Abbott House

A reader wrote to tell us he attended a plaque dedication ceremony at the Abbott House at Wilson and Hermitage this past week. You can see his blog post about the experience at MySpace. (Thank you, P.M., I totally missed hearing about this.)

A press release from Abbott Labs of the event follows (the house is actually located in Uptown, the boundary stretches all the way to Ravenswood Ave.):

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Chicago will recognize the Ravenswood home of Abbott founder -- Dr. Wallace Calvin Abbott -- as one of Chicago's outstanding historic landmarks. At a special dedication ceremony today, Abbott will receive a Preservation Excellence Award from the Commission on Chicago Landmarks for its restoration work on Dr. Abbott's home.

These awards honor outstanding projects that involve notable improvements to individual Chicago Landmarks or to buildings within Chicago Landmark Districts.

Built in 1891, Dr. Abbott's home, located at 4605 North Hermitage, was renovated and restored by Abbott and received historic landmark status in 2006. Abbott's founder lived in the Queen Anne-style home from 1891 to his death in 1921.

"The history of our company and our community are inextricably connected," said Miles D. White, chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott. "We are honored to continue to make and preserve history in Chicago."

Founded by Dr. Abbott in 1888, Abbott (NYSE: ABT) is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs 65,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.

Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's Web site at http://www.abbott.com.

SOURCE Abbott

/CONTACT: Matt Bedella of Abbott, +1-847-936-3394

/Web site: http://www.abbott.com

Buena Memorial Presbyterian Church, Buena Park, Uptown Chicago

When the roof of Buena Memorial Presbyterian Church collapsed in 1996, it was the beginning of the end. Years of neglect and deferred maintenance had taken their toll, and the century-or-so-old church was to be demolished.

Buena Memorial was located at 4247-4301 N. Sheridan Rd., near Montrose and Broadway, on that little peninsula-like piece of land where The Mark condos now stand.

Additional photos of the interior—including closeups of the collapsed roof—can be seen at King Richard's Religious Artifacts, the company responsible for the salvage operation. Fortunately, a great deal of the stained glass and other fixtures were saved.

A very depressing photo of the final destruction can be seen at Midwest Wrecking.