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.
Time Tells 
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