Department of Planning and Development city of chicago
January 11, 2023
Chicago City Clerk-Council Liu.
2023JANllFH3:2i
The Honorable Anna M. Valencia City Clerk City of Chicago Room 107, City Hall 121 North LaSalle Street Chicago, IL 60602
RE: Recommendation for designation of the Pioneer Arcade at 1535 North Pulaski Road as a Chicago Landmark
Dear Clerk Valencia:
We are tiling with your office for introduction at the January 18, 2023, City Council meeting as a transmittal to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago the recommendation ofthe Commission on Chicago Landmarks that the Pioneer Arcade be designated as a Ghicago 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 E. Dickhut Deputy Commissioner
Bureau of Citywide Systems & Historic Preservation ends.
cc: Alderman Roberto Maldonado, 26th Ward (via email without enclosure)
121 NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 1000, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60602
ORDINANCE
Pioneer Arcade 1535-1545 North Pulaski Road
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 Pioneer Arcade (the "Building"), located at 1535-1545 North Pulaski Road, Chicago, Illinois, as more fully described in Exhibit 1, subject to title and survey review, and attached hereto and incorporated herein, satisfies two (2) criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1) and (4) ofthe Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the Building is an important manifestation of America's early twentieth-century leisure culture embodied in the games of bowling and billiards; and
WHEREAS, the Building represented a new, family-friendly era for bowling and billiards, indoor sports which largely had been associated with saloons where most Chicagoans had played the games until Prohibition. Enticed by the allure of Chicago's new recreation centers, 1920s bowlers and billiard players flocked to new recreation centers like the Building that rose at or near the busy intersections of neighborhood business districts throughout the city; and
WHEREAS, Chicago was the Midwestern center for a new national indoor sports movement at the turn of the twentieth century which revolved around bowling and billiards. In 1901, organized by the American Bowling Congress, Chicago hosted the first modern bowling tournament in the United States with forty-one teams from across the nation and, in 1916, organized one of the first billiard world championship games; and
WHEREAS, commercial recreation centers like the Building served roles in their communities beyond simple bowling centers or pool halls. They were sports academies where novices could receive instruction. They took on the role of neighborhood social halls where spectators could gather to watch city-wide and regional tournaments and exhibition shows. They were open all year, warm in winter and air-conditioned in the summer, and often had cafes and other stores and service providers. Commercial recreation centers offered inviting, safe, and inexpensive evening and weekend entertainment for Chicagoans of almost every income, ethnicity, age, or gender; and
WHEREAS, the Building is sited just south of the southeast corner of the North Avenue and Pulaski Road intersection, the heart of a Humboldt Park neighborhood business district which included the 1924 Pioneer Trust & Savings Bank (4000 West North Avenue; extant; a designated Chicago Landmark), the 1914 New Apollo Theater (1536 North Pulaski Road; extant), and the 1922 Tiffin Theatre (4045 West North Avenue; demolished), large-scale commercial structures which, along with the Building, served as anchors for the commercial district; and
WHEREAS, the Building is an excellent example of the Spanish Baroque Revival architectural style which reached its greatest popularity during the 1920s and 1930s, particularly for large movie palaces like the Uptown Theater (4816 North Broadway; extant; a designated Chicago Landmark) and dance halls like the Aragon Ballroom (1106 West Lawrence Avenue; extant; in the Chicago Landmark Uptown Square District). The revival ofthe Spanish Baroque in early twentieth-century America was characterized by the use of applied terra-cotta ornament which was readily adaptable to the often-extravagant decorative motifs and elements ofthe style.
The Building's front facade is an exuberant display of such terra-cotta design and craftsmanship; and
WHEREAS, the Building, designed by architect Jens J. Jensen, is one of Chicago's grandest urban sports halls surviving from the 1920s, an outstanding example of a distinct commercial building type known as the "recreation center." Recreation centers were large, commercially run bowling and billiard halls typically located on Chicago's busiest urban thoroughfares within walking distance of growing residential neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, large commercial recreation centers like the Building were a new phenomenon in the popular culture of 1920s Chicago whose design could be traced back to leisure pursuits and facilities from earlier decades. Social and architectural elements of working-class taverns, upper-class private athletic clubs, community and non-profit organization athletic buildings, and later entertainment architecture were precedents for the commercial recreation center form built by Chicago's private entrepreneurs; and
WHEREAS, consistent with Section 2-120-630 ofthe Municipal Code, the Building 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 December 8, 2022, the Commission adopted a resolution recommending to the City Council of the City of Chicago (the "City Council") that the Building 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 ofthe City Council.
SECTION 2. The Building 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 Building are identified as:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, ofthe Building.
The following additional guidelines shall also apply to the Commission's review of permits pursuant to Section 2-120-740:
The Building consists of a Front Portion which includes the west (front) elevation, the north and south elevations, and roofline, measuring approximately 35 feet from the west elevation up to and including the wall behind the central stair, as depicted in Exhibit 2.
The Building also consists of a Rear Portion, as depicted in Exhibit 2, which extends eastward approximately 85 feet from the Front Portion.|1010|
The owner may seek demolition of the Rear Portion of the Building and the Commission shall approve it, provided that the Front Portion ofthe Building is retained in place, repaired, and restored in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines ofthe Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
The Commission shall approve the construction of a six-story structure behind the Front Portion ofthe Building as shown in conceptual plans dated November 18, 2021, from which the section drawing is hereby attached as Exhibit 3. It is understood that there may be minor changes as the project is developed, but the final project submitted for permitting must substantially conform to the conceptual plans.
SECTION 4. The Commission is hereby directed to create a suitable plaque appropriately identifying the Building as a Chicago Landmark.
SECTION 5. 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 of the other provisions of this ordinance.
SECTION 6. All ordinances, resolutions, motions or orders in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.
SECTION 7. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and approval.
|1010|
EXHIBIT 1
Building Address
1535-1545 North Pulaski Road, Chicago, Illinois
Permanent Index Numbers
16-02-100-006-0000
Legal Description
LOTS 12, 13, 14 AND 15 IN BLOCK 1 IN HOSMER AND MACKEY'S SUBDIVISION OF BLOCKS 1 TO 6 AND 12 TO 16 INCLUSIVE IN SEYMOUR'S ESTATE, A SUBDIVISION OF THE WEST 1/2 OF THE NORTHWEST 1/4 OF SECTION 2, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 13, LYING EAST OF THE THIRD PRINICIPAL MERIDIAN, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
|1010|
Exhibit 2: Pioneer Arcade Building - 1535 North Pulaski Road|1010|
Public Alley
COMMUNITY SPACE
LEVEL 2 -
COMMUNITY SPACE
17'*
BLOBBY |
Exhibit 3: Pioneer Arcade Building - 1535 North Pulaski Road
2BR RESIDENCE 1BR RESIDENCE
2BR RESIDENCE 1BR RESIDENCE
2BR RESIDENCE 1BR RESIDENCE
STORAGE 1BR RESIDENCE
I
SUPPORT 1BR RESIDENCE
LOBBY VEST. PARKING
j/parapet
' 73'*
t/raqf
b/roql
" ' 65'*
_ l_evel_6
'56*
_level 5
'46*
level 4
36*
_ Lev_eL3
'26*
[evel_2
"~'l4*
level 1
o*
EXISTING STRUCTURE
|1010|
CITY OF CHICAGO COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
December 8, 2022
RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHICAGO THAT CHICAGO LANDMARK DESIGNATION BE ADOPTED FOR THE
PIONEER ARCADE 1535-1545 North Pulaski Road
Docket No. 2022-04
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago:
Pursuant to Section 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code ofthe City of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the Pioneer Arcade (the "Building") is worthy of Chicago Landmark designation. On the basis of careful consideration of the history and architecture of the Building, the Commission has found that it satisfies the following two (2) criteria set forth in Section 2-120-620 ofthe Municipal Code:
1. 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.
