The Battle for Landmark Status is Over for Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago
Prentice can’t be saved from destruction.
In a standing-room-only session at the Cook County Board meeting room, the commission voted unanimously 8-0 to deny recommending landmark status for Prentice.
The commission acted at the end of a four-hour meeting full of public comment with a bare minimum of discussion, only a few clarifying questions over less than five minutes, before the vote.
A hard-fought battle by preservationists proves futile in efforts to save Prentice Women’s Hospital from demolition. Thursday, February 7, the final decision was made to bring down the Bertrand Goldberg-design owned by Northwestern University.
The news, issued in a press release saying that the Chicago Commission on Landmarks rejected giving the vacant Streeterville building landmark status, was a disappointment to preservationists who fought to save the property for historical restoration.
The Tribune stated that the building does meet the necessary criterion for landmark status giving Northwestern University the official green light to continue with its plans of building a new medical research facility.
