“DePaul is postponing demolition of Lincoln Park townhomes in their scheme to make a new athletic facility, despite opposition from some community groups. Even with the support of Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43rd), the city is still requiring additional measures before demolition can begin.

“In an email from the Office of the President on Feb. 20, DePaul announced that demolition for the new athletic facility, originally set to begin in summer 2025, would be pushed back a year to begin “no earlier than summer 2026, and be completed by fall 2027.”

“In September, Knudsen announced his official support for the project after attending two town hall events hosted by DePaul and participating in negotiations to develop the project.

“We have the support of Wrightwood Neighbors, but not of the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, and DePaul University is kind of split between the two. I think that’s where we weigh the balance of the negotiation,” Knudsen said. Alongside Sheffield Neighborhood Association, Preservation Chicago also disagrees with the demolition.

“All of the buildings are ‘contributing’ structures in the Sheffield National Register Historic District while two of the historic houses, 2310 and 2316 N. Sheffield, are rated ‘orange’ in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey (CHRS), deeming them important to the City of Chicago and the community in which they are located,” Neighborhood Group, Preservation Chicago said.

“Brian Comer, president of Sheffield Neighborhood Association believes that the architecture in Lincoln Park does not exist anywhere else.

“ Well, let’s fast forward 40 years. Would an orange rated building in 1984 still be an orange rated building in 2025? Or would it be a red building based upon the lack of inventory of that style of architecture?” Comer said.

“Sheffield Neighborhood Association has called their growth ‘symbiotic with DePaul,’ with their documents and communication dating back all the way to 1958.

“ DePaul is our closest friend,” Comer said. “We’ve always valued that relationship, but friends at times need to speak the truth to other friends, right? And if you can’t speak truth to your friends, then how close is that relationship?”

“ We as a community don’t disagree with their need for additional facilities. We actually encourage that. It’s just the placement of it,” Comer said. “We think putting it on a corner or a strip of street that is in our neighborhood, you’re stripping away pieces of the neighborhood.” (Yeager, Corona, and Burkhead, The DePaulia, 3/10/25)

For over 130 years, four freestanding brick and stone Romanesque Revival townhouses have fronted the 2300 block of N. Sheffield Avenue in the Lincoln Park Community Area. In 1926, these townhouses were joined to the south at the northwest corner of Sheffield and Belden by a beautifully-scaled courtyard building containing 40 apartments. The freestanding townhouses were later converted to apartments while some in recent years have been transformed into DePaul University offices. The courtyard building has provided reasonably-priced housing for the community, as well as DePaul students, for decades. Together, these five historic structures comprise a half-block along Sheffield and Belden Avenues.

All of the buildings are “contributing” structures in the Sheffield National Register Historic District while two of the historic houses, 2310 and 2316 N. Sheffield, are rated “Orange” in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey (CHRS), deeming them important to the City of Chicago and the community in which they are located. In the past year, DePaul University has proposed these five buildings be demolished and replaced with a new multi-story athletic center. This development would completely change the character of the block and adversely impact the few remaining historic structures nearby.

Preservation Chicago supports the growth of this amazing Chicago institution of higher education and recognizes DePaul University as a tremendous asset. However, we are also of the opinion that the demolition and loss of these five buildings will adversely impact the streetwall, historic character, and human scale of both this block and the Sheffield National Register District, which has experienced a tremendous onslaught of demolitions and new construction in recent years, often by DePaul University.

Read the full story at The DePaulia

• Athletic facility still sparks controversy within neighborhood groups, Jacqueline Yeager, Francesca Corona, and Gabriella Burkhead, The DePaulia, 3/10/25
• DePaul Adjusts Sports Facility Plan, But 1890s Rowhouses Would Still Be Demolished, The university now promises to preserve three other historical campus buildings — but still plans to demolish four rowhouses to make way for the facility, Kayleigh Padar, Block Club Chicago, 4/11/24
• Sheffield-Belden Group, a 2024 Chicago 7 Most Endangered