M.A. Donohue & Co. Building at Plymouth Court and Polk Street in January 2007
Printers Row,[1] also known as Printing House Row, is a neighborhood located in the south of the Chicago downtown area known as the Loop. The heart of Printers Row is generally defined by Ida B. Wells Drive on the north, Polk Street on the south, Plymouth Court on the east, and the Chicago River on the west.[2] This neighborhood overlaps significantly with the officially designated landmark Printing House Row District to the north of Ida B Wells Drive and the South Loop Printing House District to the south of the Drive. The neighborhood includes Dearborn Station, which is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
Many of the buildings in this area were used by printing and publishing businesses. Today, the buildings have mainly been converted into residential lofts with the last remaining printer, Palmer Printing, Inc., near the corner of Clark and Polk streets, selling to residential developers in early 2018.
Dupli Group, a family owned printer since after the Second World War, continues to operate a print shop in Printer's Row, having recently occupied an industrial loft space in the neighborhood.
Buildings
Buildings in the neighborhood include the M.A. Donohue & Co. Building at Plymouth Court and Polk Street, and the red brick and polychromatic tile Franklin Building. It features painted tile depictions of printing tradesmen such as a bookbinder and typesetter as well as a painted tile mural of the "first impression" of the Gutenberg Bible.
The area is also a student-oriented center with the University Center of Chicago (UCC), housing over 3,000 college students in dorm and apartment style units, as well as Dwight Lofts and 731 South Plymouth Court, two student housing buildings owned by Columbia College Chicago. Colleges in the area include Roosevelt University, Columbia College, Robert Morris University, UIC Law School, and the Loop campus of DePaul University.
The Loop is Chicago's central business district and one of the city's 77 municipally recognized community areas. Located at the center of downtown Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan, it is the second-largest business district in North America after Midtown Manhattan. The headquarters and regional offices of several global and national businesses, retail establishments, restaurants, hotels, and theaters–as well as many of Chicago's most famous attractions–are located in the Loop. The neighborhood also hosts Chicago's City Hall, the seat of Cook County, offices of other levels of government, and several foreign consulates. The intersection of State Street and Madison Street in the Loop is the origin point for the address system on Chicago's street grid.
Michigan Avenue is a north-south street in Chicago that runs at 100 east on the Chicago grid. The northern end of the street is at DuSable Lake Shore Drive on the shore of Lake Michigan in the Gold Coast Historic District. The street's southern terminus is at Sibley Boulevard in the southern suburb of Dolton, but like many other Chicago streets, it exists in several disjointed segments.
Dearborn Station was, beginning in the late 1800s, one of six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago, Illinois. It remained in operation until May 1, 1971. Built in 1883, it is located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, to the south of the Loop, adjacent to Printers Row. The station was owned by the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad, which itself was owned by the companies operating over its line. The station building headhouse now houses office, retail, and entertainment spaces, and its trackage yard, behind the headhouse, was redeveloped into part of the Dearborn Park neighborhood.
The Near South Side is a community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, just south of the downtown central business district, the Loop. The Near South Side's boundaries are as follows: North—Roosevelt Road ; South—26th Street; West—Chicago River between Roosevelt and 18th Street, Clark Street between 18th Street and Cermak Road, Federal between Cermak Road and the Stevenson Expressway just south of 25th Street, and Clark Street again between the Stevenson and 26th Street; and East—Lake Michigan.
The Near West Side, one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, is on the West Side, west of the Chicago River and adjacent to the Loop. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started on the Near West Side. Waves of immigration shaped the history of the Near West Side of Chicago, including the founding of Hull House, a prominent settlement house. The near west side comprises several neighborhoods. In the 19th century railroads became prominent features. In the mid-20th century, the area saw the development of freeways centered in the Jane Byrne Interchange.
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.
Harrison is an "L" subway station on the CTA's Red Line in Printer's Row, Chicago in the Loop.
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.
The Prairie Avenue District is a historic district in the Near South Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. It includes the 1800 and 1900 blocks of South Prairie Avenue and the 1800 block of South Indiana, and 211-217 East Cullerton. It was the site of the Battle of Fort Dearborn and became the city's most fashionable residential district after the Great Chicago Fire. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on December 27, 1979. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1972. The John J. Glessner House, designed and built by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1885–1886 at 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, has been restored as a historic house museum, and is open for public tours. In 2006, the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance, a non-profit organization was formed to provide representation for thousands of South Loop residents, including the Prairie Avenue District, Central Station, Museum Park, Motor Row, and the South Michigan Avenue Corridor, as well as other areas of the Near South Side.
