ORDINANCE
Plymouth Building 417-421 S. Dearborn St. 416-420 S. Plymouth Ct.
WHEREAS, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), Sections 2-120-630 through -690, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the Plymouth Building1 (the "Building"), located at 417 S Dearborn St., Chicago, Illinois, legally described in Exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated herein, satisfies two (2) criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1) and (5) ofthe Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the Building, through its historic associations with the LaSalle Extension University (LSEU), exemplifies the significance of distance learning organizations to the economic and educational history of Chicago and the nation; and
WHEREAS, LSEU was a nationally-recognized distance learning institution that operated in Chicago for roughly ninety years; and
WHEREAS, Founded in 1908 in Chicago by educators Jesse Grant Chapline and William Bethke, LSEU was one of the largest and most successful distance learning institutions in the country; and
WHEREAS, LSEU developed and published its own coursework materials for a variety of subjects, from vocational training to law, that were utilized not only by the university but by hundreds of other schools and universities across the country; and
WHEREAS, LSEU's correspondence model extended opportunities to students who had limited access to more traditional avenues of higher education because of their race, gender, class, or their physical location; and
WHEREAS, the Building is an unusual example of a tall office building whose architectural design and detailing reflects both its original purpose as a commercial loft building in Chicago's premiere printing district, housing a variety of commercial tenants, and its later reuse as an institutional building housing the LaSalle Extension University (LSEU); and|1010|
WHEREAS, the Building's mix of ni...
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