Well, Blair Kamin said it better than I can – pigs flew. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks acted independently and voted down the Farwell Building skin job on Thursday. So, I guess 2007 is off to a good start after all! Now the developers can come back with an economic hardship exception hearing – which is what they should have done in the first place. Why is it a point of pride in the development community to circumvent due process? I guess real estate development is a field of endeavor that fosters endless perverse pissing matches.
On a very sad note, one of the greatest people to serve on the Commission on Chicago Landmarks passed away – Marian Depres, who I was grateful to know and who deserves all of the accolades being heaped upon her – she was enormously intelligent, gracious, open and committed to Chicago, history and architecture. When I worked at LPCI in the 1980s and 1990s she was one of the Commissioners we could count on to do the right thing. For 97 years she stood tall.
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