Department of Planning and Development
CITY OF CHICAGO
March 6, 2020
The Honorable Anna M. Valencia City Clerk City of Chicago Room 107, City Hall 121 North LaSalle Street Chicago, IL 60602
RE: Ordinance designating the Near North Side Multiple Property District as a Chicago Landmark
Dear Clerk Valencia:
We are filing with your office for introduction at the March 18, 2020, City Council meeting as a transmittal to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago the recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks that the Near North Side Multiple Property District be designated as a Chicago Landmark.
The material being submitted to you for this proposal includes the:
Recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks; and
Proposed Ordinance.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Kathleen Dickhut Bureau Chief
Bureau of Planning, Sustainability and Historic Preservation
ends.
Alderman Brenda Reilly (via email w/out enclosures)
121 NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 1000, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60602
ORDINANCE
Near North Side Multiple Property District
642 North Dearborn Street; 14-16 West Erie Street; 15-17 East Erie Street; 110 West Grand Avenue; 1 East Huron Street; 9 East Huron Street; 10-12 East Huron Street; 14-16 West Ontario Street; 18 West Ontario Street; 212-214 East Ontario Street; 222-224 East Ontario Street; 716 North Rush Street; 671-679 North State Street; 42 East Superior Street; 44-46 East Superior Street
WHEREAS, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), Sections 2-120-620 through -690, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the Near North Side Multiple Property District (the "District"), located generally between Chicago Avenue, LaSalle Drive, Grand Avenue, and Fairbanks Court, Chicago, Illinois, as more precisely described in Exhibit A and depicted in Exhibit B, attached hereto and incorporated herein, satisfies four (4) criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (4), (5), and (6) ofthe Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the Near North Side Multiple Property District exemplifies the special importance ofthe portion ofthe Near North Side covered by this Chicago Landmark designation as an upper- and upper-middle-class residential neighborhood built up in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s; and
WHEREAS, the District is a group of fifteen properties that, individually and collectively, exemplify the finely crafted residential architecture that once filled much of the Near North Side; and
WHEREAS, the buildings in the District are architecturally significant, originally built as single-family houses, attached houses, and small-scale flats buildings in the nineteenth century and, in the case of one, given an architecturally significant remodeling in the 1920s; and
WHEREAS, the District's buildings are significant examples of the Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, and Colonial Revival architectural styles, all of importance to the history of Chicago architecture; and
WHEREAS, taken together, the buildings are all finely crafted with traditional building materials, including brick, brownstone, and limestone, and have handsome ornamental detailing, including incised lintels, wood and metal cornices, and art glass windows; and
WHEREAS, the house at 42 East Superior Street, in the District, was designed by Treat and Foltz, one of Chicago's most prolific late nineteenth-century architectural firms. The highly regarded firm designed a wide range of buildings in Chicago, including high-quality houses, factories, and schools. These include residences in designated Chicago Landmark districts such as the Martin Ryerson House in the Kenwood District, and the Hale and Isaac Maynard Row Houses in the Washington Square District and Extension; and
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WHEREAS, the architectural firm of Burling & Whitehouse was a major player in the reconstruction of Chicago following the fire of 1871. The firm designed the houses at 212 and 222 East Ontario Street in this District and also designed the Chicago Landmark Nickerson House (1883, 40 East Erie Street) and the Church ofthe Epiphany (1885, 201 South Ashland Avenue) included in the Chicago Landmark Jackson Boulevard District; and
WHEREAS, Henry Ives Cobb was a locally and nationally significant architect who won many prestigious commissions, including the plan for the University of Chicago campus and most of its first buildings through 1900. Notable structures designed by Cobb and landmarked by the City of Chicago include the Chicago Athletic Club on Michigan Avenue (1893), the Newberry Library (1893) overlooking Washington Square Park, the former Chicago Historical Society (1892) at the northwest corner of Dearborn and Ontario Streets, and the Chicago Varnish Company Building (1895, 33 West Kinzie Street). In the District, Cobb designed his own home at 716 North Rush Street and the home at 10 East Huron Street; and
WHEREAS, the District is a noncontiguous group of buildings that collectively have a distinctive physical presence in the Near North Side, exemplifying the early history of this portion of the community area as a sought-after nineteenth-century residential neighborhood; and
WHEREAS, consistent with Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code, the District has a significant historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value, the integrity of which is preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and ability to express such historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value; and
WHEREAS, on February 6, 2020, the Commission adopted a resolution recommending to the City Council of the City of Chicago (the "City Council") that the District be designated a Chicago Landmark; now, therefore,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO:
SECTION 1. The above recitals are hereby adopted as the findings of the City Council.
SECTION 2. The District is hereby designated a Chicago Landmark in accordance with Section 2-120-700 ofthe Municipal Code.
SECTION 3. For purposes of Sections 2-120-740 and 2-120-770 of the Municipal Code governing permit review, the significant historical and architectural features of the District are identified as:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of all buildings constructed within the period of significance;
and for the purposes of Section 2-120-740 and 2-120-770 of the Municipal Code governing the review of permit applications, the following additional guidelines shall also apply:
In recognition of the context for the buildings in this District, located in the urban core with some of the city's highest building density often including high-rises either adjacent|1010|
to or within close proximity of the buildings, and subject to review on a case-by-case basis, the Commission may approve visible additions to the buildings. The Commission's review of proposed work should ensure that the historic features of the buildings are preserved long-term while allowing reasonable change and flexibility to meet continuing and new needs, whether related to the continued current uses of the buildings or in accommodating future uses.
For mid-block buildings, visible additions may be approved that are set back from the front property line to a depth of approximately one half (1/2) of the building lot, so that the historic building continues to read as an independent structure. Any visible addition should read as a separate volume rather than an extension of the historic structure and the overall height and mass of the addition shall be evaluated based on the specific circumstances of the subject property and its immediate context.
For buildings located at street corners, visible additions may be approved that are set back from each street-facing property line to a depth and width of approximately one half (1/2) ofthe building lot so that the historic building continues to read as an independent structure. Any visible addition should read as a separate volume rather than an extension of the historic structure and the overall height and mass of the addition shall be evaluated based on the specific circumstances of the subject property and its immediate context.
The foregoing is not intended to limit the Commission's discretion to approve other changes.
SECTION 4. If any provision of this ordinance shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the invalidity or unenforceability of such provision shall not affect any ofthe other provisions ofthis ordinance.
SECTION 5. All ordinances, resolutions, motions or orders in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.
SECTION 6. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and approval.
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EXHIBIT A
PIN(s) Address |109|17-09-226-007-0000 642 N. Dearborn St. |109|17-09-220-018-0000 14-16 W. Erie St. |109|17-10-111-004-0000 15-17 E. Erie St. |109|17-09-239-021-0000 110 W. Grand Ave. |109|17-10-107-010-0000 1 E. Huron St. |109|17-10-107-004-0000 9 E. Huron St. |109|17-10-103-011-0000 10-12 E. Huron St. |109|17-09-227-014-0000 14-16 W. Ontario St. |10 9|17-09-227-013-0000 18 W. Ontario St.
10 17-10-203-011-0000 212-214 E. Ontario St.
11 17-10-203-014-0000 222-224 E. Ontario St.
12 17-10-104-032-0000 716 N. Rush St.
13 17-10-107-011-0000 671-679 N. State St.
14 17-10-101-010-0000 42 E. Superior St.
15 17-10-101-011-0000 17-10-101-012-0000 44-46 E. Superior St.
EXHIBIT B
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CITY OF CHICAGO COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
February 6, 2020
RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHICAGO THAT CHICAGO LANDMARK DESIGNATION BE ADOPTED FOR THE
NEAR NORTH SIDE MULTIPLE PROPERTY DISTRICT
Including the Following Address Ranges:
642 North Dearborn Street
14- 16 West Erie Street (evens)
15- 17 East Erie Street (odds)
110 West Grand Avenue
1 East Huron Street 9 East Huron Street 10-12 East Huron Street (evens) 14-16 West Ontario Street (evens)
18 West Ontario Street 212-214 East Ontario Street (evens) 222-224 East Ontario Street (evens) 716 North Rush Street 671-679 North State Street (odds) 42 East Superior Street 44-46 East Superior Street
Docket No. 2019-01
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago:
Pursuant to Section 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code of the City of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the Near North Side Multiple Property District (the "District") is worthy of Chicago Landmark designation. On the basis of careful consideration.of the history and architecture of the District, the Commission has found that it satisfies the following four (4) criteria set forth in Section 2-120-620 ofthe Municipal Code:
/. Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the heritage of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United States.
4. Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity,
uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship.
5. . Its identification as the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose
individual work is significant in the history or development of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States.
6. Its representation of an architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other theme
expressed through distinctive areas, districts, places, buildings, structures, works of art,
or other objects that may or may not be contiguous.
I. BACKGROUND
The formal landmark designation process for the District began on March 7, 2019, when the Commission approved a preliminary landmark recommendation (the "Preliminary Recommendation") for the District as a Chicago Landmark. The Commission found that the District meets four (4) of the seven (7) criteria for designation, as well as the integrity criterion, identified in the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance (Municipal Code, Section 2-120-580 et seq.). The Preliminary Recommendation, incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit A, initiated the process for further study and analysis of the proposed designation of the District as a Chicago Landmark. As part of the Preliminary Recommendation, the Commission identified the "significant historical and architectural features" of the District as:
o All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of all buildings.
Also, as part of the Preliminary Recommendation, the Commission adopted a Designation Report, the most current iteration of which is dated February 6, 2020, incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit B.
At the same March 7, 2019, meeting, the Commission voted to preliminarily disapprove two demolition permit applications that had been received September 11, 2018, for two properties in the proposed District located at 42 and 44-46 East Superior Street. Per the Municipal Code, the Commission's preliminary disapproval of the demolition applications triggered expedited consideration of both the proposed landmark District designation and the demolition permit applications.
In certified letters dated March 15, 2019, the Commission notified owners of property within the proposed District that the Commission had approved a preliminary landmark recommendation. The letter went on to state that the Commission had also issued a preliminary disapproval of demolition applications for properties within the proposed District at 42 and 44-46 East Superior Street and that this had triggered an expedited consideration of both the proposed District designation and the demolition permit applications.
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Letters dated March 21, 2019, and March 25, 2019, were sent to the owners of property in the proposed District notifying them that a public hearing regarding the landmark designation ofthe proposed District and the preliminary disapproval of two permit applications for demolition of properties within the proposed District had been scheduled for April 22, 2019.
At its regular meeting of April 4, 2019, the Commission received a report from David Reifman, then Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development ("DPD"), stating that (a) the department recommended detailed review of the designated features and possible design guidelines; and (b) the landmark designation of the proposed District supported the City's overall planning and economic development goals and was consistent with the City's governing policies and plans. This report is incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit C (the "DPD Report").
In letters dated April 12, 2019, the owners of 42 and 44-46 East Superior Street requested that the demolition applications for these properties be withdrawn. As a result, the landmark designation process was no longer required to be expedited. Letters explaining this were sent the same day to the owners of property in the proposed District and noted that the public hearing would still be held April 22, 2019.
II. PUBLIC HEARING CONVENED APRIL 22,2019
The hearing was convened, as scheduled and noticed, on April 22, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street, Room 201-A. Commission member James Houlihan served as Hearing Officer, assisted by Lisa Misher, then Chief Assistant Corporation Counsel ofthe Real Estate and Land Use Division of the City's Law Department, as legal counsel to the Commission, and Dijana Cuvalo ofthe Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Planning and Development. The hearing was conducted in accordance with the Commission's Rules and Regulations, specifically Article II regarding the conduct of public hearings for landmark designation.
The Hearing Officer explained that the permit applications for demolition of two properties in the proposed District had been withdrawn so the process for consideration of landmark designation no longer was required to be expedited. The standard timeframe would allow more time to consider the proposed designation and prepare for a public hearing. He noted that when the hearing reconvened there would be a full opportunity to make statements regarding the proposed designation but that in order to accommodate any property owners who desired to present a case on that day, he would take testimony so those comments and any made at subsequent hearings would be part of the record. He recognized that this may be duplicative but felt it best protected the interest of property owners in the proposed District.
