13 Sites on Chicago Preservation List

Structures by Frank Lloyd Wright and Bertrand Goldberg are among the buildings placed on the Chicagoland Watch List.

“This eclectic list of historic structures shows the range of preservation issues we are facing throughout the Chicago metropolitan area,” says Landmarks Illinois President and CEO Jim Peters.

Five sites are within Chicago city limits, seven in surrounding suburbs and one “thematic” listing:

• A rare surviving gas station from U.S. Route 66, the Castle Car Wash at (3801 W. Ogden Ave.).
• Architect Andrew Rebori’s tiny Fine Arts Building Annex (421 S. Wabash Ave., built 1924).
• The Harper Theater Buildings in the Hyde Park-Kenwood Historic District at Harper Ave. and 53rd St. (built 1913).
• Bertrand Goldberg’s distinctive Prentice Hospital in the Streeterville neighborhood (333 E. Superior St., built 1975).
• A late 19th-century YWCA building at 830 S. Michigan Ave. (built 1894), one of the oldest buildings located along the historic streetwall facing Grant Park.
• A Classical Revival-style complex that housed the David C. Cook Publishing Co. in Elgin (850 N. Grove St., built 1901).
• Two Bertrand Goldberg designed buildings and a late 19th-century horse barn at Elgin Mental Health Center (750 S. State St., built 1966-67).
• U.S. Vice President Charles Dawes’ former residence in Evanston, whose lavish interior is not protected (225 Greenwood, built 1894).
• A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed residence in Glencoe (1027 Meadow Rd., built 1915)
• The Park subdivision in Glenview—a rare example of a subdivision laid out by a church group (Park Drive, built 1893-1903).
• A one-room schoolhouse in Orland Township surrounded by strip malls and commercial growth (14299 S. Wolf Rd., built 1910).
• One of the oldest airport buildings in the region, Hanger 1, at Chicago Executive Airport (Palwaukee Airport, 1120 S. Milwaukee Ave., Wheeling, built 1929).
• Large-scale neon signs from the post World War II era, which are rapidly being lost throughout the metropolitan area to redevelopment and changing advertising.

For more information about the Chicagoland Watch List, visit www.Landmarks.org.

AIA Issues Six New Contract Documents

The American Institute of Architects has announced the release of six new contract documents, including a building information modeling exhibit, two integrated project delivery agreements, two design-build agreements and a scope of services document.

The new BIM exhibit is reportedly the first of its kind in the industry. It was written by industry practitioners as a practical tool for managing the use of BIM across the entire project.

Among other things, it sets the requirements and authorized uses for BIM content and identifies BIM authors at five progressive levels of development. It also establishes protocols for model ownership, conflict resolution, storage, viewing and archiving. Although written primarily to support a project using IPD, it may also be used with more traditional methods of project delivery.

More Negative Conditions for Architecture Index

While conditions have improved somewhat for three consecutive months, the Architecture Billings Index continues to point to unfavorable conditions for the nonresidential construction market, according to the American Institute of Architects.

An ABI score of 50 indicates an increase in billings. The August ABI rating was 47.6, up slightly from the 46.8 mark in July.

The Midwest fared the best in the nation with a 49.4. Institutional work was the only segment to see positive results with a 52.2. The remaining sectors broke down as follows, commercial / industrial (47.5), mixed practice (44.8) and multi-family residential (40.8). The project inquiries index was 52.4.

Farnsworth House Floods from Record Rains

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s modern masterpiece, the Farnsworth House, fell prey to Mother Nature on Sept. 14 when flood waters rose almost 2 ft over the top deck, entering the house.

Built within the flood plain of the Fox River in suburban Plano, Ill., the house stands on columns 5 ft above ground. They proved not high enough as record breaking rain amounts brought the river more than 14 ft above its normal level.

“It’s an absolutely devastating scene,” said James Peters, president and CEO of Landmarks Illinois which manages and operates the Farnsworth House on behalf of The National Trust for Historic Preservation which owns the house. “We will need to raise funds to begin the clean-up process once the water subsides and to help cover the loss of tour revenue.”

More than 9 in. of rain fell in two days as Tropical Storm Lowell passed through, immediately followed by the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Fox River waters rose quickly and by Sunday morning, they had breached the interior of the house by more than a foot.

The Farnsworth House was built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1951 and is one of the most famous examples of modernist domestic architecture and was considered unprecedented in its day. Landmarks Illinois and The National Trust for Historic Preservation saved the house in 2003 by purchasing it for $7.5 million at an auction. Today, the house is part of the National Trust’s collection of 29 historic homes and is operated by Landmarks Illinois as a house museum.

The last flood of the house took place in 1996, when the property was owned as a private residence. That clean-up effort took months and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Green Exchange Tenants to Enjoy Lower Occupancy Costs

Green Exchange tenants in Chicago will benefit from lower occupancy costs as a result of Class L assessment legislation.

Green Exchange, 2545 W. Diversey Ave., is a marketplace committed to sustainability, profit and positive social impact.

Once home to the Vassar Swiss Underwear Co. and the Frederick Cooper Lamp Co., the building now has local and national recognition from the Commission on Chicago Landmarks and the National Park Service, respectively. The National Park Service will list the structure on its National Register of Historic Places.

Local landmark status entitles the building’s owners, Chicago-based Baum Development LLC, to pursue the Class L property tax incentive. Baum estimates this will result in a 58% savings in real estate property taxes, substantially lowering tenants’ occupancy costs. To achieve the benefit, Baum worked closely with the landmarking agencies to develop a design and construction plan that met all National Park Service guidelines for historic rehabilitation, in addition to investing more than 50% of the building’s market value in construction costs.

Green Exchange effectively bridges the architectural heritage of the past to the sustainable technologies of the future. The four-story, 272,000-sq-ft concrete loft is being renovated according to LEED Platinum standards. When it opens in 2009, Green Exchange will house a complementary tenant mix that provides innovative, sustainable products and services, and will become the natural destination for environmentally-responsible consumers.

Tenants will benefit from lower utility costs due to highly insulated walls and roofs combined with 600 high-performance windows. Green features include a sophisticated HVAC system allowing for individualized control of tenant spaces and increased comfort, a 41,000 gallon cistern irrigating more than 15,000 sq ft of vegetated roof and a “smart” escalator using 30% less energy. Additional tenant amenities include an 8,000-sq-ft sky garden, bike rooms and showers, environmentally-friendly meeting and event space, priority low-emitting vehicle parking and more.

To date, 13 applications for Class L status have been approved by the Cook County Assessor’s office, out of 33 applications received since the program started in 1997. Green Exchange’s Class L legislation has been passed by City Council and the application will receive final approval when all construction is complete.