Program Committee

@CHIdocumenters A live video stream of this meeting will be available at: https://livestream.com/accounts/28669066/events/9117952

The meeting is scheduled to begin soon.

Rev. Richard Tolliver will be presiding over today’s meeting. He begins the meeting and introduces Commissioner Suellen Burns.

First under consideration are three locations up for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places:

Altgeld Gardens-Philip Murray Homes Historic District
Ramova Theater, 3508 S Halsted
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad House, 4847 S Woodlawn

Mr. Jamil Muhammad is here to give support for Elijah Muhammad House’s nomination. He says the House has been a center for stopping drug use, preventing recidivism, and spreading the message of Elijah Muhammad to young people.

Ms. Kudisa Muhammad is here to support the Elijah Muhammad House’s nomination as well and to speak about the profound influence he had on her specifically and the greater Nation of Islam community. His message & support for young people worldwide is deserving of this nomination.

Mr. Amonte Campbell would like to acknowledge Elijah Muhammad’s impact on the healthy eating impacts of the urban Black community, a message preached in his book “How to Eat to Live”

“He realized the importance of self-actualization,” he says.

Mr. Campbell is a teacher at St. Sabina Catholic Church and praises Elijah Muhammad’s teachings on interfaith relations, a practice carried out today by Father Michael Pfleger & Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Dr. Abdullah Hassan Pratt, a doctor at UChicago’s Level 1 Trauma Center, is also here to support the nomination of the House. He praises the teachings of Muhammad’s healthy eating plan &advocacy in the Black community in light of the health disparity of Black Americans.

Dr. Pratt speaks to the pain these disparities brought to his family at a young age that drove him to practice medicine, and acknowledges Mr. Muhammad’s profound impact on rectifying those disparities.

Photo of the Elijah Muhammad House:
https://www.choosechicago.com/listing/elijah-muhammad-house/#:~:text=Kenwood,This%20is%20a%20private%20residence.

The nominations will now be considered.

First up is the Altgeld Gardens - Philip Murray Homes District. The area is bounded by E 130th to the north, S Greenwood to the east, E 133rd Pl, E 133 St, & E 134 St to the south, & S St Lawrence to the west.

Mr. John Cramer of MacRostie Historic Advisers is here to give a presentation on this nomination on behalf of the Chicago Housing Authority.

Altgeld Gardens is located in the Riverdale community area on the Far South Side. It was built in 1944 and is separated from the city at large by industry, railroads, and the Little Calumet River. The housing projects were built for African-American workers post-WWII.

Background on the history of Altgeld Gardens:
https://preservationchicago.org/chicago07/altgeld-gardens-blocks-11-12-and-13/

Mr. Cramer is walking the audience through a photo tour of the district. The are 162 apartment row homes that comprise the Altgeld Gardens district. Architects Naess and Murphy were also known for their Prudential Building in the Loop.

A plaza in the center of the project was designed to host privately-owned retail to serve residents. It sits adjacent to an administrative building, a public library, and a public gymnasium for recreation.

Mr. Cramer is displaying the mid-20th century architecture of the two CPS schools and two churches in the neighborhood that they seek to preserve through nomination to the National Register.

Altgeld Gardens - Philip Murray represents the largest permanent housing project built for African-American defense workers in the United States in WWII. It is a landmark of US public housing policy resulting from the New Deal and wartime era.

It was an official policy of CHA at the time that public housing racial demographics should reflect the greater neighborhood around it, so this project was built exclusively for the African-American population.

Other wartime defense worker projects included Cabrini-Green, Bridgeport Homes, and Robert Brooks Homes.

The Riverdale location of Altgeld Gardens was chosen for its proximity to the industrial concentration and jobs on the Far South Side. Its construction coincided with mass demolition in the Bronzeville area and housed displaced residents from the former Black Belt.

Also because of its proximity to industry, the district has been plagued by toxic dumping in and around the neighborhood. The project itself was built on top of a former dumping site.

Hazel Johnson, known as the Mother of Environmental Justice, began her activism in this neighborhood.

More background:
https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2020/02/24/hazel-johnson

Her husband’s untimely death of lung cancer sparked her activism surrounding the disparate health outcomes of Altgeld Gardens residents and her founding of the grassroots organization People for Community Recovery.

More info about that organization here:
http://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/history.html

Among Ms. Johnson’s many career successes:

Lobbied Mayor Washington to install safe water & sewer lines.

Lobbied CHA to remove asbestos from the project.

Her efforts brought about Pres. Clinton’s 1994 actions to address environmental racism in minority communities.

A wall inscribed with the names of residents lost to environmentally-caused health issues is still in the project today. Ms. Johnson’s prolific and historic activism is a factor in today’s nomination for the district’s recognition on the National Register of Historic Places.

Commissioner Suellen Burns praises Mr. Cramer and Hazel Johnson’s daughter, Cheryl Johnson, for bringing this information to the Commission today. Both members present give an enthusiastic Yes vote, moving the nomination to the full Committee on October 7th.

