This morning a church across from Wicker Park that was under construction collapsed. It was being converted to residences. Thankfully, no one was injured.
Prolific and alert neighborhood reporter Alisa Hauser published her article in DNAinfo before many people were on their way to work.
Someone alerted her on Twitter that the building was issued violations this year, and that a “stop work order” was issued. Hauser later wrote that the Chicago Department of Buildings said it was not salvageable and ordered it demolished.
A “stop work order” is a kind of building violation citation issued to contractors and property owners who are building or modifying a structure without a building permit, or outside the scope of a building permit.
Hauser verified with city officials that they had issued a “stop work order”, but she also updated her article with a link to the specific violation that we found in our database.
Orders show up as a violation type called “Blank-text must cite code sect[ion]”, and in the comments the inspector adds the text “Stop all work on premises until plans are approved and permit is obtained, section 13–13–080, 13–32–035”.
Issued orders will show up on an Address Snapshot search. For those interested in seeing where else the city has issued “stop work orders” I’ve created an experimental map in the meantime using Mapzen’s open source Tangram mapping software showing the orders issued in the last 60 days.
Leave a comment, or contact us if you need help finding anything.