“The Cook County project perfectly exemplifies how developing partnerships with like-minded organizations can benefit our common goals,” says Ingraffia.
Photo courtesy of Eric J. Nordstrom of Urban Remains Chicago
The shuttered old Cook County Hospital building is seen April 5, 2016
Roy Ingraffia, Graduate Program in Historic Preservation lecturer alum works with the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers' (BAC) Administrative District Council 1 of Illinois (ADC 1 IL) to help restore Chicago’s Cook County General Hospital, an 105-year old Beaux Arts building – made of brick, granite, and terra cotta – that has been sitting vacant and neglected for over a decade, despite its historical significance in both the architectural and medical communities.
Over the last year, Hector Arellano and Jeff Diqui, IMI Director of Industry Development, together with Ingraffia, IMI National Director for Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, have been working to expand the union’s relationship with Landmarks Illinois, a nonprofit dedicated to raising preservation awareness and saving important historic structures throughout the state. Landmarks Illinois led the effort to add the Cook County General Hospital to the National Register of Historic Places, a move that made the project eligible for federal historic tax credits – and that stopped it from being razed.
“The building is one of Chicago’s crown jewels,” explains Hector Arellano, PCC Director at ADC 1 IL and as Ingraffia goes on, this type of project "perfectly exemplifies how developing partnerships with like-minded organizations can benefit our common goals.”
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