The next nomination, also prepared my MacRostie Historic Advisors, is for the Ramova Theater in Bridgeport. Shannon Winterhalter of MacRostie is here to present the nomination.

The Theater was designed in 1929 and is nominated as a locally significant architectural landmark.

Background:
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1499

The Theater sits adjacent to a commercial block to its north and is surrounded by a commercial locus at 35th and Halsted. It was opened as a “sister” theater to the Music Box Theater, still in operation at 3733 N Southport.

Ramova was designed to be a community resource for Bridgeport’s Lithuanian community. The Theater, known as an “atmospheric theater,” was opened with the latest technology in cinema & was celebrated as a neighborhood gem for decades thereafter. It shuttered to the public in 1986.

In spite of its popularity, Ramova faltered economically during the Depression and was first sold off in 1939. It changed hands and received its current marquis sign in 1944. The Theater has been closed for decades, but its partner Ramova Grill continued on until 2011.

Ms. Winterhalter is giving the audience a photo tour of the Ramova’s interior, highlighting its state of disrepair and neglect. Many of the original architectural features are intact inside and out, making it even more significant in terms of historic preservation.

The commercial spaces adjacent to Ramova have still been in use on and off since the Theater’s closing. There are plans for the full building to be redeveloped and the restoration of the Theater’s interior is in the works.

More:
https://chicagoyimby.com/2021/07/plan-commission-approves-ramova-theater-redevelopment-at-3518-s-halsted-street-in-bridgeport.html

Mr. John Reynolds is here to speak on behalf of the current property owner. They are excited about the reimagining of the Ramova & they recognize what an important asset it is to the Bridgeport community. The owner’s plan is to fully restore its historic architectural features.

Commissioners Tolliver and Burns vote Yes on the nomination, sending it to a full vote on October 7th.

Next up, Mr. Sanford Garner of RG Collaborative is here to present the nomination for the Elijah Muhammad House.

Mr. Garner is leading the audience through a history of the House and Elijah Muhammad the man. Muhammad was born in 1897 to sharecroppers in Jim Crow Georgia. He relocated to Chicago in 1934 after converting to Islam in 1931.

In 1952, Muhammad purchased the House at 4847 S Woodlawn, where he lived until 1974 - a year before his passing.

A photo tour shows the expanse of the 7-bedroom House. Muhammad hosted small gatherings known as “Table Talks” where he discussed the teachings and events of the day.

As noted by prior public commenters, Muhammad was a strong advocate for healthy eating, farm-to-table food production, self-actualization, and support for Black-owned enterprise.

He developed the Nation of Islam into an expansive organization that owned 15,000 acres of farmland to serve food to their communities, a publishing company, and their own transport systems.

In 1974, March 29th was declared Elijah Muhammad Day in Chicago.

The Elijah Muhammad House was host to a litany of African-American leaders, thinkers, and activists, and served as a venue for Black America to discuss the broad range of issues facing those communities.

Wendy Muhammad, the current owner of the House, is here to express her support for this nomination. She has sought to restore and preserve the site as a sacred historical, religious, and cultural site, leading up to its nomination to the National Register.

She says there is “no other space where prominent African-Americans have graced the floor” in the United States. Their goal is to preserve and showcase the beauty of the House and to display it as a symbol of the history of Black Chicago and America.

Commissioner Burns notes that it’s an honor to be able to support this nomination and to set a precedent for preserving historical sites in the Black community.

Commissioner Tolliver confirms that Mr. Muhammad also lived in the house next door owned by Minister Louis Farrakhan.

He remarks that when he lived in the Kenwood community 18 years ago he enjoyed seeing the inside of one of the homes when it came up on the market.

Commissioner Tolliver proudly displays a plaque to Ms. Muhammad showing his 1968 visit to the House as part of a trip he made with his divinity school classmates from Massachusetts.

Commissioners Tolliver and Burns vote a resounding Yes to advance the Elijah Muhammad House’s nomination to a full vote of the Commission on October 7th.

Info on that October 7th meeting will be available to the public here:
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/landmarks_commission.html

Next up, Commissioner Tolliver will hear suggestions for nominations.

First up is the Dr. Donda West & Kanye West Residence at 7815 S South Shore.

Mr. John Rodezno of MyKabin LLC in Washington is here to suggest the West residence’s nomination to the Commission.

He notes that the house qualifies for nomination because of its connection to a person who significantly contributed to the cultural history of Chicago.

The next suggestion is for the Monumental Baptist Church at 729 E Oakwood. Ms. Wanda Power, a 3rd generation church member, is here to present the suggestion for nomination.

The present building has housed Monumental Baptist since 1934. It was originally built in 1899.

The building is designed in a Romanesque Revival style and modeled after H.H. Richardson’s Trinity Church in Boston.

The next suggestion for nomination is for the James R. Thompson Center at 100 W Randolph. Ms. Elizabeth Blasius is here to present the suggestion.

The Thompson Center was designed by Helmut Jahn in 1985. She says the building and its plaza are a fine example of postmodern architecture and meet multiple criteria for nomination to the National Register.

