Good and Bad News in Preserving Modernism

First the good news. The temporary reprieve that the Paul Rudolph-designed Orange County Government Center in Goshen, New York, received last May is now permanent*: the Orange County Legislature passed a proposal to renovate the 43-year-old complex. County Executive Ed Diana is primarily responsible for pushing for its demolition, given a boost by the building's closure since 2011 due to Hurricane Irene.

(*Even this news comes with some trepidation, as a local reporter points out: "[T]wo people running for county executive this year contend that last week's bond authorization was hardly definitive, leaving the door open to reconsideration of Diana's most recent proposal — replacing two-thirds of the complex and keeping the court section intact — or some version of it." As is the norm with the brutalist buildings of Paul Rudolph, the story is far from over.)

And now the bad news. In our most recent update on the prolonged fight over tearing down Bertrand Goldberg's old Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago, last November, preservationists were able to obtain a 30-day reprieve after filing a lawsuit against the city. On February 7 the Chicago Commission on Public Landmarks voted once again, and it denied the cloverleaf-shaped concrete building landmark status for the second time. The Commission cited the economic boost and jobs promised by the property's owner Northwestern University, who plans to build a new medical research facility after demolishing the 38-year-old building. In turn National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmarks Illinois dropped their lawsuit, stating that "the landmarks process has run its course."