A group dedicated to preserving Chicago’s historic buildings has identified what it calls the city’s most endangered buildings.
Preservation Chicago releases list This week, the Loop, Bronzeville, Lincoln Park, Avalon Park, and Little Village buildings all feature as groups fight to protect their buildings.
This is the fifth time that the Century and Consumers buildings in the Loop have been listed on the website. According to Preservation Chicago, the terra cotta-fronted skyscraper represents “the last skyscraper at the Chicago School of Architecture.”
The group says funding has been secured by Congress to demolish the building and advocacy efforts to save it are “at a critical stage”.
The group also cited the Swift House, which was severely damaged in a December 2023 fire in the Bronzeville area.
An arson investigation was launched after the fire, but members of Preservation Chicago fear the owners may demolish the building because of the damage caused by the fire.
Northside Strangers Home Missionary Baptist Church, located near the area where the Cabrini Green public housing complex once stood, is one of the buildings the organization is looking to revitalize. The church had some murals by William Walker, but over the years they were whitewashed and the building remained abandoned. According to Southside Weekly.
Efforts have been made to explore the possibility of purchasing the building and restoring the whitewashed murals.
Chicago Vocational School (located in the Avalon Park neighborhood at 2100 East 87)th In recent years, the number of registered street users has been on the decline. Added to the National Register of Historic Placesconcerns remain about funding for maintenance of aging buildings.
Preservation Chicago recommended that the city seek landmark status, but more broadly, that it seek public funding for the building’s restoration and maintenance.
This year’s list also includes the Ogden Keeler Industrial Building, located along Ogden Avenue near the border of Little Village and Lawndale. Organizers say both buildings are at risk of being demolished due to the warehouse project.
A group of townhomes in the Lincoln Park area known as the Sheffield Belden Group also made the list for possible demolition in favor of DePaul University’s large athletic complex.
The Schulz Baking Company factory at 40 East Garfield Boulevard in Washington Park also made the list thanks to its terra cotta exterior and long history as a hostess butternut bread production site.
Preservation Chicago said the building was purchased with the intention of converting it into a data center, but was put back on the market earlier this year.
