Having Trouble Rallying Support to Save a Historic Building? Just Wait a Little While

While time and neglect can be a historic building's worst enemy, Blair Kamin argues that it can also work in a preservationist's favor. "Time - or, more accurately, the passage of time - can upend the economic assumptions on which real estate deals are built. It can allow historic preservationists to drum up popular support. And over time, architectural attitudes can shift, transforming today's 'this has gotta go' eyesore into tomorrow's 'this must be saved' treasure."

Two seemingly unrelated recent victories in Chicago, concerning the Chicago Athletic Association and Prentice Women's Hospital, are used to prove his point.