{"id":638509,"date":"2026-03-07T11:06:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T11:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/638509\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T11:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T11:06:29","slug":"7-buildings-on-preservation-chicagos-1st-endangered-buildings-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/638509\/","title":{"rendered":"7 buildings on Preservation Chicago’s 1st Endangered Buildings list"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preservation Chicago<\/a> has highlighted historical places or objects<\/a> \u2014 including churches, schools, warehouse districts and even wooden double-hung windows \u2014 since 2002 that could be lost to demolition if action is not taken to restore them.<\/p>\n

There are more than 100 locations considered endangered<\/a> by the architectural conservation group. Some have been highlighted multiple times during the past two decades.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look back at the seven sites initially highlighted by the organization<\/a> as threatened \u2014 and their most recent status.<\/p>\n

Chicago Mercantile Exchange
\n\"PreservationPreservation groups expressed outrage in March 2002 that the former Chicago Mercantile Exchange Building at the northwest corner of Franklin and Washington streets in the Loop could be razed. (Bill Hogan\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

300 N. Franklin St.<\/p>\n

Preservation Chicago staged a half-dozen anti-demolition protests<\/a> at the 1927 Beaux-Arts style, 17-story building in 2002, so it was no surprise when it topped the group\u2019s inaugural list. Dubbed the \u201cButter and Egg building\u201d<\/a> when it opened, the structure featured bronze elevator doors decorated with scenes from agricultural life \u2014 milking, churning butter, feeding chickens \u2014 that reflect its role as the place where farmers\u2019 products were steered to the nation\u2019s consumers.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe former Chicago Mercantile Exchange building at Franklin and Washington streets was designed by Alfred S. Alschuler. (Bill Hogan\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Crown family bought the building in the late 1940s, and in 1972, the Merc moved operations to 444 W. Jackson Blvd. It moved again in 1982, to 30 S. Wacker Drive.<\/p>\n

A demolition permit<\/a> was issued in February 2002 for the Merc, which was designed by Chicago architect Alfred S. Alschuler<\/a>. His London Guarantee Building, 360 N. Michigan Ave. \u2014 which has been home to the LondonHouse Chicago hotel since 2016 \u2014 was designated a city landmark in 1996.<\/p>\n

\"DemonstratorsDemonstrators each hold a letter spelling out, “SAVE THE MERCANTILE EXCHANGE BUILDING,” as they wrap around the corner at Franklin and Washington streets on July 5, 2002. (Chuck Berman\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Current status: The building was torn down in 2003, but Preservation Chicago still considered its efforts to protect the building a win<\/a>. An ordinance was passed the same year requiring a 90-day warning<\/a> before a demolition permit could be issued for buildings rated orange or red, the two highest categories on a local historic survey.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can characterize the Merc as the martyr child for preservation reform in the city of Chicago. \u2026 It died so that others could live<\/a>,\u201d group President Jonathan Fine told the Tribune in early 2003. \u201cIt hammered home \u2026 how grossly overdue landmark reform was.\u201d<\/p>\n

The site is now an empty lot.<\/p>\n

Cook County Hospital
\n\"ExteriorExterior of the old Cook County Hospital on March 12, 2003. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

1825 W. Harrison St.<\/p>\n

Cook County Hospital was designed in the Classic Revival style by Paul Gerhardt, a German American architect who also planned Lane Tech College Prep. The migrants and the poor were treated inside the two-block-long structure nicknamed Chicago\u2019s Ellis Island<\/a>, which also was the site of the first blood bank<\/a> in the United States, founded by immigrant Hungarian doctor Bernard Fantus.<\/p>\n

