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Lakeshore Athletic Club

850 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago
(Jarvis Hunt, 1927)

Overlooking Lake Michigan, just south of Mies van der Rohe’s landmark residential towers (860-880 N. Lake Shore Drive) stands the 19-story Lakeshore Athletic Club. In 1922, the architect Jarvis Hunt won an honorable mention in the Tribune Tower design contest. Five years later he completed this Beaux Arts high rise. An imposing building with rich marble interiors, it is orange-rated in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey.

This building operated as an athletic club until it was purchased by Northwestern University in the late 1970s. It was converted into a residence hall for graduate students, but was closed at the end of the 2005 school year.

At the time it was closed, the university stated that they did not have a reuse plan for the site. A provision was included as part of a Planned Development district that restricts this lot to its current building height and limits the FAR allowance, but it does not rule out demolition of the existing structure.

 

What Can I Do? Express your concern about the uncertain future of this prominent and unprotected building. Contact Alderman Burton Natarus, 42nd Ward, 121 N. LaSalle St., Room 306, Chicago, IL 60602 / (312) 744-1728 (fax) and Gail Spreen, President, Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR), www.soarchicago.org.

Landmarks Illinois
Suite 1315
53 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604 
tel. 312-922-1742 
fax 312-922-8112

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