The Consumer Building (left) and the Century Building (right) are empty, with the Dirkerson Federal Building looming behind it

 Students rushing to class often don’t take the time to pay attention to the two Chicago buildings that are about to face their unfortunate fate.

       The Century and Consumers Buildings, built in 1915 and 1913 respectively, are just a three-minute walk from DePaul’s Loop Campus.The buildings are located at 202 S State St, Chicago, IL 60604.
       The buildings on the 16th and 22nd floors have been vacant for 17 years.They are now in the midst of a conflict that will determine their fate.
       The General Services Administration, a federal agency that helps manage government facilities, purchased both buildings in the early 2000s out of security concerns for the next-closest, Dirkerson Federal Building.
       Illinois Senator Dick Durbin allocated $52 million to demolish the structures.He even wrote an opinion piece for the Chicago Sun-Times expressing his concerns about their proximity to federal courts and government offices.
       But many individuals and local organizations believe removing them is the wrong solution to this security dilemma.
       Preservation Chicago is a nonprofit organization best known for its annual “Most Endangered Buildings” list.However, in the fight to preserve historic buildings such as century buildings and consumer buildings, they are responsible for much more than these annual lists.
       ”We kind of see ourselves as a public service,” said Ward Miller, the group’s executive director.
       Miller said the group does more than raise public awareness of endangered buildings.He said the group works to give buildings “landmark names” and is working with donors who will be buying at-risk properties.
       They were at risk after Durbin called for the removal of the Century and Consumer buildings as part of a larger federal spending bill passed in March, Miller said.
       The goal of protecting Chicago is not only to save these buildings from demolition, but to reuse them.While their original re-use plan involved turning the building into a residential complex, they later revised the idea.
       Miller said the idea currently circulating is the Chicago Archives Center.The goal of the archives, he explained, is to “help tell the underlying story of many cities”.
       The Archives Center will be the center for many organizations to store their histories that they may not have space for.
       ”This will make these buildings a treasure trove not only of Chicago’s built environment, but of our collective history,” said Amy Tyson, a DePaul history professor who specializes in public history.
       Not only do archives tell the stories of individuals, but the buildings themselves tell their stories.
       Reed Kroloff is Dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology and Chair of the Rowe Family School of Architecture.While he understands and respects the security concerns of the Dirksen building, Krolov agrees with the Chicago Conservation group that demolition of the building and leaving open space behind it should be avoided as much as possible.
       Krolov said he and many others in the architecture community are distressed by the possibility of losing these buildings.
       ”They are part of history because they reflect the experiments of the Chicago School in the hands of its two leading practitioners,” Krolov said.
       Chicago School architecture refers to a style in which a group of architects brought forth new inventions in technology and design in the early 20th century.
       The Chicago School period saw a shift from brick buildings to tall steel-frame buildings, and the first skyscraper was invented in Chicago.That’s when architects started celebrating the new structure of the steel frame, rather than hiding it, Krolov said.
       In addition to the design shift, the city has also undergone a cultural shift.Unlike the 50-story office buildings that are common today, which are owned by a single company, workspaces such as Century and Consumer Buildings are often occupied by several small businesses and feature more public space, Kroloff explained.
       ”They’re a collection of all these little businessmen, so these little-known stories may have been lost to history,” Tyson added.
       Preservation Chicago’s website notes that the building’s tenants include “movie studios, clothing dealers, and the Remington Typewriter Company.”
       ”That’s what makes these buildings so important, because they reflect and represent a crucial evolution in how we build buildings and how we build cities,” Krolov said.
       The buildings are listed in the Circular Retail Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places and are currently under consideration for a UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination.
       Currently, 22,283 people have signed the Chicago Conservancy’s petition to stop the demolition proposal and save the building.
       ”Not all old things are worth keeping, but all old things are worth considering,” Tyson said.”These [buildings] seem worthy of preservation.”
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