02 May recently found unedited images of harold zook’s salerno cookie factory demolition in 2015
on saturday afternoon i arrived at the salerno cookie factory, or rather what was left of it, after a wrecking company hastily tore down the long stretch of the building’s facade. this was comprised of red brick divided by cast concrete columns, accentuated with brightly colored inlaid tile. the once visually stunning art deco “machine age” streamlined style entrance was nearly destroyed and the flanking entrance sconces stripped off and likely scrapped.
i’ve seen several hundred demolitions in my career, and spent countless hours observing anything from a modest wood-frame house pulled down in an afternoon to a gargantuan commercial structure imploded in an instant. in my humble opinion, i would categorize the salerno cookie factory demolition as one where haste is of utmost importance, in order to facilitate the obliteration of the most critical and/or distinctive architectural features before preservationists cry foul.
the now-demolished art moderne style salerno-megowen biscuit company (founded in 1933 by fred salerno) factory and administration building was listed on the city’s 90 day demolition delay list, but was released before that period had been reached, according to preservation chicago. the factory site was the former home to the salerno butter cookie company, which, like the wrigley chewing gum factory and brachs candy factory (both demolished in the past few years), contributed to making chicago the “candy capital of the world.” several preservationists revealed that they were not made aware of the demolition until the facade was knocked down by the wrecking company.
