The Sadness of Deferred Maintenance at the State of Illinois Building

I have always loved goofball architecture. I can’t pass a Brutalist structure without stopping to marvel at it.

And there was nothing goofier than the State of Illinois Building (160 North LaSalle St.) when it opened in 1985. I went by there the other day and was bummed to see how muffed up the place was. Here’s a complete set of pics, and here’s some examples:

Paint scraped off glass panels:

The Cost of Deferred Maintenance at the State of Illinois Building

Evidence of at least one vehicle impact:

The Cost of Deferred Maintenance at the State of Illinois Building

Some serious lime issues:

The Cost of Deferred Maintenance at the State of Illinois Building

Phantom cutouts:

The Cost of Deferred Maintenance at the State of Illinois Building

The Dubuffet isn’t doing all that well either:

The Cost of Deferred Maintenance at the State of Illinois Building

I know there are some issues with budget here in our state, and we have many human needs, but we can do better than this, no?


Posted

in

,

by