ROGERS PARK — A building with a century's worth of neighborhood history is one step closer to its overall transformation into Rogers Park's newest performing arts center.
On Monday, city officials approved a zoning change for the former Rogers Park Women's Club at 7077 N. Ashland Ave. that will allow it to convert from its last use as a church into the new home of The Cuckoo Theater Project.
Bart O'Toole, who bought the building last year, said he expects renovations to be complete in about two years.
O'Toole's proposed rehab of the building includes converting old offices, meeting rooms and a ballroom into a 100-person theater, smaller 36-person theater and rehearsal spaces.
Because it was formerly a church, zoning officials said the new owners would not have to provide off-street parking, however, 10 spaces are already set aside at the nearby St. Paul's Church By the Lake for patrons to use.
The classical prairie-style structure was designed by architect Elbert Somers and built in 1916.
The Chicago Historic Resources Survey considers the building to have "some architectural feature or historical association that made them potentially significant in the context of the surrounding community."
The 10,000-square-foot, two-story building was paid for by 27 members of the women's club who had founded, then maintained, the Senn High School lunch room in order to pay off the mortgage, according to the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society.