I. BACKGROUND
The formal landmark designation process for the Building began on November 8,2022, when the Commission approved a preliminary landmark recommendation (the "Preliminary Recommendation") for the Building as a Chicago Landmark. The Commission found that the Building meets two (2) 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 etseq.). The Preliminary Recommendation, incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit 1, initiated the process for further study and analysis of the proposed designation of the Building as a Chicago Landmark. As part ofthe Preliminary Recommendation, the Commission identified the "significant historical and architectural features" of the Building as:
• All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building.
The following additional guidelines shall also apply to the Commission's review of permits pursuant to Section 2-120-740:
The Building consists of a Front Portion which includes the west (front) elevation, the north and south elevations, and roofline, measuring approximately 35 feet from the west elevation up to and including the wall behind the central stair, as depicted in Exhibit A.
The Building also consists of a Rear Portion, as depicted in Exhibit A, which extends eastward approximately 85 feet from the Front Portion.
The owner may seek demolition of the Rear Portion of the Building and the Commission shall approve it, provided that the Front Portion of the Building is retained in place, repaired, and restored in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
The Commission shall approve the construction ofa six-story structure behind the Front Portion ofthe Building as shown in conceptual plans dated November 18,2021, from which the section drawing is hereby attached as Exhibit B. It is understood that there may be minor changes as the project is developed, but the final project submitted for permitting must substantially conform to the conceptual plans.
Also, as part of the Preliminary Recommendation, the Commission adopted a Designation Report, dated November 2022, the most current iteration of which is dated December 8,2022, incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit 2 (the "Designation Report").
On November 16, 2022, the Commission officially requested consent to the proposed landmark designation from the owner ofthe Building, the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation. On November 22, 2022, the Commission received a form dated November 22, 2022, and signed by Hipolito Roldan, President of the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, consenting to the proposed landmark designation.
At its regular meeting of December 8,2022, the Commission received a report from Maurice Cox, Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), supporting the proposed landmark designation ofthe Building. This report is incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit 3.
II. FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
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, and all of the information on the proposed landmark designation of the Building; and
WHEREAS, the Building meets the two (2) criteria for landmark designation set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1) and (3) ofthe Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the Building is an important manifestation of America's early twentieth-century leisure culture embodied in the games of bowling and billiards; and
|1010|
WHEREAS, the Building represented a new, family-friendly era for bowling and billiards, indoor sports which largely had been associated with saloons where most Chicagoans had played the games until Prohibition. Enticed by the allure of Chicago's new recreation centers, 1920s bowlers and billiard players flocked to new recreation centers like the Building that rose at or near the busy intersections of neighborhood business districts throughout the city; and
WHEREAS, Chicago was the Midwestern center for a new national indoor sports movement at the turn of the twentieth century which revolved around bowling and billiards. In 1901, organized by the American Bowling Congress, Chicago hosted the first modem bowling tournament in the United States with forty-one teams from across the nation and, in 1916, organized one of the first billiard world championship games; and
WHEREAS, commercial recreation centers like the Building served roles in their communities beyond simple bowling centers or pool halls. They were sports academies where novices could receive instruction. They took on the role of neighborhood social halls where spectators could gather to watch city-wide and regional tournaments and exhibition shows. They were open all year, warm in winter and air-conditioned in the summer, and often had cafes and other stores and service providers. Commercial recreation centers offered inviting, safe, and inexpensive evening and weekend entertainment for Chicagoans of almost every income, ethnicity, age, or gender; and
WHEREAS, the Building is sited just south of the southeast comer of the North Avenue and Pulaski Road intersection, the heart of a Humboldt Park neighborhood business district which included the 1924 Pioneer Trust & Savings Bank (4000 West North Avenue; extant; a designated Chicago Landmark), the 1914 New Apollo Theater (1536 North Pulaski Road; extant), and the 1922 Tiffin Theatre (4045 West North Avenue; demolished), large-scale commercial structures which, along with the Building, served as anchors for the commercial district; and
WHEREAS, the Building is an excellent example of the Spanish Baroque Revival architectural style which reached its greatest popularity during the 1920s and 1930s, particularly for large movie palaces like the Uptown Theater (4816 North Broadway; extant; a designated Chicago Landmark) and dance halls like the Aragon Ballroom (1106 West Lawrence Avenue; extant; in the Chicago Landmark Uptown Square District). The revival ofthe Spanish Baroque in early twentieth-century America was characterized by the use of applied terra-cotta ornament which was readily adaptable to the often-extravagant decorative motifs and elements ofthe style. The Building's front facade is an exuberant display of such terra-cotta design and craftsmanship: and
WHEREAS, the Building, designed by architect Jens J. Jensen, is one of Chicago's grandest urban sports halls surviving from the 1920s, an outstanding example of a distinct commercial building type known as the "recreation center." Recreation centers were large, commercially run bowling and billiard halls typically located on Chicago's busiest urban thoroughfares within walking distance of growing residential neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, large commercial recreation centers like the Building were a new phenomenon in the popular culture of 1920s Chicago whose design could be traced back to leisure
|1010|
pursuits and facilities from earlier decades. Social and architectural elements of working-class taverns, upper-class private athletic clubs, community and non-profit organization athletic buildings, and later entertainment architecture were precedents for the commercial recreation center form built by Chicago's private entrepreneurs; now, therefore,
THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS HEREBY:
Adopts the recitals, findings, and statements of fact set forth in the preamble and Sections I and II hereof as the findings of the Cornmission; and
Adopts the Final Designation Report, as revised, and dated this 8th day of December 2022, and
Finds, based on the Designation Report and the entire record before the Commission, that the Building meets the two (2) criteria for landmark designation set forth in Sections 2-120-620 (1) and (4) ofthe Municipal Code; and
Finds that the Building 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 Building are identified as follows:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building.
The following additional guidelines shall also apply to the Commission's review of permits pursuant to Section 2-120-740:
The Building consists of a Front Portion which includes the west (front) elevation, the north and south elevations, and roofline, measuring approximately 35 feet from the west elevation up to and including the wall behind the central stair, as depicted in Exhibit A.
The Building also consists of a Rear Portion, as depicted in Exhibit A, which extends eastward approximately 85 feet from the Front Portion.
The owner may seek demolition of the Rear Portion of the Building and the Commission shall approve it, provided that the Front Portion of the Building is retained in place, repaired, and restored in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines ofthe Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
The Commission shall approve the construction ofa six-story structure behind the Front Portion of the Building as shown in conceptual plans dated November 18, 2021, from which the section drawing is hereby attached as Exhibit B. It is understood that there may be minor changes as the project is developed, but the final project submitted for permitting must substantially conform to the conceptual plans.
6. Recommends that the Building be designated a Chicago Landmark.
|1010|
|1010|
EXHIBIT 1
Resolution by the
Commission on Chicago Landmarks on the
Preliminary Landmark Recommendation for the
PIONEER ARCADE
1535-1545 North Pulaski Road
November 3, 2022
Whereas, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") preliminarily finds that:
The Pioneer Arcade (thc "Building"), located at the address noted above, meets the two (2) criteria for landmark designation set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1) and (4) ofthe Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), as specifically described in the Preliminary Summary of Information (the "Preliminary Summary") submitted to the Commission on this 3rd day of November, 2022, by the Department of Planning and Development; and
the Building satisfies the historic integrity requirement set forth in Section 2-120-630 ofthe 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 Building in accordance with Section 2-120-630 ofthe Municipal Code.
Section 3. For purposes of Section 2-120-740 of thc Municipal Code governing permit review, the significant historical and architectural features of the Building are preliminarily identified as:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building.
The following additional guidelines shall also apply to the Commission's review of permits pursuant to Section 2-120-740:
The Building consists ofa Front Portion which includes the west (front) elevation, the north and south elevations, and roofline, measuring approximately 35 feet from the west elevation up to and including the wall behind the central stair, as depicted in Exhibit A.
