Anybody who’s been to Chicago is familiar with Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City which resembles two giant corncobs–that’s meant to be descriptive not unflattering. They are among Chicago’s most recognizable landmarks. I even know somebody who went out there to paint them while they were still under construction. The Chicago Tribune came out with three stories this week, including one, interestingly, that summarizes the other two stories:

The first of the stories, by E.A. Torriero, chronicles how residents of Marina City (left) are banding together to fight an architecturally-disruptive incursion from Dick’s Last Resort, the in-your-face restaurant chain. The second, by Ray Quintanilla, details a much more serious threat–the possible demolition of two little-known Goldberg buildings at the Elgin Mental Health Center. (Chicago Tribune 4/14/08)

According to the 1985 book “Goldberg: On the City” by Michel Ragon, the hospital opened in 1967 and cost $12 million. Designed three years after Marina City, it has cantilevered floors supported by a circular frame of monolithic concrete, according to the book.

Its innovative floor plan, scholars said, gave birth to nearly two decades of similar curvilinear hospital design across the nation, including Northwestern Memorial’s Prentice Women’s Hospital—a shamrock shaped building constructed in the mid-1970s.

Goldberg, who died in 1997, also designed an accordion-shaped laundry facility on the mental health center grounds at about the same time he worked on the hospital. The former laundry consists of about two dozen triangular concrete trusses joined to create an enclosed space without internal columns.

The building is on land owned by John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc. It acquired the property when the state parceled off about 90 acres of mental health center land for private development in 2004, said Elgin Councilman David Kaptain.

Sanfilippo officials declined to comment for this story.

Kaptain said he believes demolition is in the laundry building’s future. The owners seek a zoning change on the property that would allow for higher density commercial development, he said. (Chicago Tribune 4/14/08)

The story mentions an Elgin group known as ARCHES (Advocate to Revitalize Cultural & Historic Elgin Sites), which was founded by Jerry Sorensen.

Elgin residents, he said, know very little about the two Goldberg buildings because public access to the mental health center has been limited for decades. The group has called on state and local officials to find a way to preserve the buildings. (Chicago Tribune 4/14/08)

This must be the site that South West Area Neighbors (SWAN) is trying to turn into a park. Charlene Sligting was said to be collecting signatures. I wonder how that went. Anybody know?

Filed under: arts, history.
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