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Observations and Images on Architecture, Culture and More, in Chicago and the World. See it all here. |
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-by Lynn Becker
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[April 12, 2007] Chicago's preservation bureaucracy appears well on the way to allowing demolition of the elegant 1924 Lake Shore Athletic Club, designed by The building is not an official Chicago landmark, but is rated "Orange" on the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, indicating that it "Possesses potentially significant architectural or historical features." This means that if an application is filed for demolition, a 90 day hold is automatically invoked to allow consideration of whether the structure merits being designated a landmark. Apparently new owner, Fifield Companies, most recently the creator of the relentlessly graceless and laughably named Left Bank at K Station can't wait to replace the Lake Shore Athletic Club with a similar temple of banality. Currently, the Michael Moran of Preservation Chicago reports that Fifield slipped into the group's mailbox a notice that they plan to demolish the Athletic Club. Moran released the contents of an email he sent to Brian Goeken, Deputy Commissioner, Landmarks Division, Chicago Department of Planning and Development:
After over three decades in office, Natarus was defeated for re-election in February by newcomer Brendan Reilly, in a campaign in which Natarus's often rubber-stamp The Lakeshore Athletic Club is on Landmarks Illinois' 2007 Ten Most Endangered list, from which we've cribbed the three photos adorning this article. You can see the their information on the building here. Preservation Chicago has also put up a detailed account of the Lakeshore Athletic Club and its history here. Last December, Gail Spreen, president of SOAR (Streeterville Organization of Active Residents) told Chicago Sun-Times real estate reporter David Roeder that her group was opposed to demolition or any zoning change. Of course these same three groups, plus the National Trust for Historic Preservation, were also all aligned against the demolition of an official 1920's landmark, Michigan Avenue's Farwell Building, but the Landmarks Commission ignored their testimony in favor of Burton Natarus's shilling for the building's destruction only days after his election defeat. Will history repeat itself? Will the destruction of the Lakeshore Athletic Club be Natarus's parting gift to his ward and the city?
Join a discussion on this story. © Copyright 2007 Lynn Becker All rights reserved.
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