It would be the first postmodern building in the state of Illinois to be listed on the National Register. She acknowledges that the Thompson Center’s preservation is a hot issue in Chicago at present, but that it represents the exercise of free speech of Chicagoans for ages.

CVS High School at 2100 E 87th St was up for suggestion, but the presenter is not present.

Ms. Tammy Gibson is presenting the suggestion for the next building, the Ethel Payne House at 6210 S Throop.

Known as the First Lady of the Black Press, Payne was a revered Black journalist during the civil rights era and Ms. Gibson seeks to honor that memory and reputation.

Next is the suggestion for nomination for the site of the former Galena and Chicago Union railroad station at Canal & Kinzie. Mr. David Daruszka of the National Railway Locomotive Historical Society is here to present the suggestion.

The site is currently a parking lot with a plaque noting the significance of the station that was originally on the site. It was a point of origination for the transcontinental railroad that connected Chicago to the west coast.

Correction: the plaque pictured on Mr. Daruszka’s presentation is missing from the site and its location is unknown.

Next up is the Anton Hanson House at 7610 S Ridgeland. Ms. Carol Grant-Hall is here to present the suggestion for nomination. She is experiencing technical issues on Zoom and is unable to present at this time.

Next up is the Bethel Apostolic Faith Church at 11625 S State. Ms. Patricia Carter is here to present the suggestion for nomination on behalf of the church board.

The church has served the community since 1955, and the building has been there since 1910.

They would like the Commission to consider its nomination as an anchor of the community.

The next suggestion for nomination is for the Altgeld Gardens Shop Building at 13112 S Ellis. Ms. Cheryl Johnson, daughter of the Hazel Johnson discussed prior, is here to present this suggestion.

The Shop Building housed Altgeld Gardens community businesses and offices for decades. Many prominent African-American businessmen and women started their enterprises in this building and it housed a number of noteworthy musicians and artists over the years.

Next up Ms. Johnson will also speak on behalf of the suggestion for nomination for Altgeld Gardens School Building C at 839 E 132nd St. She says that the education from this building was significant to the residents of Altgeld and produced many great leaders across the US.

The next suggestion for nomination is the former Schlitz brewery tied-house (Southport Lanes) at 3325 N Southport. It has operated as a billiards hall, bar, and the oldest bowling lanes in Chicago.

Next up is the Humboldt Park Armory at 1551 N Kedzie. It was built during WWII to ready the Illinois National Guard. Ms. Mary Lu Seidel is presenting on behalf of Preservation Chicago (and also presented for the Schlitz tied-house noted above).

The next suggestion is for Promontory Point at 55th St and the lakefront. Its origins dates to the 1890s and Daniel Burnham’s plan for lake parks. The Point was designed and landscaped by famed landscape architect Alfred Caldwell in 1937.

Promontory Point faces challenges from erosion and climate change. There is concern in the community that an Army Corps plan to revitalize the Point will compromise its original landscape and beauty.

Next up is a suggestion for nomination for All Saints - Saint Anthony’s Church at 518 W 28th Pl. Mr. Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago is presenting on its significance.

Its design represents significant Romanesque Revival style architecture and is a work of public art. The church was built in 1913 and was recently closed by the archdiocese of Chicago. Its designation as a landmark is key to its preservation and use for other purposes.

The next suggestion for consideration is for Cornell Store and Flats at 1230-32 E 75th St. Mr. Ward Miller is again the presenter.

The significance of the site is its architect, Walter Burley Griffin, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Alderwoman Michelle Harris has also voiced her support for this building’s nomination.

Next up is a suggestion for nomination for the Central Park Theater at 3531-39 W Roosevelt. Mr. Max Chavez is here to present.

It was one of the first movie palaces in the US & the first air-conditioned movie theater. It was also the first in the Balaban & Katz chain.

Since the 1970s, it has housed the House of Prayer, Church of God in Christ. It was added to the National Register in 2005 and they would like it to be added to Chicago’s list because of its significance.

Mr. Chavez is next presenting a suggestion for nomination for the Seth Warner House at 631 N Central.

Designed in the Tuscan Villa Italianate style, it was built in 1869 and is the oldest home in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. It has been on the National Register since 1982.

Its listing as a Chicago Landmark would make it one of the oldest, tied with the famed Water Tower downtown.

For the last three suggestions, Commissioner Tolliver will read the name and address as there are no presenters today.

1331 S Michigan
368 E 69th St
4192 S Archer, Former TCF Bank Building

All suggestions will be forwarded to the full Commission on October 7th.

Commissioner Tolliver has adjourned the meeting as of 12:23pm.

This concludes my coverage of today’s meeting of the Program Committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks for @CHIdocumenters

Thank you for following today, and feel free to DM or comment on any part of the thread with comments, corrections, or questions!

@CHIdocumenters On a personal note, it was an honor and privilege to have a front row seat to the historic nominations of so many of the sites in Chicago that represent the illustrious history of African-Americans in our community. I look forward to the Commission’s October 7th meeting!