The building\u2019s facade and interior was the inspiration for the TV show \u201cER\u201d and used in 1993\u2019s movie \u201cThe Fugitive\u201d<\/a> starring Harrison Ford.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe operation theater, neglected for many years, awaits renovation at the former Cook County Hospital. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Once among the largest hospitals in the country, the building was slated for demolition in 1994<\/a> by the Illinois Medical District. The then-88-year-old building was shuttered in December 2002 when the gleaming $623 million, 464-bed John Stroger Hospital<\/a> replaced it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like Chicago would repeat the civic barbarity it committed in the early 1970s when it allowed the destruction of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan\u2019s Chicago Stock Exchange Building,\u201d Tribune critic Blair Kamin wrote.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe exterior of the former Cook County Hospital on May 20, 2020. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Current status: After sitting vacant for more than a decade, county officials\u00a0selected the Civic Health Development Group<\/a> to remake the hospital and surrounding land in the Illinois Medical District.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir combined work has the building\u2019s exterior, made of granite, brick, limestone and terra cotta, looking sharper and cleaner than it has in decades,\u201d Kamin wrote. \u201cMore than 4,500 pieces of terra cotta have been replaced \u2014 roughly 2,800 more than anticipated. (The developers had enough in their contingency fund to pay for the extras.) Naturalistic details, including sculpted versions of grapes, emerge as if we\u2019ve never seen them before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe lobby at the former Cook County Hospital on May 20, 2020. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The multiphase $1 billion redevelopment<\/a> \u2014 that included two hotels, a food hall<\/a>, day care center and medical offices \u2014 reopened in 2020.<\/p>\n

Lower River North Historic District
\n\"AA view down Illinois Street at Wabash Avenue on Oct. 29, 2009. (Nancy Stone\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Area bounded roughly by Carroll Avenue to the south, Grand Avenue to the north, Franklin Street to the west and Wabash Avenue to the east.<\/p>\n

Though this grouping of Victorian buildings<\/a> was not in immediate danger, Preservation Chicago sought to protect them due to the possibility of the commercial area\u2019s structures being torn down for redevelopment. This defined area of structures built between the 1870s and the 1930s was already surrounded by high-rises.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of Chicago\u2019s cherished architects are represented within this district,\u201d according to a release from the group. \u201cLower River North illustrates the crucial development of Chicago commerce and industry during its significant stages of growth, as reflected by its various building types, styles and sizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn no other part of Chicago can one examine the growth of medium-sized commercial architecture during the critical periods immediately following the (Great Chicago Fire).\u201d<\/p>\n

Current status: Though Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, explored creating a landmark district in 2007, no action has been taken.<\/p>\n

Metropolitan (Apostolic) Community Church
\n\"MetropolitianMetropolitan Community Church, at 41st Street and South King Drive, was built in the late 1880s by John T. Long. The church was scheduled for demolition in 2003, but was granted landmark designation in late 2006. (Milbert O. Brown\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

4100 S. King Drive<\/p>\n

Not just a house of worship, this church also played an important role in African American history<\/a>. Metropolitan Church has served as the organizational home to civil rights demonstrators and Black labor unions, most notably the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded by A. Philip Randolph. Its membership rolls are a who\u2019s who of the Black community, including journalist Ida B. Wells<\/a>, Chicago Defender founder Robert Sengstacke Abbott<\/a>\u00a0and Gwendolyn Brooks<\/a>, Illinois poet laureate and the first Black person to win a Pulitzer Prize.<\/p>\n

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt<\/a> spoke from the church\u2019s pulpit on March 29, 1943, telling those gathered that the right of all people to be considered equal must be preserved in the country\u2019s post-World War II efforts.<\/p>\n

\""It's“It’s so senseless,” Johnnie Richardson, a parishioner of Metropolitan Community Church since 1930, said on Oct. 29, 2002. The historic building located on the southwest corner of 41st Street and King Drive in Chicago was suggested for demolition in 2002, but named a landmark by the city in 2006. (Scott Strazzante\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Yet in early 2003, a minister from another congregation wanted to buy the building and tear it down<\/a>. Preservation Chicago and the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois both listed the Romanesque house of worship with distinctive variegated reddish-brown stonework on their endangered lists.<\/p>\n

Current status: The church was granted landmark status<\/a> by the city\u2019s Commission on Chicago Landmarks in December 2006, and officially designated a landmark<\/a> on July 19, 2007.<\/p>\n

New York Life Building
\n\"TheThe exterior of the New York Life Building, 37-43 S. LaSalle St. Chicago, on Oct. 24, 2002. (Chuck Berman\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Entrances at 122 W. Monroe St. and 39 S. LaSalle St.<\/p>\n

