Demolition Delay
In January of 2003, the City of Chicago passed an ordinance intended to give a modicum of protection to over 8,000 historic pre-WWII-era buildings. The passing of the ordinance was the result of sustained pressure exerted by Preservation Chicago activists enraged by the demolition of the Mercantile Exchange Building. The ordinance provides a 90-day delay in demolition for any building listed as Red or Orange in the Chicago Histroic Resources Survey, a document compiled by the city's Landmarks Commission and published in 1996. You can view all listings by calendar year: