Lee Bey: The Urban Observer

(photos by Lee Bey) 

There's a good story in Crain's Chicago Business--the best publication in town when it comes to finding out what's really happening with the city's built environment---reporting the lower floors of the former IBM Building, 330 N Wabash, could become a high-end hotel under a plan hatched by developers.

I'm personally glad  the building has a future, given the loss of its stunning eastward views due to Trump Tower, not to mention its namesake corporation and one of the city's most prominent law firms moving out last year.

...and yet I'm a little curious. What will happen to the design clarity of Mies van der Rohe's last major American building? Fellow blogger Edward Lifson has been reporting on apparently heinous changes happening in the lobby in recent months. I should point out the building--like many modernist structures around town--does not have city landmark protection. Nobody wants to shrinkwrap the building in time, but a landmark designation would give the city another set of eyes that could help make sure changes are done with sensitivity and respect to Mies's design.

EDIT: That other set of eyes I was talking about? A day later, I found out they are being put in place.