South Loop Printing House District is a historic district in the downtown Chicago Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. The district is roughly bounded by Ida B. Wells, Polk, State, Taylor, and Wells Streets and includes 28 contributing buildings. The district includes many of the printing buildings used by Chicago's printing industry, the largest in the midwest from the 1880s through the 1930s. Due to its proximity to Dearborn Station and its thin property blocks that allowed for tall and thin printing buildings, land in the district was attractive to large printing companies. The district includes a small number of large and detailed buildings and many more small, homogeneous buildings used by less prominent printing firms.
Wells Street is a major north–south street in Chicago. It is officially designated as 200 West, and is named in honor of William Wells, a United States Army Captain who died in the Battle of Fort Dearborn. Between 1870 and 1912, it was named 5th Avenue so as not to tarnish the name of Wells during a period when the street had a bad reputation.
M. A. Donohue & Co., was a publisher of children's books in the late 1800s and the first half of the 20th century. Established in Chicago, it had additional offices in New York City.
Grace Episcopal Church is the second oldest Episcopal congregation in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since December 1985 it has occupied its 6th location, in a former printing works located at 637 South Dearborn Street in the Printer's Row neighborhood. Now also called Grace Place, the historic 3-story redbrick late 19th century Arts and Crafts building is a contributing property in the South Dearborn Street-Printing House Row North Historic District. Grace Place is also listed in the City of Chicago's Chicago Landmarks Historic Resources Survey.
The Chicago 21 Plan was a comprehensive development plan released in 1973 intended to revitalize the areas surrounding the Chicago Loop, Chicago's central business district. The 125-page document, subtitled "A Plan for the Central Area Communities" was published by the Chicago 21 Corporation, which was made up of members of the Chicago Central Area Committee (CCAC), founded by some of Chicago's most influential business and civic leaders.
Prairie Avenue is a north–south street on the South Side of Chicago, which historically extended from 16th Street in the Near South Side to the city's southern limits and beyond. The street has a rich history from its origins as a major trail for horseback riders and carriages. During the last three decades of the 19th century, a six-block section of the street served as the residence of many of Chicago's elite families and an additional four-block section was also known for grand homes. The upper six-block section includes part of the historic Prairie Avenue District, which was declared a Chicago Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Ida B. Wells Drive is a major east–west street in downtown Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It runs east from the Jane Byrne Interchange, where it meets Interstate 90 (I-90), I-94 and I-290. At Wells Street, Ida B. Wells Drive continues as a surface street past State Street and Michigan Avenue, until ending at Columbus Drive in Grant Park in front of the Buckingham Fountain. In 2018, the editorial board of The New York Times praised the Chicago City Council's renaming of the street to honor the journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells.
Printers Row Lit Fest is an annual book fair and literary festival held in Chicago, Illinois in September. The fair's literary "tableau. .. fills a downtown district where linotype machines and printing presses once whirred." The neighborhood was an early book making hub.
The Franklin Building is a 14-story brick building on Printer's Row in Chicago, Illinois, located at 720 South Dearborn Street. It is one of the historic buildings in the City of Chicago Printing House Row landmark district. The building was designed by George C. Nimmons for the Franklin Printing Company and built in 1916 following on the company's previous building at 523 Dearborn, which was constructed in 1886. The current building is an example of Chicago School architecture. Oskar Gross, a painter from Vienna, Austria, did a mural over the main entrance and painted tiles for the building depicting an artist, engraver, typesetter, bookbinder, and other artisans involved in the printing process.
Dearborn Street is a street in Chicago, where it is 36 W in its grid system. It is the street immediately to the west of State Street, the city's north–south baseline.
Dearborn Park is a residential Chicago neighborhood located in the Loop and Near South Side community areas of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The area is known for its unique architecture, green spaces, proximity to the city's downtown area, and many cultural and recreational attractions. Early in Chicago history, this became an immigrant neighborhood before being ravaged by a fire in the 1870s, it was then bought up for railroad rights-of-way leading to Dearborn Station. When several rail-lines ceased service in the early 1970s, the trackage yards were themselves replaced and redeveloped into this neighborhood.
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