Soldier Field in Danger of Losing Landmark Status

The National Park Service has recommended to withdraw the landmark status of Chicago's newly renovated Soldier Field. Some have also recommended removing it from the National Register of Historic Places.

July 23, 2004, 7am PDT | Connie Chung

NPS staff recommended the removal of Soldier Field's status as a National Historic Landmark, on the grounds that ' "The futuristic new stadium bowl is visually incompatible with the classic colonnades and the perimeter wall of the historic stadium...." ', as well as the fact that ' "very little of the historic fabric remains." ' The removal of the landmark status does not mean that Soldier Field would lose funding or its protected status. However, it would lose its place alongside the White House, Monticello, the Empire State Building and others as one of the nation's most historic places.

Despite federal warnings before the new design was even approved, the City supported the renovation and current deisgn of Soldier Field, and in the present, is not too worried about the current warnings. "That and the public meetings to follow are expected to rekindle a debate pitting historic preservationists against avant-garde architects."

Thanks to Connie Chung

Full Story:

Stadium has lost landmark look, U.S. says

Published on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 in The Chicago Tribune