{"nrhp_refnum":"84001021","name":"North Wells Street Historic District","other_names":["Engine Company No. 27","Fiedler and Shouldice Factories"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"1240-1260 N. Wells St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.90548396400004,"lon":-87.63470924999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-05-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small commercial historic district of seven buildings on the west side of the 1200 block of North Wells Street, Chicago, between Scott and Goethe streets. The buildings were constructed between 1871 and 1888.","why_significant":"The block is argued to be a rare surviving intact example of typical commercial street development outside downtown Chicago in the years after the 1871 fire. Other historic districts in the city show residential development of the period, but none preserves a comparable commercial frontage. Three buildings are singled out as early examples: a post-fire frame storefront, Engine Company No. 27, and Fiedler's loft factory.","narrative":"This block-long row of seven buildings on North Wells Street in Chicago, between Scott and Goethe streets, dates from 1871 to 1888. It includes a two-story frame storefront built right after the Chicago Fire, an 1870s Italianate enginehouse for Engine Company No. 27, and a three-story brick loft built in 1875 by Anton B. Fiedler to make dress trimmings. Later additions include storefront-and-flat buildings, a carriage maker's factory from 1886, and a Queen Anne building of 1888 designed by Emil Riegert and Charles Knorr. The row was listed because it preserves a commercial street of the post-fire rebuilding period, a type that redevelopment and land clearance have nearly erased on the Near North, Near West and Near South sides. Other Chicago districts from the era are residential. Many buildings have been painted, resurfaced or partly bricked up, but their original designs can still be read, and the block shows how a neighborhood shopping street grew one lot at a time, often with owners living above their shops.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Emil Riegert and Charles Knorr (1248 N. Wells); Anton B. Fiedler, Samuel Shouldice, Herman Busch and August Merzinger as builders; Engine Company No. 27 built by the Board of Public Works; other architects unknown","architectural_style":"Italianate (enginehouse and Fiedler factory); Queen Anne (1248 N. Wells); post-fire balloon-frame storefront","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as deteriorated and fair, with altered buildings. Some storefronts are boarded over, and many facades are painted or partly covered, though the original designs remain evident. Surrounding blocks have been demolished or redeveloped.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.013417-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/8922/28892270/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/84001021.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001021/e85ab2dc31-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001021/e85ab2dc31-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"Smallbones, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1244_N_Wells.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892270","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Wells_Street_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30591094"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/north-wells-street-historic-district-84001021/"}