Preservationists send out SOS for Daniel Burnham building as piece of Chicago history slated for demolition
WEST LOOP — In an 11th-hour bid to save a piece of Chicago architecture history from the wrecking ball, preservationists are scrambling to find someone willing and able to remove the facade of a Daniel Burnham-designed building — by Monday.
The advocacy group Preservation Chicago issued an SOS on Thursday for the building at 1217 W. Washington Blvd., designed in 1910 by Daniel Burnham, revered as one of the greatest architects and city planners Chicago has ever produced.
“It’s tragic the developer, the alderman and the city didn’t have the wherewithal to save a building by D.H. Burnham,” said Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago. “For people not to understand it should be preserved befuddles me. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t have another one. You’re depleting an important cultural and historical resource.”
