Goldberg in Elgin: A quick look at the Marina City architect’s modernist (and quite closed) facility
By Lee BeyGoldberg in Elgin: A quick look at the Marina City architect’s modernist (and quite closed) facility
By Lee BeyWhile architect Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital has been—justifiably—getting scores of attention lately, I took a drive to Elgin, IL to see another abandoned Goldberg work at the Elgin Mental Health Center.
The five-story cylindrical medical building, built in 1967, predates Prentice by nearly a decade and is sort of an architectural cousin to the circular Streeterville hospital and Goldberg’s Marina City. The state-owned facility has been closed nearly a decade. This building and a striking radiator-shaped laundry facility also designed by Goldberg have captured the eye of preservationists who fear for the shuttered buildings’ future. I blogged about this nearly a year ago.
The buildings are likely safe for now, the economy being what it is. Still, no harm in keeping an eye on things.