Owners of 42 and 44-46 East Superior Street noted they looked forward to continued discussions with staff. The representatives for 212 East Ontario Street and 9 East Huron Street objected to their properties being included in the proposed District. Two members of the public spoke in neutral terms with regard to the proposed designation. Three members of the public spoke in favor of the proposed designation including representatives from Preservation Chicago.
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The transcript (the "Hearing Transcript for April 22, 2019") and related exhibits from the public hearing are attached hereto.
TALLY OF CONSENTS TO THE DESIGNATION AND CHANGES TO THE DISTRICT
In a letter dated May 1, 2019, the Commission asked Alderman Brendan Reilly whether he wished to extend the request-for-consent period as provided for in the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance (Municipal Code, Section 2-12-650). At the request of Alderman Brendan Reilly, the request-for-consent period was extended by 120 days to November 4, 2019.
On May 22, 2019, the Commission officially requested consent to the proposed landmark designation from the owners of properties within the proposed District and offered to meet with the owners to address any concerns with regard to landmark designation or to discuss any plans they had for their properties. The letter requested the return of an enclosed written consent form indicating consent or non-consent by November 4, 2019.
As of November 4, 2019, the end of the request-for-consent period, six (6) of fifteen (15) request-for-consent forms mailed to property owners had been returned to the Commission. Of these, one (1) owner consented to the proposed landmark designation while five (5) did not consent. Nine (9) owners did not respond to the Commission's request.
Upon the end of the consent period, as required by the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance, the Commission notified owners of properties within the proposed District in a letter dated December 13, 2019, of the continuation of the public hearing on the proposed designation scheduled for January 16, 2020. Notices of the time and date of the hearing were also (a) posted on signs in the proposed District, and (b) published as a legal notice in the Chicago Sun-Times, as required by the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance. A notice was also posted on the DPD web site.
PUBLIC HEARING RECONVENED JANUARY 16, 2020
The hearing was reconvened, as scheduled and noticed, on January 16, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street, Room 201-A. Commission member Ernest C. Wong served as Hearing Officer, assisted by Michael Gaynor, Supervising Assistant Corporation Counsel of the Real Estate and Land Use Division of the City's Law Department, as legal counsel to the Commission, and Dijana Cuvalo of the Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Planning and Development. The hearing was conducted in accordance with the Commission's Rules and Regulations, specifically Article II regarding the conduct of public hearings for landmark designation.
The Commission staffs presentation recommending the proposed landmark designation was given by Kandalyn Hahn, Project Coordinator, and Matt Crawford, Coordinating Planner. As part of their presentation, staff called on an expert witness to testify how the proposed District meets criteria for designation, as allowed by the Commission's Rules and Regulations. The
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expert witness was independent consultant Matt Wicklund, who has Master's Degrees in both City Planning and Historic Preservation.
At the conclusion of the staff presentation, the Commission's Rules and Regulations allow property owners, regardless of whether they request party status, to question the staff and/or the staffs expert.
The owner representing 9 East Huron asked about the height of his building as described in the designation report. Staff and their expert witness noted the structure was three stories with a raised basement. He also asked about the period of significance and staff and the expert witness responded that the period is 1872 to 1923 and included the date of construction and alteration to his building.
The owner representing 14 West Erie asked whether staff agreed with a report he provided by Benjamin Historic Certifications that his building did not meet individual landmark criteria. Staff agreed, but noted that the report from Benjamin Historic Certifications evaluated the building for individual landmark designation, while the Commission is evaluating it as part of a district. Tn such instances, buildings may not individually meet landmark criteria but, when taken as a collective group, they can convey a larger story or theme, thereby meeting the requisite landmark criteria. The owner asked if a concrete wall in front of the building and the lack of an original door compromised the integrity of the building. Staff answered they did not. The owner asked if the integrity of the context was gone because his building used to be next to four buildings of similar massing, now demolished. Staff noted their presentation included the fact that that the area had been subject to intense development but that it did not mean the orphaned building was not worth saving. Finally, the owner asked whether there were other "enclaves" of buildings in the proposed District that had been considered. Staff responded that the initial reconnaissance survey found 72 properties of roughly the same type and age which was then further refined based on architectural quality and integrity, leading to the group of fifteen (15) buildings proposed.
Seven (7) owners of property within the proposed District or their representatives specifically requested and were granted party status by the hearing officer. One (1) of the parties, for 17 East Erie, was in favor of the proposed District; the remaining six (6) parties, for 671 North State, 14 West Erie, 110 West Grand, 9 East Huron, 642 North Dearborn, and 212 East Ontario, opposed the proposed District. The representative for 212 East Ontario also noted that flexibility in the landmark designation would allow a proposed project to meet the needs of both preservation and the owners. One (1) non-owner party representing investors for a project proposed to be built on two of the properties in the proposed District, 42 and 44-46 East Superior Street, requested and was granted party status. He testified that the investors' project was not likely to be built and suggested that this should be taken into account when considering whether demolition of the two properties was appropriate.
Two (2) owners of property within the proposed District, 1 East Huron and 716 North Rush, who did not request party status made statements in opposition to the proposed District. One person representing an owner of two properties in the proposed District, 42 and 44-46 East Superior, did
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not indicate support or opposition but simply noted that the owners would continue working with the City regarding development on their properties.
One (1) member of the general public spoke in opposition to the proposed District. Two (2) owners granted party status for 14 West Erie and 671 North State also noted their opposition on forms but did not speak again.
Nine (9) members of the general public, including representatives of Preservation Chicago and Landmarks Illinois, spoke in favor of the proposed designation. Six (6) members of the general public noted their support for the proposed District but did not wish to speak.
Altogether, 24 members of the general public signed in and attended the hearing. The total length of the hearing was approximately two hours and fifteen minutes.
The transcript (the "Hearing Transcript for January 16, 2020") and related exhibits from the public hearing are attached hereto.
V. FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code, the Commission shall determine whether to recommend the proposed landmark designation to City Council within thirty days after the conclusion of a public hearing; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code, the Commission has reviewed the entire record of proceedings on the proposed Chicago Landmark designation, including the Designation Report, the DPD Report, the Hearing Transcripts, and all of the information on the proposed landmark designation of the District; and
WHEREAS, the District meets the four (4) criteria for landmark designation set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (4), (5), and (6) ofthe Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the Near North Side Multiple Property District exemplifies the special importance ofthe portion of the Near North Side covered by this Chicago Landmark designation as an upper- and upper-middle-class residential neighborhood built up in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s; and
WHEREAS, the District is a group of fifteen properties that, individually and collectively, exemplify the finely crafted residential architecture that once filled much ofthe Near North Side between Chicago Avenue to the north, LaSalle Drive to the west, Grand Avenue to the south, and Fairbanks Court to the east; and
WHEREAS, the buildings in the District are architecturally significant buildings originally built as single-family houses, attached houses, and small-scale flats buildings built in the nineteenth century and, in the case of one, given an architecturally significant remodeling in the 1920s; and
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WHEREAS, the District's buildings are significant examples ofthe Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, and Colonial Revival architectural styles, all of importance to the history of Chicago architecture; and
WHEREAS, taken together, the buildings are all finely crafted with traditional building materials, including brick, brownstone, and limestone, and have handsome ornamental detailing, including incised lintels, wood and metal cornices, art glass windows, and Classical ornament; and
WHEREAS, the house at 42 East Superior Street was designed by Treat and Foltz, one of Chicago's most prolific late nineteenth-century architectural firms. The highly regarded firm designed a wide range of buildings in Chicago, including high-quality houses, factories, and schools. These include residences in designated Chicago Landmark districts such as the Martin Ryerson House in the Kenwood District, and the Hale and Isaac Maynard Row Houses in the Washington Square District and Extension; and
WHEREAS, the architectural firm of Burling & Whitehouse was a major player in the reconstruction of Chicago following the fire of 1871. The firm designed the houses at 212 and 222 East Ontario Street in this district and also designed the Chicago Landmark Nickerson House (1883, 40 East Erie Street) and the Church ofthe Epiphany (1885, 201 South Ashland Avenue) included in the Chicago Landmark Jackson Boulevard District; and
WHEREAS, Henry Ives Cobb was a locally and nationally significant architect who won many prestigious commissions, including the plan for the University of Chicago campus and most of its first buildings through 1900. Notable structures landmarked by the City of Chicago include the Chicago Athletic Club on Michigan Avenue (1893), the Newberry Library (1893) overlooking Washington Square Park, the former Chicago Historical Society (1892) at the northwest corner of Dearborn and Ontario Streets, and the Chicago Varnish Company Building (1895, 33 West Kinzie Street). Cobb designed his own home in the district at 716 North Rush Street and the home at 10 East Huron Street; and
WHEREAS, the Near North Side Multiple Property District is a noncontiguous group of buildings that collectively have a distinctive physical presence in the Near North Side, exemplifying the early history of this portion of the community area as a sought after nineteenth-century residential neighborhood; and
WHEREAS, consistent with Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code, the District has a significant historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value, the integrity of which is preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and ability to express such historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value; now, therefore,
THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS HEREBY:
1. Incorporates the preamble and Sections I, II, III, IV, and V into its findings; and
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Adopts the Final Designation Report, as revised, and dated this 6th day of February 2020; and
Finds, based on the Final Designation Report, DPD Report, the Hearing Transcripts, and the entire record before the Commission, that the District meets the four (4) criteria for landmark designation set forth .in Sections 2-120-620 (1), (4), (5) and (6) of the Municipal Code; and
Finds that the District satisfies the "integrity" requirement set forth in Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code; and
Finds that the significant historical and architectural features of the District are identified as follows:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of all buildings constructed within the period of significance; and
For the purposes of Section 2-120-740 of the Municipal Code governing the review of permit applications, the following additional guidelines shall also apply:
In recognition of the context for the buildings in this District, located in the urban core with some of the city's highest building density often including high-rises either adjacent to or within close proximity of the buildings, and subject to review on a case-by-case basis, the Commission may approve visible additions to the buildings. The Commission's review of proposed work should ensure that the historic features ofthe buildings are preserved long-term while allowing reasonable change and flexibility to meet continuing and new needs, whether related to the continued current uses ofthe buildings or in accommodating future uses.
For mid-block buildings, visible additions may be approved that are set back from the front property line to a depth of approximately one half of the building lot, so that the historic building continues to read as an independent structure. Any visible addition should read as a separate volume rather than an extension ofthe historic structure and the overall height and mass of the addition shall be evaluated based on the specific circumstances of the subject property and its immediate context.
For buildings located at street corners, visible additions may be approved that are set back from each street-facing property line to a depth and width of approximately one half of the building lot so that the historic building continues to read as an independent structure. Any visible addition should read as a separate volume rather than an extension of the historic structure and the overall height and mass of the addition shall be evaluated based on the specific circumstances of the subject property and its immediate context.
The foregoing is not intended to limit the Commission's discretion to approve other changes.
Recommends that the District be designated a Chicago Landmark.
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This recommendation was adopted Cp ~_ 0 \j^r*^CX~->> £-v_c yyv-^
Rafael M. Leon, Chairman Commission on Chicago Landmarks
: C>j iXj^U^y*. d> j L 0 iL. C>
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Exhibit A
Resolution by the
Commission on Chicago Landmarks on the
Preliminary Landmark Recommendation For the
NEAR NORTH SIDE MULTIPLE PROPERTY DISTRICT
Including the Following Address Ranges:
642 North Dearborn Street 15-17 East Erie Street (odds) 14-16 West Erie Street (evens) 110 West Grand Avenue 1 East Huron Street 671-679 North State Street (odds)
9 East Huron Street 10-12 East Huron Street (evens) 14-16 West Ontario Street (evens) 18 West Ontario Street 212-214 East Ontario Street (evens) 222-224 East Ontario Street (evens) 716 North Rush Street 42 East Superior Street 44-46 East Superior Street
March 7, 2019
Whereas, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (hereinafter the "Commission") preliminarily finds that:
The Near North Side Multiple Properly District (the "District"), located at the addresses noted above, meets four (4) criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (4), (5) and (6) ofthe Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), as specifically described in the Preliminary Summary of Information submitted lo the Commission on this 7th day of March, 2019, by the Department of Planning and Development (the "Preliminary Summary"); and
The District satisfies the historic integrity requirement set forth in Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code as described in the Preliminary Summary; now, therefore
Be it resolved by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks:
Section 1. The above recitals are expressly incorporated in and made part ofthis resolution as though fully set forth herein.
