Four Chicago Properties Make Endangered Landmark List

The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, or Landmarks Illinois, has released its list of this year’s ten most threatened historic sites at a press conference at the State Capitol in Springfield. Four sites on the list are located within Chicago: the North Pullman Historic District, Prentice Women’s Hospital, St. Laurence Complex and Uptown Theatre.

Four blocks in the North Pullman neighborhood, comprising 87 total buildings, currently enjoy landmark protection. Many of the buildings are from the 1880′s and have outlasted the railcar company that spawned them. But absenteeism, poor upkeep and a 25% foreclosure rate all put the residential buildings at risk.

Influential architect Bertrand Goldberg has no buildings in the area with Chicago Landmark status, and that includes the Prentice Women’s Hospital (right) adjacent to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Northwestern moved out of the space in 1999 but may take ownership of the building later this year as the last of its tenants moves out. This may spur the hospital to tear it down for the construction of a new modern facility.

The St. Laurence Complex in the South Shore neighborhood, comprises a church and rectory built in 1911 and school buildings constructed in the years following. Sold off by the Archdiocese of Chicago, plans for a senior housing center and later a school have fallen through. Water damage from burst pipes has increased the likelihood that the complex will be razed.

Making its third appearance on the top ten list, Uptown Theatre seemed on the rebound. After decades of vacancy, the theater, made a Chicago landmark in 1991, was given new life when a developer purchased the property in 2008 with plans of restoring it to an active venue. But those designs were hampered by the limping economy and Chicago’s largest movie palace once again faces its destruction.

The annual “Ten Most Endangered Historic Places” list is designed to focus attention on sites throughout Illinois threatened by deterioration, lack of maintenance, insufficient funds or inappropriate development. A number of the sites listed this year have fallen victim to the poor economic climate. Since the program’s inception in 1995, 42 sites have been saved, 34 have been demolished or substantially altered, and 90 remain threatened. For a detailed list of all saved and endangered sites, visit Landmarks Illinois.