Pilsen‘s historic St. Adalbert Church is one step closer to becoming a protected landmark.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the designation for the 110-year-old vacant building, setting it on the path to be shielded from demolition and superficial changes.
The vote was held during a raucous meeting in City Council chambers with several interruptions from the gallery. During the public comment period, some speakers described how the issue has pitted the Latino and Polish communities against one another.
The Council’s Zoning Committee must now vote to approve the landmark recommendation, followed by a final vote of the full City Council.
Landmark status would restrict what owners could do to change the church’s Renaissance Revival-styled facade, but it wouldn’t prohibit certain interior renovations.
The Archdiocese of Chicago closed the church in 2019 and has resisted landmark status. The archdiocese says the restrictions would create a financial burden and complicate efforts to find a buyer for the property, 1650 W. 17th St. At least one developer is seeking to build affordable housing on the site, the South Side Weekly reported, but the church hasn’t reached an agreement.
Ahead of Thursday’s City Council vote, supporters of the landmark designation at times shouted over opposing speakers.
Local Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez (25th) praised the move toward landmark status for a building that he said is the “spirit of the community.”
Jim Geoly, a lawyer representing the Archdiocese of Chicago, said he was disappointed with the vote, especially because the commission recommended landmark status for the entire campus of five buildings, not just the church building.
“We’re going to vigorously oppose this at the City Council level,” Geoly said. “We hope there’s an opportunity to discuss an outcome with these stakeholders because that’s the outcome we want.”
But some parishioners of St. Paul’s Church, which absorbed St. Adalbert’s congregation, said they opposed the landmark status because of the financial burden it would bring to its parish. The parishioners said they continue to cover the costs of upkeep at St. Adalbert. Some said they’ve been verbally abused by landmark supporters protesting outside St. Paul’s, 2127 W. 22nd Place.
Some speakers described how the issue has pitted two groups against each other: the Latino congregants of St. Paul’s who oppose landmark status, and Polish immigrants who once attended St. Adalbert’s but have moved elsewhere. The membership of St. Adalbert’s has changed dramatically since the church was built in 1914. The once Polish community is now predominately Hispanic.
Lawyers for the archdiocese argued the church building did not meet the commission’s criteria for landmark status. They also claimed the status is a threat to the survival of the remaining parish at St. John, which absorbed St. Adalbert and St. Ann parishes years earlier amid declining attendance and financial difficulties.
A public hearing in May brought scores of supporters of landmark status, with 113 people expressing support and 13 signaling their opposition, according to minutes of the meeting. But archdiocese lawyers said the majority of supporters live outside the Pilsen neighborhood, even mapping out their homes on a poster board it presented to the commission.
Many supporters of landmark status on Thursday said their Polish families had roots in Pilsen and the church held a special place for them. Some spoke during the public comment period through a translator.
The commission voted last year to grant preliminary landmark status after advocates for preserving the church accused the archdiocese of removing its stained glass. Those same advocates have carried out a long campaign to preserve the church, at one point facing arrest to prevent the removal of a beloved statue — a marble replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta, depicting the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother, Mary, after the crucifixion.
The commission on Thursday also voted to recommend landmark status for the Ramova Theater, 3508-3518 S. Halsted St., which was reopened as a working theater in December after being vacant for nearly four decades.
