Gary historic sites open to the public this weekend

Gary Department of Redevelopment and Planning

The battle over preservation in Chicago is always ongoing, but in Gary, many of the city’s historic downtown buildings are in desperate need of attention to ensure that they will remain for future generations. To help draw attention to the need for historic preservation and renovation of its historic building stock, Gary’s Department of Planning and Redevelopment will be hosting an open house this weekend.

Ten sites will be featured in Gary’s first such open house this Saturday. Several of the buildings featured have been vacant for many years, and as such, the city is requiring that visitors wear closed-toe shoes in order to participate in the open house.

The city’s downtown boasts a collection of buildings from various periods, spanning the Art Deco age through the modern era. Two buildings by the noted Prairie School architect George Maher’s practice will be featured in the open house.

The buildings featured in Gary’s open house program this weekend include:

• The Gary State Bank (Ivar Viehe-Naess)
• Gary City Hall (George W. Maher)
• Lake County Courthouse (J.T. Hutton & Sons)
• Gary Land Company Building (unknown architect)
• Union Station (M.A. Lang)
• City Methodist Church (Lowe and Bollenbacher)
• Genesis Towers (Charles Wheeler Nicol)
• Gary Post Office (Howard Cheney)
• Heat, Light, and Water Building (George W. Maher)
• Sears, Roebuck & Co. Building (unknown architect)

The Gary open house will coincide with two other events. A street art festival titled Lake Effekt as well as the 2017 Gospel Music and Arts Festival will be taking place on the same day.

The event starts at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, June 17 and run until 4:00 p.m. Admission is free, though the city requests that participants RSVP on the official Facebook event page.

• Gary preservation movement reaches important fundraising milestone [Curbed Chicago]
• Effort to preserve Gary architecture gaining momentum [Curbed Chicago]