{"nrhp_refnum":"83000314","name":"Singer Building","other_names":["120 South State Street Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"120 S. State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.87994113700006,"lon":-87.62806812999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A ten-story office and retail building with a full basement at 120 South State Street in Chicago, Illinois, designed by Mundie & Jensen for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The building permit was issued in 1925 and construction finished in June 1926.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance on three grounds: it was built by a major American company, it was designed by an eminent architectural firm, and it represents a type of steel-framed, terra-cotta-clad downtown office/retail building no longer built. It solved a narrow 25-foot lot with tall lower floors, large windows and column-free floors.","narrative":"Rising ten stories on a lot only 25 feet wide on Chicago's State Street, this building was constructed in 1925-1926 as the local headquarters and showroom of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Architects Mundie & Jensen gave it a steel frame, brick walls and an east facade of creamy white glazed terra cotta with Gothic ornament. Very tall lower floors allowed large windows to bring light into column-free interiors, and the elevators and stairs sat toward the rear to keep the street side open. Inside, hallways and the lobby feature black and white checkerboard tile, and the elevator doors are framed in bronze. The nomination presents the building as the work of a prominent firm, as a product of a major American company, and as an example of efficient downtown office design of its era. After the 1970s, upper floors were emptied for a proposed redevelopment that never happened. Some rooftop terra cotta was removed for safety and stored for future restoration.","period_of_significance":"1925","architect_builder":"Mundie & Jensen (architects); R.F. Wilson & Company (contractor)","architectural_style":"Gothic detailing in glazed terra cotta","criteria":[],"status_note":"Only the ground floor was occupied at the time of nomination; upper floors had been vacated in the 1970s in anticipation of possible demolition, and a rehabilitation was planned.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.252429-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/50/8922/28892250/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/83000314.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000314/7b28e6a345-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000314/7b28e6a345-1600.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_Singer_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_Singer_Building.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"98001351","name":"Loop Retail Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/loop-retail-historic-district-98001351/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892250","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singer_Building_(Chicago)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7523388"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/singer-building-83000314/"}