The Building also consists ofa Rear Portion, as depicted in Exhibit A, which extends eastward approximately 85 feet from the Front Portion.
The owner may seek demolition of the Rear Portion of the Building and the Commission shall approve it, provided that the Front Portion of the Building is retained in place, repaired, and restored in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
• The Commission shall approve the construction of a six-story structure behind the Front Portion of the Building as shown in conceptual plans dated November 18, 2021, from which the section drawing is hereby attached as Exhibit B. It is understood that there may be minor changes as the project is developed, but the final project submitted for permitting must substantially conform to the conceptual plans.
Section .4—The Commission hereby-requests a report or statement.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 ofthe Municipal Code.
This recommendation was adopted >v^<--^<^a. C 8 "* ^ ) .
ll
EXHIBIT 2
LANDMARK DESIGNATION REPORT
The Pioneer Arcade
1535-1545 North Pulaski Road
Final Landmark Recommendation adopted by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, December 8, 2022
CITY OF CHICAGO Lori E. Lightfoot, Mayor
Department of Planning and Development Maurice D. Cox, Commissioner
Cover photo by Patrick Pyszka.
CONTENTS
Introduction|910|Building History, Design, and Construction|910|The Spanish Baroque Revival Style|910|Architect Jens J. Jensen 9
Bowling and Billiards Become Mainstream with Chicago as Their Midwestern Center 11
Recreation Centers in Chicago 13
The North Avenue and Pulaski Road Commercial Area and The Humboldt Park Community 16
Criteria For Designation 19
Significant Historical and Architectural Features 21
Selected Bibliography 22
The Pioneer Arcade
1535-1545 North Pulaski Road Built: 1924-1925 Architect: Jens J. Jensen
Introduction
Completed in 1925, the Pioneer Arcade at 1535-1545 North Pulaski Road in Chicago was designed by Danish-born Chicago architect Jens J. Jensen (1891-1969) for Greek-born entrepreneurs Gust Regas, Spiros Regas, and Peter Danigeles. This Spanish Baroque Revival-style structure, conceived as an elaborate entertainment and social center for Chicago's growing Humboldt Park community, is one of the last remaining large-scale commercial buildings that formed a neighborhood commercial center at the intersection ofNorth Avenue and Pulaski Road (formerly Crawford Avenue). As one of Chicago's grandest urban sports halls surviving from the 1920s, the Pioneer Arcade stands as an important illustration of the development of America's twentieth-century leisure culture embodied in the games of bowling and billiards. With its impressive ivory-colored terra-cotta facade, the Pioneer Arcade is the most ornate and intact example of the Chicago commercial recreation center type—a commercially run bowling and billiard hall—still standing.
This report owes much to Health Factories and Palaces of Pleasure: Bowling, Billiards, and the Chicago Rec,' 1895-1929, a thesis written by John Cramer in 2011 for the Master of Science in Historic Preservation Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. We thank Mr. Cramer for generously sharing his thesis and research, and for allowing us to excerpt and edit portions of his thesis for much of this report.
Building History, Design, and Construction
Chicagoans Gust and Spiros Regas and Peter Danigeles pooled their money and business experience, much of it from working in bowling and billiard halls, to envision and build the Pioneer Arcade. All three had been born in Tripoli, Greece, and immigrated to the United States as teenagers in the first decade of the twentieth century. All three initially shined shoes for a living, Gust Regas in a bowling and billiard hall. Both Danigeles and the Regas Brothers eventually started up their own shoeshine parlors. By 1920, the Regas brothers were working as clerks in a pool room. When Danigeles married Gust and Spiros's sister Kaliope in 1921, the three men shared not only birthplace and work but family connections.
Referenced as having had "ten years of successful business operations on thc northwest side" when the Pioneer Arcade was announced, the trio were part of a growing group of entrepreneurs looking to cater to an as-yet untapped, new market of bowling and billiard enthusiasts. After the close of World War I, demand for these indoor sports led to an explosion of new recreation centers in large cities across the country, particularly in Chicago, which had, since the late nineteenth century, been the center of bowling interest in the Midwest.
|1010|
Above: The Pioneer Arcade (shown in black) is located just south of the southeast corner of the North Avenue and Pulaski Road intersection within the Humboldt Park Community Area on Chicago's West Side (see inset).
Below: Looking south down Pulaski. The Pioneer Arcade is on the left. (Photo by Patrick Pyszka)
In early 1924 the Regas brothers and Danigeles purchased a mostly vacant plot of land just south ofthe fast-developing intersection ofNorth Avenue and Pulaski Road. Only portions of this block along Pulaski Road had been improved, and a small, one-story, brick home occupied less than a quarter of the 96' wide x 124' deep parcel. They hired Jens J. Jensen, a Chicago architect with several local Greek clients, to design their new recreation center. Jensen's design showed a facility unlike any in Humboldt Park, a large and extravagant structure befitting a downtown movie palace but dedicated instead to indoor sports. They began construction on the Pioneer Arcade in June of 1924, hiring the Neslo Wagstad Company as contractors. In August, they secured additional financing from the Pioneer Trust and Savings Bank. The bank was only a block north of their property and at the time was building its own new structure at the northwest corner of Pulaski Road and North Avenue.
The Regases and Danigeles chose the name "Pioneer Arcade" for their auspicious new venture. A June 22, 1924, Chicago Tribune article reported the building would cost $350,000 and that it would be "one of the city's finest," adding that it was claimed it would be "one ofthe most elaborate recreation buildings in the city." The article then detailed the building's touted features:
The entire facade ofthe building will be of ivory terra cotta in elaborate Spanish design. There'll be four shops on the ground floor, the remainder of the building being devoted to recreation rooms.
The main floor lobby will lead directly into the billiard room which will have thirty-five tables. A broad tile staircase, with ornamental railings, will connect the lobby with the main lounge for both men and women, which will extend across the entire front ofthe building.
There'll be twenty bowling alleys adjoining the lounge with spectators' platforms to accommodate 600 at one time. The third floor will be given over to locker rooms, store rooms and special rest rooms and showers.
A mechanical ventilating system throughout the building is promised and it is presumed this means a cooling system for the summer.
The city's final inspection of the new building was completed in March of 1925. Architect Jens J. Jensen's recreation center was designed to impress. The richly decorated Pulaski Road facade, a two-story expanse of terra-cotta ornament, resembled that of an exotic Spanish palace, complete with balustraded balconies in front of the upper windows. The Pioneer's outside marquee mimicked those of the glittering movie palaces downtown, so much so that passersby often mistook it for a cinema.
At street level, the building housed four storefront tenant spaces. Along North Avenue and increasingly along Pulaski Road over the course ofthe 1920s, storefront buildings sprung up to sell goods and services to those who lived in the residential areas surrounding the intersection and to those who worked nearby at places like the North Western Railroad's Pulaski "shops" (maintenance facilities) or the factories along the Belt Line Railroad to the west. In 1929, Thomas Pappas's hat cleaning shop operated from the storefront at 1535; a barber named Peter Rousos had set up shop in 1537; the "Arcade Lunch Room" operated from 1539; and a Singer Sewing Machine sales and repair shop occupied 1541.
|1010|
Above: The Pioneer Arcade circa 1927. (Source: North and Pulaski Historical Society)|1010|Below left: details of 2nd-floor central bay and parapet. Below right: latticework terra-cotta design at 2nd floor. Bottom right: column capital and decorative lintel. (Photos by Patrick Pyszka)
Almost a century later, the exterior ofthe Pioneer Arcade looks much the same. The building occupies the full lot without setbacks. An alley runs along the north and east elevations. A one-story brick commercial structure to the south was demolished in 2019 so this elevation now faces a large vacant lot.
