Oliver Building (Chicago)

Last updated

Oliver Building
Oliver Typewriter Building Front Door and Design.JPG
Oliver Building Front Door with Oliver Typewriter Company ornamentation
Location159 N. Dearborn, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Coordinates 41°53′05″N87°37′45.5″W / 41.88472°N 87.629306°W / 41.88472; -87.629306
Built1907–1908
NRHP reference No. 83003563 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP1984
Designated CLMay 9, 1984
Oliver Typewriter Company ornamentation on Oliver Building (Chicago) Oliver Typewriter Company Logo on Building.JPG
Oliver Typewriter Company ornamentation on Oliver Building (Chicago)

The Oliver Building is located at 159 N. Dearborn Street in Chicago within the Loop.

History

It was built for the Oliver Typewriter Company from 1907-1908 by Holabird & Roche. When two floors were added in 1920, Holabird & Roche were hired for the expansion. The cast iron exterior features typewriter-related motifs. It was declared a Chicago Landmark on May 9, 1984. [2] [3]

The windows above the second floor are known as "Chicago windows," and are wide window panes bracketed by narrower double-hung windows. The windows also include the name of the company below the central pane. [3]

In the 1990s, when the Oriental Theatre wanted to expand its backstage area, architect Daniel P. Coffey came up with a design plan that gutted the Oliver while preserving one-third of its original steel structure, as well as the building's Dearborn facade and a portion of its alley facade. [4]

Notes

  1. "Illinois - Cook County". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 6, 2007. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2007.
  2. "Oliver Building". City of Chicago. Archived from the original on June 30, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
  3. 1 2 Wolfe, Gerard R. (1996). Chicago: In and Around the Loop. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. pp. 53–55. ISBN   0-07-071390-1.
  4. Kamin, Blair (April 8, 2007). "The Danger of Becoming Skin Deep". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest   420579724.


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago school (architecture)</span> American architectural style

The Chicago School refers to two architectural styles derived from the architecture of Chicago. In the history of architecture, the first Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago in the late 19th, and at the turn of the 20th century. They were among the first to promote the new technologies of steel-frame construction in commercial buildings, and developed a spatial aesthetic which co-evolved with, and then came to influence, parallel developments in European Modernism. Much of its early work is also known as Commercial Style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monadnock Building</span> Historic skyscraper in Chicago

The Monadnock Building is a 16-story skyscraper located at 53 West Jackson Boulevard in the south Loop area of Chicago. The north half of the building was designed by the firm of Burnham & Root and built starting in 1891. At 215 feet, it is the tallest load-bearing brick building ever constructed. It employed the first portal system of wind bracing in the United States. Its decorative staircases represent the first structural use of aluminum in building construction. The later south half, constructed in 1893, was designed by Holabird & Roche and is similar in color and profile to the original, but the design is more traditionally ornate. When completed, it was the largest office building in the world. The success of the building was the catalyst for an important new business center at the southern end of the Loop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holabird & Root</span> American architectural firm

The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern Architecture to Sustainable Architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gage Group Buildings</span> United States historic place

The Gage Group Buildings consist of three buildings located at 18, 24 and 30 S. Michigan Avenue, between Madison Street and Monroe Street, in Chicago, Illinois. They were built from 1890–1899, designed by Holabird & Roche for the three millinery firms - Gage, Keith and Ascher. The building at 18 S. Michigan Avenue has an ornamental façade designed by Louis Sullivan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1985, and was designated a Chicago Landmark on September 11, 1996. In addition, it is a historic district contributing property for the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sullivan Center</span> United States historic place

The Sullivan Center, formerly known as the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building or Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Store, is a commercial building at 1 South State Street at the corner of East Madison Street in Chicago, Illinois. Louis Sullivan designed it for the retail firm Schlesinger & Mayer in 1899 and later expanded it before H.G. Selfridge & Co. purchased the structure in 1904. That firm occupied the structure for only a matter of weeks before it sold the building to Otto Young, who then leased it to Carson Pirie Scott for $7,000 per month, which occupied the building for more than a century until 2006. Subsequent additions were completed by Daniel Burnham in 1906 and Holabird & Root in 1961.

7 South Dearborn was a planned skyscraper in Chicago, United States. Located at the intersection of Madison and Dearborn, the building would have been 1,567 feet (478 m) high, with twin antennas pushing the height to exactly 2,000 feet (610 m). The building would have been the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at the time, if it were constructed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquette Building (Chicago)</span> United States historic place

The Marquette Building, completed in 1895, is a Chicago landmark that was built by the George A. Fuller Company and designed by architects Holabird & Roche. The building is currently owned by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. It is located in the community area known as the "Loop" in Cook County, Illinois, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Board of Trade Building</span> Skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a 44-story, 604-foot (184 m) Art Deco skyscraper located in the Chicago Loop, standing at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon. Built in 1930 for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), it has served as the primary trading venue of the CBOT and later the CME Group, formed in 2007 by the merger of the CBOT and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In 2012, the CME Group sold the CBOT Building to a consortium of real estate investors, including GlenStar Properties LLC and USAA Real Estate Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Arc at Old Colony</span> United States historic place

