Aug. 18--A developer who planned to tear down a building in a new Old Town historic district has sold the three-story structure to a buyer who will renovate it, a city official and architectural preservationist said Monday.
Developer Sebastian Barsh of Castlerock Properties, who obtained a demolition permit for 159 W. Burton Place, sold the property Friday to a resident of 155 W. Burton, according to Matt Crawford, a coordinating planner at the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. He declined to identify the buyer.
On Aug. 6, the commission granted preliminary protected status to a unique stretch of 13 homes, some of them remodeled by artists, on West Burton between LaSalle and Wells streets.
The move came too late to put a legal hurdle in the way of the proposed demolition of 159 W. Burton, a brick-and-stone building built in 1891. Yet it gave the commission the power to determine whether Barsh's new construction would be compatible with the district's existing buildings -- and demonstrated the city's intent to protect the district.
"It's a pretty quick turn of events. It does speak to the power of landmarking. I don't think before (the district) was landmarked that this developer saw any need to do anything," said Zac Bleicher, director of the Edgar Miller Legacy project.
In the 1920s and '30s, Miller and other artists rehabbed some of the buildings on West Burton, turning old Victorian homes into a significant cluster of artists' dwellings enlivened by frescoes, tiles, carved wood doors, stained-glass windows, courtyard gardens and touches of art deco and art moderne design.
The West Burton homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but that status carried no legal weight against demolition.
Crawford said the buyer of 159 W. Burton intends to renovate the building's exterior, including restoring its cornice.
Crawford said he did not know the sale price. Barsh paid $1.35 million for the building. The City Council will have the final say on landmark designation for the district if, as expected, the landmarks commission recommends protected status for the buildings.
bkamin@tribpub.com
