{"nrhp_refnum":"00000942","name":"Buckingham Building","other_names":["New Athenaeum","Socony Vacuum Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"59-67 E. Van Buren St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.87680536700003,"lon":-87.62502446299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-08-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A twenty-seven-story Art Deco office skyscraper at 59-67 East Van Buren Street in the southeast Chicago Loop, designed by Holabird & Root from 1927 to 1929 and completed in 1930.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the building as a notable example of Art Deco commercial architecture by the prominent Chicago firm Holabird & Root. It also reflects the city's speculative office building tradition and its early tenants, including the Vacuum Oil Company, later Socony-Vacuum, which leased much of the building and gave it a second name.","narrative":"Rising twenty-seven stories on East Van Buren Street, just west of Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Loop, this Art Deco office tower was designed by Holabird & Root between 1927 and 1929 and opened in May 1930. Its steel and reinforced concrete frame is clad in black granite at the base, Milwaukee cream brick above, and terra cotta spandrels decorated with stylized floral designs. An L-shaped plan with a notch at the southeast corner brought light and lake views to upper floors. The lobby keeps its original Belgian black and Notre Dame marble, brushed aluminum elevator doors with transportation scenes, and chevron details. Early tenants were largely railroad, lumber, and oil firms, among them the Vacuum Oil Company, which later became Socony-Vacuum and gave the building a second name in 1940. The building is recognized for its distinctive architecture, its link to a leading Chicago firm, and its role in the city's commercial development.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Holabird & Root","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: Art Deco","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as currently only 34% occupied, with retail spaces on the ground floor and a vacant second floor; some alterations to storefronts, upper floors and elevators.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.412379-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/34/8919/28891934/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/00000942.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000942/9dc12c01d8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000942/9dc12c01d8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20080703_Buckingham_Building.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20080703_Buckingham_Building.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891934","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16985591"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/buckingham-building-00000942/"}