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Chicago Landmarks Commission grants preliminary landmark designation to St. Adalbert's Church

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Updated  August 7, 2023 9:34pm CDT
Pilsen
FOX 32 Chicago

Chicago Landmarks Commission grants preliminary landmark designation to St. Adalbert's Church

The Chicago Landmarks Commission voted unanimously Monday to grant preliminary landmark designation to St. Adalbert's Church in Pilsen, which was closed by the Chicago Archdiocese in 2016.

CHICAGO - The Chicago Landmarks Commission voted unanimously Monday to grant preliminary landmark designation to St. Adalbert's Church in Pilsen, which was closed by the Chicago Archdiocese in 2016.

Its iconic double spires have kept watch over the Southwest Side of Chicago for well over a century, with the church itself first serving generations of the city's early Polish immigrants.

"The Union Stockyards is where people worked and Saint Adalbert's is where people worshipped," said Andrew Tokarz of the Tatra Mountain Cultural Foundation at City Hall, before the commission took its vote.

Before the archdiocese closed it, St. Adalbert's served as a neighborhood anchor for Pilsen's Mexican community, which continues to fight for the building to be spared the wrecking ball.

"We need to have positive and reinforcing anchors to our community. Places of refuge and education. Places that help in the process of community-building and not tearing them down," said Blanca Torres, a longtime parishioner. 

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Their arguments and testimony from nearly three dozen others on behalf of saving the church worked, with the Chicago Landmarks Commission voting unanimously to grant the building preliminary landmark designation.

"It was really a beautiful day and touching in so many ways," said Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago, which has joined the fight to save the building. "[The buildings] really mean a lot and if the archdiocese--the owner--doesn't want them anymore I think we have to repurpose them in a humanitarian, smart and holistic way."

The preliminary landmark designation is just the first of many pieces of the puzzle that have to fall into place for St. Adalbert's to gain full landmark status. 

There's likely going to be another public hearing where the Archdiocese will have a chance to say its piece, then the decision will go to the city council, a process that could take up to a year. 

In the meantime, this building isn't going anywhere.