{"nrhp_refnum":"78001130","name":"South Loop Printing House District","other_names":["See Also:76000702","Dearborn Station","Manhatten Bldg."],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Taylor, Polk, Wells, Congress and State Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.87402605750006,"lon":-87.6309621602123,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-03-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Transportation","Architecture","Communications"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 43-acre historic district of printing houses and related loft and office buildings in Chicago's South Loop, Cook County, Illinois, built mainly between 1883 and 1928 around Dearborn Station and South Dearborn Street.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district embodies a commercial and industrial area that grew after the railroads were consolidated, and that it was the hub of Midwest printing for more than fifty years after 1883. Its urban form is a distinctive response to industrial needs: thin blocks give light and freight access. It also holds a fairly uniform group of buildings, many by noted Chicago School architects and of high design quality.","narrative":"Centered on South Dearborn Street near Dearborn Station, this Chicago district of about 43 acres preserves the buildings of the city's printing industry. Development began after the Great Fire of 1871 and accelerated in 1883, when the Donohue Building opened in anticipation of the station. The railroad gave printers freight access and a way to distribute books, catalogs and maps nationwide. Narrow blocks admitted light to tall buildings and allowed long rows of presses. Firms such as Donohue and Henneberry, Rand McNally and the Lakeside Press clustered here, supported by paper suppliers, binders, engravers and mapmakers. A second wave of building followed the 1903 LaSalle Street station, and six more buildings arrived in the mid-1920s. The architecture ranges from small post-fire brick lofts to Romanesque Revival plants, Chicago School towers such as the Pontiac Building, and concrete-frame structures. Many designers were prominent Chicago architects. Neglect after World War II left the district's fabric largely intact, and it was listed for its commercial, industrial and architectural character.","period_of_significance":"1883-1928","architect_builder":"Multiple, including C.L. Eidlitz (Dearborn Station), Julius Speyer and A.S. Alschuler (Donohue Building), George C. Nimmons (Franklin Building), Fred V. Prather (Transportation Building), Holabird and Roche (Pontiac Building), Jenney and Mundie (Morton Building), J.M. Van Osdel (Terminals Building)","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival, Chicago School and later concrete-frame functional loft buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as remaining largely as constructed and still occupied by commercial printing concerns; condition marked fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.368453-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/8922/28892254/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/78001130.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001130/cf1ab30754-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001130/cf1ab30754-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plymouth_Building_(7187207771).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plymouth_Building_(7187207771).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892254","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Loop_Printing_House_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7567860"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/south-loop-printing-house-district-78001130/"}