On the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire which began on October 8, 1871…

During the Great Chicago Fire, roughly 3.3 square miles of Chicago were destroyed, approximately 300 people lost their lives, 17,450 buildings were destroyed and over 100,000 Chicagoans were left homeless.

“’The limestone tower, built in 1869 by architect William W. Boyington, is one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, making it ‘as much an icon of our identity as our lake or our flag, representing both our ingenuity, architectural heritage and boundless resiliency as a people,’ Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. ‘Just as our city has been shaped around it, it has also shaped us, bridging our past to our present, and continuously guiding our future for generations to come.’

“‘It’s truly an architectural survivor that’s been an inspiration to many,’ said lecturer John Maxson, former president and CEO of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. We all know that it was the only municipal building in town to survive the Great Chicago Fire, but it also survived developers trying to tear it down…and the city trying to tear it down to try and straighten Michigan Avenue.’” (Wittich, 9/14/19)

The Old Chicago Water Tower is a much beloved Landmark which was almost demolished multiple times during the 1960s and 1970s. It’s a miracle that it has survived and this is largely due to strong public pressure to protect it.

To honor the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire which so devastated our City and its residents, yet in retrospect had many positive impacts on the growth of Chicago and its ingenuity, Preservation Chicago has asked the Department of Planning and Development-Historic Preservation Division and the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to consider 150 new designated Chicago Landmarks in this anniversary year from October 2021 to October 2022.

Such an idea could begin with the Chicago Landmark Designation of the Seth Warner House, built in 1869 in the Austin Community, by industrialist and abolitionist Seth Warner, and extend to early pre-fire and post Chicago Fire Buildings across the City. This idea could include such communities as Hyde Park and South Chicago on the South Side and Lincoln Park and Lake View on the North Side-extending to Edgewater, and Austin and large areas of the West Side, with buildings that predate the fire of 1871.

This could also extend to community landmarks which have often been overlooked, like Holy Family Church, Mrs. O’Leary’s parish church on Roosevelt Road (1857) and Old St. Patrick’s Church (1856) in the West Loop and St. James Episcopal Cathedral on the Near North Side. Also, such later community landmark buildings as the Hotel Guyon, which stands vacant and if reused could transform the West Garfield Park Community, along with the Garfield Park Bandshell, by Joseph Lyman Silsbee. Also, the Francis Scott School on the West Side by Dwight Perkins, which remains vacant. On the South Side, buildings like the Washington Park National Bank Building in West Woodlawn, Loretto Academy and the Washington Park Substation and the South Chicago Masonic Temple, to the Walter Burley Designed Cornell Store and Flats Building in South Shore/Greater Grand Crossing Community.

In the Loop, buildings like the Century and Consumers Buildings at 202 and 220 S. State Street, as well as the Musicians Federation Building could be given Landmark Designation. North Side buildings could include several potential Landmark Districts, like Lakewood-Balmoral, areas of the Gold Coast-Near North Side, River North and extending to Rogers Park.

It’s a year of opportunity to explore the city for new Landmarks, as it was only 50 years ago, that the Old Chicago Water Tower, was finally designated a Chicago Landmark, just three days prior to the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Fire, and saving it from decades of speculation and demolition for a widening of North Michigan Avenue. What a tragedy that would have been and what an opportunity to have the Old Water Tower, Pumping Station, Fire Station and all of the greenspaces around them, as a relief from the many superstructures that now surround them. Landmarks are of great pride to our City and also a source of tourism, which continues to boost our city as a city of architecture.

