The Bernardin Building-What were they thinking?

The Bernardin replaced a wonderful art deco structure, The Cass Studios, at 747 Wabash, which was built in 1932. The older building had a human scale, and appeared to be the home of exclusive boutiques back in the day. Before its destruction, I went to the Subway restaurant located there; I used to buy cigarettes at its White Hen. It was not a renowned landmark, but was home to artists that contributed to the Chicago community. The Bernardin, with its faux historic details, is an atrocity that targets Chicago's rich (rents run $5,300/month). Its ground level has fake lamps, fake shutters that cover fake windows. Instead of real windows looking into apartments, these fake windows cover a parking garage. The entire building is covered in a vomit-colored stone. There is even an article on their Web site with the headline: "A piece of the suburbs right downtown." Just what us cityfolk want...you can blame McCaffery Interests for this mess! Thanks McCaffery. And yuck...

The link to the building's official Web site is here: http://www.thebernardin.com/

Love, Mr. Archibleckture