{"nrhp_refnum":"11000849","name":"Wholesale Florists Exchange","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1313 W. Randolph St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.885709923000036,"lon":-87.65937870799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-11-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story reinforced concrete loft building at 1313 West Randolph Street in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, designed by the architectural firm Fox & Fox and completed in 1927 for the First Realty Company.","why_significant":"The building is locally significant for Commerce because it consolidated Chicago's largest wholesale florists in one purpose-built location and moved the center of the trade from the Loop to the Near West Side. It is also presented as an unusual Art Deco concrete loft with cast-in-place concrete facades and a flat-slab structural system.","narrative":"Built in 1927 at 1313 West Randolph Street, this three-story reinforced concrete loft was created to house Chicago's leading wholesale florists under one roof. First Realty Company partnered with a consortium of floral firms, including Kennicott Brothers and Poehlman Brothers, and hired the firm Fox & Fox, known mainly for garages and industrial buildings. The result used flat-slab construction with flared mushroom columns, while the street facades were cast entirely in concrete, with ribbed piers ending in lotus capitals and abstracted Art Deco floral motifs. Its completion moved the center of the florist trade from the congested Wabash and Randolph area in the Loop to the Near West Side. It is considered locally significant for its role in Commerce and as a rare Chicago example of a loft with concrete facades rather than brick or stone. Original elevators, plaster lobby details and upper-floor corridor doors remain, though windows and the main door have been replaced.","period_of_significance":"1927-1960","architect_builder":"Fox & Fox","architectural_style":"Modern Movement / Art Deco","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Currently in commercial/business use; the original multi-light steel windows and main entrance door have been replaced, and the ground-floor storefronts are infilled with glass block within the original openings.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.314693-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/45/8925/28892545/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/11000849.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000849/2f1a462896-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000849/2f1a462896-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Thshriver","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wholesale_Florists_Exchange_1.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Thshriver</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:Wholesale_Florists_Exchange_1.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892545","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wholesale_Florists_Exchange","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65073473"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/wholesale-florists-exchange-11000849/"}