Landmarks Illinois announces 2015 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois

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[April 24, 2015]  SPRINGFIELD - A list of the Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois was announced today at a press conference in Springfield.

Now in its 20th year, this statewide list calls attention to threatened historic resources in need of assistance in the form of responsible stewardship, creative reuse plans, and/or advances in public policy. The slow economic recovery, state budget crisis, and a lack of available financing continue to challenge historic sites throughout Illinois.

“The sites named to the list, as well as the critical work of our State Historic Preservation Office, are all exceptionally important to not only local residents, but the local economy,” said Bonnie McDonald, President of Landmarks Illinois. “By calling attention to the potential for reuse and revitalization of these historic places, we are encouraging job creation and economic development across Illinois – something everyone can support.”

The properties on this year’s list are: the home of the Schwinn Bicycle Company co-founder, a Lincoln-era home in Springfield, an 1855 Greek Revival house and barn, an iconic fifty-foot statue located in a state park, vanishing mid-century modern houses, a former state hospital’s main building, key projects in the expiring River Edge state historic tax credit program, a vacant archdiocesan school, a large-scale industrial bakery, a southern Illinois “thatched cottage,” an early Chicago movie palace, and lastly, the vital office that administers the State’s historic preservation programs.

Since the inception of Landmarks Illinois’ Most Endangered list in 1995, a third of the listed properties have been saved, less than a quarter have been demolished, and the rest are in varying stages between being continually threatened and rehabilitation.

Landmarks Illinois has been working to protect historic places throughout Illinois for over 40 years. The not-for-profit works with citizens and communities to preserve historic places and promote awareness about them through education and advocacy. Landmarks Illinois preserves historic places that enhance communities, empower citizens, and catalyze local economic development throughout Illinois. In addition to the Most Endangered list, the organization also sponsors an annual awards program, two grant programs and various educational events, including the co-sponsorship of a bi-annual statewide historic preservation conference. Landmarks Illinois also is working with state legislators to enact a statewide historic tax credit program – The Illinois Rehabilitation and Revitalization Tax Credit Act (SB 1250).

The complete Most Endangered list, including individual property press releases and photos, is available at www.Landmarks.org through the “Press Room” link.


Landmarks Illinois 2015 Most Endangered Historic Places
(In alphabetical order)



Arnold-Crowe House
3329 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago (Cook County)

The Arnold-Crowe House in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood is distinctive for its architecture and its connection to two noted Chicagoans, but deterioration has left this 1904 mansion vulnerable to demolition. Designed with Gothic and Moorish Revival influence, the Arnold-Crowe House was a prominent home built at Washington Boulevard and Garfield Park for Adolph Arnold, a successful meatpacker and co-founder of the Schwinn Bicycle Company. The mansion’s next resident was Robert E. Crowe, the prosecutor in the dramatic Leopold and Loeb trial and co-counsel in the Iroquois Theater Fire court proceedings. Later, the Arnold-Crowe House served as the headquarters for a builders’ union and then became a church. Vacant for many years, the home’s structural integrity is at risk due to persistent water infiltration. A local restauranteur with a strong investment interest in Chicago’s west side purchased the house in 2011 with plans to rehabilitate it as his home. Unfortunately, due to the high rate of foreclosures in the immediate area, he was unable to secure the necessary bank financing. In the meantime, a city inspection resulted in a demolition notice, despite its significant rating in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey. With a demolition hold in place, the owner has received offers for the property, but fears for the house’s fate given the lack of financing options as banks continue to be unwilling to provide traditional financing in neighborhoods of disinvestment.

