The National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmarks Illinois have dropped a lawsuit alleging that the city of Chicago improperly denied landmark status to Prentice Women's Hospital, an iconic modernist structure designed in the 1970s by Bertrand Goldberg. Owner Northwestern University will now be free to go forward with its plan to build a major new biomedical research facility on the downtown site.
The Prentice demolition has been under dispute for several years, as preservation enthusiasts attempted to make the case that the building, with its quatrefoil concrete shell cantilevered over a narrow core, was worth saving. Last November, in contentious proceedings, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks granted the building landmark status and then removed the designation on the same day.
After a hearing in Cook County Circuit Court, the preservation groups decided not to proceed. "We continue to believe there were significant flaws with the process that granted and then removed landmark protection for Prentice," said the National Trust in an official statement. "However, we feel that the landmarks process has run its course."
National Trust Field Officer Christina Morris said the groups will continue to cooperate with the city on preservation of historic structures, and that the Prentice situation has brought important attention to the role of modernist architecture in the U.S. “We will continue to work with our partners to preserve the best of Chicago’s architectural heritage.”
(http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-lawsuit-dropped-over-prentice-preservation-20130214,0,3552305.story)
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
New hospital expands Idaho healthcare options
Ascension Group Architects, Arlington, Texas, is designing a $150 million replacement hospital for Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho. An existing facility will be renovated as part of the project. The new six-story, 320-000-sf complex will house 187 beds, along with an intensive care unit, a cardiovascular care unit, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgical suites, rehabilitation clinic, and ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Manhattan's Gouverneur Healthcare Services tops out renovation, expansion
One year after breaking ground, the Building Team for the renovation and expansion of the Gouverneur Healthcare Services facility on Manhattan's Lower East Side topped out the $180 million project. Designed by New York-based RMJM, the development involves a 316,000-sf renovation and 108,000-sf addition that will house a 295-bed nursing facility and five-story ambulatory care center.
| Aug 11, 2010
Decline expected as healthcare slows, but hospital work will remain steady
The once steady 10% growth rate in healthcare construction spending has slowed, but hasn't entirely stopped. Spending is currently 1.7% higher than the same time last year when construction materials costs were 8% higher. The 2.5% monthly jobsite spending decline since last fall is consistent with the decline in materials costs.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction under way on LEED Platinum DOE energy lab
Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction has topped out the $64 million Research Support Facilities, located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Golden, Colo. Designed by RNL and Stantec to achieve LEED Platinum certification and net zero energy performance, the 218,000-sf facility will feature natural ventilation through operable ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Southwest Fisheries Science Center replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement last month with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
| Aug 11, 2010
National Intrepid Center tops out at Walter Reed
SmithGroup, Turner Construction, and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF), a nonprofit organization supporting the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their families, celebrated the overall structural completion of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), an advanced facility dedicated to research, diagnosis, and treatment of military personnel and veterans sufferin...
| Aug 11, 2010
Alabama hospital gets a four-story addition
Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoar Construction has completed the North Tower addition at Thomas Hospital in Fairhope, Ala. The four-story, 123,000-sf addition accommodates an ER on the first floor, 32 private patient rooms and nursing support on the second and third floors, and room for 32 planned patient rooms on the top floor.
| Aug 11, 2010
America's Greenest Hospital
Hospitals are energy gluttons. With 24/7/365 operating schedules and stringent requirements for air quality in ORs and other clinical areas, an acute-care hospital will gobble up about twice the energy per square foot of, say, a commercial office building. It is an achievement worth noting, therefore, when a major hospital achieves LEED Platinum status, especially when that hospital attains 14 ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Hospital Additions + Renovations: 14 Lessons from Expert Building Teams
Two additions to a community hospital in Ohio that will double its square footage. A 12-story addition on top of an existing 12-story tower at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A $54 million renovation and addition at the University of Virginia Medical Center. A 67-bed, $70 million addition/renovation to a community hospital that is only five years old.
| Aug 11, 2010
Research Facility Breaks the Mold
In the market for state-of-the-art biomedical research space in Boston's Longwood Medical Area? Good news: there are still two floors available in the Center for Life Science | Boston, a multi-tenant, speculative high-rise research building designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, Boston, and developed by Lyme Properties, Hanover, N.