The building is two stories tall with a very small, rectangular, third-floor-level room at the southeast corner. The second floor is taller than the first as it was designed to accommodate mezzanine seating along the inside of the building's west wall. The roof is flat at the west end with a narrow rectangular pop-up containing HVAC equipment set back substantially from the tall, front parapet. East of the pop-up are two large skylights. The eastern two-thirds ofthe roof is slightly sloped with dual barrel shapes projecting above the parapets, one on the north half and one on the south half.
The west (front) elevation is clad in a subtle mix of ivory, cream, and tan terra cotta while the north, east, and south elevations are red common brick with scattered window openings, many of them bricked in. At the front, the facade is divided into three bays framed by flat piers at the first floor and decorative columns directly above at the second floor. Squared Corinthian columns frame entries and storefronts at the sidewalk. Above the columns, terra-cotta-clad lintels with designs of garlands, medallions, and acanthus leaves span each bay. The slightly protruding form above each column capital has a center rosette with consoles at each side. An intermediate cornice delineates the first from the second floor.
The second floor has a central bay with three elongated, arched windows. A balconet is centered on each of the side bays. Foliate and medallion panels define the base while an arcaded cornice topped by a parapet with extended torches creates a dramatic crown. Design motifs include latticework (walls, corner columns), twisted shapes (columns at the sides of the central bay, edges ofthe arched window openings), and arcades (the frieze, fascia ofthe arched window transoms). Classical elements such as columns and acanthus leaves are plentiful but so are less typical elements including shells or shell-shaped foliage (top ofthe central niche, above the balconets, above side bay windows, concave jambs of the arched window openings), torches (extending upward from the parapet, atop the window surrounds), and cartouches (the parapet), the ones in the spandrels ofthe center bay featuring the letter "P."
Inside the main entrance, at either side of the lobby, three arched openings led to the tenant spaces beyond while a central stair led to the second floor. The billiard hall was to the east, accessed via short halls at either side of the stair. Very large ceiling beams in the billiard hall allowed for a minimal four columns so floor area could be maximized.
The central staircase split to a double flight, allowing patrons to arrive at either side of the second-floor visitor lounge. At the northwest and southwest corners of this room, mezzanine levels provided viewing galleries for spectators who looked eastward toward the sixteen bowling alleys which terminated at the pin-setting area along the east wall. Stairs at the southeast corner provided access to a small third floor which housed locker rooms, showers, and spaces for storage.
The original mezzanine viewing areas have been enclosed. The bowling lanes and floors were covered over during a modernization phase and little, if any, other historic fabric remains. On the first floor, the billiard hall and tenant spaces have been significantly altered and stripped down with almost no historic elements left. Portions of the central staircase have been boxed in and most historic finishes in the lobby have been replaced or damaged.
|1010|
Above left: second floor. Top right: elaborate window hood above balconet, arcaded cornice, and parapet with stylized torches. Above right: north bay of first floor. (Photos by Patrick Pyszka)
Below: the Pioneer Arcade circa 2000, after it was put up for sale. Champion bowler Luis Gonzalez was the last owner to operate a bowling alley in the "Pioneer Bowl."
From its opening, the Pioneer Arcade thrived as a bowling alley and billiard hall, regularly hosting private and employer-sponsored league tournaments and city-wide competitions and becoming a long-term fixture in the social life of Humboldt Park. By February of 1928, Gust and Spiros Regas and Peter Danigeles decided on a different business model, selling partial ownership of the Pioneer Arcade but installing themselves as operators of the bowling alley and billiard hall as the Regas & Danis Company, a role they would retain for decades. The new partners were the Goldammer Brothers, Otto and William, who added the Pioneer Arcade to their growing portfolio of Northwest and West side recreation centers. The Goldammers were well-known in the bowling community as champion-level competitors. The partnership between the families would continue in one form or another through at least the 1960s when they built a new bowling alley in Melrose Park.
During its nearly eighty years of operation, the Pioneer Arcade remained a commercially run bowling and billiard hall, a type of business known as a "recreation center," "commercial rec," or "rec" for short. The last owner who operated a bowling alley in the building, entrepreneur and champion bowler Luis Gonzalez, sold the renamed Pioneer Lanes in the mid-2000s to the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation.
The Spanish Baroque Revival Style
The Pioneer Arcade is an excellent example of the Spanish Baroque Revival architectural style, an uncommon choice for Chicago buildings. Baroque art and architecture flourished in Spain between 1650 and 1750 largely through the patronage ofthe Roman Catholic Church which embraced dazzling architecture and fine arts. The most exuberantly ornamental phase ofthe Spanish Baroque was named after the Churriguera family, who worked mainly around Salamanca, Spain. The term "Churrigueresque" denotes the visually frenetic, twisting, and lavishly sculptural ornamentation that began to characterize much Spanish architecture by the end ofthe seventeenth century. Typical Churrigueresque ornamental features include the twisted or "Solomonic" column, especially those with composite order details; exuberant ornamentation especially above the main entrance; and forms from the Classical style of architecture.
Spanish Baroque architecture was transplanted across the Atlantic to Spain's colonies in the Americas beginning in the sixteenth century. Elements of the style can also be seen in the relatively plain mission churches constructed in the American southwest, which was at the fringes of Spain's colonial empire. The missions typically featured plain, stucco-clad walls, twin bell towers, clay-tile roofs, and, occasionally, a sculpturally decorated entrance portal. Compared to the Spanish Baroque churches of Central and South America, the comparatively plain mission churches represent the frontier manifestations of the exuberant baroque style.
It was at the Panama-California Exposition, held in San Diego in 1915, that the Spanish Baroque style was revived by architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, a nationally prominent architect who had previously authored a detailed study of Spanish Colonial architecture. The versatile Goodhue was also a proponent of the Gothic Revival movement, designing such ecclesiastical buildings as Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago from 1928 (5850 South Woodlawn Avenue; a designated Chicago Landmark).
|1010|
Above: Pioneer Arcade, 1936. (Source: Cook County Clerk of Court Archive)
Left: The Spanish Baroque Revival-style Uptown Theater by Rapp & Rapp, built 1925. (Source: Theatre Historical Society of America)
Below: The Spanish Baroque Revival-style Aragon Ballroom, 1927, by Huszagh & Hill, built 1926.
(Source: Louisgrell.com )
|1010|
The revival ofthe Spanish Baroque in early twentieth-century America was characterized by the use of applied terra-cotta ornament which was readily adaptable to the extravagant decoration of the style. The Spanish Baroque Revival style reached its greatest popularity during the 1920s and 1930s, particularly for the large movie palaces ofthe period like the Uptown Theatre from 1925 (4816 N Broadway; a designated Chicago Landmark) and for dance halls like the nearby Aragon Ballroom of 1926 (1106 West Lawrence Avenue; located in the Chicago Landmark Uptown Square District). It was a natural choice for entrepreneurs desiring to appeal to a public seeking escape from the everyday through exotic architecture. Entertainment began on the outside and continued on the interior where "atmospheric" architecture placed patrons in plaster mock-ups of palace courtyards or central squares of picturesque villages. Like many revival styles of architecture, the Spanish Baroque fell out of fashion after World War II.
Architect Jens J. Jensen
Architect Jens J. Jensen (1891 -1969), the designer of the Pioneer Arcade, is often mistaken for noted Prairie-style landscape architect Jens Jensen. Danish-born Jens J. Jensen immigrated to Chicago as a child at the turn of the twentieth century. He attended Chicago's Lewis Institute and apprenticed with the architecture firm of Francis M. Barton. He began his practice in Chicago in 1915 and became a member of the Illinois Society of Architects by 1921.