Section 2. The Commission hereby adopts the Preliminary Summary and makes a preliminary landmark recommendation concerning the District in accordance with Section 2-120-630 ofthe Municipal Code.
Section 3. For purposes of Section 2-120-740 of the Municipal Code governing permit review, the significant historical and architectural features of the District are preliminarily identified as:
• All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of all buildings.
Section 4. The Commission hereby requests a report from the Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development which evaluates the relationship of the proposed designation to the City's governing plans and policies and the effect of the proposed designation on the surrounding neighborhood in accordance with Section 2-120-640 of the Municipal Code.
This recommendation was adopted ~ O juq-kJ&Kj trXjg^ Ay^^A^X><^( ft-^^^iuL.
Rafael M. Leon, Chairman Commission on Chicago Landmarks
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Exhibit B
LANDMARK DESIGNATION REPORT
Near North Side Multiple Property District
Individual buildings in an area generally bounded by: Chicago Avenue, LaSalle Drive, Grand Avenue, and Fairbanks Court
Final Landmark Recommendation adopted by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, February 6,2020
CITY OF CHICAGO Lori E. Lightfoot, Mayor
Department of Planning and Development Maurice D. Cox, Commissioner
Contents
Introduction|910|Map of District|910|The History and Development of the Near North Side
Community Area|910|
The Description of the Near North Side Multiple Property District
and its Buildings|910|Building Catalog 11
642 North Dearborn Street 11
/ 7 East Erie Street 11
14 West Erie Street 13
110 West Grand Avenue 15
671 North State Street 15
/ East Huron Street 17|10 9|East Huron Street 18
10 East Huron Street 20
16 West Ontario Street 21
18 West Ontario Street 21
212 East Ontario Street 23
222 East Ontario Street 25
716 North Rush Street 26
42 East Superior Street 28
44 and 46 East Superior Street 31
Criteria for Designation 33
Significant Historical and Architectural Features 36
Bibliography 38
Near North Side Multiple Property District
Bounded generally by: Chicago Avenue, LaSalle Drive, Grand Avenue, and Fairbanks Court
Period of Significance: 1872-1923
642 North Dearborn Street
Date: Circa 1872 Architect: Not Known
16 West Ontario Street
Date: Circa 1872; 1888 alterations Architect: Ackermann & Starbuck (1888)
17 East Erie Street
Date: Circa 1870s Architect: Not Known
18 West Ontario Street
Date: Circa 1872 Architect: Not Known
14 West Erie Street
Date: 1875
Architect: Not Known
212 East Ontario Street
Date: 1885
Architect: Burling & Whitehouse
110 West Grand Avenue
Date: Circa 1872 Architect: Not Known
222 East Ontario Street
Date: 1885
Architect: Burling & Whitehouse
1 East Huron Street
Date: 1880
Architect: George H. Edbrooke
716 North Rush Street
Date: 1883
Architect: Henry Ives Cobb
671 North State Street
Date: 1876
Architect: Not Known
42 East Superior Street
Date: 1883
Architect: Treat & Foltz
|10 9|East Huron Street
Date: Circa 1870s; front addition 1922-23 Architect: Edgar Martin (1922-23)
10 East Huron Street
Date: 1883
Architect: Cobb & Frost
44-46 East Superior Street
Date: 1872
Architect: Agnew & Hennessey (builders)
|1010|Chicago's Near North Side is one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, with a complex history of building, rebuilding, and transition that is reflected in the area's variety of building types and scales that characterize its streets. The Near North Side developed prior to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 as one of the city's significant clusters of upper- and upper-middle-class residents and families. Despite the great fire, which essentially leveled the neighborhood, its residents rebuilt and attracted new families to the area and enabled its continued growth and opulent development during the Gilded Age. Within this area, the Near North Side Multiple Property District contains a visually distinctive collection of fifteen single-family houses and early apartment buildings that exemplify, individually and collectively, the finely crafted residential architecture that once filled much of the Near North Side between Chicago Avenue to the north, LaSalle Drive to the west, Grand Avenue to the south, and Fairbanks Court to the east.
The neighborhood's success as a desirable community for the city's affluent was challenged during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by the growth of the Gold Coast neighborhood to the north. Its residential character gradually transitioned during the twentieth century toward dense commercial and retail uses as offices and stores moved northward from
View ofthe fashionable Near North Side as illustrated in Rand McNally's 1893 Guide to Chicago. Several ofthe houses in this designation and three individually designated Chicago Landmarks are visible. The street at the bottom right corner was known as Pine Street but was widened and renamed Michigan Avenue in the 1920s. Cass Street, in the center ofthe illustrated view, is now known as Wabash Avenue.
17 East Erie Street
1 East Huron Street
671 North State Street
9 East Huron Street
10 East Huron Street
716 North Rush Street
42 East Superior Street
Individual Chicago Landmarks:
Ransom Cable House
Samuel M. Nickerson House
McCormick Double Houses
The Near North Side Multiple Property District is located in the Near North Side Community Area and consists of fifteen individual buildings in an area roughly bounded by Chicago Avenue, LaSalle Drive, Grand Avenue, and Fairbanks Court.
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the confines of the Loop. Many of the larger mansions that had anchored the neighborhood and defined sub-areas, such as McCormickville around Erie and Rush Streets, were largely replaced by parking lots, high-rise apartment towers, and retail development. Although many of the area's residential buildings are gone, the fifteen houses and apartments included in this district, in addition to several other individually designated Chicago Landmarks in the area, are the best remaining examples of late nineteenth-century residential architecture in the Near North Side.
The Near North Side Multiple Property District's collection of fifteen buildings, with their high -quality architectural designs based on historic architectural styles, use of traditional building materials, and fine craftsmanship, reflect the early residential development of the larger Near North Side Community Area.
The History and Development of the Near North Side Community Area
The Near North Side has a complex history as one of Chicago's oldest neighborhoods. Located just north of the Chicago River up to North Avenue, the original northern boundary for the city, the Near North Side's proximity to downtown Chicago encouraged a plethora of uses, functions, and activities during the first decades ofthe city's history that made this community area one of Chicago's most physically and socially diverse.
Before the Chicago Fire of 1871, the western portion ofthe Near North Side was developed as a working-class neighborhood dominated by factories, warehouses, and other commercial buildings, with low-income residential neighborhoods of early European immigrants including Germans and Swedes, with Italians following later in the century. Businesses, warehouses, and factories lined the north bank of the Chicago River, extending several blocks inland. North Clark Street developed as an important commercial "spine" running north from downtown to the city's edge and beyond, merging with an existing Indian and trader trail to the north. North Michigan Avenue did not exist. Instead, Pine Street ran north from riverfront warehouses and was largely commercial in early years. Streeterville did not exist, as most of this portion of the Near North Side was created from late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century landfill into Lake Michigan. North of Chicago Avenue, the Near North Side was largely commercial and working-class residential.
"Better" residential areas in the Near North Side were largely confined to Rush Street and Wabash Avenue (then known as Cass Avenue) and connecting streets. Here, roughly between Ohio and Superior Streets, large mansions and "better class" upper-middle-class houses and row houses were built, mostly before 1870. Vehicular access to the Near North Side from points south of the Chicago River was dependent on swing bridges which pivoted on a central support in the middle of the river, and boat collisions with bridges were a constant problem through much of the nineteenth century. Interrupted access to the North Side encouraged the wealthy to build houses in downtown itself or in residential districts spreading south into the South Side. Only those with a real interest in Near North Side living built fine houses here.
Such an extended family was the McCormick family. Its patriarch, Cyrus McCormick, had established the McCormick Reaper Company factory on the north bank of the Chicago River, and the family built houses several blocks north in the years before the 1871 Fire. Rush Street had the then-best bridge across the river, so the McCormicks built on Rush and adjacent streets such as Superior and Huron Streets. This "McCormickville" drew other residents and builders,|1010|
Before the Great Fire of 1871, the Near North Side developed as a neighborhood of upper-middle-class residents who built several large mansions on Rush Street and Wabash Avenue. However, the fire left the Near North Side in ruins.
The view at right was taken after the fire looking southwest from the Water Tower, which survived the fire. Blocks of rubble, scorched trees, and the burned shells of St. James Church (left) and Holy Name Cathedral (right) are visible.
Chicago History Museum ichi-64284
creating a good-quality neighborhood within a largely commercial and working- and middle-class residential community area.
This early urban development in the Near North Side almost completely disappeared in the 1871 Chicago Fire. Only the limestone Water Tower survived and remains intact today. Other buildings, including the home of Mahlon D. Ogden (brother of the former Chicago Mayor William B. Ogden) survived but have since been demolished (the Newberry Library replaced the Ogden house). The McCormicks rebuilt their burnt houses, as did some others in the neighborhood. Additional houses and small flat buildings were built between the 1870s and 1890s especially between North Clark and North Pine Streets, Ohio and Superior Streets, and North Dearborn and North LaSalle Streets. These blocks developed as prestigious residential streets leading to Lincoln Park, built up mainly with closely spaced houses and row houses. Dearborn Street was also associated with the fine residential area that sprang up around Washington Square, north of Chicago Avenue and outside the area covered by this report. Pine Street, especially just south and north of the Water Tower, developed with mansions. East of Pine Street, Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario Streets developed with upper-middle-class houses, some free-standing but many row houses.
The 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s were the prime decades of this small-scale residential development. By 1900, the area covered by this report was already transitioning from fine single-family housing and high-quality flats to lesser flats and subdivisions of houses into flats or even rooming houses. Large houses began to be torn down for commercial development, or if kept, were converted into offices. The McCormicks remained strong high-society anchors, but elite Chicagoans wanting to live in the Near North Side were gravitating, by the early 1890s, to what is today known as the Gold Coast. This area, largely bounded by Division, Lake Shore Drive, North Avenue and Dearborn Street, with a smaller section consisting of Elm|1010|The Perry Smith Residence was built in 1874 at the northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Huron Street. The house was demolished in 1918 for commercial development.
Chicago History Museum, ichi-50489
The opulent Cyrus Hall McCormick mansion was built on the northeast corner of Rush and Erie Streets between 1875 and 1879. It was demolished in 1954.
Chicago History Museum
The McCormick Double House was built by Leander and Cyrus McCormick in 1875 and designed by Frederick and Edward Baumann. It stands on the northwest corner of Rush and Erie Streets and is a designated Chicago Landmark.
Ransom R. Cable built this grand house on the
southwest corner of Wabash Avenue and Erie
Street in 1886. It was designed by Cobb &
Frost and is a designated Chicago Landmark.
See; Building Catalog entry for 17 East Erie
Street. Cornell University
This view is looking east along Erie Street toward Wabash Avenue. Samuel M. Nickerson built this stone-clad home designed by Burling & Whitehouse on the northeast corner of Wabash Avenue and Erie Street in 1879. It is a designated Chicago Landmark. The non-extant Henry H. Porter house is visible in the background. The rebuilt tower of St. James Church can also be seen in the upper right corner.
Chicago History Museum
Street, Cedar Street, and Bellevue Place between Lake Shore Drive and State Street, increasingly became the desirable wealthy neighborhood in the community area.
The 1900s saw these trends accelerating. The development of North Michigan Avenue in the 1920s turned Pine Street and its extension, Lincoln Parkway, into a wide Parisian-style boulevard increasingly lined with fine shop buildings, clubs, offices, and other prestigious buildings. Nineteenth-century mansions on or adjacent to the avenue that survived early redevelopment were mostly gone by World War It. Houses east of Michigan Avenue increasingly were converted to commercial use or demolished altogether. Even the McCormicks began to leave the neighborhood and were gone by the post-World War II era.
