Historic Near West Dairy Building To Get Condo Tower Addition

Rendering of the proposal for 1938 West Augusta

For months we’ve watched the East Village Association, the city, MCZ Development, and Second Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins square dancing over the building at 1938 West Augusta Boulevard.

Until recently, the building was a Leona’s Italian restaurant.  Before that, it was a dairy serving the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood.  That building was actually erected around an 1890-ish two-flat, which still largely exists inside the now empty building.

Here you can see how the 1920’s dairy building swallowed an 1891 townhouse (via Apple Maps)

With the “downright American” eatery gone, MCZ wants to turn the property into condominiums.  That’s when the East Village Association got involved.  It went all the way to the city Landmark’s commission trying to save the building, but the commission was OK with demolition.

Now a compromise appears to have been reached.  It’s one of those facade-ectomies that are occasionally needed to keep the peace in Chicago, like what’s going on at the Viceroy Hotel at 1118 North State Street in the Gold Coast.

In this case, Space Architects and Planners has put together a design that keeps the dairy’s streetfront facade in place, and uses it conceal a private 14-foot-wide yard for a new five-story condominium building behind.

The East Village Association will present the plan to the public tonight at 7:00pm at Happy Village.  If that goes well, the developer will still have to get approval from the city.

from Chicago Architecture http://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2016/08/01/historic-near-west-dairy-building-to-get-condo-tower-addition/