The non-profit Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois named Evanston to its “preservation onions” list Thursday.
The group says the new list is designed to shame what it calls the worst blunders, remuddlings and demolitions in the Chicago area.
Evanston was cited for the City Council’s approval of “the demoliton of two individually designated local landmarks and several contributing structures in a local landmark district.”
Evanston failed to win the audience vote at the group’s meeting for “stinkiest onion of the bunch.” That went to the demolition of the DuPage Theater in Lombard.
Chicago, Lake Forest and Naperville were also singled out for scorn by the preservationists at Thursday’s meeting.
The Evanston demolition sites referred to by the preservation group include buildings on the Kendall College campus at Orrington Avenue and Lincoln Street, a small farmhouse next to the Evanston Theater on Central Street and the Victorian home at 1218 Elmwood Ave.