Old Prentice Women's Hospital Building
The Prentice Women's Hospital and Maternity Center was a hospital on the Downtown Chicago campus of Northwestern University's Northwestern Memorial Hospital in the Streeterville district of Chicago's Near North Side.
| Prentice Women's Hospital and Maternity Center | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Status | Demolished |
| Type | Hospital |
| Location | 333 E. Superior St. Chicago, Illinois United States |
| Coordinates | 41°53′44″N 87°37′08″W / 41.89542°N 87.61887°W |
| Construction started | 1972[2] |
| Completed | 1975 |
| Opened | December 10, 1975[2] |
| Inaugurated | January 22, 1976[3] |
| Demolished | 2013–2014 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 14[1] |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Bertrand Goldberg & Associates |
| Structural engineer | Bertrand Goldberg & Associates |
| Main contractor | Paschen Contractors, Inc., Gust K. Newberg Construction Co. |
The hospital was replaced with the current new building of Prentice Women's Hospital adjacent to Lurie Children's Hospital.
Design edit
The Brutalist design by architect Bertrand Goldberg featured a 9-story concrete quatrefoil tower with oval windows cantilevered over a rectangular five-story podium.[4] The tower was used as a maternity center, with nursing stations located in the central core and patient wards in the four lobes—a layout that minimized distances between nurse and patient.[5]
Aside from its unique shape, which structural engineer William F. Baker calls "the only example of its type anywhere in the world",[6] the complex curvilinear structure made construction history with its use of early computer-aided design techniques. Software engineers at Bertrand Goldberg & Associates adapted software used by the aeronautical industry to create a 3D-mapping technique that speeded up the design by months.[5]
History edit
Goldberg began design in 1971, after the consolidation of Passavant Deaconess Hospital and Wesley Hospital. It was named for Abra “Abbie” Cantrill Prentice. It was opened in 1975.[2]
The building was vacated in 2011[7] after serving as a hospital until the new Prentice Women's Hospital opened nearby at 250 East Superior Street in 2007.[8] Northwestern University announced plans to demolish it and replace it with a medical research facility.[4][6] Preservationists and prominent architects (including at least six Pritzker Prize winners) had called on Northwestern and the City of Chicago to save the building,[9] appealing to Chicago's "global reputation as a nurturer of bold and innovative architecture". Jeanne Gang presented a reuse design incorporating the building into a skyscraper.[10]
In the debate over the building's planned demolition, Northwestern argued that the site was needed for medical research aimed at attacking heart disease, cancer, and children's diseases.[7] Preservationists responded that Northwestern Memorial Hospital owns a two-square-block piece of vacant land directly across the street from Prentice, and within a potential skybridge's reach from the university's existing research building.[8]
Historic preservation attempts edit
In September 2012, the Chicago Landmarks Commission stated it would hold a hearing about the building in autumn 2012.[11] On November 1, 2012, the Landmarks Commission went through an expedited landmark designation process, ultimately voting against the designation.[12]
In late November 2012, Cook County Circuit Court, Judge Neil Cohen entered a stay that restored the commission's preliminary Landmark recommendation for the time being and barred the city from issuing a demolition permit. Judge Cohen set the next court date for December 7, and made it clear that he wanted to see Prentice protected in the interim.[13] After the original denial of landmark status, the National Trust for Historic Preservation sponsored a campaign to save the building.[14]
On March 18, 2013, Northwestern announced the approval of the demolition permit for the building.[15] The National Trust for Historic Preservation cited the site as one of ten historic sites lost in 2013.[16]
On October 29, 2013, an 8-minute documentary, about the struggle to save the building from demolition, was released online after screening at the Durban International Film Festival, Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Architecture & Design Film Festival New York.[17] The film was produced and directed by Northwestern graduate Nathan Eddy and features interviews with Vanity Fair architecture critic Paul Goldberger, local Chicago preservation groups, and Northwestern University.[18] It played in Chicago in March 2014, when the building was almost completely gone.
Demolition of the building was completed in September 2014.[19]
Gallery edit
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View from the south across the vacant Veteran's Hospital site
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Detail of the tower facade at night, with oval windows illuminated
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Prentice Women's Hospital Chicago
References edit
- ^ "Old Prentice Women's Hospital Building in Chicago, Illinois, United States - Phorio". Retrieved 2012-09-18.
- ^ a b c Ribstein, Susannah. "Prentice Women's Hospital Landmark Nomination" (PDF). National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
- ^ Page, Eleanor (1976-01-08). "Big day in store for new women's hospital". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ a b Grossman, Ron. "Debate over Chicago's Prentice hospital heats up". Chicago Tribume. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ a b Goldberg, Geoffrey (2012-09-05) "Let's Save an Architectural Gem That Also Pioneered Engineering". Engineering News Record online. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- ^ a b Kamin, Blair (2012-08-03) "Emanuel noncommittal on fate of Prentice building", Chicago Tribune
- ^ a b Joravsky, Ben (2012-08-16) "Prentice preservationists put Rahm in a bind", Chicago Reader
- ^ a b Isaacs, Deanna (2012-08-30) "Rahm's golden opportunity: save Prentice hospital", Chicago Reader
- ^ ArchitectureChicago Plus blog (2012-08-30) "Herzog and de Meuron, Souto de Moura, Ando and Venturi add their voices to saving Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Hospital". 30 August 2012.
- ^ Kimmelman, Michael (October 17, 2012). "A Vision to Avoid Demolition for a '70s Pioneer". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
- ^ Isaacs, Deanna (2012-09-06) "Prentice will get its hearing at the Landmarks Commission", Chicago Reader
- ^ Studenkov, Igor (1 November 2012). . Skyline. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
- ^ "Prentice Hospital Granted Temporary Reprieve". National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ^ "Prentice Women's Hospital". savingplaces.org. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
- ^ Geiger, Kim. "Northwestern gains permit to raze old Prentice hospital". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
- ^ Staff (January 5, 2014). "A look at 10 historic sites save, 10 lost in 2013". Post Crescent. Associated Press. p. F3.
- ^ "The Absent Column". Vimeo. 23 October 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
- ^ Johnson, Sara. "Goodbye, Prentice Women's Hospital". Architect.
- ^ Bentley, Chris (2014-09-09). "Northwestern University completes demolition on Old Prentice Women's Hospital". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 2021-03-11.