Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Saturday, February 15
Chicago Historic Resources Survey: Not included [?]
Year: 1954
Architect: Unlisted
Owner: Chicago Housing Authority
Permit Description: Wreck and remove 3 story brick mixed use building.
Status: Demolition permit issued 06/06/2012
This former church was long the site of social services for the Chicago Housing Authority, as evidenced by 30 contracts for the Near North Ministry Alliance and Chicago Fellowship of Friends and the Department of Human Services between 1997 and 2009. Services included "youth development services," "community policing enhancement," and, fittingly, "housing abandonment/consulting."
Listed as "Vacant Land," it sold for $604,175 at the end of 2011. The description reads:
One proposal for the site shows new residential development. In the prospectus, there is a section entitled "The History of the Near North Side." Six sentences cover the entire 70 year history of public housing in the area.
One 311 service request for the building being "vacant and open" occured on February 15, 2011.
Over the course of 2012 David Schalliol produced a photographic portrait of 100 of the hundreds of buildings threatened with demolition in the city of Chicago. Nearly all of the buildings have since been demolished. Visit the background information section for more information about the project, including definitions and links to other building resources.
The series is supported by a generous grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.