On Tuesday, Preservation Chicago published its 2014 list of Chicago's 7 most threatened buildings.
On the list is St. Adalbert Church, designed by Henry J. Schlacks in 1874, with its notable 185-foot-high twin towers.
Also included are the Fisk and Crawford power plants, which, according to Preservation Chicago, "redeveloped and refined the mammoth production of electricity to a growing city and region at a magnitude not seen at that time. The success of these two facilities were copied and replicated around the world. Yet this all began in Chicago."
The Guyon Hotel made the list for the second year in a row.
Here's the full list (descriptions courtesy Preservation Chicago, Cinema Treasures, and Wikipedia):
1. St. Adalbert Catholic Church - Originally constructed for a Polish congregation in the Pilsen neighborhood, St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Church is a Renaissance Revival complex designed by noted church architect Henry J. Schlacks, who worked for a time in the offices of Adler & Sullivan. It’s soaring 185- foot twin towers are the highest structures in the Pilsen neighborhood and easily recognizable.
2. Crawford, Fisk Power Houses - The two enormous Fisk and Crawford electrical-generating coal-fired stations or power plants date from 1903 and 1926 and were originally considered engineering wonders of the modern world. Both plants are by noted architects and both achieved the previously impossible task of employing technology to create the world’s largest electrical generators, based entirely upon the steam engine turbine. These systems redeveloped and refined the mammoth production of electricity to a growing city and region at a magnitude not seen at that time. The success of these two facilities were copied and replicated around the world. Yet this all began in Chicago.
3. Guyon Hotel - Originally part of a large commercial business district on the city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood, the long and steady decline of the community has only further made the rehabilitation of this rare and magnificent Moorish Revival hotel more challenging. Constructed of red and cream brick with deep red terra cotta detailing, the Guyon Hotel’s interior is also in need of restoration. The site has had multiple owners over the years and was finally converted from a residential hotel to single- room-occupancy apartments in the late 1980s. Listed 2012 on Landmarks Illinois’ 10 Most Endangered list and last year on our Chicago 7 list in 2013, the Guyon’s sheer magnitude and scale make the structure a formidable building to renovate and restore.
4. Francis Scott Key Public School - The Francis Scott Key Public School, designed by Dwight Perkins, was among the nearly 50 schools that were closed by the Chicago Public Schools in 2013. Key is one of the schools in a high state of preservation and designed by a noted architect that is now vacant and lacks a new use plan.
5. Madison/Wabash Station House - The Madison/Wabash elevated station house and metal canopies located on Chicago’s historic Loop Elevated is the last original station on the east section of the Loop to retain its original station house. Most of the others were removed or destroyed beginning in the 1950s. It displays marvelous classical detailing, pilasters and ornamental stamped metal. This station house forms a backdrop to the historic Louis Sullivan- designed Schlesinger & Mayer/Carson Pirie Scott building along with the adjacent buildings by D. H. Burnham and Holabird & Roche. It’s also situated atop the Jewelers’ Row Chicago Landmark District.
6. The Jeffrey Theater - The Jeffery Theater, constructed in 1923 in the heart of the South Shore neighborhood’s then-bustling commercial center, E. 71st Street between Euclid Avenue and Jeffery Boulevard, was opened a year later as a vaudeville and movie house for the Cooney Brothers circuit. The Neo-Classical style theater could seat just under 1,800, and was designed by architect William P. Doerr (who also designed the Neo-Georgian style East Park Towers in Hyde Park). It had a tall vertical marquee which rose over the facade of the theater, and could be seen up and down 71st Street. Description source: Cinema Treasures
Related Stories
| Jan 19, 2011
Industrial history museum gets new home in steel plant
The National Museum of Industrial History recently renovated the exterior of a 1913 steel plant in Bethlehem, Pa., to house its new 40,000-sf exhibition space. The museum chose VOA Associates, which is headquartered in Chicago, to complete the design for the exhibit’s interior. The exhibit, which has views of five historic blast furnaces, will feature artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution to illustrate early industrial America.