During the nationwide economic expansion of the 1920s, Jensen designed and built several block-size multi-use developments for Chicago and suburban clients. These designs were typically composed of ground floor commercial storefronts and one to two stories of apartments above. He often worked with Greek American developer George W. Prassas, establishing a partnership that produced several commercial and residential projects on Chicago's North and Northwest Sides. Many Jensen-Prassas collaborations still stand, with Classical Revival a favorite style. Their developments can still be seen at places like the northeast corner of West Argyle Street and North Kenmore Avenue or the southwest corner ofNorth Pulaski Road and West School Street.
The dramatic Pioneer Arcade likely brought attention to Jensen which helped him to obtain two even larger commissions: the 300 West Adams Loop office building completed in 1927 (a designated Chicago Landmark) and the monumental Guyon Hotel located at 4000 West Washington Street completed in 1928. With the advent of the Great Depression in 1929, the collaboration of Jensen and Prassas ended. George Prassas would later expand on his commercial development success and become an early builder of the first large-scale suburban shopping malls.
Jensen's later career was focused on retail architecture. As early as the late 1930s and continuing through the 1950s, Jensen was a leading designer for the Charles L. Schrager Company, the developers of Jewel Food Stores throughout the Chicago area. Jensen worked almost exclusively for Schrager until the mid-1950s. His son, Jens J. Jensen, Jr., became a partner in his father's firm in 1955. The newly renamed firm of Jensen & Jensen designed dozens of mid-century modernist-style Jewel market facilities across the greater Chicago area. Jens J. Jensen, Sr., retired from architecture in 1961 and died in Phoenix in 1969. His son continued the family firm until retirement, passing the reins to Jensen Sr.'s architect grandson Jarrett Jensen. The firm of Jensen and Jensen retains offices in Oak Brook, Illinois.
|10 10|
Far left: Jens J. Jensen in the 1920s. (Credit: Garrett Jensen, Jensen & Jensen Architects)
Left: Postcard of Hotel Guyon by Jens J. Jensen, 1928.
Middle: Jensen's commercial building at the SW corner of Pulaski and School. (Source: Google.)
Lower left: the 300 West Adams St. office building.
(Source: 1928 Handbook for Architects and Builders: Illinois Society of Architects)
Charles L. Schrager Company 1953
'iSSS^k OPERATION (M!
CHARLES L. SCHRAGER COMPANY
110 S. Dnrboni Sirnt, Chicago J. III.
Below: ad with mid-century modern Jewel grocery stores designed by Jensen. (Chicago Daily Tribune, Jan. 9, 1954)
10
Bowling and Billiards Become Mainstream with Chicago as Their Midwestern Center
Bowling and billiards were commonplace in the back rooms of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century saloons across Chicago. Players might compete against each other, but such contests were largely informal. The 1900s and 1910s saw a critical shift in how bowling and billiards were played and how players saw themselves and their games. Players, particularly bowlers, began to organize more formal competitions, but ran up against non-uniform lanes and rules. Billiard games, too, were variations of traditional pool, snooker, and carom, and were played on different size tables with different size pockets, and with cues and balls of varying sizes and weights. Order would need to be imposed on the sports before serious competition could be held.
Though for fifty years Chicago had been a gathering place for bowling enthusiasts, events in the last decade ofthe nineteenth century cemented the city's reputation as the Midwest's center ofa new national indoor sports movement. In 1895, bowling enthusiasts from New York and the Midwest formed the American Bowling Congress in New York City and established regulations for alley size, scoring, and game rules. This uniformity allowed greater opportunity for competition and Chicago assembled its first bowling league by 1896. Five years later, Chicago was host to thirty leagues, made up of players from nearly three hundred clubs. Though a women's league had not yet been formed, there were seventy-five known women's clubs.
Tainted by the games' association with taverns, promoters also sought respectability for indoor sports through visibility of the game and suppression of gambling's influence to control game outcomes. High-stakes competition attracted attention and prize money pooled together by member leagues lowered the incentive for meddling. In 1901, organized by the American Bowling Congress, Chicago hosted the first modern bowling tournament in the United States, when forty-one teams from across the nation competed for a $ 1200 prize. That same year, the Chicago Eagle declared that "nothing more remarkable has occurred in the world of indoor sports in the history of Chicago than the growth of interest in bowling."
In 1915, to assuage anti-drinking and -gambling forces in the city, the Chicago Bowling and Billiards Protective League was formed to clean up indoor recreation's reputation. The first elected members of the League's executive committee read like a "who's who" of Chicago's bowling and billiard leaders. Each member hall proprietor was obligated by the League's bylaws to "conduct his bowling alley or billiard hall in an orderly and unobjectionable manner" and to "discourage objectionable and illegal practices."
To increase public awareness of the League itself, members arranged large city tournaments with cash prizes and trophies donated by the Chicago-based Brunswick Company, the nation's largest supplier of bowling and billiard equipment. The League organized one of the first pocket billiard world championship games, held in Chicago in 1916. The true work ofthe League, however, was to act as an advocate for indoor sports hall proprietors in courts of law and in the court of public opinion. League-retained counsel defended maligned room owners in illegal gambling cases. The League even endorsed local political candidates friendly to bowling and billiard hall owners and their interests.
In 1918, League members joined with representatives of the Chicago Athletic Association to try to repeal the 1911 ordinance limiting licensing to operators who constrained alleys or tables to the ground floor and therefore, it was thought, open to moral surveillance from the sidewalks.
ll
Left: pin from the first American Bowling Congress tournament which took place in ( Chicago in 1901. (Source. International Bowling Museum & Hall of Fame)
Below: Promotional photo of Allen Hall, circa 1929. Hall was a Three-cushion Billiard World Championship Finalist in the 1931 tournament held in Chicago. The Pioneer Arcade was called his "home room" by the Chicago Tribune in 1939. (Source: Ebay.com )
The progress ofthe League in appealing to the City Council is unclear and resolution ofthe matter is not reported in Chicago newspapers. Advocates for reform and those for indoor sports were locked into an ongoing fight. In 1922, another ordinance was passed similar to the previous one restricting play to street level, yet basement and second-floor alleys and tables were still seen in recreation centers built in the 1920s, including the Pioneer Arcade, suggesting that enforcement was at least weakened by the standard-establishing League.
Relative to bowling, billiards experienced a less formal regulation movement and was without a national governing body until 1921 when the National Billiard Association (NBAA) was formed with the monetary and organizational assistance of Brunswick. Similar to bowling, this would pave the way for more formal, high-profile, and lucrative competition on local, state, and national levels. By the 1930s, Chicago had established itself as a center for billiard exhibitions and was home to nationally recognized players like Allen Hall. Hall made the Pioneer Arcade his signature establishment, thereby raising its profile with well-publicized tournament play in a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Recreation Centers in Chicago
Commercial recreation centers like the Pioneer Arcade would not have been viable ventures prior to the 1920s. Negative public opinion of bowling and billiards as inducements to gambling and drinking relegated the pastimes largely to saloon back rooms for the sports' first decades in America. But when legal saloons ceased to exist due to Prohibition and new recreation centers appeared, 1920s bowlers and pool players flocked to them.
With more money to spend and more time in which to spend it, early twentieth century enthusiasts of "indoor sports" were becoming increasingly demanding consumers of amusement. Like moviegoers of the period, bowlers and pool players went to recreation centers seeking entertainment and escape. In a saturated entertainment market, expectations were high. As with their movie palace cousins, the best recreation centers were visual and sensory presentations with indoor sports only one part of the show. Owners were challenged to offer the most up-to-date climate control and playing equipment; amenities like in-house barbers, cigar shops, and dining options; and attentive staff to create the atmosphere of a private club.
Though large commercial recreation centers were a new phenomenon in American popular culture in the 1920s, their design could be traced back to leisure architecture from earlier decades. Social and architectural elements of working-class taverns, upper-class private athletic clubs, community and non-profit organization athletic buildings, and later entertainment architecture might all be discerned in the commercial form built by private entrepreneurs.
