Preservation group releases list of state’s 10 most-endangered buildings: Three Chicago area sites make list

Preservation group releases list of state’s 10 most-endangered buildings: Three Chicago area sites make list
Preservation group releases list of state’s 10 most-endangered buildings: Three Chicago area sites make list

Preservation group releases list of state’s 10 most-endangered buildings: Three Chicago area sites make list

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

The South Side’s New Regal Theater and the bundled concrete cylinders of the former Prentice Women’s Hospital were named among the state’s 10 most endangered buildings this morning by the preservation group Landmarks Illinois.

The organization’s yearly list is designed to draw attention to buildings and sites that are under the threat of neglect or demolition, as is the case with the Bertrand Goldberg-designed Prentice Hospital, which has made the group’s list for the second year in the row. Landmarks Illinois made its announcement at a 10am news conference in the state capitol building.

The 2300-seat, Moorish-inspired New Regal Theater on 79th Street just east of Stony Island made the list because it is without a operator and is in foreclosure, the group said. It was also cited by the city or a dangerous wall condition last year. The former Avalon Theater been a live music venue since the 1980s, but had fallen on hard times in recent years.

Also making the list are a pair of Park Ridge buildings that were the home and studio of famed sculptor Alfonso Ianelli, who collaborated with Frank Lloyd Wright and other top-shelf architects of the early 20th century. The buildings, 225 Northwest Highway are for sale and officials at Landmarks Illinois fear their demolition or unsympathetic alteration.

Prentice Hospital, 333 E. Superior, built in 1975, is slated to be demolished for a new medical research facility. This week, Ald. Brendan Reilly won a 60-day delay of the demolition—although the building wasn’t going to be demolished in the next two months—to begin talks with Northwestern University, Prentice’s current owner, about reuse.

To see the full list of endangered buildings, click here.