It Appears the Thompson Center in Chicago Will Be Saved

Earlier this month, we went for lunch at The Walnut Room.  It is what you do at Christmas in Chicago, especially if you have children and/or grandchildren.  When we were in downtown Chicago, we stopped in the Thompson Center, Helmut Jahn’s Modern masterpiece, for what we thought might be a last look at its classic atrium and design.  Here is picture:

This is the kind of building that I visit and take pictures of when I go on vacation. 

But last week, there was some good news: It now appears Google’s renovation/reconstruction of the Thompson Center will keep the building’s iconic glass façade and atrium.  At least that is what the renderings made public on Wednesday showed.  And Jahn, the architectural firm founded by the late Helmut Jahn, will help with the redesign.  If this all happens, it will be great news.  One of the iconic buildings in Chicago will be preserved and updated for future generations to see and use.

Of course, this story is just another example of what a terrible steward the State of Illinois is.  In the almost 40 years since the building was opened in 1985, the State has done basically nothing to preserve the building.  Governor-after-governor failed to properly maintain the building.  State senate president-after-state senate president didn’t do their duty.  And the Speaker of the House (there was, except for two years, only one during this whole period {through 2021}) didn’t do his job, either.¹

But then the way the Thompson Center was treated over the years is little different than how Illinois runs the rest of its government.  Consider how it funds its state employee pension plans.  If a state doesn’t fund the promises it made for state employee pensions, why would you think it would maintain its office buildings?

One final note: Some people have talked about how the Thompson Center’s HVAC system as originally designed didn’t work and that the building wasn’t good for state employees to work in.  Well, the solution wasn’t to let the building fall into disrepair; it was to fix it.² 
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¹ I think the Speaker of the House only cared about the maintenance of one thing: his majority in the State House of Representatives.  And that he maintained.
² If you tore down Frank Lloyd Wright buildings because the roofs leaked, who knows how many would be left.
Note: I have written about the Thompson Center before (here).  Things are looking up since then.