Frederick Law Olmsted’s Jackson Park (including Midway Plaisance and the South Shore Cultural Center)—the designated site of the Obama Presidential Center—tops Preservation Chicago’s 2018 list of the city’s seven most-threatened architectural treasures.  The annual list puts a spotlight on historic structures and landscapes threatened with demolition in the hope that they can be restored and reused.Â
Also on the list, released today, is Helmut Jahn’s 1985 James R. Thompson Center (originally the State of Illinois Center), at 100 W. Randolph. The unique postmodern building has been put up for sale (and possible demolition) by Governor Bruce Rauner.
Here’s the rest of Preservation Chicago’s “Chicago 7” list, which actually has eight entries this year:
William Rainey Harper High School, 6520 S. Wood: a Prairie-style structure designed by Dwight Perkins and completed in 1911.
The Washington Park Substation, 6141 S. Prairie: a classical revival-style electrical substation designed by architect Hermann von Holst, dating from 1928 and 1939.
Woodruff Arcade, 6361 N. Broadway: a Chicago School arcade designed by Herbert H. Green and completed in 1923. It has already been sold to a developer.
Hotel Guyon, 4000 W. Washington: an imposing Moorish Revival structure in West Garfield Park by Jens J. Jensen (not the landscape architect), finished in 1927.
Union Station, 210-225 S. Canal: the original architect was Daniel Burnham; after his death, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White took over. It has a classical revival exterior and a beaux arts interior, and was completed in 1925.
The city’s brick paved streets and alleys, dating from the 1880s to the 1910s.
There’s a quick video tour of the endangered buildings here.Â