Plan Commission Approved a Skyscraper That Isn’t a Big Square on Another Big Square
Do you want a 35-story luxury skyscraper in your neighborhood? Because this is how you get a 35-story luxury skyscraper in your neighborhood. November 2020 rendering of 40 West Oak The Chicago Plan Commission has given its blessing to the construction of a new residential tower at 40 West Oak Street. The new building was designed by Lucien Lagrange for Nahla Capital, and will replace the Warren Barr Pavilion’s parking garage. ...
Lagrange Points to Stellar Development in Chicago’s Gold Coast Orbit
In a city awash in value-engineered rectangles on squares, a new project from O.G. Chicago architect Lucien Lagrange is a welcome change. Nahla Capital has filed paperwork with the city to build 40 West Oak, a new 35-story residential tower on Oak between Clark and Dearborn Streets. October 2019 rendering of 40 West Oak Street It was almost exactly a year ago that we told you the Warren Barr Pavilion’s parking garage was going to...
Newberry Library Getting a 34-Story Bookend
For the last 16 years, we’ve gloated every time a surface parking lot was erased from downtown Chicago. Now it looks like a parking garage is about to meet that Great Urban Planner in the Sky, and we’re not sure how to feel about it. October 2019 rendering of 40 West Oak Street The garage in question serves the Warren Barr Pavilion, the mostly anonymous nursing home with the tony address of 66 West Oak Street in...
Reader Questions: Raising the Barr
There are certain buildings that, in spite of their premier addresses, manage to go through life anonymously. One of them is the Warren Barr Pavilion at 66 West Oak Street. It’s a nursing home in the city’s Near North neighborhood, and in spite of its swishy Oak Street inscription, its brown brick facade keeps it hidden from the masses. Until recently, that is. A neighbor hit our tip line asking what’s up with the...