Louis Sullivan's rough year continues

Sadly, Chicago has lost another Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler building.

courtesy Preservation Chicago

It was reported by the AP today that a fire has destroyed an historic wood frame house in Chicago designed by Adler & Sullivan in 1888. It's the third Adler & Sullivan building to be destroyed by fire this year. It also happens to be Sullivan's 150th birthday year. As Preservation Chicago says on their website "UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR LOUIS..."

Just a week and a half ago, the Wirt Dexter building (1887) was destroyed by fire and had to be demolished.

courtesy Preservation Chicago

And in January, Pilgrim Baptist Church was gutted by fire.

courtesy Repeat

Pilgrim Baptist Church and the Dexter building were both set ablaze by construction crews using acetylene-oxygen torches (the former working on the distinctive roof, the latter removing an old boiler). No specific cause has been given yet for today's blaze.

However, unlike the others, the Harvey house's demolition was planned at one point. This great article by Lynn Becker of the Chicago Reader tells the story of the house as of July 2006: "A Legacy Destroyed."

"according to advocacy group Preservation Chicago, owner Natalie Frank recently told Alderman Helen Shiller she was about to apply for a demolition permit.

It’s a hot area for development. Just down the street—Stratford is only one block long—another vintage home on a similar lot was recently torn down to make way for a 23-story residential high-rise—one unit per floor, starting at $1.3 million. The Harvey House parcel is in a more restrictive zone, RM5, but that would still allow it to be replaced with a building up to five stories high with up to ten units."

Hmm...tearing down an old wood-frame houe to build condos...sounds familiar...

Luckily, or so it seemed, the owner had an apparent change of heart. The Chicago Tribune reported at the end of July that the owner had decided not to demolish the house. Maybe so, but given the owner's initial plans, it makes one wonder if today's fire was truly an accident.

Ms. Becker's article also outlines part of Chicago's problem: a weak landmarks law.

"The Harvey House is in danger because it isn’t an official Chicago landmark. On the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, a listing of more than 17,000 distinctive properties completed in 1995, it has an orange rating, the secondhighest category. In the highest are 300 “red” rated buildings, defined by the survey as “potentially significant in the broader context of the City of Chicago.”

The broader orange rating covers 9,600 structures that are “potentially significant in the context of the surrounding community.” By law, if someone applies for a demolition permit for an orange rated building, a 90-day hold is automatically placed on it while the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, a body appointed by the mayor, reviews the application and decides whether the building deserves to be saved.

But the city has a record of letting orange rated buildings slip through the cracks, issuing permits before 90 days are up and allowing buildings to be damaged or even razed before the commission can review the application."

Many in NYC like to bitch and moan about how strict the landmarks law is and what a hindrance it is to property owners. But at least we don't have this multi-tiered, relatively toothless set-up. You'd think that a city like Chicago, that's lost so much of its historic architecture (especially Sullivan's) would do everything in its power to preserve what they have left. I realize that "accidental" fires are not the fault of the landmarks law, but even without the fire, the Harvey house was nearly lost.

Chicago, your NYC preservation brethren feel for ya.