WEST TOWN — Two shuttered West Town schools deemed underutilized by the Chicago Board of Education were designated as official City of Chicago Landmarks by the City Council on Wednesday.
The former Peabody School, 1444 W. Augusta Blvd.. and Near North School, 739 N. Ada St.. are owned by Buffalo Grove-based developer Svigos Asset Management, which is developing market-rate housing on the sites.
The Landmark designation, introduced in July by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks and passed by the City Council on Wednesday, is a measure that will protect the 1890s buildings and make Svigos Asset Management eligible for tax incentives.
Svigos bought the Near North elementary for $5.1 million in July 2015, and Peabody School for $3.5 million in October 2014.
The Peabody transaction marked the first sale of a school that was part of the shutdown by Chicago Public Schools, which closed some 50 neighborhood schools at the end of the 2012-2013 school year.
The former Peabody School was constructed in 1894, designed by architect August Fielder and named for educator Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, a noted advocate for early-childhood education.
The school "reflects Romanesque and Queen Anne styles with progressive visual Arts and Craft elements" and its exterior materials include finely-detailed and crafted ornament in stone, molded brick and terra cotta, trimmed with a pressed metal cornice, the city said.
[Read the Landmark Commission's detailed report on the school, which contains several elements influenced by the work of Louis H. Sullivan, including its stone arch entrances.]
Just south of Peabody School, the four-story brick and limestone Motley school building at 739 N. Ada St., which was the Near North Special Education school at the time of its shuttering, was built in 1884 and designed by the Board of Education’s in-house architect John J. Flanders with an addition by Norman Smith Patton in 1898, the city says.
Named for John Lothrop Motley, an American historian, novelist and diplomat, the school "exemplifies late 19th century school design ideals with large windows and high ceilings that provided airy and well lighted classrooms," the city said.
The former Near North school was designed in the Renaissance Revival and Italianate styles with decorative details such as an original pressed metal cornice.
Nick Vitore, an executive with Svigos, said Wednesday he is not sure yet whether condos or apartments will be built in the former Peabody school. Vitore said there will be at least 23 units at Peabody.
The former Near North Special Ed/Motley school will offer 34 apartments, Vitore said.
Svigos specializes in developing and managing commercial and residential properties, and owns apartment buildings in Lakeview, Logan Square and Albany Park, according to its website.
Now that the Landmark designation has been approved, Vitore will apply for Class L incentive, a special property tax assessment classification to encourage the preservation and rehabilitation of landmark buildings.
In addition to the West Town schools, the former Stewart School building at 4524 N. Kenmore Ave. in Uptown also received Landmark designation.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here.
