Losing Our Landmarks

The landmarks business is always fraught with politics, especially in a city like Chicago and a state like Illinois, but this year's listing of most endangered places announced this week by Landmarks Illinois begins and ends with politically sensitive entries.

Under the headline "Threats To Illinois Heritage," the premier state preservation advocacy group included the Michael Reese Hospital campus that city officials are proposing to demolish and use as a site for an Olympic Village and/or condominium development among buildings and locations that should be saved.

City officials say they intend to leave the main hospital building standing, but preservation activists are wary given the vague nature of the demolition contract put out to bid - and because history has taught them to be skeptical.

Landmarks Illinois also appended "A Special 11th Designation" to its Top 10 list noting a threat to the city's landmark ordinance.

"Due to a January 30, 2009, Appellate Court ruling, the city’s 41-year-old ordinance is operating under a cloud," Landmarks Illinois notes. "The court said the ordinance’s criteria for landmark designation were 'vague' and sent the case back to the trial court for review."

In this instance, however, the city and landmarks groups are on the same side of the fight, filing a petition with the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court ruling.

Another area landmark case is also on the national stage: the Unity Temple in Oak Park made the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of America's most endangered historic buildings.

"The 100-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece at 875 Lake St. is deteriorating faster than restoration efforts can catch up with," Oak Leaves reports. "Though nearly $3 million has been spent on the concrete structure this decade alone, another $20 million to $25 million is necessary to restore it back to Wright's original vision, said Emily Roth, executive director of the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation."

Here's the complete list from the National Trust.

And also on the Landmarks Illinois list:

- The Arcade Building in Riverside.

- An early stagecoach inn in Marshall.

- The Aurora Masonic Temple.

- A 20-sided wood-frame auditorium in Shelbyville.

- The Davenport, Rock Island and Northwestern Depot.

- The Lewis Pharmacy in Canton.

- The Porthole Barns of Greene County.

- The Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago.

- The Shawneetown Bank in Old Shawneetown.

Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of Ye Olde Beachwoode Reporter, serving Illinois since 2006.

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