City landmarks officials are trying to prevent the demolition of an elegant, 19th century building that is among the first structures built in Streeterville after the Great Chicago Fire.
The non-profit Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation applied for a demolition permit in July to bring down the 1870s building located at 161 E. Erie St.
But the Chicago Department of Planning’s Historic Preservation Division put a 90-day hold on the permit under the city’s Demo Delay Ordinance, a provision created to help ward off the demolition of potentially historic buildings.
The stay of execution has less than 40 days left. But it has given the city’s preservation staff time to put together a recommendation asking the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to grant the building preliminary landmark status at the panel’s Oct. 3 meeting.
The four-story, limestone-fronted Italianate building is among a vanishing class of structures that date back to the heady years when Streeterville was rebuilt in the aftermath of the 1871 fire.
“It’s a very historic building that adds a lot of character to the neighborhood,” Deborah Gershbein, president of Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR), said of 161 E. Erie.
“We really don’t want to have it torn down.”
Vintage buildings at risk
Located a block east of Michigan Avenue, 161 E. Erie is quite the charmer, with its light-colored stone face, intact cornice, and pleasant horizontal ranks of windows. And the building is being used. Tenants include a hair salon, an art gallery, a yoga studio — and Johnson O’Connor, the organization that wants to wreck the building.
Why would someone tear down such a little beauty?
One possible clue is that the building is surrounded by contemporary skyscrapers. The financial temptation to add one more tall, money-making building to the bunch might be too great.
But no one’s saying. Johnson O’Connor, a national scientific research and educational group, declined requests for comment. And Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) has been equally mum.
“We haven’t been able to find anything else about it,” Gershbein said.
Preservation Chicago has been pushing since July to get landmark status for 161 E. Erie. Ward Miller, the organization’s executive director, said the structure was originally a residential building composed of three townhouses before it was turned into commercial space.
“Which is a testament to the creative and adaptive reuse of such historic structures,” Miller said.
The structure’s exact year of construction is unknown because the original building permit has been lost. But the city’s Chicago Historic Resources Survey places the time of construction in the 1870s.
Miller said 161 E. Erie and nearby surviving buildings of that vintage “provide a glimpse into another era. The buildings exude a refined yet beautiful design, employing fine quality materials and craftsmanship.”
Landmarks Illinois also has been working to preserve 161 E. Erie, said Kendra Parzen, the group’s advocacy manager. Development pressures in Streeterville and River North are placing vintage buildings at risk, she said. She noted that 207 W. Superior St. — a three-story brick building from the 1880s — was wrecked this year, along with 720 N. Wells St., which was built in 1867.
“Every time we lose one of these buildings, we lose a little bit more of that story of the Chicago Fire, which I think really is one that belongs to all of Chicago,” she said.
Can’t tear down everything
The landmarks commission has the chance next month to stand up for 161 E. Erie, and approve the city preservation staff’s recommendation to grant the building a preliminary designation.
A “yes” vote would prevent any immediate efforts to demolish or significantly alter the building. It also gives the city’s preservation staff a year to investigate whether to seek a permanent designation for the structure.
Approving the designation would keep a stylish and historically valuable building from being turned into dust.
“Many, if not most, Chicagoans could probably tell you that legend of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow,” Parzen said. “But it’s pretty easy to miss that there are still pieces of that history all around, particularly in Streeterville. There are these tangible pieces of that city lore that we still have, but we frequently lose.”
Let’s not lose another one. The landmarks commission next month must vote to protect 161 E. Erie.
Lee Bey is the Sun-Times architecture critic. He is also a member of the Editorial Board.
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