Chicago's $660 million modern renovation of Soldier Field has caused the stadium to be removed from the National Park Service's list of historic landmarks.
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Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton signed the order removing Soldier Field from the list after an advisory board found additions had fundamentally changed the stadium's historic character.
Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said 90 percent of the stadium's architectural design was preserved, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"The Independence Day' flying saucer that dropped on top of Soldier Field" destroyed the building's historic architecture, said David Bahlman, president of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.
Loss of the designation will make city officials across the nation think twice before major renovations of landmark sites, Bahlman said.