(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Seven more Chicago architectural gems have been deemed endangered.
“We claim to be America's city of architecture, but you know, sometimes we don't act like it,” Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago said.
Miller says a building that many of us used to go for a Big Mac, is actually so much more and tops the latest list.
“The Delaware Building, and that's an 1872-1874 building at Dearborn and Randolph in the heart of the Loop.”
A McDonald's used to be on the bottom two floors, it's long been closed.
The Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge in the Hyde Park/Woodlawn neighborhood makes the list after being closed to pedestrians more than 10 years ago. The bridge built in 1880 provided a pathway over Jackson Park’s lagoon.
There’s a Frank Lloyd Wright home on the list. The J.J. Walser House in the Austin neighborhood was built by the famed architect in 1903. The house has been unoccupied for six years and is in need of a new steward.
Olivet Baptist Church in the Bronzeville/Douglas neighborhood is the oldest extant African American Baptist church building. The church is not formally recognized as a historic landmark, and declining parishioners has contributed to portions of the church being closed.
Also on the list is the Central Manufacturing District Clock Tower in McKinley Park. The tower from 1917 functioned as a water tower at the CMD Pershing Road Development. Preservation Chicago has long been suggesting that the tower and the CMD complex become designated landmarks.
A collection of buildings in the Back of the Yards neighborhood have also been deemed endangered. Western Boulevard Industrial Buildings are eight structures between 43rd and 45th streets. They were once factories and warehouses.
“Eight great little buildings, some with towers, beautiful details, Gothic Revival, Chicago school.”
Lastly, St. Martin’s Church in Englewood rounds out the seven endangered buildings highlighted by Preservation Chicago. The Gothic Revival house of worship was built in 1895.
For more information about each of the buildings on the list, visit the Preservation Chicago website.
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