Georgian's landmark status fight reaches state level

Efforts to declare the The Georgian -- an 88-year-old former hotel -- a city landmark may have ended, but recognition for the building is now being evaluated at the state level.

The Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council found last month that The Georgian, now a retirement hotel at 422 Davis St., was eligible for listing in the National Register for Historic Places. Members of the group voted unanimously Sept. 17 to pass the recommendation on to the state historic preservation officer, who could then nominate the property for the national list, said Amy Easton, assistant coordinator with the survey of the National Register Program, a part of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

At Monday's Evanston City Council meeting, Mayor Lorraine H. Morton expressed her opposition to the decision. Morton said she attended the group's September meeting and presented copies of newspaper articles and city council minutes to explain arguments against having The Georgian declared a landmark.

The Evanston Preservation Commission recommended The Georgian for landmark status this summer, but the city council rejected the nomination.

The Georgian's owner, Mather LifeWays, plans to demolish the building and its other retirement center on Hinman Avenue, as part of a $125 million project to replace the buildings with newer retirement facilities.

But Easton said because Mather objected to the building's listing in the National Register, The Georgian will not be placed on the national list, though it still can be found eligible for listing in the future. And unlike a landmark designation at the city level, a listing in the National Register would only limit renovations on the building if Mather used state or federal funds or if it needed state or federal permits or licenses.

But Sara McVey, vice president of marketing for Mather, said the decision won't affect the rebuilding plans because the company isn't asking for federal funding for the project. McVey said she was surprised to hear the state decision because the company already had spent a lot of time at the city level explaining why the building didn't meet landmark criteria.

"Obviously we prefer that some of (these landmark issues) weren't happening because it does slow down the process," McVey said. "And because we are working with older adults, time is a precious commodity. But it's out of our hands."

Evanston preservationist Judy Fiske, who wrote both the city and National Register landmark nominations for the hotel last spring, said she was thrilled state-level preservationists also found The Georgian to be a historically and architecturally important structure.

But Fiske said she also understands Mather's desire to rebuild and the council's decision to reject the preservation commission's nomination.

"That's just the way government works," she said. "The city council is a group of elected officials and they make decisions based on a totally different set of criteria than the preservation commission."

Reach Breanne Gilpatrick at b-gilpatrick@northwestern.edu