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Yo’s truly likes old homes, and the nice thing about Ukrainian Village is that so many early 20th century homes have been preserved through the efforts of the local alderman and residents. But how much preservation is too much? Does landmarking have the effect of stifling creativity and encouraging an insidious homogeneity? This Ukrainian Village home stands out because of its distinctive trim, but many of the houses in the neighborhood look very similar without being particularly architcturally distinct. Is it a case of neighbors getting a little paranoid about the onslaught of cookie-cutter condos? Is there a middle ground? Yo wants to hear what you think.
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It’s a very difficult question, and it’s all a matter of perspective.
But considering how aggressive many developers have been at demolishing historic structures without any regard to their beauty or importance, I can understand why neighborhood groups are being so overly protective of their housing stock.
Landmarking is really a statement that “I don’t trust future owners’/developers’ intentions in fairly dealing with this property” since demolition and redevelopment is often the more lucrative route.
And I don’t blame them. So to me, a lot of landmarking forcing developers to look elsewhere to build (ie less developed areas that would otherwise be ignored)is overall a better scheme than inadequate landmarking and the inevitable and permanent loss of Chicago’s architectural history just to make a buck.
However, neighborhood groups have to get their priorities right. The gorgeous Scholl’s School of Podiatry building in downtown Chicago was shamefully demolished and is being replaced with 30 W Oak, a highrise, although there was a perfectly sized vacant lot right next door that the highrise could have been built on instead. That was the developer’s initial plan, but tasteless and selfish NIMBY’s in a nearby building complained about the ’shadow’ it would cast on their swimming pool, so the developer had to demolish and build on the Scholl’s building itself.
Indeed, that particular episode shows us another reason why landmarking is important–to protect Chicago’s history from the silly & selfish whims of local residents, NOT just developers.
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