Black Hawk Statue
Lowden State Park, 1411 N. River Rd., Oregon (Ogle County)

Nestled within trees lining the east side of the Rock River, the iconic Black Hawk statue stands nearly fifty-feet-tall on a high bluff overlooking the beautiful landscape of Lowden State Park. The statue is located less than one mile north of the city of Oregon and twenty-five miles southwest of Rockford. Designed by noted Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft, generations of Illinoisans have visited Black Hawk during family vacations and school field trips since its dedication in 1911. Despite several repairs and patches over the decades, the now 104-year old statue is in desperate need of full conservation – its concrete body in some places is so deteriorated that if not addressed immediately there is a risk that the damage will quickly accelerate and the majority of its original details will be lost. Friends of the Black Hawk Statue Committee have galvanized financial and pro-bono support for Black Hawk’s $825,000 restoration price tag. However, the bleak outlook for next year’s IDNR budget, along with bureaucratic procedures that have slowed the contracting process and elevated the budget, have already delayed the scheduled restoration by nearly a year. A successful restoration of this treasured Illinois monument will likely require pressure from financial contributors, local officials, and the public.


Bowen Building, Peoria State Hospital
4125 W. Pfeiffer Rd., Bartonville (Peoria County)

The Bowen Building, the centerpiece of the National Register-listed Peoria State Hospital complex, has been largely unoccupied since the closure of the hospital in 1973. Sited on a hill in Bartonville, the complex was the result of the Illinois General Assembly’s 1895 provision for a state insane asylum. Since the closure of the Peoria State Hospital, efforts to rehabilitate the 1902, 3-story, limestone Bowen Building have been unsuccessful. The non-profit Save the Bowen Foundation has facilitated the reopening of the building in recent years for group tours, but is unable to achieve a major rehabilitation. The foundation needs to find a developer for the project in 2015 to avoid condemnation and demolition. Eligible for federal historic tax credits, the foundation is hopeful that the iconic Bowen Building can be saved.

Central Park Theater
3535 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago (Cook County)
The first of many large “movie palaces” built by the theater corporation of Balaban & Katz, the 1917 Central Park Theater is one of the earliest theater designs of the noted architecture firm Rapp and Rapp. The Italian and French Renaissance-influenced 1, 780-seat theater, located on the once-bustling Roosevelt Road corridor in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, was designed in the style of a European opera house. The model set forth in the Central Park Theater soon became the norm in movie house design, but the theater also served as a more traditional live performance venue – Lawndale native Benny Goodman made his professional debut there in 1921. The theater has weathered shifting neighborhood demographics and long bouts of disinvestment, showing movies until 1971, when it was purchased by the House of Prayer Church of God in Christ which continues to worship there. The building is now in court for numerous code violations and the small congregation cannot afford the critical repairs needed. It is anticipated that the building will soon be put on the market, thus facing the financing challenges common throughout the Lawndale community.

 

Condell House
605 S. 4th St., Springfield (Sangamon County)

Built in 1842, the Condell House is one of Springfield’s oldest surviving structures but is currently facing a City-ordered demolition unless a new owner can be found. The house originated as a wing of the First Methodist Episcopal Church and was purchased and moved to its current site in 1852 by John Condell, a prominent local businessman. The house, located in the Governor’s Mansion Historic Zoning District, features Greek Revival detailing and a deep setback from the street. Despite its significance to the Springfield community, the Condell House has remained largely vacant and a victim of steady deterioration since 1985. In late 2014, the house was placed on the City of Springfield’s “demolition delay” list, allowing for a final period of time to find an alternative solution. Local advocates, along with the Springfield Historic Sites Commission, continue to seek a new owner with the capacity to repair the historic house. The neighborhood surrounding the Condell House has been the subject of large-scale reinvestment, highlighted by the rehabilitation plans for the Executive Mansion and the redevelopment proposal for an entire city block. The Condell House has the opportunity to be a participant in this ongoing neighborhood revitalization if a new owner is found to save this vital part of Springfield’s history.

