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Old Posted Jul 18, 2006, 12:47 PM
brian_b brian_b is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Chicago
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
I have long noticed that there are some nice looking historic buildings near the Jefferson Place/Jefferson Tower buildings recently constructed in the west loop. Please view these links:

This one to the left:

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=292884

The two buildings to the right:

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=281069

And here below, right across, a very nice building with one of those water towers on the roof:

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=434995

The Jefferson buildings themselves are crap, but this intersection has potential to be kind of interesting--older historic buildings mixed in with the modernism of the new CTA headquarters, plus some highrise condos and retail, all along the L tracks.

But it all gets ruined if too many of these historic buildings are lost. Does anybody know if there are efforts underway to protect these structures?
Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
^ I'm going to quote my previous post because it was basically ignored, and I DEMAND A RESPONSE
Well alright then! I have no idea if any of these buildings have an active preservation effort or not.

I can say that all 4 are occupied, but of the 4 I would be most worried about #1. It is not in very good condition and the sidewalk in front of it is garbage, though every few months someone comes by and replaces the boards that cover up the dangerous holes in the sidewalk. I'm guessing there's a plan in the works...

#4 is in excellent condition, and must have been restored within the last 5-10 years. Whoever did it spent a lot of money on it too. From the outside it really looks great.

#2 and #3. The Jefferson Tower designers took great pain to make their parking garage entrance blend in well with these two buildings. It stands to reason that they thought those buildings would be there for a long time to come.


EDIT - More on #1. This building has a full size lot that stretches all the way to Des Plaines, where this is an entrance to their private parking lot. Cars are double parked during the weekdays, so I would guess the building is fairly busy. On the Des Plaines side there is a newish painted iron fence around the lot. A few months ago, a car jumped the curb and took out a section of the fence. It still hasn't been replaced. Just some yellow caution tape strung between the empty fenceposts. The owner of this lot is definitely not eager to keep it looking nice.

Last edited by brian_b; Jul 18, 2006 at 12:55 PM.
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