Column: In a shift, city will take first steps to grant landmark status to Pilsen’s shuttered St. Adalbert Catholic Church
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As debate has raged over a proposed landmark district in Pilsen, activists kept asking why the city was moving to protect 900 buildings in the Near Southwest Side neighborhood, but not one of its most prominent structures, the shuttered St. Adalbert Catholic Church.
City officials replied that the ornate edifice, which has been called the mother church of Polish parishes on the city’s West and South sides, was in no danger of demolition. If someone moved to tear it down, they said, they would have ample time to safeguard it.
This week, however, they said they would take the first step to grant the church official landmark status — and that they have authority to begin that process without the consent of the church’s owner, the Archdiocese of Chicago.
“We have heard you,” Maurice Cox, commissioner of the city’s Department of Planning and Development, said Tuesday at the last of three online meetings about the proposed landmark district. “This is an iconic landmark in Pilsen. That is without dispute.”
The city, he said, would start to prepare a report to make the case that the building deserves to be protected from demolition or character-destroying alterations. City officials would work with the Archdiocese on the proposed landmark designation and plans to redevelop it, he said.
If a house of worship is still being used, its owner must consent before it can become a city landmark, but, if like St. Adalbert, it is no longer in use, the owner’s consent is not required, Peter Strazzabosco, a spokesman for the planning department, said Friday.
City officials have been discussing landmark status for the church with the Archdiocese since last year, he said.
By mid-morning, the Archdiocese had not responded to a request for comment on the city’s decision.
Designed by prolific Chicago architect Henry Schlacks and located a block north of Pilsen’s 18th Street commercial corridor, the 106-year-old church at 1650 W. 17th St. combines the austere basilica form of early Christian churches with baroque flourishes that symbolize Polish national identity.
Thousands of Eastern European immigrants, including Czechs and Poles, lived in Pilsen before it became predominantly Mexican American in the 1960s.
When the Archdiocese announced in 2016 that it would close St. Adalbert as part of a cost-saving consolidation plan, some church members complained they no longer would have access to a place that echoes with memories of baptisms, weddings and funerals.
Historic preservationists, who have been fighting to protect St. Adalbert, expressed satisfaction at the shift by city officials.
“We’ve been encouraging the city to demonstrate that the crown-jewel and one of the iconic and gateway buildings of Pilsen needs to be landmarked,” Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago, wrote in a text message Thursday.
It is unclear whether the city’s decision on St. Adalbert will affect its controversial landmark district proposal.
Cox said at the meeting that Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, chair of the City Council committee on zoning, landmarks and building standards, will conduct a special meeting Dec. 1 to consider the proposed landmark district.
Opponents of the proposed landmark district, led by Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, argue it would burden Pilsen residents and property owners with costly building repair standards, a claim city officials deny.
The opponents also charge that the district would accelerate gentrification in Pilsen. City officials point to the need to preserve old, multi-apartment buildings in Pilsen so they are not replaced with expensive, single-family homes.
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
Twitter @BlairKamin
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