The state of the 16th floor in the Thompson Center. Yes we have maintenance staff that works around the clock to try & keep up with the leaks & creaks of the JRTC. But as anyone who has worked here (R or D) will tell you, the building has never served its residents well. pic.twitter.com/VJUtKl30P3
It’s sad, but also not uncommon in many state-owned buildings. I work at a public university in Illinois and this type of scene is not uncommon in many of our buildings (including in the bathroom nearest to my office in the time before COVID). In our case, it’s a significant decrease in funding over the last 20 years that has been a big part of it.
WAs, I and Will as disaster of a work space. It will be sad if the preservationist “save” this S******e. Blagoof/Quinn were the worst, but no one has maintained since construction
- Bruce( no not him) - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:19 am:
There seems to be an inverse relationship between fondness for this edifice and time spent working in it.
And the state could have done much more to keep it maintained over the years. It’s almost as if the maintenance was ignored to hasten the building’s demise.
- Birds on the Bat - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:24 am:
Should have imploded it 30 years ago after Running Scared.
The way that the state has budgeted, or rather not budgeted, for capitol maintenance is something that would be pretty easy to address but the problem boils down to the same thing that is always the problem.
If you want nice things, you have to pay for them. There aren’t elves running around maintaining public assets over night when they run out of shoes to cobble. We need to do this ourselves.
All the public ever thinks of in terms of state buildings is the capital and how nice it looks. How unfair it is that state employees work in luxurious buildings. That’s an obvious false assumption. You can go into most of the state owned buildings and find leaks, creaks, unsafe water or air quality, drafts, wiring, floor or elevator issues. Yet when money is budgeted for repairs, taxpayers want tax cuts instead. Or they want it taken out of the pension fund.
Even if it had been maintained this is an awful place to work. Still laugh at the sci-fi inspired prison cell of an office I had there. Its main feature was the support column.
Politicians and often the public like new buildings, new capital improvements, so they can cut ribbons and maybe some day have their name on a building. Maintenence and renovation are way less sexy. They’re also less attractive to State architects and engineers who want to make a name for themselves with a daring new design.
That is nothing compared to the state data center ….I couldn’t tell you how many people have said their allergies are better working from home rather than the obvious mold that is in that building
That looks like an office building in Springfield the State leases to me. The negative thing I recall about the building was how loud and noisey it was. Sound waves bounce off of glass and the office space was an all open, no private office design. It is a neat structure and as difficult as the HVAC must be it will be sad to see it go. Fortunately one or two films used it as a location.
In the book “Warday”, NYC was literally being dismantled and removed one building at a time to save anything useful after parts of the city were nuked. The “salvors” dismantled the skyscrapers and buildings for any and all useful intact or recyclable materials. Looks like a job for the salvors here at JRTC.
Can’t disagree with her. Of course, if a private owner shamefully allowed a building to deteriorate like this, a relatively new building, they would be cited left and right for multiple building and fire code violations. Workers’ Comp Commission moved out just recently into different quarters in a different building. How many floors are now vacant?
The State has never been competent at maintenance. However, things reached their nadir during the “tenure” of John Filan. Months before Filan left for IFA was at a inter-departmental meeting held in the basement of Revenue. The carpet was filthy (looked like cattle had been run across it) - except for the duct tape.
A lot of public buildings have similar problems. It could be a roof leak, or pipe leak, but most often it is condensation off sheet metal air conditioning ducts. Some buildings they put a board across the metal grid and put a bucket on it. On super-hot humid days, it catches the drip. When cooler weather returns, the water evaporates. One ceiling tile, one board, one bucket, done.
Including those who think Helmut Jahn is the greatest architect ever.
- Give Us Barabbas - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 3:11 pm:
The state is s terrible tenant and an even worse landlord. The Pepsi Palace will suffer a similar fate because middle managers in charge of things like maintenance are afraid of press headlines painting it as wasteful frill spending of tax dollars to make a palace for lazy state workers.
I asked an architect friend his opinion on the building and he called it “another magnificent failure.” Wish I’d said that.
The die was cast at the very beginning when they cheaped down to double pane glass from triple pane, turning the atrium into a solarium. A majestic, disfunctional interior dropped into a bizarre exterior with a broad swath of partial brilliance.
- AnnieH - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:01 am:
Sad and true.
- Henry Francis - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:01 am:
I hope the falling ceiling didn’t injure any cockroaches.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:03 am:
From a retired government employee’s eyes, looks like the state is begging for a worker comp claim.
- Anotheretiree - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:04 am:
Reminds me of the Willard Ice Building before the roof was replaced (wrong seals used around the glass panels).
- Keyrock - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:05 am:
Just looking at it brings back the sense memories.
- Scott - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:05 am:
It’s sad, but also not uncommon in many state-owned buildings. I work at a public university in Illinois and this type of scene is not uncommon in many of our buildings (including in the bathroom nearest to my office in the time before COVID). In our case, it’s a significant decrease in funding over the last 20 years that has been a big part of it.
- Annonin' - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:16 am:
WAs, I and Will as disaster of a work space. It will be sad if the preservationist “save” this S******e. Blagoof/Quinn were the worst, but no one has maintained since construction
- Bruce( no not him) - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:19 am:
Only one trash can? S/
- 47th Ward - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:23 am:
There seems to be an inverse relationship between fondness for this edifice and time spent working in it.
