A story in today's SJR says that the SHS building at Lewis and Adams is obsolete. The principal and a committee are proposing a $200 million makeover for District 186 schools. The centerpiece project: replacing SHS with a $57 million high school on the west side.Since that means raising bonds or taxes, look for much heated discussion of this issue in months to come. The principal says the current SHS, built in 1917, is outmoded. He may be right: after 90 years of hard use, we all get frayed at the edges.
My own view is that the building I knew 50 years ago has already vanished. The lawn and trees have shrunk, the new additions are ugly, and the neighborhood is Parking Lot City. About the only reminder of 1958 is the Maid-Rite shop, now on the National Historic Register.
Yet it will be sad if the old building has to go. I believe in preservation, not destruction, so I'd rather see SHS returned to its early footprint and turned into a center for adult education. It has one of the best auditoriums in town, and the only Orpheum organ.
Perhaps UIS would like to have a downtown campus, close to the State House. Perhaps a developer would convert SHS into condos for seniors. What would you do? Your comments are welcome.
2 comments:
Gees; obsolete! Surely there's a more respectful adjective.
Bob Newell
Not sure. But when I see MUCH older buildings here in Europe being USED and remodeled ... makes USA appear VERY VERY wasteful. Many buildings here are older than the USA. AND with new fittings ... they are "working buildings" of beauty not JUST museums. OR happily not another parking lot.
Lee
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