Few large mansions survived this redevelopment intact, with the Nickerson House at 40 East Erie Street, the Cable House at 25 East Erie Street, and the Robert McCormick Double House at 660 North Rush Street being the most significant, both architecturally and historically, to have survived. (All three houses are designated Chicago Landmarks.) Most other surviving houses were smaller in scale, more upper-middle-class in character, and, through happenstance, typically remained due to residential subdivision or conversion to offices. Surviving small flat buildings typically kept their residential character, but in many cases were subdivided further into smaller flats or even single rooms rented separately.
Significant changes, including demolition, for these surviving houses and small flat buildings continued to be the norm into the 1960s and beyond to the present day. Almost all houses east of North Michigan Avenue in Streeterville have disappeared in the wake of high-rise construction for offices, hotels, and medical facilities. No houses remain on Michigan Avenue and most have disappeared from Rush and Wabash Streets and connecting streets (Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario, and Ohio Streets) giving way to either early and mid-twentieth-century low-rise buildings or later high-rises. This development trend towards high-rise density has only accelerated in the last 30 years. West of State Street, a greater number of houses and flats survived into the 1980s, but have since been demolished as high-rise residential and hotel building construction has become common in this part of the Near North Side, especially since 2000.
The Description of the Near North Side Multiple Property District and its Buildings
The Near North Side Multiple Property District is comprised of fifteen buildings that, taken together, exemplify the early post-Chicago Fire of 1871 period, when the area covered by this report developed with handsome, architecturally significant houses and row houses, plus small flat buildings of similar scale and character. They are the best surviving small-scale residential buildings in the area, both in terms of architectural style and historical integrity, and together tell the story of this portion of the Near North Side when it was a fine, residential neighborhood of mansions, more modest houses, and small flats.
The oldest surviving residential buildings in this portion ofthe Near North Side date from the 1870s after the Chicago fire. These early buildings from that first decade after the 1871 fire tend to be Italianate in style. They typically are tall and narrow, fitting on standard Chicago lots. Half of the buildings in this report are Italianate in style. This style, loosely based on traditional Italian country architecture, was by far the most popular architectural style in Chicago during the 1870s. Several are clad completely with brick, while a number have front facades of locally|1010|
Nearly half ofthe buildings in the district were built in the first decade after the Chicago Fire of 1871 and were designed in the popular Italianate style. Most are tall and narrow with either brick or locally quarried limestone cladding and stone lintels featuring incised, stylized, foliate carving.
Clockwise from top left: 17 East Erie Street, 110 West Grand Avenue, 1 East Huron Street, 14 West Erie Street, 18 West Ontario Street, and 44-46 East Superior Street
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The Second Empire style The Queen Anne-style buildings in the district are all of red
is similar to the Italianate brick and feature front bays with a variety of window shapes
style but features a and other decorative features. The bay of 10 East Huron Street
prominent mansard roof. is at left and a dormer on 222 East Ontario Street is at right.
16 West Ontario Street
The curvilinear roof of 212 East Ontario Street presents The brownstone-clad house at 716
elements of the Queen Anne style, while the brick walls North Rush Street blends the Queen
below reflect the Romanesque Revival style. Anne and Romanesque Revival
styles.
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quarried Joliet limestone. Those included in this report are the Italianate-style house at 642 North Dearborn Street, clad with limestone and featuring incised lintels; 1 East Huron Street and its neighbor at 671 North State Street, both brick-clad with Italianate-style ornament; the house at 18 West Ontario Street with a limestone facade, incised lintels, and a simple cornice; the house at 17 East Erie Street, with common brick walls and incised lintels; the brick-clad house at 110 West Grand Avenue with incised lintels; and the attached double house at 44-46 East Superior Street, exemplary ofthe Italianate style with limestone walls and incised lintels. Lastly, the early flats building at 14 West Erie Street has brick walls and handsome incised stone lintels.
The Second Empire architectural style is a Classical-inspired style that reflects the popularity of contemporary French buildings built in the 1850s and 1860s during the reign of French Emperor Napoleon II. Similar in many ways to the Italianate, Second Empire-style buildings were also most popular in the 1870s in Chicago and usually have visually distinctive mansard roofs that place a full floor behind a steeply sloping roof. The house at 16 West Ontario Street exemplifies this style.
The Queen Anne style is important to this collection of buildings. It is one ofthe most prominent and important of architectural styles for Chicago neighborhood buildings built between roughly 1880 and the early 1890s, and it is characterized by varied building materials of different colors and textures, an emphasis on ornament, and (often) asymmetrical building designs and forms. The style is so associated with this late period of British Queen Victoria's reign that it often is characterized as "Victorian architecture." Buildings designed in the Queen Anne style included in this report consist of the brick and stone house at 10 East Huron Street with its unusual footprint reflecting the shift of building setbacks along the street between those east and those west of the house; the house at 42 East Superior Street built in 1883 and reflecting the medieval influences found in some Queen Anne buildings with its second-floor oriel bay; and the large house on a wider-than-usual lot at 222 East Ontario Street which has a visually interesting, stylized Renaissance Revival front entrance added during the 1930s.
This last building's near neighbor at 212 East Ontario Street has characteristics of both the Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. Its use of brick for walls and stone for trim is typical of the Queen Anne, while its round-arched, first-floor window and visually unusual curvilinear roof dormer reflect the influence of the Romanesque Revival. Another house included in the report that reflects both Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles is the brownstone-clad house at 716 North Rush Street built in 1883 by significant Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb as his own residence.
Lastly, the house at 9 East Huron Street exemplifies a real-estate trend found in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s - the complete remodeling of nineteenth-century houses into more modern and up-to-date buildings for new owners. This building, possibly originally an Italianate-style house similar to buildings to its west, was completely remodeled by architect Edgar Martin as a new home for the Hoops Advertising Co. The building was given a new front addition that filled in the existing front yard, brought the new facade directly to the street and provided a ground-floor entrance with no raised stoop. The new facade was designed in the then-fashionable Colonial Revival style with a gray limestone-clad first floor and brick upper floors, plus Classical-style lintels and swags.
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Building Catalog
642 North Dearborn Street
Circa 1872
The three-story house at 642 North Dearborn Street was completed immediately after the disaster of the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871. It is an Italianate-style home with an English basement. The main east elevation facing Dearborn Street is clad in bands of cream-colored limestone quarried in Illinois and is capped by a deep, overhanging, pressed metal cornice with foliate brackets. Above each window is a decorative lintel with carved foliate details. The rear elevation is clad in common brick.
Lorens Walter, a Huguenot from Germany, was born in 1824 and found employment as a cigar maker upon his arrival in Chicago. He eventually entered the city's fire department and by 1868 had become a Second Assistant Fire Marshall. Following the Great Fire, Walter had his home at 642 North Dearborn Street rebuilt almost immediately, but suffered a setback in March 1872 when, while still under construction, a strong storm blew the building up against a nonextant building to the north. The significant damage was repaired, but the building's stonework was left misaligned, with a noticeable sway in the front bay.
Walter's home was repaired, and he and his family continued to live in the building through the 1910s. By 1875, Walter was foreman ofthe Chicago Fire Department's Chemical Self-Acting Engine Company No. 4, which was located near his home on Dearborn Street and served much of the surrounding "McCormickville" area. His engine company had one of several new fire houses in the city that were equipped with pressurized copper chemical tanks filled with carbonic acid. The tanks were fitted on specialized horse-drawn carriages and were intended to better and more efficiently extinguish fire. By the 1880s, Walter was captain of Engine Company No. 33, located on Southport Avenue. Walter's daughter Josephine remained in the house with her husband until 1919.
17 East Erie Street
Circa 1870s
The impressive three-story brick house at 17 East Erie Street is an excellent example of the types of early 1870s Italianate-style residences that were built on the Near North Side immediately following the Great Fire of 1871. The main north-facing elevation on Erie Street and the east elevation are clad in common brick but feature handsomely carved limestone window hoods with projecting keystones. The later east-facing elevation has several new window openings with recreated stone hoods. Limestone quoining details the corners of the building and relieves the uniformity of the brick. The building stands above a raised basement, with a double front door accessed by a tall front porch. Each upper floor facing Erie Street has three evenly spaced, double-hung sash windows, with gently rounded upper corners. Originally, the building featured an elaborate, bracketed, wood cornice, but this was removed before 1940. The current cornice and parapet are 1990s-era reconstructions and include a tall pressed metal cornice along the east elevation that continues along the front and flanks a central brick pediment with an oval window. The metal balcony railings are not original.
The house at 17 East Erie Street served an important role during the 1880s as a temporary home for some of Chicago's wealthiest residents while they built new residences in the wake ofthe 1871 fire and the 1873 financial panic. The house was built on property owned by real estate
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The house at 17 East Erie Street was built in the early 1870s. During the 1880s, it served as a temporary home for three different Chicagoans who ultimately built their own houses on the Near North Side. These include Samuel M. Nickerson from 1879-1881, Henry H. Porter from 1881-1883, and Ransom R. Cable from 1883-1901.
The house features incised carved lintels and limestone quoining.
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investor William M. Butler. Butler had owned most of the northeastern corner of the block since he purchased it from Joseph T. Ryerson in 1852. The property was given to his children who sold it to Samuel M. Nickerson in early 1879. Nickerson, who founded the First National Bank of Chicago, was in the process of building his grand residence at the northeastern corner of Wabash Avenue and Erie Street (a designated Chicago Landmark) and occupied the house at 17 East Erie Street in the interim.
In 1881, upon the completion of his house, Nickerson sold 17 East Erie Street to Henry H. Porter. Porter was an art collector. He guided the layout of the Chicago Stockyards and had a particular vision for Chicago as the transportation hub of the nation. Focusing on this goal, he became president of the Chicago & North Western Railway Company, which he greatly expanded. Similar to Nickerson, Porter was also planning to rebuild his residence and selected a sizable parcel on the northwestern corner of Erie Street and Wabash Avenue, across from Nickerson's mansion. Porter and Nickerson knew each other well and had made significant investments together, including a patch of timberland in northern Michigan in 1870. While Porter's house was under construction, he resided at 17 East Erie Street. In 1883, he moved into his new home (nonextant) and sold 17 East Erie Street, along with the adjacent property on the southwestern corner of Erie Street and Wabash Avenue, to fellow railroad baron Ransom Cable. Cable, a relative newcomer to Chicago, had just become president of another large railroad, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company. Cable moved into 17 East Erie Street, while his grand stone home was built to the east on the southwestern corner of Erie Street and Wabash Avenue.
Cable maintained ownership of 17 East Erie Street, unlike Nickerson and Porter before him, and rented the house during the late 1880s and 1890s. One of the primary occupants during that time was banker Albert M. Day and his family. Cable finally sold 17 East Erie Street in 1901 to steamship agent James S. Long, who carved up the house into furnished rooms and then into office space during the 1920s.
For nearly forty years, from 1976 to 2001, the house was owned and occupied by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White. The firm maintained its archives in the basement and its offices and drafting rooms on the building's upper floors.
3. 14 West Erie Street 1875
Cook County Commissioner Samuel Ashton built the Italianate style house at 14 West Erie Street for his family in 1875. The three-story, red pressed brick-clad building faces south onto Erie Street and features an asymmetrical facade with a projecting three-sided bay on the right. The wide front doorway is reached by a porch and is set within a brownstone-trimmed doorway with pilasters, carved brackets with stylized rosettes, and a projecting stone roof. All the windows have brownstone lintels with matching stylized foliate carvings, which are different on each floor. The building is topped by a deep, overhanging pressed metal cornice.
Ashton is listed in Chicago's first City Directory for 1843 as an aspiring young law student. He arrived from Virginia and became an important lawyer in Chicago, eventually forming the firm of Ashton & Brentano. In 1871 he was elected Cook County Commissioner and later served as alderman for the 8th Ward. Ashton bought the parcel on Erie Street in 1874 and commenced construction of a brownstone-trimmed. two-story house in July 1875. Sometime before 1880, the third floor was added, with matching brownstone cladding and window lintels with similar
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The first two floors of 14 West Erie Street were completed in 1875 and a third floor was added later. This Italianate-style house is clad in red brick with brownstone trim and has a pressed metal cornice.
stylized carvings. The house was sold in 1880 to Joseph F. Tucker who was traffic manager for the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1897, a three-story rear addition was completed.
