Historic Michigan Boulevard District
Michigan Avenue | |
South end | 1100 South/1200 South at Roosevelt Road |
---|
The Historic Michigan Boulevard District is a historic district in the
History
Michigan Avenue is named after Lake Michigan, which it once ran alongside at 100 east in the city's street numbering system until land reclamation for Grant Park (then Lake Park) pushed the shoreline east.[5] The one-sided street feature is due in large part to the legal battles of Aaron Montgomery Ward with the city over cleaning up the park and removing most of the structures in it.[6] Ward opposed the development of Grant Park with public buildings along the lakefront except for the Art Institute of Chicago Building.[7] Eventually, Ward's ideas were adopted by Daniel Burnham in his Plan of Chicago, which called for "insured light, air, and an agreeable outlook" along the Grant Park street frontage.[8] The preservation of the lakefront view has inspired architects to create an architectural cornucopia of designs along the "streetwall".
At no point is Michigan Avenue currently called Michigan Boulevard, but prior to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the street was officially known as Michigan Boulevard and often referred to as "Boul Mich".[8] As recently as the 1920s, North Michigan Avenue (especially the Magnificent Mile) was referred to as "Upper Boul Mich".[9] Paris' Boulevard Saint-Michel is the original Boul Mich.
The district has changed over the years as various architectural designs have evolved to complement it. The boulevard was widened between 1909 and 1910 causing the
Today
Today the only building on the eastern side of Michigan Avenue in the Historic District hosts the
Among the current issues today is the trend to redevelop properties by constructing grand towers behind the
Buildings in the District
Several of the buildings listed below have played a prominent role in the cultural history of Chicago.
The Blackstone has become part of Chicago's history as the city that has hosted more United States presidential nominating conventions (26) than any other two American cities,[16] The Blackstone Hotel has hosted almost every 20th century U.S. president,[17] and it has contributed the phrase "in a smoke-filled room" to American political parlance.[18][19]
The
The
The
North to south:
Name[22] | Street Address | Architect | Status |
---|---|---|---|
Chicago Cultural Center (former central library) | 78 E. Washington Street | Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge | CL, NRHP |
Michigan Boulevard Building | 30 N. Michigan Avenue | Jarvis Hunt[23] | |
6 North Michigan (a.k.a. Montgomery Ward Building) |
6 N. Michigan Avenue | Holabird & Roche, Schmidt, Garden & Martin[24]
|
|
Willoughby Tower | 8 S. Michigan Avenue | Samuel N. Crowen & Associates[25] | |
Chicago Athletic Association | 12 S. Michigan Avenue | Henry Ives Cobb | |
Gage Building | 18 S. Michigan Avenue | Holabird & Roche[26]
|
CL, NRHP |
The University Club of Chicago | 76 E. Monroe Street | Holabird & Roche[27]
|
|
The Boulevard (Monroe Building) | 104 S. Michigan Avenue | Holabird & Roche[28]
|
|
Wolberg Hall | 112 S. Michigan Avenue | Barnett, Haynes & Barnett, Swann & Weiskopf[29] | |
Lake View Building | 116 S. Michigan Avenue | Jenney, Mundie & Jensen[30] | NRHP |
Peoples Gas Building | 122 S. Michigan Avenue | D. H. Burnham & Company[31] | NRHP |
Borg-Warner Building | 200 S. Michigan Avenue | A. Epstein and Sons International, Inc., George A. Fuller Company[32]
|
|
Orchestra Hall | 220 S. Michigan Avenue | Daniel Burnham | NHL, NRHP, CL |
Santa Fe Building (formerly Railway Exchange Building)[33]
|
224 S. Michigan Avenue | D. H. Burnham & Company[34] | NRHP |
Metropolitan Tower (formerly Straus Building) | 310 S. Michigan Avenue | Graham, Anderson, Probst & White[35] | |
Buckingham Building (a.k.a. Socony-Vacuum Building) |
59-67 E. Van Buren Street | Holabird & Root[36] | NRHP[37] |
McCormick Building | 332 S. Michigan Avenue | Holabird & Roche[38]
|
|
Fine Arts Building | 410 S. Michigan Avenue | Solon S. Beman[39]
|
NRHP |
Auditorium Building
|
430 S. Michigan Avenue | Adler & Sullivan[40] | CL, NHL, NRHP |
Congress Hotel Addition | 520 S. Michigan Avenue | Holabird & Roche[41]
|
|
Columbia College Chicago | 600 S. Michigan Avenue | Christian A. Eckstorm[42] | |
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership | 610 S. Michigan Avenue | Krueck and Sexton Architects
|
|
Torco Building | 624 S. Michigan Avenue | Christian A. Eckstorm, Alfred S. Alschuler[43] | |
The Blackstone
|
636 S. Michigan Avenue | Marshall and Fox[44] | CL, NRHP |
Chicago Hilton & Towers | 720 S. Michigan Avenue | Holabird & Roche[45]
|
|
Essex Inn | 800 S. Michigan Avenue | A. Epstein and Sons International, Inc.[46] | |
Crane Company Building | 836 S. Michigan Avenue | Holabird and Roche | NRHP |
888 South Michigan | 888 S. Michigan Avenue | Holabird & Roche[47]
|
|
Michigan Avenue Lofts | 910 S. Michigan Avenue | Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, Marshall and Fox[48] |
Statuses
- CL-Chicago Landmark
- NHL-National Historic Landmark
- NRHP-National Register of Historic Places
Notes
