thursday, November 5], the Commission on Chicago Landmarks unanimously voted to recommend Chicago Landmark status to the Marina City complex. [...]
A resolution will be drafted and will head to the Chicago City Council in December for a final vote.
— chicago.curbed.com
This seems like a done deal. As quoted in Loop North News, Commission on Chicago Landmarks chairman, Rafael Leon: "everybody recognizes those buildings around the world, that the moment that they see it, they see Chicago. I’m so glad that we have gotten to the point of designating these... View full entry
Marina City residents support landmark designation because it would help upgrade the complex's concrete exterior through the city's "Adopt a Landmark" zoning provision [...]
The measure lets developers build more floor space in return for funding improvements to official city landmarks.
Landmark status would allow the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to regulate changes to the exterior of Marina City
— chicagotribune.com
Marina City, aka "the corncobs," was given preliminary landmark status back in July. The designation is expected to become official in early 2016. View full entry
The organization seeking to turn the David and Gladys Wright House in Phoenix into an educational and cultural center filed for historic landmark protection last week, seeking official status for a 6.1-acre site before following through with plans to open it to the public. [...]
The designation would provide preservationists with a nice ending to the long saga of this spiral residence, which at one point in 2012 was slated for demolition.
— curbed.com
More on Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy:With $1.5M to go, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture approaches first fundraising milestone towards independenceFrank Lloyd Wright's "Unity Temple" getting a $23M restoration“New” Frank Lloyd Wright Home FoundFrank Lloyd Wright's La Miniatura finally... View full entry
