The Monumental Challenge of Preservation by Cloonan Michele;

Author:Cloonan, Michele;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: preservation; conservation; restoration; culture; monuments; history; heritage; collecting; digital; Bamiyan Buddhas; Book of Kells; Vietnam Memorial; genocide; Raphael Lemkin; Europe; Australia; Middle East; the United States
Publisher: MIT Press

Figure 6.8

“H. H. Richardson’s Glessner House, 1887.” Pastel by Jane Steele, 1983. Photo: Paul Gulla; image courtesy of Suzy Steele Born

A more recent Chicago tear-down shows that even in a city that today prides itself on its architecture, the push-pull of private and governmental interests may lead to the destruction of architectural gems. Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital (1975) at Northwestern University was torn down in 2013–2014 to make room for a new building. Goldberg (1913–1997), a Chicago architect, is best known for his corncob-shaped Marina Towers (see figures 6.9 and 6.10). He studied with Mies Van der Rohe, and his buildings span six decades. Several preservation organizations tried to save the hospital building: Save Prentice Coalition, DOCOMOMO, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Preservation Chicago. However, the groups ultimately lost their battle with Northwestern University. Northwestern could justify tearing down Prentice because a new research facility would be “aimed at attacking heart disease, cancer, and children’s diseases,” which, apparently, it could not accomplish by building on its nearby empty lots. Northwestern demonstrated that rhetoric and an aggressive PR campaign can be important in making the case to destroy a building. Once again language was a tool for justifying the loss of historic monuments. The emotional tug of saving our children and attacking cancer and heart disease won out. In response to Northwestern’s demolition of Prentice Women’s Hospital, ArchDaily published this commentary:

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