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New Website
Chicago Modern: More Than Mies
Contest
Show Prentice Some Love deadline 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13
Events
Those Mysterious Curves: Why Prentice Women's Hospital Should Be Reborn
Feb. 23
Speaker: Edward Lifson
Feb. – May Calendar
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Prentice Women’s
Hospital
333 E. Superior St., Chicago
(Cook County)
This Bertrand Goldberg-designed building has been
largely vacant since Northwestern Memorial Hospital
relocated its women’s hospital to a new structure in
2007. Ownership is expected to revert back to
Northwestern University this year, when the last tenant
moves out of the building. This concrete, clover
leaf-shaped structure, which was built in 1975, would
then likely be demolished for a new medical research
facility. Although Goldberg’s organic architectural
designs – such as this one – were widely influential,
none of his major Chicago works is protected by local
landmark designation.
Prentice was considered groundbreaking for its
cutting-edge architecture, advanced engineering, and its
progressive design approach to organizing medical
departments and services. It received international
press coverage and an award from Engineering News Record
for its innovative tower and open floor-plate layout
that eliminated the need for structural support columns.
“You will not find the structural solution to Prentice,
which is an exterior shell cantilevered off a core,
anywhere else in the world” notes Geoffrey Goldberg, an
architect and Bertrand Goldberg’s son. “Prentice was the
only one in which this was achieved.”
When Northwestern Memorial Hospital first announced its
plans to build a new Prentice Women’s Hospital,
preservation organizations immediately began voicing
concern about the future of Goldberg’s building.
Prentice was on Landmarks Illinois’ 2005-06 Chicagoland
Watch List and this is its third listing on the
statewide endangered list. Preservation Chicago has
also included it on its “Chicago 7” list. Both
organizations have requested that the Commission on
Chicago Landmarks consider the building for Chicago
Landmark designation. In 2010, the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency determined the building as eligible
for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
Landmarks Illinois has prepared a
reuse study for the
building to demonstrate its viability for potential
university uses, including a research / laboratory
facility. In partnership with Preservation Chicago, DoCoMoMo, and the Midwest Office of the National Trust
for Historic Preservation, a coalition has been formed
to advocate for the preservation of this irreplaceable
Modern building.
What You Can Do
Write a letter to encourage local
landmark designation and to work with Northwestern
University to reuse the building.
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Mr. Rafael
Leon, Chairman
Commission on Chicago Landmarks
c/o Chicago Department of Housing and Economic
Development
33 N. LaSalle St., Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60602 |
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Mayor
Rahm Emanuel
Office of the Mayor
City Hall
City of Chicago
121 N. LaSalle St.
Chicago, IL 60602 |
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Alderman Brendan Reilly
Office of the 42nd Ward
325 W. Huron, Suite 510
Chicago IL, 60654
Ph 312.642.4242
Fax 312.642.0420
office@ward42chicago.com |
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Join the Save Prentice Facebook page at
SavePrentice.org. |
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Sign Landmark old Prentice Hospital Petition. |
Additional Links
Letters
of Support
Press
Links
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Healthcare Communication News, July 26, 2011 |
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Sun-Times, June 29, 2011 |
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Chicago Sun-Times, May 29, 2011 |
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Chicago Tribune, May 25, 2011 |
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The Chicago Architecture Blog, May 25, 2011 |
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Hello Beautiful, May 16, 2011 |
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Architect’s Newspaper, April 20, 2011 |
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New York Times, April 16, 2011
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Skyline, April 13, 2011 |
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Chicago Tribune, April 4, 2011 |
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Chicago Tribune, March 26, 2011 |
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Curbed Chicago, March 14, 2011 |
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Architect’s Newspaper, March 3, 2011 |
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