The Arc at Old Colony is a 17-story landmark building in the Chicago Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. Designed by the architectural firm Holabird & Roche in 1893–94, it stands at approximately 215 feet and was the tallest building in Chicago at the time it was built. The building was designated a Chicago Landmark on July 7, 1978. It was the first tall building to use a system of internal portal arches as a means of bracing the structure against high winds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printing House Row District</span> Historic district in Illinois, United States

The Printing House Row District is a National Historic Landmark District encompassing four architecturally important buildings on South Dearborn Street, between Jackson Boulevard and Ida B. Wells Drive, in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row Historic District and listed as a National Historic Landmark as South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row North Historic District on January 7, 1976. The district includes the Monadnock Building, the Manhattan Building, the Fisher Building, and the Old Colony Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One North LaSalle</span> United States historic place

The One North LaSalle Building or One LaSalle Street Building is a building in the LaSalle Street corridor in the Loop community area of Chicago managed by MB Real Estate. It was for some time one of Chicago's tallest buildings. Built in 1930 by architects Vitzthum & Burns, it replaces the Tacoma Building by Holabird & Roche. The building is located across Madison Street from Roanoke Building. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on April 16, 1996, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 22, 1999. Its 5th floor relief panels depict the explorations of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">333 North Michigan</span> Art Deco skyscraper on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois

333 North Michigan is a skyscraper in the art deco style located in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Architecturally, it is noted for its dramatic upper-level setbacks that were inspired by the 1923 skyscraper zoning laws. Geographically, it is known as one of the four 1920s flanks of the Michigan Avenue Bridge that are contributing properties to the Michigan–Wacker Historic District, which is a U.S. Registered Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Building</span> United States historic place

The Chicago Building or Chicago Savings Bank Building is an early skyscraper, built in 1904–1905. It is located at 7 West Madison Street in Chicago. Designed by the architecture firm Holabird & Roche, it is an early and highly visible example of the Chicago school of architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roanoke Building</span> United States historic place

11 South LaSalle Street Building or Eleven South LaSalle Street Building is a Chicago Landmark building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and that is located at 11 South LaSalle Street in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. This address is located on the southeast corner of LaSalle and Madison Street in Cook County, Illinois, across the Madison Street from the One North LaSalle Building. The building sits on a site of a former Roanoke building that once served as a National Weather Service Weather Forecast official climate site and replaced Major Block 1 after the Great Chicago Fire. The current building has incorporated the frontage of other buildings east of the original site of Major Block 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Salle Hotel</span> Former hotel in Chicago

The La Salle Hotel was a historic hotel located on the northwest corner of La Salle Street and Madison Street in the Chicago Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was designed by Holabird & Roche and opened in 1909. After a major fire in 1946, the hotel was refurbished and reopened in 1947. It closed in 1976 and was demolished for construction of an office building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three Arts Club of Chicago</span> Historic site in N. Dearborn Street, Chicago

The Three Arts Club of Chicago was a Chicago home and club for women in the "three arts" of music, painting and drama. The building is on the List of Chicago Landmarks as of June 10, 1981. The club, modeled on the Three Arts Club of New York, was founded in 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontiac Building</span> United States historic place

The Pontiac Building is a historic high-rise building located at 542 S. Dearborn St. in the Printer's Row neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McClurg Building (Chicago, Illinois)</span> United States historic place

The McClurg Building is a historic skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The building was built in 1899 and designed by Chicago school architects Holabird & Roche. At nine stories tall and 80 feet (24 m) by 150 feet (46 m) at its base, the building is one of the smallest skyscrapers in Chicago. The building's Wabash Street facade has 9,000 square feet (840 m2) of windows bordered by terra cotta piers and spandrels; the amount of window space was necessitated by the absence of windows on the sides of the building. The A.C. McClurg publishing company was the building's main occupant and gave the building its name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crane Company Building (Chicago)</span> United States historic place

The Crane Company Building is a skyscraper located at 836 S. Michigan Ave. in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The twelve-story building was designed by Holabird & Roche and built in 1912. The steel frame skyscraper was designed in the Classical Revival style, and its exterior design is split into three sections. The first and second floors are faced in limestone and feature piers supporting a cornice; the third floor is also covered in limestone. The fourth through eleventh floors are constructed in red brick; windows on these floors feature terra cotta keystones and sills, and the eleventh floor is capped by a terra cotta cornice. The twelfth floor is decorated in terra cotta panels which incorporate Crane Company valves in their design; this floor is also topped by a cornice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckingham Building</span> United States historic place

The Buckingham Building is a 27-story skyscraper located at 59-67 E. Van Buren St. in the Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The building, which opened in 1930, has historically served as a mixed-use retail and office building. Chicago architects Holabird and Root designed the building in the Art Deco style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 10, 2000.