110 West Grand Avenue
Circa 1872
The two-story brick house at 110 West Grand Avenue was completed within a year after the fire of 1871 as an investment property for meat market owner Richard Lothholz. The house fills a narrow lot and features a raised English basement and a prominent, three-sided, projecting bay. Pressed brick clads the Grand Avenue-facing front facade, which is detailed with a stone belt course and with finely carved limestone window hoods featuring stylized lines and prominent rosettes. The second floor window sills are decorated with carved stone brackets. A pressed metal cornice with framed panels and brackets caps the elevation.
Lothholz was born in 1838 in Germany and opened the R. Lothholz & Co. meat market with Charles A. Mueller at 442 North Clark Street, south of the home. However, Lothholz lived elsewhere in the city and rented his Grand Avenue building until just before his death in 1913. His tenants included various businesspeople such as William Flood, a commercial merchant with a business on Wells Street who rented in 1877.
671 North State Street
1876
The two- and one-half-story red brick house at 671 North State Street is a well-designed Italianate style building built for Dr. Joseph Warren Freer in 1876. The symmetrical front elevation faces west onto State Street and features window pairs that flank a central entrance with a recessed stair. All openings, except for twin pairs of basement windows, have deep stone sills with decoratively carved brackets, and elaborately carved stone hoods with projecting foliate designs. Across the top ofthe house is a richly crafted pressed metal cornice with foliate patterned brackets. The cornice may have replaced an earlier wooden cornice during the 1880s when the parapet and third floor were altered. The house likely originally featured a wood front porch, but this may have been removed and the entrance stair recessed into the building for the widening of State Street.
Dr. Joseph W. Freer was born in 1816 in Fort Ann, New York where he worked on his father's farm until the age of twenty, when he moved with his family to Illinois and became one of the first settlers of Will County. He married in 1844, but when his wife died the following year despite medical treatment, he chose to study medicine. He graduated from Rush Medical College (it stood at Dearborn Street and Grand Avenue and is known today as Rush University Medical Center) in 1849 and became the chair of anatomy in 1855. Within a few years he and three other North Side residents founded the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary; Freer served as a consulting surgeon. In 1869, he was elected president of the Rush Medical College and served as chair of physiology and microscopic anatomy. Beyond Chicago's Near North Side, Dr. Freer was also one of the medical staff at Mercy Hospital and Cook County Hospital. In 1871, Rush Medical College was destroyed by the Great Fire, and its physicians and students needed places to work, study, and live. It appears that Dr. Freer knew one such physician, a Dr. Frank H. Davis, who needed a home.
In 1876, one year before his death, Dr. Freer had the three-story brick house at 671 North State Street (at the time known as Wolcott Street) built. Upon its completion, Dr. Davis relocated to
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The home at 671 North State Street was built in 1876 for a doctor. The stone lintels are richly carved with foliate designs.
The two buildings at 671 North State The building at 1 East Huron Street has its original
Street and 1 East Huron Street are in the wood-paneled entry doors to upper-floor flats,
Italianate style and are clad in red incised stone lintels, and pressed metal cornice. The
pressed brick with light stone trim building was completed in 1880.
though this has been obscured by paint.
This view from 1915 is looking east on Huron Street from State Street. The home at 1 East Huron Street is on the corner. St. James Church is visible in the distance.
Chicago History Museum, ichi-11955
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the fine new building. Dr. Davis was an aspiring physician in Chicago and regular editor of medical books and journals such as the Chicago Medical Examiner. His father, the eminent Dr. Nathan Smith Davis was a nationally known physician who helped found both the American Medical Association in 1847 and the Chicago Medical College (now known as the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine). Dr. Frank H. Davis died in 1880 just as his career was beginning.
The house at 671 North State Street remained in the Freer family. Dr. Freer's wife Catherine erected the three-story apartment building to the north at 1 East Huron Street in 1880 and continued to rent 671 North State Street until her death in 1906. The house at 671 was left to her daughter Cora, who sold it in 1922.
Aside from being painted, the building has had few alterations. These are limited to the entrance doorway and the parapet above the cornice. Originally, there may have existed windows above the cornice, or the third floor possibly had a mansard roof with dormers.
6. 1 East Huron Street
George H. Edbrooke, 1880
In 1880, Catherine F. Freer commissioned architect George H. Edbrooke to design a three-story apartment flat. The building's main elevation faces north onto Huron Street, with a secondary elevation facing west onto State Street. These elevations are clad in pressed red brick (currently painted) with stone trim and a tall pressed metal cornice with shallow, nearly flat brackets. Edbrooke's overall design reflected the growing popularity ofthe Queen Anne style, which emphasized contrast through the combination of light stone and red brick. The Huron Street elevation has a flight of steps that access the main doorway, which features two original paneled wood doors set in a wood doorway with transoms above the doors. Upper floors have evenly spaced, double-hung sash windows, with paired windows aligned above the doorway. All windows on this elevation are visually connected by flush stone banding that also forms the window lintels. Each lintel has light incised carvings with simple half rosettes above the single windows and more elaborate stylized foliate carving above the double windows. The west elevation is evenly fenestrated with four evenly spaced windows per floor, each with plain stone sills and lintels.
Mrs. Freer, following the death of her husband Dr. Joseph W. Freer (see entry for 671 North State Street) in 1877, chose to develop the north half of the property that was then partially occupied only by the house at 671 State Street. A notice in the January 1880 issue of the American Architect and Building News describes Mrs. Freer's new building:
Mr. G. H. Edbrooke, is building, for Mrs. J. W. Freer, on the corner of State and Huron, an apartment house of pressed brick with stone finish. Each floor is to be occupied as flats, for each of which a separate entrance is provided; cost, $7,000; size, 25 by 63 feet.
The building remained a rental and housed a variety of people, including Mrs. Freer's son Dr. Otto T. Freer, who also became a physician.
Architect George H. Edbrooke (?-l 894) was a prolific architect who practiced in Chicago, Detroit, and New York during the mid- to late nineteenth century. His father was a well-known contractor and builder in Chicago, and he briefly practiced with his brother architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke between 1867 and 1880. George H. Edbrooke designed many larger
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warehouses, banks, commercial structures, and residential buildings. Although many of his most significant works have been demolished, one of his few remaining large warehouse buildings is the Albert E. Kent Building at 175 North Franklin Street, which was completed in 1875 and is part of the Lake-Franklin Group (a designated Chicago Landmark). In 1893, after several years in New York City, that city's paper The Evening World noted that "When he took the offices first he was regarded as being wealthy, and for a long time his practice was of the most extensive kind." In that city, he designed the Brooklyn Savings Bank and the Real Estate Exchange of Brooklyn.
7. 9 East Huron Street
Circa 1874; front addition, Edgar D. Martin, 1922
The four-story Neoclassical style building at 9 East Huron Street was originally built around 1874 and was significantly enlarged and given a new facade in 1922 by Chicago architect Edgar Martin. The main elevation faces north onto Huron Street and begins at the sidewalk without setbacks. A ground-floor elevation serves as an office or storefront and is clad in rusticated limestone with a central display window flanked by twin doorways. The easternmost doorway is framed by pairs of fluted pilasters and leads to the current ground floor retail space and up to upper floor units. The westernmost door originally led to the retail space but has been replaced with a single fixed display window. The upper floors each have three evenly spaced windows and are clad in reddish-brown brick set in a Flemish bond pattern. The whole elevation is topped by a shallow limestone cornice with carved modillions and dentil molding. The second-floor windows have rounded arches with recessed tympana featuring a bas relief design of urns and swags; upper-floor windows have flat arches. There is a rooftop addition built after the period of significance that is set back from the front of the building.
The original home was built for Ephraim A. Otis (1835-1913) who was a noted lawyer in Chicago and the Midwest. He acquired the parcel in late 1873 and erected a three-story brick house soon after. He continued to own the house until his death in 1913, but beginning in the late 1890s the building was converted into a rooming house as the Near North Side neighborhood became increasingly dense and attracted commercial development along major streets. Otis's children sold the property in 1921 to architect Edgar D. Martin (1865-1951), who was at the time a partner in the firm of Schmidt, Garden & Martin.
Martin was born in Burlington, Iowa and studied art, engineering, and mathematics in Paris, France. In 1906, he partnered with Hugh M. G. Garden and Richard E. Schmidt. The firm was especially known for their Prairie-style buildings. Independently; between 1918 and 1923, Martin served as the Illinois State Architect and supervised the design of large government buildings. He left Schmidt, Garden & Martin in 1925 and partnered with the firm of Pond and Pond.
Tn 1922, Martin redesigned the building on Huron Street to house professional offices, because at the time many companies were moving from the congested Loop Business District to the Near North Side's residential districts. One important driving factor for many relocated businesses was the transformation of the narrow residential Pine Street into a boulevard extension of Michigan Avenue connected by a spectacular new bascule bridge over the Chicago River. Martin leased the building to the Walter W. Hoops Advertising Company, which recalled in the journal Chicago Commerce in 1923:
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Architect Edgar Martin designed a front addition for a former residence at 9 East Huron Street in 1922. His design won the highest honor for best remodeling from a local bank. The building represents the gradual transition from residential to commercial that occurred on the Near North Side during the early twentieth century.
Architectural Record, Nov. 1922
Architects Cobb & Frost designed the red brick and brownstone-trimmed house at 10 East Huron Street in 1883. The home features a prominent front bay with a finial-topped roof that can been seen from a distance. During the 1910s, it was home to the Kjellberg Gymnasium (see ad below), a Swedish medical gymnastics institute. The image on the right is from the late 1920s when the house was the national headquarters ofthe American Train Dispatchers Association.
THE KJELLBERG GYMNASIUM
KOHNbKD 1885
Massage. Orthopedics.
Hydropathy. TEKLA FOLK£ KJELLBERG
Electric Light Baths and IO EAST HURON STREET
Static Electric Treatments TU.KPiio.Nt ! south iki
Ad, Chicago Blue Book, 1910: 815.
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We find that many of our clients who come to see us... drive their own cars, and where they formerly came seldom and hurried away, due to parking restrictions in the Loop, we now see them oftener and handle more business... because they do not feel hurried. This alone is enough advantage to warrant moving from the Loop.
The influx of businesses and professional offices in the Near North Side area prompted a wave of remodeling and new construction during the post-World War I era. The private institution Lake Shore Trust & Savings Bank saw this development and, taking an interest in architecture and neighborhood development, appointed a panel of architects to annually judge a contest for the area's best new buildings. Martin's remodeling of 9 East Huron Street took the gold prize for best remodeled building in 1923. In 1927, Martin sold the building to the Illinois Hygiene league.
8. 10 East Huron Street
Cobb & Frost, 1883
The three-story red brick and brownstone-trimmed house at 10 East Huron Street was designed by the Chicago firm of Cobb & Frost in 1883 for commercial merchant Gurdon G. Moore. The building faces south onto Huron Street and is set back from the street with a deep projecting front bay. Rich, rock-faced brownstone decorates the base and frames the basement windows, while the upper floors are clad in deep red pressed brick with bands of brownstone that also form the flush window sills and lintels. The three-sided bay originally joined with a non-extant house to the west. It has a third floor with rounded arch windows and is topped by a curvilinear bell-shaped roof with a decorative metal finial. The main entrance is on the set-back portion of the elevation, which also features a bay window at the second floor and twin pedimented dormers at the third floor. Alterations include new windows, a new metal cornice, new siding on the bay window and dormers, and a reconfigured front porch.
Moore bought the property in 1881 and commissioned the prominent Chicago firm of Cobb & Frost to design a richly appointed home suitable for the Near North Side's affluent society. Moore was a member of the Chicago Club, whose membership included many of the city's wealthiest merchants and industrialists. The club served architect Henry Ives Cobb and served as a space where he could attract new clients. However, in this case, Cobb's brother Walter F. Cobb knew and worked with Gurdon G. Moore at the commission house of William T. Baker & Co. Through this connection, Cobb's firm was selected to design the house at 10 East Huron Street. See the entry for 716 North Rush Streel for more information on architect Henry Ives Cobb.
