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Think Chicago landmarks and what comes to mind: Wrigley Building? Merchandise Mart? John Hancock Center? Think again.
None of these buildings are listed as national or city landmarks (although the Wrigley Building is on the National Register of Historic Places as part of an historic district).
That means that while these buildings may be landmarks in the sense that they are instantly recognizable and of tremendous interest to tourists, they are not due the protections of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks or the onetime city tax break offered owners of landmarked buildings.
On the other hand, lacking a city landmark designation also means the owners are not restricted in the materials and techniques used to repair, remodel or upgrade the building, or in any plans they may have for the structure. The owners could--conceivably--tear the building down.
"If you own property, you should be able to do whatever you want within reason without being dictated to by some outside group," says Lawrence Hearn, general manager of Hearn Co., which manages the Carbide & Carbon Building Michigan Avenue and South Water Street. The distinctive black-and-gold structure was named a city landmark this year over the protests of its owners, RRFLP1 Inc., a Cleveland-based real estate investment trust.
Joseph Gonzalez, a partner of the Chicago-based architecture firm of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, sees it differently. "These buildings show where we've been. They measure the progress of civilization," he says. Skidmore is renovating the landmark Chapin & Gore Building at 63 E. Adams St. as part of the expansion of Orchestra Hall.
Recent battles over the preservation of the McGraw-Hill Building on North Michigan Avenue and earlier fights over structures such as the Hotel St. Benedict Flats complex at Chicago and Wabash avenues underscore the importance of a landmark designation to preservationists and property owners alike.
But for the landmark commission, it comes down to an issue of so many buildings, so little time.
"In a normal year, we have maybe 200 requests and approve maybe seven," says Charles Thurow, the city's deputy commissioner of landmarks.
Among the most obvious omissions from the current list of the city's architectural landmarks:
The Wrigley Building. First among equals when it comes to landmark absentees, the Graham Anderson Probst &...