- ^ a b c "Historic Michigan Boulevard District". City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division. 2003. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
- ISBN 0-8294-0597-6.
- ^ Emporis claims this district extends to Roosevelt Road which is 1200 South.
- ^ "Michigan Avenue Landmark District". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on May 19, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ Hayner and McNamee, Streetwise Chicago, "Michigan Avenue", p. 87.
- ^ "Grant Park". Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. 2005. Retrieved June 2, 2007.
- 'ISBN 0-15-602908-1.
- ^ a b "Boul Mich Tour". City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division. 2003. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ISBN 0-226-77085-0.
- ISBN 0-226-02813-5
- ^ a b c "Route Center: Jackson and Michigan Boulevards Circa 1907-1923". David G. Clark. 2004. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
- ^ a b "500 S Michigan Ave Chicago, IL 60605". Google Maps. Retrieved April 29, 2008.
- ^ "Chicago Athletic Association Building and Annex". Landmarks Illinois. 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Chicagoland Watch List 2006-07". Landmarks Illinois. 2007. Archived from the original on August 9, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ a b Carlton, Hayley. "Grant Park street wall, surrounding buildings examined at GPAC meeting". Near West Gazette. Archived from the original on June 21, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
- ^ Sautter, R. Craig (2005). "Political Conventions". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved March 28, 2007.
- ^ Allegrini, Robert V., Chicago's Grand Hotels, 2005, Arcadia Publishing, p.92.
- ^ Wolfe, Gerard R., Chicago In and Around the Loop: Walking Tours of Architecture and History, 1996, McGraw-Hill, p.176.
- ^ "Smoke-Filled Room". Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. 2005. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
- ^ "Auditorium Building". City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division. 2003. Archived from the original on August 23, 2007. Retrieved July 16, 2007.
- ^ "Chicago Public Library/Cultural Center". City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division. 2003. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved July 16, 2007.
- ^ "Historic Michigan Boulevard District" (PDF). Commission on Chicago Landmarks. October 6, 1993. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
- ^ "Michigan Boulevard Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 16, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "6 North Michigan". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on March 5, 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2008.
- ^ "Willoughby Tower". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Gage Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "University Club". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "The Boulevard". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Wolberg Hall". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Lake View Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "People's Gas Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on May 3, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Borg-Warner Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on May 4, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Santa Fe Building from Grant Park, 2004". Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. 2005. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Santa Fe Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Metropolitan Tower". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on January 1, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Socony-Vacuum Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on May 12, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "ILLINOIS - Cook County". www.nationalregisterofhistoricalplaces.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2007.
- ^ "McCormick Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Fine Arts Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 11, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2008.
- ^ "Auditorium Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on December 9, 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Congress Hotel Addition". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Columbia College". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Torco Building". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "The Blackstone". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on November 10, 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Chicago Hilton & Towers". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on February 21, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Essex Inn". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on May 15, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "888 South Michigan". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on December 31, 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
- ^ "Michigan Avenue Lofts". Emporis. 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
41°52′33″N 87°37′28″W / 41.8757°N 87.6244°W