“As anyone who’s met a Chicagoan knows, you can’t get us to shut up about our city’s architecture. From the bungalow belt to the Magnificent Mile, Logan Square to the Loop, our buildings not only dazzle and delight us, they tell our city’s story. We’ve built boat, bike and foot tours around our architecture, innumerable books have been written about it, and at least one guy at WTTW seems to be really into it. So yeah – it’s definitely a thing.
“But if there’s anything else we like to talk about, it’s our city’s mistakes – and there have been plenty of mistakes when it comes to architectural preservation. We’ve picked 16 buildings – government palaces, spectacular railroad stations, sports citadels – that through neglect, politics, or just shortsightedness, we’ve regrettably lost forever. Think about it: if you could have just one great building back, which would it be? Would you rather marvel at the Chicago Federal Building’s 100-foot-wide gilded dome, or have a beer at Midway Gardens? Walk in Gwendolyn Brooks’ footsteps through the Mecca Flats, or see the scoreboard at old Comiskey Park explode again?” (WTTW, 3/16/20)
Read the full story with photos and building descriptions at WTTW
Chicago Showdown, Round One: Lost Chicago Buildings, Nick Blumberg, Erica Gunderson, WTTW, 3/16/20)