Monday, September 13, 2004

Preserving Old Buildings


Last year, I came acoss this picture as I was searching for vintage pictures of Chicago. Posted by Hello

This intersection is a few miles from my house. It is located at the edge of downtown Plainfield, a downtown which is dotted with quaint shops and family restaurants, trying to find relevence in a gentrified world.

I went to the gas station this morning and picked up the local paper, which had a picture of a bull dozer demolishing this church. I learned that this chuch, which had been standing for 90+ years was destroyed because a developer wanted to put a bank at the site. I don't blame the developer for purchasing the property. It was a necesity because the church could no longer afford the upkeep. It is said that it would have cost the church approx. $1M to give the building a much-needed makeover - inside and out. However, I am concerned that the choice to demolish the building and start from scratch to build a run-of-the-mill bank. I contend that the building could remain and be used for commerce at the same time.

Two buildings down, on the other side of the street, a church stands. It is a church similar in style to the Baptist Church at the corner; tall steeple, arched stain-glassed windows. But if you look closer at the church, you notice that although it was a church in the past, it was no longer used as a place of worship. It is now an Italian restaruant. This example of creative use of existing buildings is evident all along Lockport Street in Plainfield. An old house now house a great restaurant and another old house is now the home of a bookstore.

This type of building preservation is also prominent in San Diego. Instead of bulldozing an old Metal Works shop to make way for Petco Park, the architects simply made the structure part of the ball park, converting them to luxury suites and team shop. Chicago did something similar with the renovation of Soldier Field by building around the historic columnades of the old Soldier Field.

Dear Urban Developers:

Please do what other creative developers have done in places like Plainfield, Chicago, and San Diego: Don't knock down old building, enhance them.

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