William H. Coventry House & Barn
7704 Rt. 14 N., Harvard (McHenry County)

Currently for sale as part of a 287 acre, commercially-zoned tract, the William H. Coventry House & Barn is located at Harvard’s northern gateway. The 1855 house and its outbuildings were rehabilitated in 1994 by Motorola as housing for visiting executives to its Harvard manufacturing facility. Closed in 2003 and under different ownership, the former Motorola campus and Coventry buildings have deteriorated significantly, diminishing their property value and placing the historic residence and barn in danger. Local preservationists from the Harvard community have voluntarily made minor repairs, but without full access to this privately-owned property, any further stabilization is difficult. New and dedicated ownership is needed of this historic parcel, which can be divided from the larger campus. The City of Harvard, Harvard Economic Development Corp. and the McHenry County Historical Society are working together to identify possible buyers or solutions that would ensure the preservation of the historic Coventry property.

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Historic Properties in the River Edge Redevelopment Zones
Elgin Tower Building, 100 E. Chicago Ave., Elgin (Kane County)
The Hobbs Building, 2 N. River St., Aurora (Kane County)
Madison Theater, 500 W. Main St., Peoria (Peoria County)
The Murphy Building, 234 Collinsville Ave., East St. Louis (St. Clair County)
Ziock Building, 416 S. Main St., Rockford (Winnebago County)

Set to expire on January 1, 2017, the River Edge Redevelopment Zone (RERZ) Historic Tax Credit was created to revive and redevelop challenged historic properties in five river-adjacent Illinois cities: Aurora, East St. Louis, Elgin, Peoria, and Rockford. SB 1642 - the River Edge HTC extension bill – calls for the extension of this critical financing program. If not extended, many historic buildings in these cities will never have the opportunity to be redeveloped and put back on the tax rolls. The five buildings highlighted represent the variety of historic commercial buildings that are important to their business districts, but all require the RERZ incentive to make good financial sense for rehabilitation. The extension bill would allow the credit to sunset in January of 2022. The historic tax credits offered in the RERZ districts have made huge strides in downtown revitalization in Rockford and Peoria, but more time is needed for other critical projects to be completed.


Mid-Century Modern Houses
Statewide

The staggering number of mid-century modern houses up for sale and vulnerable as tear-downs in the Chicago area and or unable to sell throughout Illinois underlines the challenge of marketing these unique homes built from the 1940s-1970s. Communities continue to lose architecturally significant homes from this period to demolition. Often, these homes contain open floor plans, small kitchens, seemingly outdated materials, and design features such as windowless or full-glass walls that lead many realtors to view them as less desirable and list them for their land value. Many nationally significant architects who were based here designed these homes, including Edward Dart, A. James Speyer, and Keck & Keck. The increasing loss of mid-century modern residential buildings will continue unless they are identified and protected by local landmark commissions. Greater understanding of their design qualities and use of available incentives for their rehabilitation will also help these misunderstood gems continue to sparkle for their communities.
 

Schulze Bakery
40 E. Garfield Blvd., Chicago (Cook County)

Once the highest-producing baking company in the country the Schulze Bakery building in Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood was built in 1914. Local firm John Ahlschlager & Son designed the plant to efficiently accommodate the programmatic requirements of large-scale industrial baking while still employing highly decorative terra cotta ornament and detail on the exterior. While the building retains a high degree of its historic integrity, it has stood vacant since 2005, leaving it prone to deterioration and damage by vandals. The owners are committed to renovating and reusing the building – potential reuse plans have envisioned mixed-use retail and residential or a data center – but without the assistance of a state historic tax credit (SB 1250), the financing continues to be very difficult and the owners may need to sell the historically rich plant. Further, the plant is situated next to a vacant lot and in close proximity to the expressway and heavily trafficked arterial streets, making it an attractive location for strip-mall or big-box development. The Washington Park community is deeply committed to saving the building, and the Local Support Initiatives Corporation (LISC) conducted a Quality of Life plan for the neighborhood in 2009 which largely centered on retention and rehabilitation of the Schulze Bakery. For large-scale historic buildings like Schulze, an added financial incentive for rehabilitation is greatly needed.


