A century-old home in a North Side historic district is en route to demolition, and though future designs for the site remain unseen, preservationists say they won’t fight the teardown.

Last week, the city’s Commission on Chicago Landmarks gave a nearly unanimous approval for the demolition of a residence at 622 W. Deming Place. Originally constructed in the 1880s, the home is one in a collection of pre-World War II structures that sit within the neighborhood’s Arlington-Deming landmark district.

The two-story Lincoln Park building is currently used by the Ronald McDonald House Charities as a 21-bed guesthouse for family members of patients at the nearby Children’s Memorial Hospital.

But the building will soon be vacant, as McDonald House, which has operated in the building since the late 1970s, has made plans to follow the hospital downtown where it will set up shop in a new 14-story facility at 211 E. Grand Ave.

The building’s owner, Chicago-based printing company Newsweb Corp., filed for a demolition permit in November and has since announced plans to divide the property into two parcels for a pair of upcoming residential developments. Building plans for the site have yet to been submitted to the city for review.

Newsweb is headed by Fred Eychaner, a philanthropist and major bankroller for the Democratic National Party. The media mogul lives across the street from the Deming building, in a concrete mansion designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

“[Eychaner] wants to improve the Arlington-Deming district,” said David Horwich of Newsweb and NWB Real Estate Co., the developer for the project, before the commission.

Horwich added that the firm had engaged architect John Vinci to work on project. Vinci, whose work includes the Arts Club of Chicago, is something of a champion for the architectural preservation movement, having taken part in early high-profile rehab projects such as the reconstruction of Louis Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room and restoration work on the Auditorium Theatre.

The lone vote against the recommendation to raze the Deming house came from Commissioner James Houlihan, who wondered if approving the demolition would allow for a conflict of character in the neighborhood down the road.

“I have some concerns about getting ourselves into a bind … where we have approved the demolition without having considered replacement,” he said. “The linkage is of some value to the preservation of the district, at least in my mind.”

“We are dedicated to putting something better in its place,” said Horwich.

Ratified in 2007 at the behest of preservationists and community members who sought to safeguard the area’s historic homes, the Arlington-Deming district touts a spectrum of architectural styles ranging from Second Empire, Queen Anne, Medieval Revival and Art Deco, exemplifying “high style and high quality residential and institutional architecture constructed on Chicago’s North Side lakefront during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”

During the time of the designation, the city listed the house at Deming Place as a “potentially contributing” building in the district.

Normally, the mere mention of leveling a 19th century home in Chicago would trigger a collective saber-rattling from the historic preservation community. But in the case of the Deming house, the building’s date of origin may be best described as generational.

The building experienced numerous exterior changes in its early days, including the addition of a third floor, modifications to the mansard roof and a new dormer installed on the front of the building sometime between 1909 between 1933. Another building on the northern end of the parcel was torn down shortly after this work was completed.

In 1958, after being deeded to the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, the building took on another addition which housed a chapel and two church rooms, expanding the width of the original structure by over twenty feet. While under church ownership, another two-story building was constructed on the site, and an enclosed passageway was later constructed to connect the two buildings.

Around this time the building was also clad in Indiana limestone, covering all but one of the original walls.

Jonathan Fine, the president of Preservation Chicago, regularly presses developers to undertake rehabilitation and reuse projects as an alternative to demolishing historic buildings, but he passed on the Deming building.

“This is an issue of whether the building is beyond the point of no return,” he said after the meeting. “The question is, even if someone were to commit to restoring it back to this building … would it be a replica of what was there?”

Fine added that the prospect of having Vinci working on the site made the proposal all the more attractive.

“He’s a superb architect,” he said.

Lisa DiChiera, director of advocacy for Landmarks Illinois, said that historic preservationists do pick their battles, and seeing that there were few viable rehab options and no public outcry over the demolition, this one was not worth fighting.

“We know where to be realistic,” she said.

The recommendation for the Deming house demolition is expected to be voted on at the next City Council meeting on Jan. 8.

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By Sune from Lincoln park
Posted: 01/12/2012 4:53 PM

I live close to the Ronald McDonald house and think it is a fantastic opportunity to bring renewal to our area and support the demolition 100%.

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By Sune from Lincoln park
Posted: 01/12/2012 4:53 PM

I live close to the Ronald McDonald house and think it is a fantastic opportunity to bring renewal to our area and support the demolition 100%.

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By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/12/2012 6:07 AM

This is disappointing to hear, as this is one of the most beautiful buildings in Lincoln Park. They could turn it into flats.