Man Sticks Up For House

By Alicia Dorr in Miscellaneous on May 16, 2006 9:07PM

In what could be the most awesome means of getting his own way this town has seen since crazy old Streeter
started an island of garbage, a man has refused to sell his home even as two high rise condo buildings went up on either side.

That’s right. At 154 W. Superior there are three formidable structures—two 14-story luxury high rises and this dude, Gregory Cooper. He has “politely declined” all offers made by developers to sell his thin rowhouse, which was built in 1872. He even invited his friends to his house for hard-hat-wearing parties where they sat and listened to the horrifying music of construction. That’s because his house is made of stone, and his balls are made of steel.

It reminds us of that strange little house tucked between massive buildings between State and Wabash on one of the streets named after a president—because we used to think that that house was probably an X-file, you know, with humans that live on the ceiling or something. It also reminds us of the White Palace Grill, which has equally formidable owners who said “nay” to builders. And now we’re hungry.

So we salute you, Gregory Cooper, for being such a badass and helping to keep Chicago architecture what it is, a hodge-podge of new and old. Now we’ll see if the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency will take a second look at the house they didn’t agree was a landmark.