WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

The New Regal Theater — the 86-year-old South Side showplace that is one of the city's finest remaining examples of vintage movie palace architecture — is for sale. Asking price: $100,000.

A city landmark, the theater is being sold by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which took ownership in 2011 after the bank holding the building's mortgage failed.

An FDIC spokesman said the New Regal, 1645 E. 79th St., had been under contract for $99,000, but the deal fell through and the theater has been placed  back on the market.

The FDIC is responsible for the big building's upkeep — a motivating factor behind the cut-rate price. Chicago's U.S. Equities is handling the listing, but representatives from the company did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The New Regal has been closed since 2010 and faces some big-ticket repairs.

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For several months in 1988, the competition to design the Harold Washington Library was the talk of the city.

The new downtown library not just a place for books, but an architectural gut check: Would America's first city of architecture pick a daring design? Or would Chicago—in the wake of the cost overruns at the then-new State of Illinois Building and the McCormick Place west addition (or out of sheer timidity)— select the safe and familiar?

In 1989, PBS' Nova series took a look at the competition in an episode called "Design Wars," seen in an edited version in the video above. The program explored the five teams each headed by architects Dirk Lohan, Thomas Beeby, SOM, Helmut Jahn and Arthur Erickson of Canada that sought the commission. Each architect was paired with a real estate developer to assure the design could be built for $140 million price tag.

Each submittal was profoundly different. Beeby's design won, of course, and the building was completed in 1991.

Watching "Design Wars" a quarter century later, there is much to note. The camera pan at the beginning of the video reveals a skyline east of Michigan Avenue that looks remarkably barren now. At 0:16, architecture historian Bob Bruegmann in a stroll along the riverwalk that once ran next to the old Chicago Sun-Times Building at 401 N. Wabash Ave. nicely explains why architecture is so important here.

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Updated at 11:06am

Ownership of Oak Park's Unity Temple could be transferred from its long-time congregation to an organization that would be responsible for maintaining the church, according to a $10 million deal aimed at restoring the internationally-recognized Frank Lloyd Wright structure.

According to an email sent to the congregation Tuesday evening by the Unitarian Universalist congregation's board of Trustees, Chicago's Alphawood Foundation would donate $10 million toward the restoration of the 105-year-old building, 875 Lake St. In addition, Alphawood would work to help restructure the 40-year-old Unity Temple Restoration Foundation or "create a new preservation organization to manage fundraising, restoration, and preservation of Unity Temple as well as public programming and tours," according to the email, a copy of which was obtained by this  blog late Tuesday.

But the plan is conditional. In order for the ownership transfer to be enacted, the church's current restoration campaign must raise 80% of the total funding needs, plus an endowment to maintain the building. The Alphawood funds would count toward the total.

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The Sheridan apartments at 71st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue—across from Oak Woods Cemetery—had been an unofficial landmark of the Greater Grand Crossing community since Benjamin Harrison was president.

But after more than 120 years, the long-vacant dilapidated three-story brick building with prominent bay windows is now being wrecked by the city under court order. Demolition equipment has ripped away the west side of the Sheridan as of today, exposing its interior.

The Sheridan's demolition had been under an automatic 90-day review because the building is listed in the city's Historic Resources Survey as having potential landmark qualities, but the hold was released April 25. A city spokesman had no information on site's future, but here's hoping something gets in the works soon. Too much of the South Side is vanishing under the wrecker's ball, leaving large tracts of undeveloped land in neighborhoods like Greater Grand Crossing returning to prairie. And less than 10 miles from downtown Chicago.

Add the senseless and ongoing violence to the mix and the symbolism of the Sheridan's demolition is jarring.

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A year ago almost to the day, I wrote in this space: "Hey Sears: I passed your East 79th Street store a few days ago. From the front, I couldn't tell if the store was open or closed..."

That was May 8, 2012. There's no wondering anymore. "Store Closing Sale" signs have now appeared in the window of the Sears department store, 1334 E. 79th St. Built in 1925, the long, two-story beige brick building with an iconic tower that can been seen for blocks is set to close in July. Designed from plans by architect George C. Nimmons, the store has been a fixture for almost 90 years.

In addition to the 79th Street store in the above photo, the Sears at 62nd and Western, built in 1928 in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood will also close. The two establishments are among the oldest stand-alone department stores Sears built, representing the retailer's expansion from a purely mail-order house--a World War I-era Amazon.com--to a 20th century retail giant. Sears' first stand-alone department store, built in 1925 at 1900 W. Lawrence, will remain open.

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Here's a look at David Adjaye, one of the lead architects of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture now under construction on the historic Washington D.C. National Mall.

The 4:45 minute video comes courtesy of the United Kingdom's Crane.tv, a video magazine that examines culture, art, design and fashion. The Tanzanian-born UK Adjaye—who also has offices in New York City—discusses the $500 million museum and how he approached the project.

"The struggle and the blood that was spilt by this extraordinary people has firstly shaped a kind of a unique country in the world—and, actually shaped the world," the 46-year-old leader of Adjaye Associates said.

His design partners in the project are the Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond and the SmithGroup.

And then there's this: At a state dinner last year honoring British Prime Minister David Cameron, Adjaye and wife Ashley Shaw-Scott had a seat at the head table with President Barack Obama. The party of 21 included Warren Buffett, George Clooney and Michelle Obama.

The appearance helped feed speculation that Adjaye would be the president's pick as architect of the future Obama presidential library.

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