Most Chicago commercial recreation centers built between 1900 and 1930 were found along the busiest urban thoroughfares within walking distance of growing residential neighborhoods and close to stops along Chicago's ever-expanding elevated train system. They were usually one to two stories. The most elaborate recs were built in ecstatic revival styles and were usually accessed through grand stylized lobbies. The sports facilities themselves could be extensive— the largest of Chicago's recreation centers encompassed tens of thousands of square feet and housed up to ninety pool tables and fifty bowling alleys.
Commercial recreation centers served roles in their communities beyond simple bowling centers or pool halls. They were sports academies where novices could receive instruction in the
13
day's most popular indoor games. They took on the role of de facto neighborhood social hall and gathering space where hundreds of spectators could gather to watch city-wide and regional tournaments and exhibition shows. In larger recs, one could sometimes find indoor golf courses, dance halls, or even makeshift boxing rings. They were open all year in all seasons, warm in winter and mostly air-conditioned in summer. They often had their own cafes or soda fountains, stores and service providers, and lounges, and offered inviting, safe, and inexpensive evening and weekend entertainment for Chicagoans of almost every income, ethnicity, age, or gender.
Commercial recreation centers' designers borrowed liberally from the design ideology and styles of community, sports, and entertainment architecture. Even the term "recreation center" was borrowed from the late nineteenth-century name for public park field houses. Until the national economic collapse of 1929 decimated the American building industry and the spending power of indoor sportsmen, owners continued to build bigger or at least better recreation centers.
Not all rec centers succeeded, however, and by the mid-1920s, newer and larger recreation center developments had come to dominate Chicago's indoor sports landscape. Chicago rec managers learned the lesson downtown sports hall owners had known for decades: running a larger facility with more alleys and tables was a more sustainable business model than running a small outfit. Competition among the city's recs was fierce, especially with sports and facility technology improving every year. Successful rec owners found that the minimum number of alleys needed to stay afloat was six and that while increasing the number of lanes meant more maintenance, it also meant more profits. By 1926, there were only 168 dedicated bowling rooms open in the city of Chicago, with each room on average housing 6.5 lanes. Ten years later, there were only 123 rooms in the city, but with an average number of lanes per establishment of 10.6.
The model ofthe large commercial recreation center found many champions in Chicago's indoor sports circles. Unsurprisingly, no entity influenced the building of recreation centers as much as the Chicago-based indoor sports equipment manufacturer Brunswick. After Prohibition's enactment in 1919, Brunswick urged proprietors to refurbish their old bowling alleys to attract new enthusiasts. With more ambitious customers, they did not hesitate to tout the benefits of building new, multi-story "recreation centers" with all the bells and whistles.
No doubt entrepreneurs took note of the discussion of rec centers in local and national media. Newspapers like Chicago's Examiner and Tribune regularly carried stories about prominent games and tournaments and about the construction of new recs. National sports periodicals like Billiards Magazine and Bowlers Journal, published in Chicago beginning in 1913, provided news on prominent indoor sports figures and events, along with profiles of newly built recreation centers and advice for operators.
Given their work history in bowling and billiard establishments, it seems likely that the Gust and Spiros Regas and Peter Danigeles would have been aware ofthe increasing number of tournaments and other recreation centers being built. The Pioneer Arcade was part of the wave of recreation centers which were built on a larger scale in order to make these businesses viable. They also clearly understood the notion of indoor sports as entertainment and architecture's ability to convey that message—to this day, people still look at the Pioneer Arcade's elaborate facade and assume it must have been a grand movie theater.
They also provided the creature comforts to keep their customers happy, investing in cooling ventilation for the summer heat (as did movie theaters), securing a barber as a tenant, and
14
Above: 1928, North and Pulaski, looking north.
(Photo by Swain Scalf; Source: North and Pulaski Historical Society)
Right: 1921 Chicago Surface Lines map with streetcar lines shown in red. (Source: irm-cta.org )
Below: 1947, same intersection as above, with streetcars, looking north. (Source: North and Pulaski Historical Society)
15
arranging for an onsite cafe. Entrances inserted into the arches at either side of the lobby allowed billiard and bowling customers to enter businesses directly, connecting them as part of the same facility while allowing pedestrian traffic to bring in additional revenue.
The North Avenue and Pulaski Road Commercial Area and The Humboldt Park Community
The Pioneer Arcade is located just south of the intersection ofNorth Avenue and Pulaski Road, two major arterial streets in Chicago. Originally ending two miles east at California, in 1895 the North Avenue streetcar line was extended to Pulaski Road (known as North 40th Avenue at the time). By 1915, continuous streetcar service had been established along Pulaski Road (known as Crawford Avenue at by then) from 31st Street on the South Side to Bryn Mawr on the North Side.
In the early twentieth century, individual commercial buildings were built at most major arterial intersections, but commercial areas were even more likely to develop where streetcar lines crossed, creating "nodes" of commerce that capitalized on passengers transferring between different lines. At these "transfer corners," streetcar riders did convenience and impulse buying, and a variety of stores—increasingly including early chain stores like the Walgreen's drug store previously located just north of the Pioneer Arcade, later a Woolworth's—found enough sales to justify high rents brought about by rising land values and demand for retail space. Reflecting the increased cost of square footage, these neighborhood commercial districts were typically characterized by taller (three- to four-story) buildings at the corners of the principal intersecting streets, with sizes tapering off down the adjacent blocks. The intersection ofNorth Avenue and Pulaski Road reflects this pattern of commercial development history.
The Pioneer Arcade is located on the northwest side ofthe Humboldt Park Community Area, one of 75 Community Areas established by the University of Chicago in 1920. It is bound on the north by Bloomingdale Avenue, on the west by Kenton Avenue, on the south by Kinzie Street, and on the west roughly by Humboldt Boulevard. Prior to absorption into the city proper, the area roughly five miles west of downtown Chicago now called Humboldt Park was open prairie, dotted with small farms and settlements. Its proximity to the center of Chicago and potential for development led to its incorporation in 1869, the same year William Le Baron Jenney began laying out the neighborhood's namesake Humboldt Park on the city's West Side.
After the Great Fire of 1871 destroyed much of the housing stock along the lakefront, fearful of more disasters and weary of the congestion of neighborhoods surrounding the Loop, large numbers of working-class Chicagoans, new immigrants, and longtime residents alike relocated to outlying areas like Humboldt Park. There, residential lots were being sold for less than $500 and developers quickly assembled street upon street of low-cost housing (all made of wood as Humboldt Park lay outside of the city's fire limits).
The gradual addition of more transportation infrastructure, most notably construction of the Humboldt Park Branch of the Metropolitan elevated line in 1895 and the continuing expansion of streetcar lines into the twentieth century, led directly to the increasing density of the neighborhood in the first decades ofthe twentieth century. By 1930, the population had peaked at 80,000, and portions ofthe neighborhood were overcrowded.
16
Aside from retailers and service providers, the North Avenue and Pulaski Road commercial area provided a good number of entertainment options in the 1920s as well. The Tiffin Theatre at 4045 West North Avenue (now demolished) opened in 1922 on the site of an earlier theater and boasted seating for 2,000. By 1937, a Humboldt Park neighborhood survey found five theaters that together could seat over 5,000 moviegoers, 162 establishments with liquor licenses, eight billiard halls with forty tables, and three bowling alleys (one of which was the Pioneer Arcade) with a combined thirty-six alleys.
Today, a few ofthe great buildings representing this era remain. The Classical Revival New Apollo Theatre from 1914 (directly opposite the Pioneer Arcade) once sat 1,140 spectators but later was converted to a grocery store and subsequently a restaurant and banquet hall. The 1925 Classical Revival Pioneer Trust & Savings Bank still stands proudly at the northwest corner of the intersection. In combination with the Pioneer Arcade, they reflect the vital economic role of this Humboldt Park commercial center in the history of Chicago.
