March 08--Demolition began this weekend on a church built before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 in the old Maxwell Street Market area.
The former Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church building, 1352 S. Union Ave., originally built as a German school in 1869, had most of its walls already demolished by early Saturday afternoon, said Lori Grove, president of the Maxwell Street Foundation. The building was designed by Augustus Bauer, who also designed Old St. Patrick's Church, 700 W. Adams St.
"This property is probably the first improvement on this lot from the 1860s," after what was then the city's Southwest Side began to be developed, Grove said.
A contractor for the building's owner, Liberty Union, LLC, received a permit Friday for the building's demolition, according to city records. Demolition began Friday, Grove said. Although historic, the building is not listed as architecturally significant in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, a designation that would have stalled demolition for up to 90 days.
The brick building was listed on Preservation Chicago's 2012 list of most-endangered historic buildings, and Ward Miller, the group's executive director, said preservationists and neighborhood activists had been hoping to save the building for community purposes.
"We were really hoping that this historic structure could be saved for the community, for a market hall, a field house," or some other community purpose, Miller said.
A representative of the owners at the site Saturday declined to comment and referred questions to another official with the company.
Tribune reporter Greg Trotter contributed.
