Monday, May 21, 2012

Adler & Sullivan's Auditorium gets a view block

We wrote last year about how the construction of Roosevelt's University's new vertical dorm uncovered, however briefly, a part of Adler and Sullivan's Auditorium Building that hadn't been seen in over half a century.

We've been spoiled down through the years by another open view of the Auditorium building from the southwest, courtesy of a surface parking lot that's been there since the days when the raptors were dropping off their dinomobiles.
click images for larger view
Now that's changing.
Under construction is Roosevelt's new 27,000-square-foot Lillian and  Larry Goodman Center, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz.  The two-level building is essentially a field house to support the university's athletic program.  It was jump-started by a $3,000,000 gift from real estate  magnate Larry Goodman, founder of the Community Discount store chain.  Opening is scheduled in time for the 2012-13 academic year.
It's possible the Goodman Center may actually be the tallest structure ever to occupy the site.  The classic Rand McNally view from 1893 shows it as a vacant lot, and a vintage postcard on the Chicago-L website  offers a murky view of what appears to be either a single story building, or a sequence of plywood walls papered over with billboards.
 The somewhat derelict self-park next door, however. endures.

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