Promontory Point, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, Clark Netsch House
Good afternoon! I’ll be live-tweeting today’s Chicago Commission on Landmarks and Permit Review Committee meetings for #CHIdocumenters @CHIdocumenters
12:40 PM Mar 9, 2023 CST
@CHIdocumenters The meeting begins at 12:45 pm; the meeting will be held via Zoom videoconference; a link is posted at https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/landmarks_commission.html.
Public comment starts with Max Chavez from Conservation Chicago to support the landmark designation for the Clark-Netsch House at 1700 N. Hudson.
Kendra Parson from Landmarks Illinois also speaks in support of the Netsch House and proactive landmarking.
Ward Miller from Preservation Chicago speaks in support of the landmark recommendation for Promontory Point, located East of S. Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive, between 54th and 56th. He says this is an incredible asset to Chicago’s lakefront, and they’re so excited
Preservation Chicago is also trying to get Lake Michigan to be designated as a National Historical Landmark
Mary Lu Seidel, also from Preservation Chicago, also speaks in support of the landmark designation of Promontory Point, saying this will help preserve the limestone so people can continue to enjoy it the way our parents and grandparents have
Ward Miller speaks again in support of making use of the Adopt a Landmark fund to help maintain and preserve the Cooperative Apartment Building at 6901 S. Oglesby; he also speaks in support of the Adopt a Landmark program in general.
Public comment has ended. The commissioners approve the minutes from last month’s meeting.
Matt Crawford, Architectural Historian for the city, makes the presentation on the Netsch House.
He does not come in very clearly, but he talks about how the Old Town neighborhood built up culturally in by artists. The Netsch family designed the building in the 70s based on this cultural background.
Dawn Clark Netsch was the first woman to be elected to the Illinois Senate and the first woman to be nominated by a major party to run for governer of Illinois.
Here, the Netsch couple enjoys their home in the 70s. https://t.co/V4gEPRHxz5
Here, you can see any internal changes in the initial design. https://t.co/5gEcvkli8t
Unanimously, the commission approves the Netsch house’s landmark designation.
Kandalyn Hahn makes a presentation about Promontory Point. https://t.co/RrKIxGnBo2
Promontory Point was deigned by Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett, found in their 1909 “Plan Chicago”
Hahn describes the long process of building Promontory Point over decades, needing extra funds from the federal government in the 1930s, and was completed in 1940.
Although the initial plan for Promontory Point came from Burnham, the design itself came from a wide variety of prominent Chicago architects and artists
Chicago Parks District sends its support and is proud this important lakefront park has reached this point of being considered as a landmark. https://t.co/Wcj0Daj0Ws
@5thWardChicago speaks in support enthusiastically, asks the board to approve so this park can continue to be enjoyed.
The commission discusses that they are witnessing history, that this is a wonderful moment, and the landmark designation is approved (and @5thWardChicago is ecstatic)
@5thWardChicago Dan Klaiber presents the next item: the cooperative apartment building at 6901 S. Oglesby who was offered a conditional grant from the Adopt-a-Landmark fund.
The highlighted portion is the extent of the use of the grant funds. https://t.co/eyeeWukzDk
The budget offered by the 40 owners of the cooperative is around $21k, but they have already invested over $800k of their own funds to do the previous repairs.
The President, Bonita Burrell, & the treasurer, Michelle Montgomery, speak about how much effort the members of the Oglesby Condo Ass’n have put into this historic building. Montgomery says they’ve spent an additional $300k on other repairs on top of the $800k already mentioned.
Commissioners Cox and Fair comment on how it could be great for other people who live in historic buildings to make use of this fund, and things the Oglesby Coop could set a trend.
Other historic building owners needing maintenance and preservation should check out the coming application period for the Adopt-A-Landmark project!! https://t.co/TGKzX3Hxfj
Dijana Cuvalo presents the annual report from 2022. City council approved 3 landmark designations from the commission’s recommendation. Others have been initiated or are in the process of being considered still by the commission.
Cuvalo talks about the Black Chicago Heritage Initiative, here’s some information (I see @6figga_dilla ): https://t.co/jOYVRyy9Zm
The permit review meeting has been called to order and roll has been taken.
There are 4 items on the agenda. The meeting begins with public comment, with Ward Miller from Preservation Chicago speaking in support of modifications to 1057-59 N. Wolcott in the East Village District.
He says we want to encourage more preservation of tied houses, which is what this building is.
Ward Miller also speaks in support of the 4th item, a modification to the Morton Salt Warehouse Complex at 1357 N. Elston.
The last meeting was in January, and the committee approves the minutes from that meeting.
Emily Barton makes the presentation about the Dr. Wallace C. Abbott House at 4605 N. Hermitage. The current owners want to restore original features which have been removed and remove an addition in order to create a new entryway.
One original feature which was removed is a decorative window replaced with a regular window. The current owners wish to bring that back.
William Scholtens, the architect, talks about changing the wraparound porch which had been “remuddled” to its original condition.
The next permit is a proposed new construction of a three flat at 843 N. Wolcott in the East Village District. The existing building will be demolished when the owner gets the permit to start new building.
The staff’s recommends for the height of the building to be lower than 39’ and the brick selection to have a greater variation in texture and color palette.
The staff’s recommendations have been approved and the committee moves onto the next item.
The next item is removing a non historic side addition and replacing that with a new three-story structure from the tied house 1057-59 N. Wolcott.
The final item is the modification Morton Salt Company Warehouse Complex including new roof decks and signage. https://t.co/i9HJLSTBMN
here is what the proposed signs would look like https://t.co/o3Nd5wHVj8
Commissioner Rubin asks if it’s possible to adjust the lighting behind salt shed vs. wintrust - he doesn’t like that they’re lit different. He and Commissioner Fair both compliment the chevron shape of the Salt Shed sign.
The meeting is adjourned at 3:20 pm. This concludes the Chicago Commission on Landmarks and Permit Review Committee meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for April 13. For more meeting coverage, check out http://documenters.org.