Post-Great Fire Architecture Walking Tour - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. Haskell-Barker-Atwater Buildings

The Haskell-Barker-Atwater Buildings are three neighboring post-Great Fire buildings situated on the east side of Chicago's Loop District. The three buildings were constructed between 1875 and 1877 and designed in the Italianate style, which gained popularity after the Civil War. Frederick Haskell and John Barker, railroad car manufacturers, owned the buildings at 18-20 and 22-24 S. Wabash and commissioned the architectural firm of Wheelock & Thomas to erect the two four-story mercantile loft buildings. On the southern end of the Haskell-Barker Buildings is the Atwater Building. Built in 1877 by John Mills Van Osdel, Chicago’s first registered architect, for John P. Atwater, this five-story building housed the A. G. Spalding & Bros. sporting goods store. Largely considered one unit, as the majority of the post-fire buildings are now, the Haskell-Barker-Atwater Buildings were designated a Chicago Landmark in 1996 since the buildings are considered one of the best representations of Chicago’s transitional period between the Great Fire and the skyscraper boom at the end of the century.

2. Page Brothers Building

The Page Brothers Building in Chicago represents a transition for Chicago, both in its local history and architectural history. Erected in 1872 as the first commercial construction after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the building features a cast-iron facade facing Lake Street and stands as the oldest remaining structure of its kind in the city. Not long afterwards, State Street supplanted Lake Street - even growing to become one of Chicago's most noteworthy locations. As well, the Chicago School of Architecture grew famous for no-longer building small five-story cast-iron buildings, but instead pushed the envelope and usher in the age of the skyscraper. The Page Brothers Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 5, 1975 and designated a Chicago Landmark on January 28, 1983.

3. Delaware Building

Completed in 1874, the Delaware Building remains one of the few remaining buildings inside Chicago's Loop District that date to the period immediately following the Great Fire. The Bryant Block, as it was first known, was designed in the Italianate style by one of Chicago's earliest architectural firms, Wheelock and Thomas. The building originally stood at five stories, but the 1889 remodel added two more stories and redesigned the bottom two stories in an effort to make the building more competitive. It was during this time that the building became known as the Real Estate Board Building. On July 18, 1974, the now-known Delaware Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Chicago Landmark on November 23, 1983.

4. Washington Block

Designed by Frederick and Edward Baumann and completed in 1874, the building known as the Washington Block is a five-story Italianate style commercial building in Chicago’s Loop District. At the time of its completion, the building was the tallest in the Loop. The most unique feature of the Washington Block is its isolated pier foundation, which is several small foundations placed underneath the building’s load-bearing points to prevent cracks forming during settling. This technique created a sturdier foundation for the building in Chicago’s sandy soil and became a precursor to the foundations of the up-and-coming skyscrapers. The building remains one of the few remaining post-Great Fire buildings in Chicago's Loop District. On January 14, 1997, the Washington Block was designated a Chicago Landmark.

5. Lake-Franklin Group

The Rowney, Cole, White, and Kent Buildings found at the corner of North Franklin Street and West Lake Street in Chicago’s Loop District remain the city’s best and largest surviving example of post-fire architecture. Known collectively as the Lake-Franklin Group, the buildings were constructed between 1872-1875 - two designed by the architectural firm Burling and Adler, one designed by George Edbrooke, and the designer of the fourth is unknown. The architectural features of all four Italianate style buildings are rare and uniquely specific to the decade after the Great Fire: cast-iron columns, molded terra cotta window hoods, intricately detailed window keystones, and arched window designs. Post-fire buildings such as the Lake-Franklin Group quickly fell out of fashion as the skyscraper boom of the 1880s took place. The Lake-Franklin Group was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 26, 1997.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Post-Great Fire Architecture Walking Tour

Created by Kalen Martin-Gross on January 11th 2019, 6:33:16 am.

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Description

The Great Fire of 1871 decimated a vast majority of the city of Chicago, with the central business district that later became known as the Loop nearly being destroyed. The city wasted no time in rebuilding and initiated a frantic construction boom. The decade between the fire and the beginning of skyscraper boom resulted in a multitude of architecturally unique buildings that only remained in fashion for a few years. These post-fire buildings were demolished at a staggering rate throughout the rest of the 19th-century and 20th-centuries. By 2015, only 21 Post-Fire buildings were recognized in the Loop. This walking tour visits a few of the most significant Post-Fire buildings in the Loop which are all located in the norther half of the district. Beginning with the set of buildings known as the Lake-Franklin Group, the tour continues to the Washington Block, the Delaware Building, and the Page Brothers Building. The tour concludes at another grouping of buildings known as the Haskell-Barker-Atwater Buildings.

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