St. James Academy
220 Illinois St., Lemont (Cook County)

The historic St. James Academy (now known as St. Patrick School) exemplifies the growing number of shuttered archdiocesan schools. Built in 1883 in a simple Italianate style, the school is one of just a dozen Joliet-Lemont limestone structures still standing in Lemont, a town where quarrying
was the major industry from 1850-1900. Students from 1st through 12th grades attended classes at the original St. James school building (renamed St. Patrick School in the 1890s) until 1963, when a new school building was constructed nearby. Low enrollment later prompted the Archdiocese to merge St. Patrick School into another school in Lemont in 2003, so that both the old St. James and newer school buildings were left without a purpose. When the newer school building was converted into a parish center and meeting space, old St. James remained vacant. Periodic inspections by the Archdiocese revealed structural support problems, but these have not been addressed in at least a decade. As a result, breaches in the roof have allowed water to enter the interior, which has become severely deteriorated. Although the Village of Lemont designated St. James Academy a local landmark, the parish today views the historic building as an unusable drain on their budget. Aside from the roof structure and interior deterioration, the school exterior is stable and retains a high degree of historic integrity. Local preservationists are working with the Village to explore opportunities for the right developer to rehabilitate and reuse the building.
 



State Historic Preservation Office
Springfield

Governor Rauner’s proposed FY2016 budget zeroes out funding for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA) Preservation Services Division, our State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). What we do not know at this point is if funding will be restored, if the Division will be moved to another agency, or if the administration proposes to cut preservation altogether. The federal government requires each state to have a SHPO to manage federally-mandated programs like Section 106 regulatory review, Certified Local Government (CLG) grants, the National Register of Historic Places and the administration of the Federal Historic Tax Credit program that requires staff design review of rehabilitation projects on behalf of the National Park Service. Federal funds flow into Illinois to pay for these services. Landmarks Illinois is advocating to restore state funding for the SHPO and maintain or grow its capacity to manage these vital regulatory review and incentive programs. The SHPO staff last year alone assisted private developers and property owners with Federal Historic Tax Credit rehabilitation projects totaling $726.6 million in private investment – a higher total than in any other state. That translates to approximately 3,600 Illinois construction jobs. A loss of staff and budget to the SHPO will slow down project reviews and have a major impact on the real estate development community, job creation and put Illinois at risk of losing matching Federal funds and millions of dollars in private investment.


Thatchcot House
515 S. 13th St., Herrin (Williamson County)

The charming and unique Thatchcot House in Herrin has fallen on difficult times since a fire in 2000 severely damaged its interior, but its storied history and significance in the community bolsters hope that a preservation solution remains possible. Originally a traditional bungalow constructed in 1915, early owners Hal and Violet Trovillion and local builder J.H. Kuehner collaborated to transform the house into a whimsical interpretation of an English thatched cottage, dubbing it “Thatchcot.” In addition to serving as their residence, Thatchcot was home to the family’s printing company, Trovillion Press, which published high-quality editions of short books through 1963. The house, which was to be a showpiece for the Trovillion’s fine art collection, was adorned with leaded-glass windows, exotic wood paneling, a flagstone terrace, and an iron prow from a 19th century Venetian gondola mounted to the exterior chimney. Equal care was taken in creating the rich landscape, which featured exotic plantings, a vine-covered stone fence, and a spherical sundial from Sweden. The devastating fire in 2000 severely damaged Thatchcot’s interior and the current owners have been unable to restore the house while the insurance payment remains disputed. The landscape has also suffered from the loss of many original plantings and the theft of the metal sundial. Until sufficient funding is acquired or an alternative solution determined, the charming “thatched cottage” of Herrin remains vacant, boarded, and threatened by continued deterioration.

[Bonnie McDonald, President, Landmarks Illinois]

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