The 2009 Chicago 7

Meigs Field Terminal Building

The 1961 Terminal on Northerly Island is one of two reminders of the Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport that was abruptly closed in 2003. The delightfully modern airport terminal was completed in 1961 by Consoer & Morgan. The firm also designed Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago and the 1971 Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in Des Plaines. The new terminal building contained waiting areas, offices and counter space and was operated by the Chicago Department of Aviation. The two-story glass, steel and precast masonry building features a taller three-story central structure with an atrium that offered spectacular lake vistas for waiting passengers. The terminal’s brightly colored 1961 interior is mostly intact, including seats for passengers in the gate waiting areas, despite having also been home to a Chicago Police station at one time. The airport was closed on March 30, 2003, when bulldozers working at night gouged large X’s into the runway at the request of Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Preservation Chicago believes the City should landmark both the Meigs Field Terminal building and its interior before any plans for alterations are acted upon. As has already been happening, the building can be easily reused to support Park District activities as well as other nature-based programs. Reusing the building with as little demolition as possible is one of the greenest things the Park District can do as it moves forward in its plans to further develop Northerly Island as a park.

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