From the Chicago Tribune's Voice of the People section
Saving Maxwell
by David Bahlman, Executive Director, Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois
November 2, 1999
CHICAGO -- The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois has long been involved in assessing the historic resources on Maxwell and Halsted Streets. It is clear that the current proposal by the University of Illinois does not present a satisfactory preservation plan. There have been at least two alternate plans that have been commissioned both by the university and the city, none of which has been adequately utilized or even fully considered. These alternate solutions, by all reports, present viable preservation plans for this extremely important district.
The current proposal by the university is not preservation but rather an exercise in urban design. Facadism and more particularly facadism with relocation of the building(s) creates a mere memory, or souvenir of the buildings and the district.
As was noted in a Sept. 13 editorial, the adaptive reuse of existing structures of historic and architectural merit in situ would preserve an authentic piece of what was once a rich and vibrant commercial district and neighborhood.
web page provided by OPENAIR-MARKET NET
return to Preserve Maxwell Street