The 14-story Classical Revival-style building<\/a> made Preservation Chicago\u2019s list in 2003 and 2006, and the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois\u2019 list in 2004<\/a>. It was designed in the late 1890s and built in stages by prominent architect William LeBaron Jenney, who also gave the city its first skyscraper \u2014 the Home Insurance Building<\/a>. That building was torn down in 1931, but the New York Life Building still represented one of the city\u2019s early high-rises a block away.<\/p>\n

\"LawLaw journals are shelved at the Volume 39 bar in The Gray Hotel at 39 S. LaSalle St., Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Current status: The building faced becoming partially or fulled torn down<\/a> in June 2006 \u2014 despite being granted preliminary landmark status<\/a> \u2014 but ultimately became the fifth adaptive reuse project<\/a> by Kimpton Hotel & Restaurants in Chicago.<\/p>\n

The Gray Hotel<\/a> opened in 2016 after a $106 million transformation.<\/p>\n

\"ArchitecturalArchitectural detail in the lobby leading up the twin grand stairs to the Kimpton Gray Hotel in Chicago on Jan. 12, 2017. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cInterior highlights<\/a> include the palatial LaSalle Street lobby, a showcase of gray marble (another source of inspiration for the building\u2019s name),\u201d Kamin wrote after a tour of the new hotel. \u201cTwin grand stairs, a coffered ceiling and elegant archways reflect the influence of the \u2018White City,\u2019 the neoclassical World\u2019s Columbian Exposition in 1893, a year before the New Life Building opened.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Boniface Church and related buildings
\n\"St.St. Boniface Church, 1358 W. Chestnut St., Chicago, on July 27, 2016. (Jos\u00e9 M. Osorio\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

1358 W. Chestnut St.<\/p>\n

The Catholic sanctuary in West Town was among almost 40 churches<\/a> cited for closure in January 1990 as part of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin\u2019s financial plan to reverse an operating deficit. Tribune reporter Michael Hirsley called the effort \u201cone of the most drastic shakeups ever in the nation\u2019s second-largest archdiocese.\u201d Debt and low attendance<\/a> were the reasons given for why the churches were targeted.<\/p>\n

\"DetailDetail of St. Boniface Church, 1358 W. Chestnut St., Chicago, on July 27, 2016. (Jos\u00e9 M. Osorio\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The congregation was originally organized in 1864 and housed in a wood-frame structure. It survived the Great Chicago Fire and provided refuge for people displaced by the blaze.<\/p>\n

The brick Romanesque Revival edifice was designed by architect Henry J. Schlacks, who also built other churches around Chicago. Motorists might recognize its\u00a0four bell towers<\/a>, which are visible near the Kennedy Expressway.<\/p>\n

Long vacant, St. Boniface was highlighted by Preservation Chicago in 2003, 2004 and 2009.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe bell tower deck looks out to the Chicago skyline on Oct. 3, 2025, in a penthouse in The Residences at St. Boniface in Chicago\u2019s West Town neighborhood. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Current status: Several attempts to demolish the church<\/a> were halted. Chicago developer ZSD transformed the church<\/a> and surrounding property into 42 housing units, which opened in June 2025.<\/p>\n

\"AA Bocci glass sculpture with 37 glass spheres hangs above the living room in a penthouse on Oct. 3, 2025, at The Residences at St. Boniface in Chicago\u2019s West Town neighborhood. (Dominic Di Palermo\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The first phase focused on transforming the church into 18 housing units. The second phase added eight units in an adjacent building, and a third phase added 17 additional condos in a new structure next door.<\/p>\n

With more than 30 church properties listed for sale by the Archdiocese of Chicago alone, more conversions to housing are likely.<\/p>\n

Zepf\u2019s Hall
\n\"MembersMembers of Preservation Chicago, from left, Ron Ernst, William Buster and Dia Cirillo, make a presentation on Oct. 24, 2002, on preserving seven places in Chicago they say are threatened. (Chuck Berman\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

630 W. Lake St.<\/p>\n

Though built in 1882<\/a>, the architect for this Italianate structure is unknown. Yet it remains the only building still standing from the May 4, 1886, labor demonstration at Haymarket Square<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Current status: Japanese American cocktail bar Kumiko<\/a> \u2014 which won Outstanding Bar<\/a> at the 2025 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards \u2014 is at the Near West Side address.<\/p>\n

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