Historic parking garage targeted for demolition

CHICAGO -- Today's sport utility vehicles barely fit inside the Hotel LaSalle Garage, the first multilevel parking garage ever built in Chicago.

The structure, which was constructed to house Model Ts back in 1918, is being razed after a city commission voted not to grant it landmark status. Demolition of the crumbling facade began Friday.

The garage was designed by Holabird and Roche -- the same architectural firm that built Chicago City Hall. Preservationists praised the aging building for its Chicago-style architecture and single, elliptical ramp design.

"It's one of the oldest examples -- probably the oldest example -- of a commercial parking garage in the United States," said Richard Longstreth, and American studies professor at George Washington University.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted against landmark status for the structure in September 2004 because it determined the condition of the garage had deteriorated so much it could not be saved. The decision was a reversal of the commission's position in 2002, when it granted the garage preliminary landmark status.

Owners of the building and its surrounding property did not want the landmark designation because they said the business could not compete with nearby modern garages.

"All I know is, when I saw it there were chunks of cement or plaster coming off the ceiling," said Georgia Linzmeyer, whose family leases land to the garage. "You would never want to park your Mercedes there."

It would cost $2 million to restore the garage's facade and an additional $2 million to replace the building's roof, said Kenneth Hoch, the garage owner's attorney.

"The garage is of a design that no longer fits today's society," Hoch said. "It has a very old-fashioned ramp which was really designed for Model T cars."

Despite the affection that architectural historians had for the garage, it had fallen into a state of disrepair. Owners have received 27 building code violations in the last decade. In 2002 the owners were cited for falling bricks and missing terra cotta, said Pete Scales, spokesman for the city's Department of Buildings.