The “Bonifac . . . 1902” inscription on the cornerstone at Saint Boniface Church at Chestnut and Noble is all but weathered away. Chain-link fence cordons off the entire lot. The ground where a convent stood is strewn with bricks, and the school survives only as a boarded-up ruin. The tall arched windows on its top floor are open hollows, and the remains of the collapsed wood ceiling lean up against the back interior wall. In the church itself, the bells of the 130-foot tower are silent; the stained glass of the great rose windows has been dispersed to other churches and replaced with plywood. Water funnels down toward a rusting steel column, pews have been scattered like the remnants of a shipwreck, and the only congregation is the great flock of pigeons that roosts in the sanctuary’s upper reaches.
“We had a blast,” adds Studio Gang principal architect Jeanne Gang.
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There were four entries. (All are on display through September 14 in the CitySpace gallery of the Chicago Architecture Foundation at 224 S. Michigan.) Booth Hansen Associates offered a simple yet elegant proposal that turns the nave of the church into a tree-lined garden opening onto a plaza, with apartments created within the space of the side aisles lining the nave. Annex/5, the in-house design studio for the firm of A. Epstein and Sons, stressed a variety of housing types: conventional apartments in sleek glassy towers, loft space for work and living in extended “finger buildings” below, and starter studios on the ground floor. “The archdiocese was looking for prototypes that could be used at other locations,” says Annex/5 design principal Andrew Metter, “but that may not work, because each neighborhood is different. So we suggested drawing on the secular history of the saint after which each church was named. For Saint Boniface, the legend is that he introduced the Christmas tree”–the evergreen–“to Europe in the 700s as a symbol of everlasting life. We reflected this by extending Eckhart Park, across the street, into our design through the use of green, sustainable architecture.” This translates into elements such as plantings to create green roof systems, landscaping above the parking garage, and a glass screen along the southern exposure of the towers to both provide shading and serve as a wind scoop to bring natural ventilation up into the apartments.
The jury saw the Brininstool + Lynch entry as being “the most creative and most viable architectural solution,” saying it “communicates a sense of history and a sense of community. The design projects quietness and stability, and includes substantial flexibility for future uses.”
Kamin talks about concentrating on improving the quality of what he calls “the basic building blocks–the background buildings,” but the hideous 600-plus-foot towers he so rightly condemns aren’t background buildings–they’re violent pokes in the eye to the city’s skyline. They’re overtaking and overpowering Chicago’s architectural treasures, and the only antidote is work of a similar scale and quality.
As with most competitions, there’s no guarantee that any of the ideas coming out of it will be put to use. The archdiocese has a September 15 deadline for bids from developers, and although it has stated it wants to preserve the building, there’s nothing to stop it from regretfully coming to the conclusion that the only viable bids mandate demolition. The final result will be a good indicator of the depth of the archdiocese’s commitment to doing a better job of disposing of its unneeded buildings.
