CHICAGO—Time is running out for a group of small, flat-roofed hospital buildings on Chicago's South Side that are largely the creation of pioneering modernist architect Walter Gropius. Despite the protests of architectural preservationists, the city plans to tear down at least 28 buildings on the Michael Reese Hospital campus, including those linked to Gropius, so it can build an Olympic village for the 2016 Games, for which Chicago is a finalist.

Contractors have already cut down trees around the buildings and begun demolition of the interiors. Earlier this month, the city's Landmarks Commission, while expressing support for the preservationists, voted down a proposal that it recommend placing the buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Preservationists are angry that the decision to demolish came with little or no public debate, and since last winter a campaign by the Gropius in Chicago Coalition has been organizing meetings, handing out leaflets, and appealing to architectural preservationists for help. Both that group and an organization called Illinois Landmarks have offered compromise proposals that would save some or all of the buildings, but the city has shown no interest in changing its plans.

Read more at the Christian Science Monitor.