Buckingham Building Lobby, Chicago IL

Buckingham Building Wins Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award

 

The completed rehabilitation of the Buckingham Building in Chicago, Illinois was recently named Best Adaptive Use by Landmarks Illinois at the 2010 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards.  Completed in 1930, the 27-story Art Deco style office tower was designed by Holabird & Root.  The building is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing building within the locally-designated Historic Michigan Boulevard Chicago Landmarks Historic District.

 

By 2004 the building was vacant, water-damaged, and suffered vandalism and the theft of significant interior features.  Brownstone Realty & Development Company and L&H Real Estate Group partnered to purchase the building and began a full renovation in 2006.  The exterior of the building was restored and the indoor spaces adapted for apartments, lounges, and retail uses - preserving the main lobby, historic hallways, and other significant interior spaces.  

 

The Buckingham is now entirely leased and occupied by Columbia College for student residences.  Susan Baldwin Burian and Allen Johnson of MacRostie Historic Advisors' Midwest office served as preservation consultants to the project which utilized federal historic rehabilitation tax credits.  Pappageorge Haymes Partners served as project architects.