The business district surrounding the Pioneer Arcade remains busy and is now lined with businesses and restaurants that serve the local Mexican and Puerto Rican communities. In the decades following 1960, Puerto Rican and Mexican immigrant populations replaced Humboldt Park's earlier majority immigrant groups, initially Germans, then Norwegian and Danish, and, by the 1930s, Italians, Polish, and German and Russian Jews. African Americans began to move into the area in substantial numbers starting in the 1970s and made up half the population by 1990. Latinos made up almost half of the area's population by 2000'and now are the majority.
17
BOWL TO EUROPE!
BOWL AT SUMMER , BARGAIN RATES. . .
Above: looking northwest from North Avenue toward the Pioneer Bank at Pulaski, circa 1960. (Source: North and Pulaski Historical Society)
Your 4th Game FREE!
Win a 14 day European Vacation for two or $1500 Cash. Offer end* Aug. 19, 1967
JOIN AN ORGANIZED WINTER LEAGUE NOW!
BOWLERS and TEAMS WANTED
Your entry automatically register* you for many prize* given by Pioneer Bowl during seaion
1 MONDAY { lei'i Kef. Ml i.r. ¦ lull Kef. 1:11 »... WE HAVE THE RIGHT LEAGUE FOR YOU SATURDAY ! Lit lit lii|ti { Met. (tu l-U) 1:31 1 ¦ a. 1 Tim Mil i |i|i 11-11) l:lt la. ¦ mi Me». 7:l( fa. 1
1 TUESDAY j lllill Mil. I:lt la. THURSDAY ¦ Met. I pa.
| WEDNESDAY I Mtiruia ¦ iii4 1 Mel. I'M ¦¦. FRIDAY ¦ ui Mil. LIS l>. 11 tiaal •¦¦!••> ¦ Utt. I:IS ra. SUNDAY j ¦uatf Mip J If tm. 1
Left: an August, 9,1967, ad for the New Pioneer Bowl from the Northwest Journal. Sunday night features a Spanish American bowling team, reflecting the changing demographics of Humboldt Park.
Call John Jay, Mgr. — SP 2-5411
New PIONEER BOWL
1535 N. PULASKI RO.
FREE! FREE! GAME OF BOWLING WITH THIS AD. . . 1 limit
valid thru Sept. 4. 1967
Criteria for Designation
According to the Municipal Code of Chicago (Sect. 2-120-690), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks has the authority to make a recommendation of landmark designation for an area, district, place, building, structure, work of art, or other object within the City of Chicago ifthe Commission determines it meets two or more of the stated "criteria for landmark designation," as well as 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 Pioneer Arcade at 1535-1545 North Pulaski Road be designated as a Chicago Landmark:
Criterion 1: Critical Part ofthe City's History
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.
The Pioneer Arcade is an important manifestation of America's early twentieth-century leisure culture embodied in the games of bowling and billiards.
The Pioneer Arcade represented a new, family-friendly era for bowling and billiards, indoor sports which largely had been associated with saloons where most Chicagoans had played the games until Prohibition. Enticed by the allure of Chicago's new recreation centers, 1920s bowlers and billiard players flocked to new recreation centers like the Pioneer Arcade that rose at or near the busy intersections of major neighborhood business districts throughout the city.
Chicago was the Midwestern center for a new national indoor sports movement at the turn of the twentieth century which revolved around bowling and billiards. In 1901, organized by the American Bowling Congress, Chicago hosted the first modern bowling tournament in the United States with forty-one teams from across the nation and, in 1916, organized one of the first billiard world championship games.
Commercial recreation centers like the Pioneer Arcade served roles in their communities beyond simple bowling centers or pool halls. They were sports academies where novices could receive instruction. They took on the role of neighborhood social halls where spectators could gather to watch city-wide and regional tournaments and exhibition shows. They were open all year, warm in winter and air-conditioned in the summer, and often had cafes and other stores and service providers. Commercial recreation centers offered inviting, safe, and inexpensive evening and weekend entertainment for Chicagoans of almost every income, ethnicity, age, or gender.
The Pioneer Arcade is sited just south of the North Avenue and Pulaski Road intersection, the heart of a Humboldt Park neighborhood business district which included the 1924 Pioneer Trust & Savings Bank (4000 West North Avenue; extant), the 1914 New Apollo Theater (1536 North Pulaski Road; extant), and the 1922 Tiffin Theatre (4045 West North Avenue; demolished), large-scale commercial structures which, along with the Pioneer Arcade, served as anchors for the commercial district.
19
Criterion 4: Important Architecture
Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship.
The Pioneer Arcade is an excellent example of the Spanish Baroque Revival architectural style which reached its greatest popularity during the 1920s and 1930s, particularly for large movie palaces like the Uptown Theater (4816 North Broadway; extant) and dance halls like the Aragon Ballroom (1106 West Lawrence Avenue; extant). The revival of the Spanish Baroque in early twentieth-century America was characterized by the use of applied terracotta ornament which was readily adaptable to the often-extravagant decorative motifs and elements ofthe style. The Pioneer Arcade's front facade is an exuberant display of such terra-cotta design and craftsmanship.
The Pioneer Arcade, designed by architect Jens J. Jensen, is one of Chicago's grandest urban sports halls surviving from the 1920s, an outstanding example of a distinct commercial building type known as the "recreation center." Recreation centers were large, commercially run bowling and billiard halls typically located on Chicago's busiest urban thoroughfares within walking distance of growing residential neighborhoods.
Large commercial recreation centers like the Pioneer Arcade were a new phenomenon in the popular culture of 1920s Chicago whose design could be traced back to leisure pursuits and facilities from earlier decades. Social and architectural elements of working-class taverns, upper-class private athletic clubs, community and non-profit organization athletic buildings, and later entertainment architecture were precedents for the commercial recreation center form built by Chicago's private entrepreneurs.
Integrity Criterion
The integrity ofthe proposed landmark must be preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and ability to express its historic community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value.
The Pioneer Arcade retains its original location and massing. Original doors and storefronts have been replaced as well as original, multi-lite, second-floor windows, but the window and door openings have not been altered. Windows have been blocked in at the north and south elevations. Yellow paint covers the first-floor and portions of the second-floor terra cotta with an additional layer of brown spray paint across the first floor and faded graffiti at the second floor.
Select terra-cotta elements have been lost at the west elevation including: the "flames" atop three torches on the parapet and those atop large, stylized torches at the north and south ends; the stylized torch atop the center of the parapet; three balusters from the north balconet; cartouche elements with centered torch shapes formerly atop the transoms of the three arched windows; and the keystone above the central arched window. Short sections of the cornice are covered with aluminum panning and the condition of terra cotta underneath is unknown. There are cracked terra cotta units and missing pieces of terra cotta at isolated locations and assorted pins and plates from previous signage and other attachments remain in the terra cotta.
20
Despite the loss of elements and some damage, the west elevation is remarkably intact and looks very much like it did historically. It is typical for buildings of this age to have replacement windows, doors, and especially storefronts but these are reversible. Paint can also be removed sensitively without damage to the underlying terra cotta. The Pioneer Arcade has more than sufficient integrity to qualify for landmark status.
Significant Historical and Architectural Features
Whenever a building, structure, object, or district is under consideration for landmark designation, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is required to identity 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 Pioneer Arcade at 1535-1545 North Pulaski Road, the Commission staff recommends that the significant features be identified as follows:
• All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building.
Commission staff also recommend that the following additional guidelines shall also apply to the Commission's review of permits pursuant to Section 2-120-740:
The Building consists of a Front Portion which includes the west (front) elevation, the north and south elevations, and roofline, measuring approximately 35' from the west elevation up to and including the wall behind the central stair, as depicted in Exhibit A.
The Building also consists of a Rear Portion, as depicted in Exhibit A, which extends eastward approximately 85' from the Front Portion.
