Prairie Avenue - Preservation

Preservation

Historic preservation in Chicago has saved some of the city's architectural heritage. The efforts of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Landmarks and Preservation Council of Illinois have been at the forefront of these efforts. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks (now part of the city's Department of Planning and Development) has designated the Prairie Avenue Historic District as a city landmark.

A few of the mansions of the heyday still remain in the 1800-block including the National Historic landmark designated John J. Glessner House designed in 1886 by architect Henry H. Richardson for Glessner; these provide a sense of the street's former character. Glessner House, which was the subject of a notable preservation battle in the 1960s, is considered to be Richardson's finest urban residence. This district includes the Henry B. Clarke House, which although twice relocated is purported to be the city's oldest standing house. In addition to the Clarke House and the Glessner House, nine other houses from the late-19th century remain in the historic district portion of Prairie Avenue. Both the Glessner House and the Clarke House are on the National Historic Register and now serve as museums. Most of the Prairie Avenue families worshiped at the Chicago Landmark Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Marshall Field lived at 1905 South Prairie and purchased 1919 South Prairie for Marshall Field, Jr. It is believed that Solon Spencer Beman had contributed to the design of what is now known as the Marshall Field, Jr. Mansion. Then, Field hired Daniel Burnham to design extensions and additions to the property after purchasing it 1890. In 2007, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks announced the rehabilitation of the Marshall Field Jr. Mansion, which had been vacant for 40 years and which was renovated as six private residences, won a Preservation Award.

Today, Prairie Avenue has buildings indexed in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey in the Near South Side, Douglas, Grand Boulevard, Washington Park and Chatham community areas. Among the properties listed is a simple two-flat used by Al Capone in the 1920s at 7244 South Prairie in Greater Grand Crossing. Other current prominent addresses are the Kimball House at 1801 South Prairie (Near South Side), 2801, 3564, 3566, and 3600 South Prairie (Douglas), and 4919 South Prairie (Grand Boulevard).

The William Wallace Kimball House, which is a three-story turreted chateau, was designed by Solon Beman, who is best known for his work in the Pullman District of the Pullman community area. Adjacent to the Kimball House and across from the Glessner House is the Coleman-Ames mansion at 1811 South Prairie. These two houses were formerly owned by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company and now jointly serve as the national headquarters for the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), which leased them from 1991 until 1998 when it purchased them from the Chicago Architectural Foundation. The Kimball house, which has been the product of a $1 million renovation in the 1990s by the USSF was featured in Richard Gere's Primal Fear as well as several television shows.

Al Capone and his family lived in the two-story red brick duplex at 7244 South Prairie Avenue from 1923, which is shortly after he moved to Chicago, until 1931, when he was sent off to prison for income tax fraud. The Capone family kept the home until his mother's death in 1952. In 1988, the privately owned house was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places by historians as the home of one of Chicago's most famous citizens. The nomination was withdrawn after local politicians and members of Italian-American groups sharply argued that it would appear to validate the life of a murderer and hoodlum. The house retains the security bars on the basement windows and the brick garage out back, which the Capone built for his bullet-proof Cadillac limousine.

In 2000, the Howard Van Doren Shaw-designed 1907 Georgian Revival Platt Luggage Building at 2301 South Prairie was the subject of preservation debates when McCormick Place attempted to tear it down to build a parking garage. The conflict, which was not settled before wreckers had knocked a hole in a corner of the building and which included protests and a petition to the Illinois Supreme Court, was described on the front page of The New York Times. Preservationists, including the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, eventually dropped their appeals once the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority committed to incorporating the original facade of the building into the exterior of the parking garage at an additional cost of $2.5 million to the project.

A book on the history of the street, entitled Chicago's Historic Prairie Avenue, was published on June 2, 2008, as part of Arcadia Publishing Co.'s Images of America series. William H. Tyre is the author. In 2006, the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance, a non-profit organization, was formed to provide representation for thousands of South Loop residents, including the Prairie District, Central Station and Museum Park, Motor Row, the South Michigan Ave Corridor, as well as other areas of the Near South Side.