And the state could have done much more to keep it maintained over the years. It’s almost as if the maintenance was ignored to hasten the building’s demise.
- Birds on the Bat - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:24 am:
Should have imploded it 30 years ago after Running Scared.
- Stop complaining - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:26 am:
and let’s get back to work. People with more building tenure don’t go on social media to complain. Keep focus.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:31 am:
Stop complaining-
Whaaaaaaaat?
- Candy Dogood - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:33 am:
The way that the state has budgeted, or rather not budgeted, for capitol maintenance is something that would be pretty easy to address but the problem boils down to the same thing that is always the problem.
If you want nice things, you have to pay for them. There aren’t elves running around maintaining public assets over night when they run out of shoes to cobble. We need to do this ourselves.
- Nick - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:37 am:
Beautiful exterior, amazing architecture.
Shouldn’t be the states problem. Sell it off.
- Mr K - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:38 am:
I hear they’ve started moving today to the new state building.
Still no word on when they’ll be moving the servers — but, yeah, that’ll be interesting.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:45 am:
==Should have imploded it 30 years ago after Running Scared.==
Are there still bullet holes in the building from the gun battle at the end of the film?
Or am I confusing this with the now-demolished mall in Harvey having remnants of damage from the police chase in “Blues Brothers” for over 30 years?
- Springfield Sliders - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:45 am:
Getting an early start on the Scott Kennedy water park concept.
- thoughts matter - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:58 am:
All the public ever thinks of in terms of state buildings is the capital and how nice it looks. How unfair it is that state employees work in luxurious buildings. That’s an obvious false assumption. You can go into most of the state owned buildings and find leaks, creaks, unsafe water or air quality, drafts, wiring, floor or elevator issues. Yet when money is budgeted for repairs, taxpayers want tax cuts instead. Or they want it taken out of the pension fund.
- 100 miles west - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 10:59 am:
Even if it had been maintained this is an awful place to work. Still laugh at the sci-fi inspired prison cell of an office I had there. Its main feature was the support column.
- Keyrock - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 11:34 am:
Offices without a trace of ventilation were bad before COVID.
- Sir Reel - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 11:47 am:
Politicians and often the public like new buildings, new capital improvements, so they can cut ribbons and maybe some day have their name on a building. Maintenence and renovation are way less sexy. They’re also less attractive to State architects and engineers who want to make a name for themselves with a daring new design.
The entire system is geared to favornew over old.
And we end up with JRTs.
- Suburbs - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 12:00 pm:
Gov Thompson loved antiques…at least that original carpeting can now be considered an antique.
- Downstateworker - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 12:13 pm:
That is nothing compared to the state data center ….I couldn’t tell you how many people have said their allergies are better working from home rather than the obvious mold that is in that building
- Al - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 12:35 pm:
That looks like an office building in Springfield the State leases to me. The negative thing I recall about the building was how loud and noisey it was. Sound waves bounce off of glass and the office space was an all open, no private office design. It is a neat structure and as difficult as the HVAC must be it will be sad to see it go. Fortunately one or two films used it as a location.
- thisjustinagain - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 1:12 pm:
In the book “Warday”, NYC was literally being dismantled and removed one building at a time to save anything useful after parts of the city were nuked. The “salvors” dismantled the skyscrapers and buildings for any and all useful intact or recyclable materials. Looks like a job for the salvors here at JRTC.
- Louis G Atsaves - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 1:15 pm:
Can’t disagree with her. Of course, if a private owner shamefully allowed a building to deteriorate like this, a relatively new building, they would be cited left and right for multiple building and fire code violations. Workers’ Comp Commission moved out just recently into different quarters in a different building. How many floors are now vacant?
- Anyone Remember - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 1:28 pm:
The State has never been competent at maintenance. However, things reached their nadir during the “tenure” of John Filan. Months before Filan left for IFA was at a inter-departmental meeting held in the basement of Revenue. The carpet was filthy (looked like cattle had been run across it) - except for the duct tape.
- DuPage - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 2:10 pm:
A lot of public buildings have similar problems. It could be a roof leak, or pipe leak, but most often it is condensation off sheet metal air conditioning ducts. Some buildings they put a board across the metal grid and put a bucket on it. On super-hot humid days, it catches the drip. When cooler weather returns, the water evaporates. One ceiling tile, one board, one bucket, done.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 2:17 pm:
==A gigantic entity worshipped by cultists==
Including those who think Helmut Jahn is the greatest architect ever.
- Give Us Barabbas - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 3:11 pm:
The state is s terrible tenant and an even worse landlord. The Pepsi Palace will suffer a similar fate because middle managers in charge of things like maintenance are afraid of press headlines painting it as wasteful frill spending of tax dollars to make a palace for lazy state workers.
- 37B - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 3:19 pm:
I asked an architect friend his opinion on the building and he called it “another magnificent failure.” Wish I’d said that.
The die was cast at the very beginning when they cheaped down to double pane glass from triple pane, turning the atrium into a solarium. A majestic, disfunctional interior dropped into a bizarre exterior with a broad swath of partial brilliance.
Sigh
- stateandlake - Friday, Jul 16, 21 @ 4:17 pm:
Lack of interior ventilation is what did me in. Never below 80 in my office. It’s ready for the wrecking ball.