Save Prentice!
Prentice Women’s Hospital, built 1974-1975 located at 333 East Superior Street: This historic structure is threatened due to ownership by Northwestern University who has intentions of demolishing the building for a new medical research facility. Prentice Hospital was designed by Bertrand Goldberg, one of Chicago’s most iconic, and iconoclastic, modern architects. Best known for his world-famous Marina City complex, many Chicagoans know little of the man behind the great “corncobs,” of the guiding principles of his work, or of his life-long devotion to Chicago and to making better the lives of its residents. Today, many of Goldberg’s surviving works remain at best misunderstood, and worst threatened with irreparable alterations or outright demolition. Goldberg trained at Harvard, later spending time at the German Bauhaus under the direct tutelage of master architect and later day Chicagoan – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Returning to Chicago, Goldberg set out not to copy the style of Mies (as have so many others), but rather to apply Miesian technique and principles to his own designs, studies, and theories. The results of this rigorous method are wholly individual buildings that are nonetheless steeped in Miesian sensibility and sensitivity. Insisting that the Miesian box is not the ideal solution to all architectural prob- lems, and particularly those centered around human community, Goldberg developed a series of complex curvilinear geometries for his buildings. These were designed to allow intelligent and efficient space planning, to provide a sense of individuality within each unit, and to foster a sense of community within the building. Meanwhile, Goldberg retained the traditional Miesian form in his designs when he thought it was most ideal: for flexible space, efficient office plan- ning, and large, open volumes. Chicago’s Prentice Hospital is perhaps the ultimate manifestation of these design objectives. Configured as two distinct volumes for two separate, but interdependent uses, the hospital contains a large, flexible, and adaptable Miesian space at its base, and a highly specialized tower above, intended for maternity functions. In a remarkable step forward from previous designs, Goldberg here balances the entire curvilinear tower above the base volume, its floors cantilevering daringly above. This drama allows the two forms to coexist harmoniously, without the oddly spaced columns of the bed tower intruding upon the regular space below. Goldberg’s other works, each highly varied, show the same originality and thoughtfulness exhibited at Prentice Hospital. Each challenges us to rethink our definitions of architecture, in the pursuit of a more balanced, diverse, and healthy society. Today, this important architectural icon is threatened. To that end, Preservation Chicago has embarked on an advocacy campaign in conjunction with Landmarks Illinois, The Midwest Office of the National Trust and The Chicago Chapter of DOCOMOMO. Additional funds are needed to bring the demolition of this significant structure to a national and international audience so they can pressure the City of Chicago and Northwestern University to save the building.
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