{"nrhp_refnum":"84000293","name":"Peoples Gas Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"122 S. Michigan Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.87977878200007,"lon":-87.62481247399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-11-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A twenty-one-story office building at 122 South Michigan Avenue, at the northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street in Chicago, completed in 1910 for the Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company to designs by D. H. Burnham and Company.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building embodies important architectural and business history in Chicago. It is a late work of D. H. Burnham & Company that combines a Chicago steel frame with a heavy, classical facade, and it housed the city's sole gas utility. The site also held the Brunswick Hotel and earlier homes of prominent Chicagoans, including the Honoré house and the William H. Brown house, where Abraham Lincoln was entertained.","narrative":"Rising twenty-one stories at the northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street in Chicago, this office building was completed in 1910 as headquarters for the Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company. D. H. Burnham and Company designed it with a granite and terra cotta exterior, a base of immense monolithic granite columns, and a central light court faced in white enameled brick. Its steel frame rests on hardpan caissons, and cantilever girders at the second floor carry the outer walls so the columns could stand free of loads. The firm was among the leading architectural practices of its day, and the building represents its work combining the Chicago frame with a heavier classical facade. The site also held the Brunswick Hotel, built in 1883, and earlier mansions, including the Honoré home and the house where Abraham Lincoln was entertained before his inauguration. The exterior remains largely intact, though the original Tiffany glass ceiling and ground-floor interiors were lost to later alterations.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific dates 1910-11)","architect_builder":"D. H. Burnham & Company","architectural_style":"Classical skyscraper design with eclectic ornament (base, shaft and cornice composition)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied by the Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company since construction, with the rest rented out. The exterior retains nearly complete integrity, while the ground floor and customers' room were heavily altered after World War II. The nomination notes the building was being sold in 1984.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.120431-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/52/8922/28892252/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/84000293.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000293/957870a3eb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000293/957870a3eb-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peoples_Gas_Company_Building_122_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:Peoples_Gas_Company_Building_122_South_Michigan_Avenue.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892252","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Gas_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7166063"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/peoples-gas-building-84000293/"}