{"nrhp_refnum":"08001097","name":"Otis Elevator Company Factory Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1435 W. 15th St. and 1501 S. Laflin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.86330580400005,"lon":-87.66320838299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-11-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-story brick factory and warehouse complex at 1435 W. Fifteenth Street / 1501 S. Laflin Street on Chicago's Near West Side, begun in 1900 for the Otis Elevator Company and expanded in 1906-1911 and 1916.","why_significant":"It was the first purpose-built facility Otis constructed in its push to establish a major presence in Chicago and the Midwest. It later served as a warehouse for the Riley-Schubert-Grossman mail order company, which expanded it to its present form in 1916. It is also a utilitarian example of the large rail-oriented factory and warehouse buildings that once filled the Near West Side.","narrative":"Begun in 1900 at the southeast corner of West Fifteenth and South Laflin streets on Chicago's Near West Side, this brick factory was the first purpose-built facility of the Otis Elevator Company's Chicago Works. Architects Samuel A. Treat and Abraham K. Adler designed the original five-story building, which has timber framing and load-bearing brick walls. Otis added a three-story wing between 1906 and 1911. The company closed the plant in 1914 and sold the building, and in 1916 the Riley-Schubert-Grossman mail order company added two more stories and a rear wing, nearly doubling its size. Its location beside rail tracks and major transportation routes suited both manufacturing and distribution. Although windows and doors have been replaced or infilled, the original block still reads clearly within the larger structure. The building is significant for Otis's expansion into the Midwest, for its later role in the mail order trade, and as a surviving rail-oriented industrial building.","period_of_significance":"1900-1918","architect_builder":"Samuel A. Treat and Abraham K. Adler, Architects (1900 building and 1906-1911 addition); J. Norman Jensen, Architect (1916 addition); George Swift, contractor (original building)","architectural_style":"Late 19th/early 20th Century Revivals/Colonial Revival; Industrial","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Current function is listed as 'Work in Progress'; the building has continually served as a factory or warehouse since 1900.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.513645-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/8926/28892606/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/08001097.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08001097/f292bcf381-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08001097/f292bcf381-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Andrew Jameson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otis_Elevator_Company_Factory_Building_Chicago_IL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Andrew Jameson</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:Otis_Elevator_Company_Factory_Building_Chicago_IL.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"12000040","name":"Chicago Park Boulevard System Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/chicago-park-boulevard-system-historic-district-12000040/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892606","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Elevator_Company_Factory_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60753956"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/otis-elevator-company-factory-building-08001097/"}