15-Dec-18 – Demolition of three 19th century row houses on Superior Street will not happen until March 8 at the earliest.

The owner of 42, 44, and 46 East Superior Street has agreed to an additional 90-day extension of a city-mandated demolition delay.

The three properties were originally placed on the city’s 90-day demolition delay hold list on September 12 after Heneghan Wrecking & Excavating filed an application to demolish the buildings.

That delay was triggered automatically because the properties have an “orange” rating on the City of Chicago’s official survey of historic architectural resources. Orange is the second-highest designation for properties under consideration for historic preservation. According to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, it means they “possess some architectural features or historical associations that makes them potentially significant in the context of the surrounding community.”

All three buildings were constructed as upscale residences in the 1870s and 1880s, in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. They are a remnant of what was once a thriving upscale residential neighborhood known as McCormickville, according to Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago, a local nonprofit dedicated to architectural preservation.

Cyrus McCormick (far left) and Leander McCormick founded McCormick Harvesting Machine Company after moving to Chicago in 1847. The company is now part of International Harvester.

The 12 remaining buildings of McCormickville, says Miller, “are a reminder of a lost era of Chicago history.”

Preservation Chicago has been working on a proposal to protect the remaining 19th century buildings in the area by having the neighborhood designated a Chicago Landmark District. About 5,000 people signed a petition in support of protecting the row houses from demolition.