In 1904, Moore sold his home to Swedish immigrant Thekla S. Kjellberg who, after arriving in Chicago in 1884, founded the Kjellberg Gymnasium and Institute, which taught hygiene, massage, and medical gymnastics, while also offering medical gymnastic treatments to clients. Kjellberg and her assistant masseuses and medical gymnastics specialists moved into 10 East Huron Street where they continued to offer massage, orthopedics, hydropathy, electric light baths, and static electric treatments. The development and origin of Swedish medical gymnastics is attributed to the Central Gymnastic Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, which was founded in 1813. This establishment followed a growing trend of business migration into the Near North Side.
Kjellberg sold her Huron Street building in 1924 to the American Train Dispatchers Association, which moved its national headquarters to the building from Spokane, Washington. The organization hired Chicago architect Edwin H. Clark to complete a three-story, rear, brick
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addition to accommodate its offices. Currently, the building is home to the Consulate General of Ukraine.
9. 16 West Ontario Street
Circa 1872; 1888 conversion to apartments
The extra-wide ,red brick house at 16 West Ontario Street was built around 1872 for lawyer George W. Chandler. The three-story house has an irregular front with a mansard roof and is set back from Ontario Street. A main entrance is centrally located with a three-sided bay to the west and a square bay to the east. Both the first and second floor are evenly fenestrated with tall arched windows featuring stone lintels with incised keystones. The mansard is distinguished by a pressed metal cornice, metal trim, and shallow dormer windows.
George W. Chandler was born in Danville, Vermont in 1835 and came to Chicago and formed a law firm with George Goudy. Chandler bought the Ontario Street parcel in 1872 and built his house there soon after. Following his death in 1887, his wife Elizabeth Curtis Chandler hired the firm of J. W. Ackerman & Henry Fletcher Starbuck to, per the periodical Building Budget, convert the home into three "first class apartment houses, hardwood finish, steam heat and modern improvements." These units were aimed at people who wanted to live among the city's millionaires but could not afford a mansion of their own. Mrs. Chandler sold the property in 1899 to wealthy jewelry businessman Julius Schnering.
Schnering met Otto Young in Chicago following the Civil War and partnered with him to form Otto Young & Co., which became one of the largest wholesale jewelry firms in Chicago. Otto lived in the adjacent house at 18 West Ontario Street (included in the district) during the 1880s and was likely acquainted with Chandler.
Julius Schnering continued to rent the three units at 16 West Ontario Street until his death in 1931, when his wife took over the property. The house remained in the Schnering family through the 1970s.
Architect Henry F. Starbuck (1850-1935) was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts and began his career as an apprentice with Boston architect Abel C. Martin before partnering with architect George A. Moore as Moore & Starbuck in 1873. In 1877, he partnered with Arthur H. Vinal as Starbuck & Vinal and established offices in New Brunswick, Connecticut. Two years later he left to practice in Chicago, where he initially specialized in engineering and heavy machinery. His Chicago practice grew to include a wide range of buildings across the Midwest, including the William Waterman House at 5810 South Harper Avenue (1880s, extant) and Quinn Chapel at 2401 South Wabash Avenue (1892, a designated Chicago Landmark). Starbuck practiced in Chicago through the 1880s, partnering briefly with J. W. Ackerman, before moving his offices to Southern California in 1896.
10. 18 West Ontario Street
Circa 1872-73
The three-story Italianate-style "marble-front" row house at 18 West Ontario Street was one of three identical homes at 18, 20, and 22 West Ontario Street that were built for Thomas F. Wheeler to replace a set of brick row houses he owned that were destroyed during the fire of 1871. The house at No. 18 faces south onto Ontario Street and is set back from the sidewalk with a tall front porch (the original porch has been replaced with concrete steps). The building
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JEfiLi
The residence at 16 West Ontario Street was built within a few years after the Chicago Fire of 1871 and was remodeled into an apartment building in 1888.
The house has a steep mansard roof with dormers and is clad in red brick with limestone trim.
The home at 18 West Ontario Street was built as one of a set of three row houses to replace a row destroyed by the fire of 1871. It is clad in slabs of limestone dressed with false joints to give the appearance of a more intricate arrangement of stonework.
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is three stories tall with a raised basement. It is clad in locally quarried limestone that was very popular during the 1870s and 1880s for its light color and relatively even tone, which led it to be called "marble." Over time many buildings like 18 West Ontario Street have matured to a deep golden cream color. Although the facade gives the appearance that it is composed of many evenly spaced, long blocks of stone, it is in fact clad in several large slabs of stone that have false horizontal joint lines. Each floor has three arched, double-hung windows, with the third floor featuring rounded arches. All windows and the front doorway have projecting keystones with a rusticated finish. The whole elevation is topped by a pressed metal cornice that is detailed with paired brackets and raised panels.
Tolman F. Wheeler (1801-1889), who was described as an "ardent Episcopalian," was the affluent founder of the Western Theological Seminary. He donated liberally to the Episcopal churches of Chicago, St. James' Church, and St. Luke's Hospital. He made his fortune in real estate speculation and by trading and shipping grain. Wheeler built a set of three brick row houses at 18 to 22 West Ontario Street (historically 257-261 East Ontario Street) sometime before the fire of 1871. Advertisements for his "three-story and basement brick houses" were run in the Chicago Tribune through October of 1871 when the Great Fire swept across much of downtown and the North Side. Within at least two years after the fire, Wheeler again advertised his "three 3-story and basement stone-front houses on Ontario," for rent. Before the fire, Wheeler lived in No. 22, the western row house in the set. After the fire, he occupied the middle row house at No. 20. Both Nos. 20 and 22 were replaced in the 1890s by the current building.
One of Wheeler's first renters for No. 18 was Otto Young who moved in with his family in the mid-1870s. Young, as described in the entry for 16 West Ontario Street, formed the important wholesale jewelry firm Otto Young & Co. with Julius Schnering. Wheeler died in 1889 and his wife Delia M. Wheeler died in 1891. The property was left in their will to the Chicago Orphan Asylum, which was founded 1849 as a Protestant charitable organization run by upper middle-class residents to serve working-class families across the city. During the 1880s, the orphanage was in desperate need of space and accepted donations towards the construction of a new facility. Wheeler's donation of No. 18 was valued at $10,000 and, when it was combined with a $50,000 donation from John Creer, allowed the orphanage to construct a new building at 5120 South King Drive in 1898 (a designated Chicago Landmark). Wheeler's other rental row house at No. 22 was left to the Chicago Nursery and Half Orphan Asylum, which was a similar institution but was based on the North Side. Despite the change in ownership, Mr. Young and his family remained at No. 18 through the 1890s.
11.212 East Ontario Street
Burling & Whitehouse, 1885
The Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival style house at 212 East Ontario Street was built in 1885 for lumber and coal dealer Edwin F. Getchell and designed by the Chicago firm of Burling & Whitehouse. The three-story home is set back from the street with a wide front bay and a mansard roof with an oriel dormer. The home is clad in deep red brick with smooth brownstone trim and rock-faced quoining. A rounded front window at the basement is protected by a decorative wrought iron grille and framed by a border of rock-faced brownstone. The arched main entrance is set atop a front porch (a modern concrete replacement porch). Finely crafted architectural details that compose the building's design include foliate carvings that appears to flow from the first floor parlor window, delicate brick corbelling beneath roof eaves, a pressed metal apron beneath the roof dormer, and a curving section of roof that conforms to the arch of
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the bay's dormer window. Originally, the bay featured a tall pyramidal roof above the current roof.
Edwin F. Getchell bought the building's parcel in 1885 for a lofty sum of $24,978 from the executors of the estate of Chicago's first mayor, William B. Ogden. Ogden's land east of St. Clair Street along Ontario Street was quickly subdivided and sold beginning in 1881. At the time, much of the lakefront area between Oak Street and Grand Avenue was sandy, waterlogged, and undeveloped land. North of Chicago Avenue, Captain George Streeter lodged his boat in a sandbar and tried unsuccessfully for decades to claim the accumulating sand around his boat as his own sovereign land; he became a regular character in the city's
The home at 212 East Ontario Street was designed by Burling & Whitehouse and completed in 1885. The exterior is clad in red brick with finely carved brownstone trim. The sloping roof has two dormers that are detailed with pressed metal and wood trim.
The view at left is looking east on Ontario Street from St. Clair Street in 1915. The house is just visible behind the street light and can be identified by a tall pyramidal roof that is no longer extant.
Chicago History Museum, ichi-12582
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newspapers. While the 200 block of Ontario Street was nearly fully developed with rows of houses by the 1900s, the 300 block was left largely unimproved until the 1920s.
Getchell was born in North Anson, Maine in 1850 and as a child moved to Des Moines, Iowa with his family. In 1870, he started working for his father and older brother's lumber firm of H. F. Getchell & Sons, but moved to Evanston in 1874 to start his own lumber and coal business. He then moved to Chicago in 1876 and opened a branch office of his father's firm. At the same time, he developed an interest in real estate investment and selected the Ontario Street parcel for the construction of a speculative house. A block of four houses on the northeast corner of Ontario and St. Clair Streets (not extant) were completed in 1881 and designed by the firm of Burling & Whitehouse. Getchell also chose Burling & Whitehouse to design No. 212, which cost $20,000 to build. Upon the house's completion five months later, Getchell placed advertisements in the Chicago Tribune for "a magnificent modern house just completed; finished in hardwood; heated by steam; south frontage; at a bargain if taken at once."
The home was bought in 1886 by Benjamin Douglass, a mercantile agent, who remained in the house with his family until 1892 when the house was leased or rented. One notable resident for two years was the prolific portrait painter G. P. A. (George Peter Alexander) Healy (1813-1894) who had by 1890 spent his career painting presidents, statesmen, and other notables. He made No. 212 his permanent home and continued painting many of the Near North Side's elite families. By 1928, the encroachment of businesses on the Near North Side had spread from major streets to smaller side streets like Ontario. The ground floor of No. 212 became the Inn Cafeteria.
Healy even painted a portrait of arch itect Edward Burl ing (1819-1892), who designed No. 212 with his partner Francis M. Whitehouse (1848-1938). Burling was born in Newburgh, New York and became a carpentry apprentice as a teenager, guiding the design of a few homes. He came to Chicago in 1843 at a time when the city was experiencing rapid growth and needed experienced carpenters to build new houses. Burling designed some of the earliest homes in Chicago, including several for former mayor and real estate developer William B. Ogden. In 1852, he partnered with architect Frederick H. Baumann. After the fire of 1871, Burling partnered with architect Dankmar Adler and designed miles of new buildings to line the city's burned streets. One early example of their commercial work is part of the Lake-Franklin Group (a designated Chicago Landmark). Residential examples designed by Burling during his partnership with Adler include the Burling Row House District of 1875 (2225-2245 North Burling Street, a designated Chicago Landmark district) and the Fremont Row House District, also of 1875 (2100-2144 North Fremont Street, a designated Chicago Landmark district). Adler left the firm in 1878 and Francis M. Whitehouse, who was born in New York State, obtained a position as draftsman with Burling. A few years later, Burling & Whitehouse formed. The firm designed the Church ofthe Epiphany in 1885 at Adams Street and Ashland Avenue (a designated Chicago Landmark), the Samuel M. Nickerson House (1883, 40 East Erie Street, a designated Chicago Landmark), and several other houses. On the 200 block of East Ontario Street, the firm was responsible for four row houses and five houses, including No. 212.
12. 222 East Ontario Street
Burling & Whitehouse, 1885
The Queen Anne-style, three-story house at 222 East Ontario Street was built for Mayhew Adams Seymour (1833-1914) and was one of several Ontario Street houses designed by the firm of Burling & Whitehouse in 1885. Only two remain on the block, including No. 212. The
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house is clad in deep red brick with brownstone trim and is set back from the street, with a shallow front bay and a slate-shingled mansard roof. Windows have segmental arches with brownstone sills. At the roof level, the front bay terminates in an elaborate pressed metal pediment with foliate details. Next to it is a dormer with a pressed metal pediment featuring a repeating geometric pattern. The front porch has a large limestone surround with carved rosettes and a central shield with scrolls, which was added after 1930 when a restaurant opened on the first floor.
