Grant Park, Landmarks in Danger

By Margaret Lyons in News on Jan 28, 2008 7:54PM

Preservation Chicago announced its 7 most endangered buildings today, and on the list are surprise entries Grant Park and the Landmarks Ordinance. Also cited are Norwood Park, the American Book Company Building, the Devon Ave commercial district, the Booker Building and the Daily News building.

Photo by WVAllen

According to Preservation Chicago's report, Grant Park is endangered because of the plans to relocate the Children's Museum.

[That plan[ would impose more than 100,000 square feet of new construction on parkland intended as “forever open, clear and free”. This further diminishment of our city’s irreplaceable green heritage is unacceptable.

And about the Landmark Ordinance:

[S]everal recent redevelopment projects endorsed by the city’s planning department and approved by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks call into question whether the integrity of the ordinance itself is in danger of being destroyed...Allowing this proposal to move forward would render Chicago’s Landmark Ordinance meaningless. It could lead to the day when Michigan Avenue will become nothing more than a street full of soulless facades, pasted on to new structures that have no relation to the original intent of the architect or the architecture. This type of facadism not historic preservation and no world-class city should be subjected to the continued “Disneyfication” of its premiere boulevard.

Oh, snap! [Preservation Chicago]