Chicago’s iconic Water Tower, ‘an architectural survivor,’ marks 150 years in Gold Coast; The landmark tower, built in 1869, was one of the only buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Jake Wittich, Chicago Sun Times, 9/14/19

Table of Contents
ADVOCACY

1. WIN: Seth Warner House Preliminary Landmarking
2. WIN: PC Recommends 7 New Chicago Landmarks
3. LOSS: 800 Old-Growth Tress and Woman’s Garden Bulldozed
4. OP-ED: Is the South Shore Nature Area next?
5. Op-Ed: Flames That Still Flicker And Destroy
6. THREATENED: Epworth Church
7. POTENTIAL WIN: Pioneer Bank
8. POTENTIAL WIN: Promontory Point
9. THREATENED: Archway Standard Oil Station
10. WIN: Iconic Morton Salt Roof Sign
11. LOSS: Chicago Landmark Rambler Building Demolished
12. WIN: Fulton Market Warehouse
13. WIN: Anixter Loft Building
14. WIN: The Jewel Laundry Building
15. PARTIAL WIN: Stock Yards Bank Stabilization
16. THREATENED: Avalon New Regal Theater
17. THREATENED: Crystal Gardens at Navy Pier
18. WIN: Elijah Muhammad House
19. THREATENED: Bo Diddley’s Childhood Home Suffers Fire
20. THREATENED: St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
21. BUYER WANTED: St. Bride Church
22. THREATENED: Endangered Englewood Church
23. LOSS: Terra Cotta Ornament on New Devon Theater
24. LOSS: Fire at 1125 W. 18th St. in Pilsen
25. IN MEMORIAM: Richard H. Driehaus; Philanthropist & Preservationist
26. THREATENED: Early Warning Signs
27. THREATENED: 90-Day Demolition Delay Watch List
28. LOSS: Spotlight on Demolition (53 demolitions in September 2021)

PRESERVATION IN THE NEWS

• PRINT: Chicago Sun-Times: How the Great Fire Changed Chicago Architecture
• PRINT: WBEZ Chicago Curious City: These Buildings Made It Through The Fire But Didn’t Survive Chicago’s Development
• PRINT: Chicago Tribune: Chicago built back from the Great Fire in just two years.
• PRINT: Chicago Magazine: The Great Chicago Fire, As Told By Those Who Lived Through It
• PRINT: Chicagoland Architecture Substack: The Great Chicago Fire
• WATCH: WTTW Chicago: Dual Exhibition Highlights Lost Works by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright

EVENTS & HAPPENINGS

• Preservation Chicago’s CMD Walking Tour
• “Romanticism to Ruin: Two Lost Works of Sullivan and Wright” at Wrightwood 659
• Peterson Ave. Mid-Century Modern Walking Tour by Docomomo & Forgotten Chicago – October 16, 2021
• Open House Chicago 2021, In-Person – Oct. 16 & 17, 2021 & Self-Guided – Oct. 2021
• “Interpreting Wright” Annual Conference by Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy – Oct 13 – 17, 2021
• Chicago Biennial at Central Park Theater
• “Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture” at Chicago Architecture Center
• Learning from Lake Shore Drive by Julia Bachrach Series in December 2021
• “Drawn to Combat: Bill Mauldin & The Art of War” at Pritzker Military Museum

FILM & BOOKS

• “Louis Sullivan’s Idea,” a book by Tim Samuelson and Chris Ware
• “Modern in the Middle” Receives Modernism in America Award
• “Remembering Edgewater Beach Hotel”, by John Holden & Kathryn Gemperle
• Pullman Grand Opening Preview (1:15)
• Vautravers Building Relocation Project
• Starship Chicago: Thompson Center: A Film by Nathan Eddy
• Roseland’s South Michigan Avenue Commercial District: “The Avenue’s” Past, Present and Future
• Preservation Chicago Virtual Tour of the Arlington Deming Historic District
• Video Overview of the Preservation Chicago 2021 “Chicago 7 Most Endangered” (3:48)
• Full Presentation of the Preservation Chicago 2021 “Chicago 7 Most Endangered” (57 Minutes)

SUPPORT PRESERVATION CHICAGO

• Chicago 7 Posters and Swag
• Please Support Preservation Chicago