Mayhew A. Seymour was born in Henderson, New York and came to Chicago with his family as a child. His father was a noted surgeon. Seymour was active in the Board of Trade as a grain broker for thirty years until he transferred his membership to his son in 1904. In 1885, he bought the parcel for No. 222 for $14,193 and commissioned Burling & Whitehouse to design a home which cost $12,000. Seymour and his family lived in the house until 1893 when it was placed u p for rent. During the 1920s, the Aerial Photograph Service Inc. was headquartered in the building. Beginning in the 1940s, the house became a private club and later was occupied by restaurants as the surrounding neighborhood increasingly attracted commercial and retail tenants.
13. 716 North Rush Street
Henry Ives Cobb, 1883
Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb (1859-1931) built the four-story brownstone house for himself as both a residence and as an example of his work that he could use to attract new clients. The home is set back slightly from the sidewalk and has a prominent three-sided, two-story bay that is capped by a balcony. Behind the balcony rises a pedimented stone dormer that projects from the third floor mansard roof. Rock-faced brownstone is the primary cladding
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Henry Ives Cobb (upper right) designed the house at 716 North Rush Street for himself in 1883. The house is clad in rock-faced brownstone with detailed copper trim along the roof. A fourth floor is nearly hidden from view in the tall and steep roof, which features a variety of dormers. The front doorway was remodeled in the 1950s.
material. Only the window sills and capstone along the ridge of the pediment have a honed finish. A nearly unnoticeable fourth story is concealed behind the tall mansard, with only two wide dormers to prove its existence. The roof ridge is capped by decorative pressed copper trim with a foliate pattern. The main entrance is set in a non-historic, grey, granite surround.
Cobb bought a large parcel at the southwest corner of Rush and Superior Streets in 1883 and subdivided it into three parcels. His choice of location could not have been better, for it was only a block from the McCormick family houses around Rush and Erie Streets, close to many of his North Side club friends, and only a short walk from the Union Club. At No. 716 he designed a home for himself. The building journal A merican A rchilect and Building News noted the building: "Mr. H. 1. Cobb, of the firm Cobb & Frost, architects, has planned a house for himself on the west side of Rush Street, south of Superior Street ... rock-faced brownstone, red slate roof." Cobb designed his house as the first of a set of three fine homes that would occupy the corner.
Cobb was bom in Brookline, Massachusetts and studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before graduating from Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University as an engineer. After a tour of Europe, he joined the Boston architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns. In 1881, Cobb won a commission to design a new club building for the Union Club. Cobb's brother was an officer in the club and may have helped him earn the project. In 1882, Cobb convinced Charles Sumner Frost (1856-1931), who also worked for Peabody Sterns, to come partner with him in Chicago. The two established a firm that found both fame and
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fortune. During the 1880s, the firm designed dozens of fine houses on the Near North Side and on the South Side, where Frost lived. Of their residential commissions, one of their most prominent was the crenelated, Norman-style "castle" for Potter Palmer in 1882-85 (at Lake Shore Drive between Banks and Schiller Streets, not extant). Another example is the Ransom R. Cable House at 25 East Erie Street from 1885-86 (a designated Chicago Landmark). The firm dissolved in 1888 when Cobb received the commission to design the Walter L. Newberry Library (60 West Walton Street, a designated Chicago Landmark). Cobb's firm grew to 130 employees in 1892. That year, he designed the former Chicago Historical Society building at 632 North Dearborn Street (a designated Chicago Landmark). Cobb moved to New York City in 1902.
In 1888, in the midst of designing the Newberry Library, Cobb placed advertisements for his home in the Chicago Tribune that said nothing more than: "For Sale-No. 162 Rush-St., Price $36,000. Apply to Henry Ives Cobb." The house finally sold in 1890 and became a rental house.
14. 42 East Superior Street
Treat & Foltz, 1883
The three-story-and-basement house at 42 East Superior Street was designed by the Chicago firm of Treat & Foltz for Dr. Herrick Johnson, a pastor associated with the Fourth Presbyterian Churchy which, before the construction of its current building on North Michigan Avenue, occupied a building at the eastern end of the block upon which the Johnson house is located. The building faces south onto Superior Street and is set back with a predominantly flat front elevation, except for a projecting second-floor wood window bay. The front is clad in rock-faced stone with smooth banding above each floor. The third floor terminates in a gable, with a slate-shingled pediment set against a front-sloping, slate roof. Finely crafted details add great
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character to the building and include large wood brackets beneath the bay window, delicately carved stone lintels, pressed metal trim, and multi-hued, geometric-patterned, stained glass windows.
Dr. Herrick Johnson was born in New York State in 1832 and graduated from the Auburn Theological Seminary in 1860. In 1862 he accepted a pastorate position in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania but resigned in 1867 before becoming pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Johnson then became a professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology at Auburn Seminary in 1874. When Fourth Presbyterian Church, which was located at northwest corner of Rush and Superior Streets, needed a pastor in 1880, Johnson accepted their offer and moved to Chicago. However, his true passion was in teaching, and he soon found a professorial position at the McCormick Theological Seminary, which he later chaired.
Johnson bought a parcel at the northeast corner of Superior Street and Wabash Avenue and had a large house built for himself on the corner (not extant). With room left on the lot he planned to build a house to the north and to the east at No. 42. In May 1883, he sold his house to Edward Blair and began planning a second residence on the twenty-foot-wide parcel at No. 42. In June 1883 he proposed building a two-story house on the site for $5,800, but by August Johnson commissioned architects Treat & Foltz to design the extant three-story house for $9,000. Despite his plans for a Superior Street house, Johnson surprised the parishioners of Fourth Presbyterian when he announced that he would resign as pastor and move closer to the McCormick Seminary where he taught. Again, in November 1883, he commissioned Treat & Foltz to design an even more extravagant $10,000 house (not extant) on Halsted Street near Fullerton Avenue on what is currently the DePaul University Campus.
The house at No. 42 Superior Street was first occupied by banker George A. Tripp who rented the property from Herrick Johnson from about 1885 to 1890. Johnson continued to rent the house until 1892 when he sold it to commission merchant Edward B. Strong.
Samuel Atwater Treat (1839-1910) and Frederick "Fritz" L. Foltz (1843-1916) were one of Chicago's most prolific late nineteenth-century architectural firms. Treat was born in New Haven, Connecticut where he graduated from the Collegiate and Commercial Institute before entering the firm of Connecticut architect Sidney M. Stone. He moved to Chicago in the late 1860s and was employed by architect Gurdon P. Randall where he met Frederick L. Foltz. Foltz was born in Darmstadt, Germany and was educated in Europe. He practiced architecture in Frankfurt, Germany before emigrating to the United States and arriving in New York City in 1866. In 1868, he moved to Chicago and worked for Randall.
Treat and Foltz formed their firm in 1872 which endured for more than two decades. During this time, they became very successful and were highly regarded for their work designing large commercial buildings, apartment blocks, and fine private residences. Foltz was responsible for design, while Treat focused on daily business operations. A variety of period architectural styles were employed by the firm, including the eclectic Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, and Victorian Gothic. Although many of their buildings have been demolished, extant works include the Martin A. Ryerson House at 4851 South Drexel Boulevard in the Kenwood District (a designated Chicago Landmark district). They also designed several buildings in the Washington Square District and Extensions (a designated Chicago Landmark district) including the Maynard Row Houses of 1881 at 119 to 123 West Delaware Place, the Hale Row Houses of 1886 at 855-59 North Dearborn Street, and the neighboring George B. Carpenter and George H. Taylor Houses of 1891 and 1895 at 919 and 925 North Dearborn Street.
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The double house at 44 and 46 East Superior Street was built in 1872 by two prolific builders, Francis Agnew and Patrick Hennesey, for their families. The houses are clad in locally quarried limestone with incised carvings, topped by a pressed metal cornice, and feature richly carved wood doorways.
Right: the eastern half of the houses in the 1920s. Indiana State University
Above: a view looking northwest along Superior Street showing 42 and 44-46 East Superior Street in the 1940s.
Chicago History Museum
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15. 44 and 46 East Superior Street
Agnew & Hennesey (builders), 1872
The twin Italianate-style double house built at 44 and 46 East Superior Street was built in 1872 ¦ by two people in the construction industry, Francis Agnew and Richard Hennesey. The twin two-story-and-basement houses are mirror images of each other with three-sided front bays and a deep, bracketed cornice of pressed metal. The main elevation is clad in honed limestone and is set back from the sidewalk. The stone gives the impression of stacked long segments of stone, but the facade is actually composed of dozens of slabs of stone with false joint lines to emphasize the building's width. All windows and the twin entry doorway have rounded upper corners and feature prominent keystones with incised foliate patterns. The two doorways are especially notable for their intricately carved brick molds and curved paneling. Carved foliate patterns trace across the doorway and are richly entwined at the base. The design for the building was likely inspired by popular architectural pattern books that offered builders general guidance.
Builder and owner Richard Hennesey, who occupied the west half at No. 44, and builder and owner Francis Agnew, who owned the east half at No. 46, started construction on the twin houses in autumn 1872 as part of the city's reconstruction following the fire of October 1871. The Chicago Tribune published lists of rebuilding projects during the course of 1872, one of which, in October, identified a new construction project for the firm of Agnew & Hennesey on Superior Street for the cost of $24,000. Agnew sold his eastern half of the building in February 1873 to soda water merchant Michael W. Kerwin.
View looking east along Superior Street from Wabash Avenue in 1915. The homes at 42 and 44-46 East Superior Street are visible on the left The large house on the corner was originally built for Herrick Johnson who later built No. 42.
Chicago History Museum, ichi-13633
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The twin houses were built as a pair of attached, single-family homes. Richard Hennesey (1845 -1920) and his brother Patrick M. Hennesey operated the construction firm of Hennesey Brothers, which specialized in structural iron and the construction of bridges. Francis Agnew, of the firm of Agnew & Co., was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1837. He arrived in Chicago in 1851 and began learning the brick mason trade. He partnered with Charles O'Connor for several years with great success and began working alone in 1871. Projects that he was involved in include city hall (not extant), multiple houses in Pullman, and several large buildings in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Agnew and Hennessey partnered in 1872 for the construction of 44 to 46 Superior. They continued to partner on other projects across Chicago and even out-of-state, such as the construction of the Colorado State Capitol in 1886.
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Criteria for Designation
According to the Municipal Code of Chicago (Section 2-120-690), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks has the authority to make a final recommendation of landmark designation for an area, district, place, building, structure, work of art, or other object within the City of Chicago if the Commission determines it meets two or more of the stated "criteria for designation" and it possesses sufficient historic integrity to convey its significance.
The following should be considered by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in determining whether to recommend that the Near North Side Multiple Property District be designated as a Chicago Landmark:
Criterion 1: Value as an Example of City, State, or National Heritage
Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect ofthe heritage of the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, or the United States.
The Near North Side Multiple Property District exemplifies the special importance of the portion ofthe Near North Side covered by this Chicago Landmark designation as an upper- and upper-middle-class residential neighborhood built up in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s.
The district is a group of fifteen properties that, individually and collectively, exemplify the finely crafted residential architecture that once filled much of the Near North Side between Chicago Avenue to the north, LaSalle Drive to the west, Grand Avenue to the south, and Fairbanks Court to the east.
Criterion 4: Exemplary Architecture
Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship.
The buildings in the Near North Side Multiple Property District are architecturally significant buildings originally built as single-family houses, attached houses, and small -scale flats buildings constructed in the nineteenth century and, in the case of one, given an architecturally significant remodeling in the 1920s.
The district's buildings are significant examples of the Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, and Colonial Revival architectural styles, all of importance to the history of Chicago architecture.
Taken together, the buildings are all finely crafted with traditional building materials, including brick, brownstone, and limestone, and have handsome ornamental detailing, including incised lintels, wood and metal cornices, art glass windows, and Classical ornament.
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Criterion 5: Significant Architect or Designer
Its identification as the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose individual work is significant in the history or developmeni of the City of Chicago, the Slate of Illinois, or the United Slates
The house at 42 East Superior Street was designed by Treat and Foltz, one of Chicago's most prolific late nineteenth-century architectural firms. The highly regarded firm designed a wide range of buildings in Chicago, including high-quality houses, factories, and schools. These include residences in designated Chicago Landmark districts such as the Martin Ryerson House in the Kenwood District and the Hale and Isaac Maynard Row Houses in the Washington Square District and Extension.
