The Elgin Heritage Commission voted unanimously this week to recommend the David C. Cook building be designated a city landmark.
Representatives for Cook Publishing Co., which used the 850 N. Grove Ave. building as its headquarters from the 1901 until 1994, say they plan to strenuously object to the designation when it goes before the Elgin City Council for final review.
The decision may pose something of a dilemma for council members, who took the unusual step of nominating the building for landmark status when Cook requested a demolition permit but may also be leery of a potentially precedent-setting move that would place restrictions on a private property owner against their will.
“If the city takes away our ministry’s property rights, it will set a precedent that could easily happen to any Elgin property owner in the future,” Cook CEO Cris Doornbos said in a prepared statement.
“Forcing us to divert millions of dollars from missional programs to ‘landmark’ our property against our will is wrong. Today it’s David C. Cook, tomorrow it could be your home or business,” Doornbos said.
Cook is large nonprofit Christian publishing company founded in 1875 in Chicago, relocated to Elgin a few years later and headquartered in the city until its move to Colorado in 1994.
Cook representatives say it’s cost prohibitive to make the code-required repairs needed because of the water damage the building has sustained. Demolishing it will make it easier to sell a prospective buyer for new development, they say.
“We’re going to make a full case to them,” a company spokesman said.
At a hearing last month, historic preservation expert Tim Wittman, a School of the Art Institute of Chicago professor, told the commission that allowing the building to be torn down would be a “terrible blow to Elgin.”
Cook’s decision to build its Colonial revival architectural-style headquarters in an industrial area was a significant civic gesture, Wittman said.
Cook was also a prominent figure in Elgin history, building a 12-room mansion for his family on Gifford Street in which he lived from 1885 until his death in 1927.
Wittman said the Cook building meets nine of the 11 criteria listed in the city’s Historical Preservation Ordinance for a property to be designated a landmark. The minimum criteria match is six.
Although city officials have indicated they have no interest in buying the property or finding a developer for it, preservationists have said landmark status might make it more appealing to a buyer because it makes the property eligible for state tax credits. Were it to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, it would also qualify for federal tax credits.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
