{"nrhp_refnum":"75000653","name":"Studebaker Building","other_names":["Fine Arts Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"410-418 S. Michigan Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.87617623500006,"lon":-87.62477728899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-08-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Literature","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A masonry commercial building at 410-418 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, built in 1884 as the Studebaker wagon company's carriage warehouse and showroom, designed by Solon Beman, and converted in 1895-1898 into the Fine Arts Building.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the finest large Chicago buildings showing the climax of masonry commercial design, and the only major downtown work by Solon Beman. It is credited as a source for Adler and Sullivan's Auditorium Building design. It is also a skillful adaptive-use conversion that became a center of Chicago's cultural and literary life, and it forms part of the Michigan Avenue streetscape facing Grant Park.","narrative":"Built in 1884 on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, this building was first a carriage warehouse, outfitting shop and showroom for the Studebaker wagon company. Architect Solon Beman gave it a Romanesque facade of rough-cut Bedford stone and red granite, with huge polished granite columns said to be among the largest monolithic shafts in the country. After the Studebakers moved to a new building in 1895, the structure was converted into the Fine Arts Building, opening in 1898 with theaters, recital halls and artists' studios, plus a tenth floor added on top. It became home to clubs, artists and sculptors, and to the early Little Review and Poetry magazines. The nomination holds that it influenced the vertical rhythm of Sullivan's neighboring Auditorium Building, shows skillful adaptive reuse, and contributes to the harmonious character of South Michigan Avenue facing Grant Park.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific dates 1884; 1898)","architect_builder":"Solon Beman (architect); A.N. Rebori (Studebaker Theater interiors)","architectural_style":"Commercial and Romanesque elements (Richardsonian Romanesque)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition and altered, occupied; the building continues as a center for music schools, theaters, studios and offices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.645485-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/50/8924/28892450/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/75000653.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000653/864d164777-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000653/864d164777-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fine_Arts_Building_410_South_Michigan_Avenue.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fine_Arts_Building_410_South_Michigan_Avenue.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892450","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_Arts_Building_(Chicago)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5450045"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/studebaker-building-75000653/"}