The architectural firm of Burling & Whitehouse was a major player in the reconstruction of Chicago following the fire of 1871. The firm designed the houses at 212 and 222 East Ontario Street in this district and also designed the designated Chicago Landmark Nickerson House (1883, 40 East Erie Street) and the Church of the Epiphany (1885, 201 South Ashland Avenue) included in the designated Chicago Landmark Jackson Boulevard District.
Henry Ives Cobb was a locally and nationally significant architect who won many prestigious commissions, including the plan for the University of Chicago campus and most of its first buildings through 1900. Notable structures landmarked by the City of Chicago include the Chicago Athletic Club on Michigan Avenue (1893), the Newberry Library (1893) overlooking Washington Square Park, the former Chicago Historical Society (1892) at the northwest corner of Dearborn and Ontario Streets, and the Chicago Varnish Company Building (1895, 33 West Kinzie Street). Cobb designed his own home in the district at 716 North Rush Street and the home at 10 East Huron Street.
Criterion 6: Distinctive Theme as a District
Its representation of an architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social or other theme expressed through distinctive areas, districts, places, buildings, structures, works of art, or other objects that may or may not be contiguous.
The Near North Side Multiple Property District is a noncontiguous group of buildings that collectively have a distinctive physical presence in the Near North Side, exemplifying the early history of this portion of the community area as a sought after nineteenth-century residential neighborhood.
Integrity Criteria
The integrity of lhe proposed landmark must be preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and ability to express its historic community, architecture or aesthetic interest or value.
The Near North Side Multiple Property District contains noncontiguous properties that have excellent to very good historic integrity. They retain their original sites, overall building forms, and configurations, and most historic exterior features remain.
The most common exterior changes to the district's buildings include non-historic window sash configurations, often the replacement of double-hung or multi-paned windows with single-pane
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windows, a common window change often seen in buildings as old as these. Other common changes include non-historic front doors and modifications to front porches and stoops, although all of the buildings in this district retain historic physical relationships of their main front entrances to streets through the use of original front door openings and front steps.
Despite these changes, the Near North Side Multiple Property District retains more than sufficient historic integrity for Chicago Landmark designation. It is a significant group of historic buildings originally built as single-family houses, attached houses, and small flats buildings. As such, they exemplify the important development of this portion of the Near North Side community area as a high-quality residential neighborhood in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. The buildings are excellent examples of architectural styles important to Chicago history. They exhibit excellent traditional use of building materials and craftsmanship. The district's historic and architectural significance has been preserved in light of its location, overall design, setting, materials, workmanship and ability to express its historic and architectural value to the City of Chicago.
Significant Historical and Architectural Features
Whenever an area, district, place, building, structure, work of art or other object is under consideration for landmark designation, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is required to identify the "significant historical and architectural features" of the property. This is done to enable the owners and the public to understand which elements are considered most important to preserve the historical and architectural character of the proposed landmark.
Based upon its evaluation of the Near North Side Multiple Property District, the Commission recommends that the significant features be identified as:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of all buildings constructed within the period of significance.
For the purposes of Section 2-120-740 of the Municipal Code governing the review of permit applications, the following additional guidelines shall also apply:
In recognition of the context for the buildings in this district, located in the urban core with some of the city's highest building density often including high-rises either adjacent to or within close proximity of the buildings, and subject to review on a case-by-case basis, the Commission may approve visible additions to the buildings. The Commission's review of proposed work should ensure that the historic features of the buildings are preserved long-term while allowing reasonable change and flexibility to meet continuing and new needs, whether related to the continued current uses of the buildings or in accommodating future uses.
For mid-block buildings, visible additions may be approved that are set back from the front property line to a depth of approximately one half of the building lot, so that the historic building continues to read as an independent structure. Any visible addition should read as a separate volume rather than an extension ofthe historic structure and the overall height and mass of the addition shall be evaluated based on the specific circumstances of the subject property and its immediate context.
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• For buildings located at street corners, visible additions may be approved that are set back from each street-facing property line to a depth and width of approximately one half of the building lot so that the historic building continues to read as an independent structure. Any visible addition should read as a separate volume rather than an extension of the historic structure and the overall height and mass of the addition shall be evaluated based on the specific circumstances of the subject property and its immediate context.
The foregoing is not intended to limit the Commission's discretion to approve other changes.
View looking east along Erie Street from State Street in 1915. The Nickerson and Cable houses are visible in the distance. Chicago History Museum, ichi-12037
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Selected Bibliography
Ancient Permit File Index & Permit Ledgers/Records. Chicago History Museum.
Andreas, A. T. History of Chicago from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2. Chicago: The A. T. Andrea Company, Publishers, 1885.
Chandler, George. The Chandler Family: The Descendants of William and A nnis Chandler Who Settled in Roxbury, M1637. Worcester, Mass: Press of Charles Hamilton, 1883.
Chicago Elite and Blue Book Directories. [Various years].
Directory of Directors in the City of Chicago. Chicago: The Audit Company of New York, 1905.
Eighteenth Annual Catalogue ofthe University of Chicago, including Union College of Law and Rush Medical College. Chicago: Hazlitt & Reed, Publishers, 1877.
Encyclopedia of Chicago. Website available through the Chicago History Museum, encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/ ; accessed December 7, 2018.
Ffrench, Charles. Biographical History of the American Irish in Chicago. Chicago: American Biographical Publishing Co., 1897.
History of Medicine and Surgery and Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. Chicago: The Biographical Publishing Corporation, 1922.
Hotchkiss, George W. Industrial Chicago: The Lumber Interests. Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1894.
Industrial Chicago: The Building Interests. Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891.
"Near North Side." Local Community Area Fact Book.
Origin, Growth, and Usefulness of the Chicago Board of Trade. New York: Historical Publishing Co., Publishers, 1885-6.
Polk's Chicago Numerical Street and Avenue Directory. Chicago: R. L. Polk & Co, 1928.
Porter, Henry H. A Short A utobiography: Written for His Children and Grandchildren. Chicago: Privatly Printed, 1915.
Rand, McNally & Co's Bird's-Eye Views and Guide to Chicago. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Company, 1893.
Report ofthe Board of Police in the Fire Department to the Common Council ofthe City of
Chicago, for the year ending March 31, 1875. Chicago: Hazlitt & Reed, Printers, 1875.
Report ofthe Chicago Relief and Aid Society to the Common Council of the City of Chicago. Chicago: Horton & Leonard, Printers, 1872.
Robinson's Atlas of the City of Chicago, 1886. Available through the Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago History Museum.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. maps for Chicago, vol. ln, 1906, 1950.
The Hand-Book of Chicago Biography. John J. Flinn, Editor. Chicago: The Standard Guide Company, 1893.
United States Census. 1850-1880, 1900-1920.
Wheeler, Mrs. Charles Gilbert. A nnals ofthe Chicago Orphan A sylum: From 1849 to 1892. Chicago: Published by the Board, 1892.
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Wilkie, F. B. Sketches and Notices ofthe Chicago Bar. Chicago: Published by Henry A. Sumner, 1871.
Wolner, Edward W. Henry Ives Cobb's Chicago: A rchitecture, Institutions, and the Making of Modern Metropolis. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Journals and Newspapers
Abendpost [Chicago German language newspaper]
American Architect & Building News
Architectural Record
Building Budget
Chicago Commerce
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Chicago Daily Tribune and Chicago Tribune.
Chicago Inter-Ocean
Economist
Grain Dealers Journal
Inland Architect
New York Times
Plumber & Sanitary Engineer
Quarterly Bulletin of American Institute of Architects Railway World Sanitary Engineer
View looking southeast along Michigan Avenue, 1929. The Water Tower is in the foreground at Michigan and Chicago Avenues. St. James Church is visible in the middle on the right side of the image.
Chicago History Museum, Ichi dn-0020190
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Acknowledgments
CITY OF CHICAGO
Lori E. Lightfoot, Mayor
Department of Planning and Development
Maurice D. Cox, Commissioner
Kathleen E. Dickhut, Deputy Commissioner
Project Staff
Matt Wicklund, (consultant), research, writing, photography, and layout Terry Tatum (consultant), research, writing Matt Crawford (project manager) Kandalyn Hahn (project manager), editing
This Summary of Information prepared with support provided by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Landmarks Illinois, and Preservation Chicago.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council, was established in 1968 by city ordinance. The Commission is responsible for recommending to the City Council that individual buildings, sites, objects, or districts should be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law. The Commission is staffed by the Chicago Department of Planning & Development, Bureau of Planning, Sustainability & Historic Preservation, City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street, Room 1000, Chicago, IL 60602; phone 312-744-3200; website www.cityofchicago.org/DPD .
This Landmark Designation Report is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within the final designation ordinance as approved by City Council should be regarded as jinal.
View looking northwest along Superior Street from Rush Street, circa 1882. Fourth Presbyterian Church is on the corner (not extant) and the bay of 44-46 East Superior Street is visible.
Andreas, History of Chicago from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, 1885.
COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
Rafael M. Leon, Chair
Ernest C. Wong, Vice-Chair
Maurice D. Cox, Secretary
Paola Aguirre
Suellen Burns
Gabriel Ignacio Dziekiewicz
Tiara Hughes
Lynn Osmond
Richard Tolliver
DPD
The Commission is staffed by the:
chicago department op planning « development
Department of Planning and Development
Bureau of Planning, Sustainability and Historic Preservation
City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street, Room 1000
Chicago, Illinois 60602
312.744.3200 (TEL)
Printed March 2019; revised and reprinted February 2020
Exhibit C
Department of Planning and Development city of chicago
April 4, 2019
Report to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks On the
Near North Side Multiple Property District
642 N. Dearborn Street; 17 E. Erie Street; 14 W. Erie Street; 110 W. Grand Street; 1 E. Huron Street; 671 N. State Street; 9 E. Huron Street; 10 E. Huron Street; 16 W. Ontario Street; 18 W. Ontario Street; 212 E. Ontario Street; 222 E. Ontario Street; 716 N. Rush Street; 42 E. Superior
Street; 44-46 E. Superior Street
The Department of Planning and Development finds that the proposed landmark designation of the Near North Side Multiple Property District supports the City's overall planning goals for the surrounding Near North Side Community Area and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.
The Near North Side Multiple Property District exemplifies the special importance ofthe portion of the Near North Side covered by this Chicago Landmark designation as an upper- and upper-middle-class residential neighborhood built-up in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. The district is a group of 15 properties that, individually and collectively, exemplify the finely-crafted residential architecture that once filled much ofthe Near North Side.
The zoning for each ofthe 15 properties within the proposed landmark district ranges from DX-5 (Downtown Mixed Use) to DX-12. Surrounding zoning districts include other similar DX zoning districts and multiple planned developments with similar underlying zoning classifications. The area is improved with a wide variety of residential high rises, mixed use buildings as well as restaurant, hotel, office, entertainment and retail uses. The area has witnessed substantial growth and redevelopment with each successive real estate cycle over the last several decades and is one ofthe central area's most vibrant sub-districts.
DPD's recent planning efforts for the area are consistent with the proposed landmark designation. The Central Area Plan, adopted by the Chicago Plan Commission in 2003, includes the preservation and strengthening ofthe Central Area's world-renowned architectural and cultural heritage as a key development theme. It also specifically recommends to "continue to designate the Central Area's most important landmark building and districts."
121 NOiiTH LASAI.LK STB EET. KOOM 1000. CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 60602
Other DPD initiatives impacting this area include the 2016 change to the downtown zoning density bonus system which leverages the Central Area growth to foster neighborhood development. Developer payments from additional density in downtown districts are allocated into three funds to encourage commercial development in neighborhoods lacking private investment, to support the restoration of landmarked structures, and to support local improvements close to the development site. Also, a more recent zoning ordinance change expanded transit-oriented development opportunities along certain high-capacity CTA bus routes, including Chicago Avenue.
Department of Planning and Development
In order to balance the continued growth ofthis area with preservation, the department recommends detailed review ofthe designated features and possible design guidelines. In conclusion, landmark designation ofthe Near North Side Multiple Property District supports the City's overall planning and economic development goals for Chicago's Near North Side community and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.