First of Two New Medical District Towers Detailed
The first of two new buildings planned for Ashland Avenue in the Illinois Medical District has made it onto paper. The new 19-story residential tower at 801 South Ashland has been anticipated for about a year, since KIG issued a press release stating that it formed a partnership with Guggenheim Real Estate, Atlantic Realty Partners and Focus Development for a $111 million expansion of the existing two-tower property. The plan now is...
Illinois Medical District Project to be Renovated, Expanded
Between medical personnel, support staff, students, and others in allied fields, there’s always been a big demand for housing in the Illinois Medical District area. At the same time, there’s been precious little large-scale development in the area. But the development frenzy that is echoing from downtown Chicago into the neighborhoods is finally reaching this corner of the city with a project from Guggenheim Real Estate. You may know...
Wrecking Ball Flays Rush University Medical Center’s Jones Building
The countdown began in September, when the City of Chicago issued four demolition permits for Rush University Medical Center to tear down four buildings on their west side campus. The oldest of those structures, the Jones Building, is the first to meet the wrecking ball. Built in 1888 as the Daniel A. Jones Hospital, the Jones Building at 1753 West Congress Parkway became obsolete when Rush completed its state-of-the-art, $575-million...
Victorian-Era Chicago Building Being Demolished For Nothing
Perched on the banks of that taillight tributary called Congress Parkway sits one of Chicago’s oldest buildings. But not for long. Demolition crews are revving their engines to eviscerate Rush University Medical Center’s Jones Building (1753 West Congress Parkway), a Victorian-era pile that is part of a hospital so venerable that it’s older than the city, itself. The building in question is Rush’s Jones...
Second Cook County Hospital Charrette Brings Out Creative Options
Anybody who was nostalgic about the old Cook County Hospital building was neither a doctor nor a patient there. —Dr. John Jay Shannon, CEO of Cook County Health and Hospital System Toward the end of a lively discussion about the future of the old Cook County Hospital on October 7 hosted by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, Dr. John Shannon addressed the audience and spoke on behalf of a doctor who actually worked at the facility 14...
Lubing Up the Paddles to Give Old Cook County Hospital One Last Jolt
With October upon us, around the country countless carneys are busy setting up seasonal haunted houses. And one of the most popular themes is the abandoned hospital. But Chicago doesn’t need an army of carneys to erect a house of horrors, because the city has its own massive, scary-looking abandoned hospital just a stone’s throw from downtown. But after years of absorbing rain and pigeon droppings, the first baby steps...
Building Updates
Another round of updates has been made to Chicago Architecture Info. Here are the specifics: New Buildings Rush University Medical Center Hospital Tower 333 South Ashland Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communication Notre Dame de Chicago Church Oxxford Clothes Factory Rush University Medical Center Triangle Office Building Rush University Medical Center Westgate Building Rush University Medical Center Midwest Orthopedic...
Inside (and Outside) the New Rush Hospital
Rush University has spent the last few days showing off its new hospital at 1650 West Harrison Street, perched on the edge of the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) just outside of The Loop. There was a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 8th, and a smattering of television coverage following. Unfortunately, with yet another Illinois politician being sentenced to prison time, Rush’s building didn’t get all of the...
Quickie: Landscaping the Eisenhower/Blue Line?
Just a quick note — We hear that there is some preliminary work being done to investigate the possibility of landscaping the Blue Line in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290). We don’t know if this will mean simply adding plants in the gravel and dirt areas that the trains aren’t using, or if it means adding some kind of deck over the rail line with a park. When we know more, you’ll know...
Laying Out the Inside on the Outside
Google’s aerial photographs of different nooks and crannies of the world have occasionally turned up some peculiar things. One of them is in Chicago. In the Illinois Medical District, on the northwest corner of Ashland and Harrison — the site where Rush University is putting up a new hospital is a life-sized blueprint showing offices, hallways, columns, and stairwells. We don’t know if this was for a training...
