Tuesday, June 5, 2007
News / Chicagoland That big abandoned church in West Town...
Posted by Whet Moser on 06.05.07 at 03:50 PM
As a fairly new resident of the West Town/Noble Square/Eckhart Park area, I wondered what the deal was with the huge, abandoned Catholic church at Noble and Chestnut. Because it's been shorn of all identifying markings, I didn't even know what the name was until I found a flyer for saintbonifaceinfo.com in my mailbox. Some anonymous person or persons was/were kind enough to put together a fine Web site about the church (I heart this sort of activism 2.0), with a history, pictures, links, and more. It's a gorgeous old Chicago building, color-coded "orange" in the Commission on Chicago Landmarks Historic Resources Survey: "…a structure possessing historical and architectural distinction in the context of the immediate community."
A Links page has further info on the church, including a piece by Reader architecture critic Lynn Becker and a 2005 piece from the Chicago Journal, as well as an amazing, haunting photo essay by an urban spelunker. According to the Timeline posted on the site, the archdiocese is "very close to" a deal with a developer as of May.
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It's a ridiculously good photo essay (and probably the last one that'll be done on it, as they've sealed it up pretty tight).
Thanks for the compliment on the website. I'll be updating the timeline tomorrow (Saturday June 9th) The Chicago Journal also did a piece on St Boniface 6-6-07, Here's the link. http://www.chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=3099&TM=65739.68 Please contact us to get on the mailing list. Signed The author of saintbonifaceinfo.com
I have been researching my family tree and discovered that St. Boniface Catholic Church is where my grandparents were married in 1905 and where all their children were baptised. I think it's a crime that the Catholic Diocese would even consider destroying this building which was the focal point of the lives of Chicago's Russian and Polish communities.
The city of Chicago was ready to spend all kinds of money on the Olympics - maybe they should spend some of that money to enable the restoration and safeguarding of historical buildings. How often do we read articles 5-10 years after the fact how inappropriate it was to tear down historically significant buildings? I studied art history and I can tell you it's often the case.
I searched for an aerial map of the location and see that the property on which other church buildings stood is barren. Is there a need for a larger empty lot? As in so many things, the reason for this destruction undoubtedly is money. I live in Los Angeles but was just in Chicago two weeks ago to photograph sites that tie into my family tree. After driving around for four days, I can safely state that there are many areas more in need of demolition than this beautiful old church. Against all odds, I hope St. Boniface survives.
