Post by Logan on Apr 3, 2016 2:37:48 GMT -6
The Illinois State Armory has seen brighter days at age 80.
Eight years after 18 Illinois State Police employees became the final group of state workers to leave the historic building, the massive, 200,000-square-foot structure stands vacant at Second and Monroe streets with no immediate prospects. A leaky roof, mold in air ducts, a lack of hot water in bathrooms, accessibility issues and overall deterioration sent the state police to a new home at the former Franklin Life Insurance complex at Sixth Street and Lawrence Avenue.
Still, a structure that hosted Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, rock acts from the Eagles to a misbehaving Van Halen, a concert organized by John Wayne Gacy before his name became synonymous with serial killers, and countless basketball tournaments has not gone unnoticed.
"It's still a great building," said Paul Kapp, an associate professor at the University of Illinois School of Architecture.
Kapp and a group of students took an inside look at the armory in 2013 as part of a classroom project. The structure, built in 1936, shows its years inside and out, said Kapp. But neither is it going anywhere soon.
Read more: www.sj-r.com/news/20160402/armory-was-built-for-long-haul
Eight years after 18 Illinois State Police employees became the final group of state workers to leave the historic building, the massive, 200,000-square-foot structure stands vacant at Second and Monroe streets with no immediate prospects. A leaky roof, mold in air ducts, a lack of hot water in bathrooms, accessibility issues and overall deterioration sent the state police to a new home at the former Franklin Life Insurance complex at Sixth Street and Lawrence Avenue.
Still, a structure that hosted Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, rock acts from the Eagles to a misbehaving Van Halen, a concert organized by John Wayne Gacy before his name became synonymous with serial killers, and countless basketball tournaments has not gone unnoticed.
"It's still a great building," said Paul Kapp, an associate professor at the University of Illinois School of Architecture.
Kapp and a group of students took an inside look at the armory in 2013 as part of a classroom project. The structure, built in 1936, shows its years inside and out, said Kapp. But neither is it going anywhere soon.
Read more: www.sj-r.com/news/20160402/armory-was-built-for-long-haul