CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Renovation of the Johnson Publishing Company's former headquarters into apartments has left its one-of-a-kind test kitchen without a home.
The group Landmarks Illinois has the remnants and hopes to find it a new home, WBBM Newsradio's Bob Roberts reports.
It's a psychedelic room designed by California architects William Raiser and Arthur Elrod, with wild patterns, orange and green swirls, stainless steel appliances and even a pop-out toaster oven. Charlotte Lyons would test recipes in this space for her Ebony magazine column "A Date with a Dish."
When the building was sold, Lisa Dichiera of Landmarks Illinois said the group was given a weekend to save what it could because the kitchen stood in the way of the building's residential conversion.
Dichiera said Landmarks Illinois would like the kitchen reassembled and preserved for cultural and culinary reasons -- and that won't be cheap. All appliances and most cabinets were saved, but there are only representative samples of its unique lighting, flooring and wall coverings.
