William (Bill) Lavicka
1945 – 2012
Board member
Bill Lavicka was trained as a structural engineer and used those skills to restore and even move old buildings. On Maxwell Street, he saw potential for each and every building to be restored and preserved, and was very vocal in his opinions to preserve them. Bill held meetings in one of his restored buildings for an expanded group of individuals interested in preserving Maxwell Street. Some current Maxwell Street Foundation (MSF) board members met each other at these meetings. He participated at the 1993 Maxwell Street Market Colloquium (referenced in Carolyn Eastwood’s entry) on a panel to speak about the significance of the Market and the architectural integrity of the built fabric that surrounded it. Bill was definitely a character, outspoken and noticed. He and wife were pioneers on W. Jackson Boulevard on the west side where they restored a mansion and raised their family, drawing more new property owners there to restore the 1500 block of the street now known as the Jackson Boulevard District on Chicago’s Near West Side designated a Chicago Landmark in 1976 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.