Chicago Seeks Landmark Status for 1870s Streeterville Building

A in Streeterville building that dates to the Great Chicago Fire may soon be permanently protected from demolition.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted unanimously this week to recommend full landmark status for Erie Street Row, a four-story, limestone-clad building at 161 East Erie Street, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Built as townhomes shortly after the 1871 fire, the building has been used as a hotel and, most recently, offices for the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation. The commission’s recommendation is headed to the City Council for final approval.

The decision follows months of tension between the building’s owners and city preservation officials. Johnson O’Connor, a nonprofit that conducts aptitude testing, filed for a demolition permit last July, prompting the city’s Department of Planning to place a 90-day hold under its demolition delay ordinance.

Johnson O’Connor later said it never intended to demolish the property but filed the permit to restart stalled talks with city officials. CEO Anne Steiner didn’t “want anything bad to happen to the building” but couldn’t afford to fix it, she said.

“We don’t want to be in the real estate business,” Steiner said during the hearing. “And we don’t want to be in the historic preservation business … we are struggling right now, like many nonprofits.”

Landmarks staff argued that the building’s architectural style, historical significance and continuous nonprofit use warranted the designation. Erie Street Row retains most of its Italianate-style exterior and was rated “orange” in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, meaning it was flagged for possible landmark status even before the demolition permit was filed.

Supporters say the building is one of the last links to the neighborhood’s 19th-century past. Gail Spreen of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents said it gives pedestrians “this whole sense of … what this neighborhood used to be.”

The designation would protect the building’s Erie Street frontage but still allow demolition of its rear structures, including a garage and boiler house, to make room for future development. Any new building would need to be set back far enough to preserve Erie Street Row’s visual prominence.

— Judah Duke