The owner may seek demolition ofthe Rear Portion of the Building and the Commission shall approve it, provided that the Front Portion of the Building is retained in place, repaired, and restored in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
The Commission shall approve the construction of a six-story structure behind the Front Portion ofthe Building as shown in conceptual plans dated November 18, 2021, from which the section drawing is hereby attached as Exhibit B. It is understood that there may be minor changes as the project is developed, but the final project submitted for permitting must substantially conform to the conceptual plans.
21
Selected Bibliography
"Art and Billiards." Chicago Tribune, p. 8. March 26, 1882.
"Chicago Bus and Streetcar Routes" webpage. Chicago Transit Present & Past website by Bill Vandervoort. Accessed at:
"Chicago Streetcars" webpage. Chicago in Maps website by Dennis McClendon. Accessed at:
Commission on Chicago Landmarks, Jean Guarino (consultant), research, writing; Matt Crawford, research, writing; Terry Tatum, editing; Brian Goeken, editing. "Garfield Park Fieldhouse, 100 N. Central Park Ave., Final Landmark Recommendation adopted by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks." September 3, 2009.
Commission on Chicago Landmarks, Amy Halbrook (consultant), research, writing, photography, and layout; Terry Tatum (project manager), research, writing, and editing; Brian Goeken, editing. "300 West Adams Street Office Building: Submitted to Commission on Chicago Landmarks." February 2009.
Commission on Chicago Landmarks, Susan Perry, research, photography, writing, and layout; Terry Tatum, editing and layout; Matt Crawford, photography; Brian Goeken, editing. "Chatham-Greater Grand Crossing Commercial District: Preliminary Staff Summary of Information," November 1, 2007.
Cramer, John D. "Health Factories and Palaces of Pleasure: Bowling. Billiards, and the Chicago'Rec/ 1895-1929." Master of Sciences Thesis, Art Institute of Chicago, 2011.
"Fine Club for Employees,"Chicago Daily Tribune (January 19, 1906), 7.
"The Germans in America - Chronology." European Reading Room, Library of Congress. Accessed at on October 16, 2022.
Morris, John. "Awaiting a New Tenant: Pioneer Arcade at North and Pulaski," August 14, 2014. Accessed at and-pulaski/?related.
"Pioneer Arcade Changes Hands for $250,000." Chicago Tribune (February 10, 202, p 40.
"Start Work on $350,000 Bldg. for Recreation, "Pioneer Arcade" to Be One of City's Finest." Chicago Tribune (June 22, 1924).
"Woman's Athletic Club of Chicago." Glessner House Museum webpage, February 4, 2013. Accessed at 13/02/womans-athletic-club-of-chicago.html on October 16, 2022.
22
General Reference Sources, Newspapers, and Periodicals Consulted: Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago Tribune.
Chicagology website,
City of Chicago. Building ledgers and permits. Online and "Ancient Permits File." Encyclopaedia Britannica online, .
Reiff, Janice L., Ann Durkin Keating, and James R. Grossman, editors. "Encyclopedia of Chicago." Chicago History Museum, The Newberry Library, and Northwestern University, copyright 2005.
Sanborn Map Publishing Company.
23
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CITY OF CHICAGO
Lori E. Lightfoot. Mayor
Department of Planning and Development
Maurice D. Cox, Commissioner
Kathleen Dickhut, Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Citywide Systems & Historic Preservation Project Staff
Kandalyn Hahn (Project Manager), research, writing, layout Matt Crawford, editing
Thanks to John Cramer for sharing his thesis and research and thanks to Patrick Pyszka, Department of Assets, Information and Services, for photography.
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 building, sites, objects, or entire districts be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law. The Commission is staffed by the Chicago Department of Planning and Development; Bureau of Citywide Systems, Historic Preservation & Central Area Planning, City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street, Room 905, Chicago, IL 60602; (312-744-3200) phone; web site: provdrs/hist. html
This Landmark Designation Report is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within a designation ordinance adopted by the City Council should be regarded as final.
COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
Ernest C. Wong, Chair
Gabriel Ignacio Dziekiewicz, Vice-Chair
Maurice D. Cox, Secretary
Suellen Burns
Jonathan Fair
Tiara Hughes
Alicia Ponce
Adam Rubin
Richard Tolliver
The Commission is staffed by the:
*DPD
Department of Planning and Development
Historic Preservation Division
Bureau of Citywide Systems and Historic Preservation City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street, Room 1000 Chicago, Illinois 60602 312.744.3200 (TEL)
December 2022
EXHIBIT 3
Department of Planning and Development city of chicago
December 8, 2022
Report to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on the Pioneer Arcade 1535 North Pulaski Road
The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) finds that the proposed landmark designation of the Pioneer Arcade at 1535 North Pulaski Road supports the City's overall planning goals for the surrounding Humboldt Park Community Area and the West Planning Region and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.
Completed in 1925, the Pioneer Arcade was designed by Danish-born Chicago architect Jens J. Jensen for Greek-born entrepreneurs Gust Regas, Spiros Regas, and Peter Danigeles. This Spanish Baroque Revival-style structure, conceived as an elaborate entertainment and social center for Chicago's growing Humboldt Park community, is one of the last remaining large-scale commercial buildings that formed a neighborhood commercial center at the intersection ofNorth Avenue and Pulaski Road. As one of Chicago's grandest urban sports halls surviving from the 1920s, the Pioneer Arcade stands as an important illustration of the development of America's twentieth-century leisure culture embodied in the games of bowling and billiards. With its impressive ivory-colored terra-cotta facade, the Pioneer Arcade is the most ornate and intact example of the Chicago commercial recreation center type still standing.
The building is located in the 26th Ward and was rated orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey. The property is one of three development sites included in Planned Development #1205, approved by City Council in 2012. A new, five-story building offering rental housing for seniors was completed in 2015 on the previously vacant corner lot at 3949 West North Avenue (north of the Pioneer Arcade) by the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation (HHDC). HHDC has since been approved to develop the two remaining sites, 1535 North Pulaski Road and the vacant 100-foot-wide site immediately to the south, with additional housing for seniors. Site plan approval was granted in September 2022. HHDC recognizes the significance of the front portion of the Pioneer Arcade and has therefore consented to the proposed landmark designation.
INVEST South/West is an unprecedented community development initiative to marshal the resources of multiple City departments, community organizations, and corporate and philanthropic partners toward twelve commercial corridors within ten South and West Side
121 NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 1000, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60602
community areas. Launched in October 2019, INVEST South/West's goal is to re-activate neighborhood cores that have historically served as focal points for pedestrian activity, shopping, services, transportation, public spaces, and quality-of life amenities for local residents.
The Pioneer Arcade is located within one of these twelve commercial corridors, the North Avenue Commercial Corridor, in the Humboldt Park Community Area. The initiative is providing support for small businesses, creating public realm improvements, restoring historic buildings, and fostering equity and resilience where it's needed most.
In 2020, after a robust community engagement process, Humboldt Park stakeholders worked with the City to craft and issue RFPs for a development project at the northwest corner of Pulaski and North Avenue. They selected Team Pioneros to lead a $53.9 million project to rehabilitate the vacant, landmark Pioneer Bank building with an entrepreneurial incubator space, Latino cultural center, and office space. To the north a new 75-unit affordable residential building will include offices for Humboldt Park Family Health and a potential library branch.
Just half a block south, the Pioneer Arcade is another major, distinctive, historic building of the North Avenue Commercial Corridor's key intersection. Landmark designation of this structure aligns with the strategies of INVEST South/West. Combined with its redevelopment, the proposed designation should lend a synergistic effect to the larger efforts already underway with INVEST South/West in the Humboldt Park Community.
Therefore, the Department of Planning and Development finds that the proposed landmark designation of the Pioneer Arcade at 1535 North Pulaski Road supports the City's overall planning goals for the surrounding Humboldt Park Community Area and the West Planning Region and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.
Maurice D. Cox, Commissioner Department of Planning and Development