Former Oak Park Auto Showroom Gets a Winning Renovation

6 February 2015 - Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune

In 1927, Albert Kahn designed a sober but handsome two-story Cadillac-LaSalle auto showroom and maintenance garage on Frank Lloyd Wright's home turf — Oak Park. Reshaped two years ago into a four-story building with 51 affordable apartments, the transformed car dealership will be among the winners of the 21st annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards when they're announced on Feb. 17.

It's a good choice, one that speaks to the joint social and aesthetic mission of the awards, which are presented by the Local Initiatives Support Corp. of Chicago. Designed by Chicago architecture firm Weese Langley Weese for the nonprofit Interfaith Housing Development Corp., the nearly $17 million building, now called Grove Apartments, is a model of architectural recycling and humanistic design. Read the entire story....