Preservation Valentines for Prentice Women’s Hospital

Posted on: February 1st, 2012 by David Garber 1 Comment

The Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago, a modernist, clover-shaped and spaceship-esque building, was one of our 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2011. Designed by Bertrand Goldberg - an architect better known for his similarly-shaped Marina City buildings - the building was vacated by the hospital in 2007 and its owner, Northwestern University, announced plans to raze the building to construct a research facility.

Yet, despite having no formal protection from demolition, the building still stands. This is where the preservation Valentines come in.

Categorize into "things I didn't realize I had in me." But yes, this is my official entry. Bring it on. (Photo: National Trust for Historic Preservation)

The Save Prentice Coalition - a collaboration between AIA Chicago, docomomo chicago midwest, Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Chicago, and the National Trust - announced a new, slightly nontraditional campaign (aren't those the best kind?) to bring attention and, yes, love to Prentice. Presenting, the Show Prentice Some Love contest.

According to their rules, "You can make your Prentice “Valentine” in whatever medium you choose - photography, paintings, songs, short video (60 seconds or less), t‐shirt graphics, and construction paper valentine are just a few of the options."

To enter, simply email a digital file of your Valentine to loveprentice@gmail.com by 5:00 pm CST on February 13th. Please limit file size to 10 MB or less. For each submission, please include:

Name of the entrant(s)
Age of the entrant (this only applies to the “Kids” category for entrants 13 and under)
Email, phone number or preferred method of contact
Title for the submission
Brief (2‐3 sentence) description of the submission and why you love Prentice

Please reference the full contest rules and conditions if you're planning to participate. We can't wait to help showcase the winners.

David Garber is the blog editor at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Apparently he also makes Valentines. And may or may not be setting up an Etsy shop.

David Garber

David Garber is the Coordinator of Blog Content & Outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a native of Washington, DC, and loves the intersection of preservation, innovation, and sustainability.