Uptown Theatre On State Preservation Group's Endangered Buildings List
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 1, 2014 7:45PM
The Uptown Theatre—abandoned, vacant, in need of repair and consigned to drink with the ghosts of Uptown’s past for over 30 years—made Landmark Illinois’ 2014 list of the 10 most endangered places in the state.
This is the fourth time the Uptown has made the list, most recently in 2010. Concert promoter JAM Productions bought the theater in 2008 and has spent the ensuing years trying to secure financing to renovate and rebuild it. The Uptown has long been rumored to be an anchor for an entertainment district championed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel but the money needed to restore it is daunting. The city declared the Uptown a landmark and recently brought it into building court because of water damage caused by a lack of heat. Portions of the Uptown’s terra cotta façade were previously removed to keep them from falling onto pedestrians.
Other Chicago area sites included on the list are the Central Manufacturing District on the South side, which was regarded as the world’s first planned industrial park when it opened in 1892. A fire last year gutted the Harris-Marcus building in the district and made for some amazing photography. The Halsted and Willow Gateway on the North side is a series of 19th century commercial buildings, most of them intact, serves as the gateway for the Sheffield neighborhood. Landmarks Illinois says the buildings are threatened by economic development.
Read the full list here.