We, alumni, faculty, students, and members of the broader community of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, are writing regarding the School's sale of the Roger Brown's Home and Studio at 1926 N. Halsted.

The news in Crain's that SAIC is marketing Roger Brown's Home and Studio as a potential teardown (based on the listing text) was profoundly disappointing, to say the least. Especially since the National Register nomination completed by an SAIC alum as part of their coursework has been deployed in that marketing.

We implore SAIC to reconsider this sale. This property has local, national, and international significance to a broad community of artists, art historians, art lovers, preservationists, architects, and just regular folks for whom it has provided literally life-changing opportunities for inspiration and education. SAIC owes its protection to that community, their own current and future students and faculty, and to the Estate of Roger Brown.

We understand that as an institution of learning and research and a financial entity, SAIC has many different imperatives in how they handle real estate assets like this property. As community members including preservationists, art historians, and real estate agents, we feel SAIC has two very good options at this juncture which would allow them to protect both their financial interests and their reputation as an institution of academic value:

1. Remove the property from the market, pursue City of Chicago landmarking and/or an interior and exterior preservation easement, and then re-list it for sale to a supportive owner with one or both of those preservation protections in place. This would provide valuable substance to the art historical significance already being used in the marketing of the property, and would ensure it is sold to owners who will respect and preserve its legacy.

2. Remove the property from the market and work with your faculty and student body to develop a long-term plan for resuming the vital programming of which Brown's Home and Studio was host for so many years. Although critical context has been lost with the removal of the Collection itself, the home itself is still a profoundly important and valuable educational venue and resource. 

The RBSC was a deciding factor for so many of us in choosing to attend and remain involved with SAIC. The relatively small amount of money that the School stands to net through a sale would be made up many times over in the property's ability to attract students, faculty, and development funds if it is retained and marketed as the utterly unique asset we all know it is.

We remain hopeful that SAIC will do the right thing and remove the property from the market and reconsider their next steps in its stewardship before it's too late.