{"nrhp_refnum":"83003563","name":"Oliver Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"159 N. Dearborn St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.885158217000026,"lon":-87.62932466999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-12-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A seven-story steel-frame, brick-clad office building at 159 North Dearborn Street in Chicago, built in 1906-07 as headquarters of the Oliver Typewriting Company. Holabird and Roche designed it, and the same firm added two stories in 1920.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a distinctive small Chicago School office building by Holabird and Roche, with its skeletal steel frame, identical bays of Chicago windows and elaborate cast-iron Renaissance ornament. It is also historically important as the headquarters of an internationally known typewriter maker. The ornament includes the company name, initials and a typewriter replica.","narrative":"Built in 1906-07 at 159 North Dearborn Street in Chicago, this narrow seven-story office building was designed by Holabird and Roche as headquarters for the Oliver Typewriting Company. It measures about 110 by 38 feet and has a steel frame clad in brick, with six identical bays filled with prefabricated cast-iron windows. The building originally rose five stories; the same architects added two more in 1920 and continued the original design. Ornate cast-iron panels, many of them still in place, weave the company name, initials and a replica of an Oliver typewriter into Renaissance-style decoration. The building was listed because it shows Chicago School principles in a small, personalized form, and because it recalls a major typewriter manufacturer. The company was organized in 1896, operated a large factory in Woodstock, Illinois, and produced some 900,000 machines. Despite first-floor remodelling, the exterior remains largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Holabird and Roche","architectural_style":"Chicago School","criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":"Occupied and in commercial use; the exterior is largely intact apart from first-floor modernizations, and the interior lobby, hallway and office have been remodelled.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.135542-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/68/8922/28892268/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/83003563.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003563/2c5068c339-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003563/2c5068c339-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TonyTheTiger at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oliver_Typewriter_Building_Front_Door_and_Design.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TonyTheTiger at English Wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://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:Oliver_Typewriter_Building_Front_Door_and_Design.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892268","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Building_(Chicago)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7087428"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/oliver-building-83003563/"}