A swath of the Lincoln Park neighborhood was granted preliminary landmark designation Thursday by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, over the objection of a longtime resident who has sued to halt the process.
The commission unanimously recommended for landmarking a proposed Arlington-Deming District, a handsome clutch of freestanding houses, row homes and apartment buildings that date to 1872 and exemplify the development of the North Side neighborhood.
Preservationists and neighborhood groups have spent more than two years advocating for the district to help counter a rash of teardowns that they contend has threatened the historic integrity of Lincoln Park.
The Arlington-Deming District would protect about 120 buildings constructed between 1872 and 1940 in an area roughly from the 2400-2500 blocks of North Geneva Terrace and North Orchard Street, as well as properties in the 500-650 blocks of West Arlington Place and West Deming Place. The proposed district is essentially an extension of the Mid-North District, a multiblock area where the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 stopped and that was granted landmark status in 1977.
But 42-year resident and wealthy mortgage banker Albert Hanna, whose home is within the proposed district, sued the city last month alleging that the creation of landmark districts is a way for the city to illegally control private property.
The suit is believed to be the first legal challenge to the city’s landmark ordinance in its entirety. Hanna has previously sued the city over its efforts to control private property through downzoning and won.
“The wealthy people in the community will preserve their own area. The area doesn’t need landmarking,” Hanna told the commission. “It’s time to stop limiting the development of new housing in the city of Chicago.”
Hanna reiterated many of the arguments in his lawsuit, which also challenges a recently created East Village Landmark District in West Town, alleging that unnecessary landmarking is the result of collaboration between aldermen and residents who oppose development that could result in more affordable housing. Hanna alleges that such opposition results in the racial and economic segregation of high-income and gentrifying neighborhoods.
“The city needs more housing, not less; more revenues, not less,” he said.
Ald. Vi Daley (43rd), residents and the Preservation Chicago advocacy group all testified in favor of the district, saying it is long overdue.
“We recognize that this will put restrictions on what we can personally do with our home, but we’re willing to make that tradeoff in order to be sure that the neighborhood stays intact and that the value of housing is not diminished by poor-quality development,” said resident Colette Holt. “We are very concerned about the teardowns and the diminution of the value of our property because of development that has taken place that is out of conformance with the character of the district.”
Resident Shirley Weese said that since July 2004, the proposed district has experienced four demolitions–one of them a brick and stone three-flat designed in 1913–that have all been replaced with mega-mansions.
“A neighborhood’s historic architecture is a complex, urban fabric painstakingly woven over a long period of time,” Weese said.
The next step is for the city Department of Planning and Development to review the proposed district’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
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jebriggs@tribune.com
