As one who has long had an interest in architecture, I have been taken aback by the controversy over Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Woman’s hospital.
Goldberg was certainly a gifted designer, but not very good at structural strength, important when a building is altered for new uses. Both his Marina City and River City apartments are enjoyable, even captivating to view from the exterior, but Marina City had to have some structural modifications to strengthen it.
Typical of his weakness there is the fate of the school on 4251 N. Clarendon Ave. He designed beautiful classrooms with semi-conical roofs of pre-stressed concrete. One of the roofs collapsed during construction. Several years later, all of the conical roofs were removed for fear of further collapses.
All of which is important when contemplating extensive changes in a building as will certainly be required for new uses of Prentice.
Finally, when this controversy first surfaced, I went over and took a long look at the Prentice from various angles — unlike Marina City, it is ugly as sin. TEAR IT DOWN!
— Dan V Crowe, Chicago
