Landmarks panel rejects historic label for Reese
Knuckling under to the Daley administration, the city's landmarks commission Thursday rejected a recommendation that the former Michael Reese Hospital campus on the Near South Side be designated a historic property.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted 5-3 to withhold support for listing it on the National Register of Historic Places. City Hall has been demolishing buildings on the property, rejecting pleas from preservationists to save some buildings on the 37-acre site. The city bought the property for use in its futile bid for the 2016 Olympics.
The campus was partially designed by Walter Gropius, a famous architect whose work at Reese dates from the 1950s. Grahm Balkany, leader of the Gropius in Chicago Coalition, said one Gropius building has been razed and a second is mostly down, leaving six of his buildings on the campus.
Balkany said he will continue with an application to a state agency for listing on the national register. The designation still could be approved, but Balkany said the city's continued demolition could make the issue moot.
The Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council could take up the matter at a meeting Dec. 4. Federal landmark listing wouldn't bar any wrecking but would offer developers the promise of tax credits for preservation.
City officials said most of the campus does not merit landmark listing and that Gropius' design influence at the site has been marred by changes over the years.
Balkany said the city's Planning Department and the landmark commission are bowing to pressure from Mayor Daley, who wants the site cleared except for one building.
"It's sad to see this city just wrecking part of its architectural heritage," Balkany said.
Among other matters, the landmarks commission endorsed landmark status for two homes connected to famous African-American writers. They are the Richard Wright House, 4831 S. Vincennes, and the Gwendolyn Brooks House, 7428 S. Evans.