| Jan 19, 2011
San Diego casino renovations upgrade gaming and entertainment
The Sycuan Casino in San Diego will get an update with a $27 million, 245,000-sf renovation. Hnedak Bobo Group, Memphis, Tenn., and Cleo Design, Las Vegas, drew design inspiration from the historic culture of the Sycuan tribe and the desert landscape, creating a more open space with better circulation. Renovation highlights include a new “waterless” water entry feature and new sports bar and grill, plus updates to gaming, poker, off-track-betting, retail, and bingo areas. The local office of San Francisco-based Swinerton Builders will provide construction services.
| Jan 19, 2011
New Fort Hood hospital will replace aging medical center
The Army Corps of Engineers selected London-based Balfour Beatty and St. Louis-based McCarthy to provide design-build services for the Fort Hood Replacement Hospital in Texas, a $503 million, 944,000-sf complex partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The firm plans to use BIM for the project, which will include outpatient clinics, an ambulance garage, a central utility plant, and three parking structures. Texas firms HKS Architects and Wingler & Sharp will participate as design partners. The project seeks LEED Gold.
| Jan 19, 2011
Museum design integrates Greek history and architecture
Construction is under way in Chicago on the National Hellenic Museum, the nation’s first museum devoted to Greek history and culture. RTKL designed the 40,000-sf limestone and glass building to include such historic references as the covered walkway of classical architecture and the natural wood accents of Byzantine monasteries. The museum will include a research library and oral history center, plus a 3,600-sf rooftop terrace featuring three gardens. The project seeks LEED Silver.
| Jan 4, 2011
An official bargain, White House loses $79 million in property value
One of the most famous office buildings in the world—and the official the residence of the President of the United States—is now worth only $251.6 million. At the top of the housing boom, the 132-room complex was valued at $331.5 million (still sounds like a bargain), according to Zillow, the online real estate marketplace. That reflects a decline in property value of about 24%.
| Jan 4, 2011
Luxury hotel planned for Palace of Versailles
Want to spend the night at the Palace of Versailles? The Hotel du Grand Controle, a 1680s mansion built on palace grounds for the king's treasurer and vacant since the French Revolution, will soon be turned into a luxury hotel. Versailles is partnering with Belgian hotel company Ivy International to restore the dilapidated estate into a 23-room luxury hotel. Guests can live like a king or queen for a while—and keep their heads.
| Dec 17, 2010
Sam Houston State arts programs expand into new performance center
Theater, music, and dance programs at Sam Houston State University have a new venue in the 101,945-sf, $38.5 million James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center. WHR Architects, Houston, designed the new center to connect two existing buildings at the Huntsville, Texas, campus.
| Dec 17, 2010
Subway entrance designed to exude Hollywood charm
The Hollywood/Vine Metro portal and public plaza in Los Angeles provides an entrance to the Red Line subway and the W Hollywood Hotel. Local architect Rios Clementi Hale Studio designed the portal and plaza to flow with the landmark theaters and plazas that surround it.
| Dec 17, 2010
Toronto church converted for condos and shopping
Reserve Properties is transforming a 20th-century church into Bellefair Kew Beach Residences, a residential/retail complex in The Beach neighborhood of Toronto. Local architecture firm RAWdesign adapted the late Gothic-style church into a five-story condominium with 23 one- and two-bedroom units, including two-story penthouse suites. Six three-story townhouses also will be incorporated. The project will afford residents views of nearby Kew Gardens and Lake Ontario. One façade of the church was updated for retail shops.
| Nov 23, 2010
The George W. Bush Presidential Center, which will house the former president’s library
The George W. Bush Presidential Center, which will house the former president’s library and museum, plus the Bush Institute, is aiming for LEED Platinum. The 226,565-sf center, located at Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, was designed by architect Robert A.M. Stern and landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh.