The ordinance drew fierce opposition from cultural and preservation groups and those working to turn the homes of civil rights icon Emmett Till and blues legend Muddy Waters into museums, who said it could block their efforts.
Chicago Architecture
Mayor Lori Lightfoot says that a proposal requiring museums to get special permission from city officials before opening in residential neighborhoods is “highly problematic.” Her criticism makes it unlikely that the measure, which has drawn fierce opposition, will advance this week.
For decades, they acted as the city’s front door, where people from all over the country arrived seeking out a better life – or just the thrills of the big city. Geoffrey Baer takes us back to the golden age of rail travel.
The 17-acre former industrial site in Brighton Park will encompass not only the Park District’s new headquarters, but a field house, nature play space, grand lawn, water features and more. “It’s going to be transformative,” said Park District Board President Avis LaVelle.
The lakefront is arguably Chicago’s crown jewel, but that status is threatened, according to Preservation Chicago, which placed the lakefront on its annual endangered list for 2021, citing threats including development of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park and erosion from rising lake levels.
The metamorphosis of the land along the North Branch of the Chicago River from an industrial powerhouse into Chicago’s newest community area is poised to take another giant step forward at Wednesday’s full City Council meeting.
Located roughly 7 miles southwest of the Loop, many of Gage Park’s bungalows were built between 1924 and 1927.
The red brick two-flat in Woodlawn is now protected from demolition and any significant changes to its exterior. The vision is to transform the home into an international heritage pilgrimage site.
The Driehaus Bungalow Awards were established in 2005 and honor the best in bungalow restoration and renovation. “COVID Creativity” was added to the association’s annual award categories. Two winners were announced — check out the ingenuity.
Preservation Chicago has thrown open the nominations for historic buildings that are “too special to lose.” The organization will announce its list of the year’s most endangered buildings on Feb. 24.
When it comes to designing buildings, form may follow function, but that doesn’t mean function has to be without form. Geoffrey Baer joins us with the story of the O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant and other ornamented utility buildings.
Aldermen on Tuesday advanced a scaled-back effort to test whether Chicago’s affordable housing crisis could be eased by permitting basement, attic and coach house dwellings in five areas of the city.
A rancorous debate that stretched for more than 18 months ended Tuesday with a unanimous vote of the City Council’s Zoning Committee to reject an effort to landmark more than 900 buildings and murals in Pilsen.
Blacks in Green buys home, plans to create international heritage pilgrim site
The former Woodlawn home of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, is now in the hands of the nonprofit Blacks in Green. Founder Naomi Davis shares the group’s vision for the historic site.
Chicago gets a lot of attention for its soaring skyscrapers and ornate downtown buildings, but there’s more to Chicago architecture than what’s in the Loop.
A tucked-away street on the city's South Side is a time capsule from the days before the neighborhood was even part of Chicago. Geoffrey Baer explains.
