{"nrhp_refnum":"86001091","name":"Overton Hygienic Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3619--3627 S. State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.82807149700005,"lon":-87.62623485599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-04-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story concrete-frame commercial and office building at 3619-27 South State Street in Chicago, built in 1922-23 and designed by architect Z. Erol Smith for Anthony Overton.","why_significant":"The building was the headquarters of Anthony Overton's black-oriented financial empire, which included banking, insurance, publishing and cosmetics manufacturing. It was also the first structure in Black Metropolis to offer first-class rental offices to black professionals, making it the district's prime business address.","narrative":"Built in 1922-23 at 3619-27 South State Street in Chicago, this four-story building housed the businesses of Anthony Overton, a pioneering black entrepreneur born into slavery in 1865. Overton's enterprises included the Overton Hygienic Company, the Victory Life Insurance Company, the Chicago Bee newspaper, The Half Century Magazine and the Douglass National Bank, the first black bank granted a national charter. Designed by Z. Erol Smith, the reinforced concrete structure is clad in yellow-brown wire-cut brick and white terra-cotta trim. Overton hoped for six stories but a bond campaign fell short, though the elevator shaft extends above the roof to allow for additions. Its second-floor offices were the finest business facilities in Black Metropolis, with tenants including the Theater Owners Booking Association and architect Walter T. Bailey. The Depression-era failure of the bank in 1932 led Overton to leave the building. Today it is vacant apart from its ground-floor stores.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Z. Erol Smith, Architect","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as vacant except for the ground-floor stores; storefronts were altered around 1960, including bricking up the three southern storefronts, though the original openings remain intact.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.078865-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/68/8909/28890968/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/86001091.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001091/efd3525e80-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001091/efd3525e80-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Andrew Jameson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Overton_Hygienic_Building_Chicago_IL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Andrew Jameson</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:Overton_Hygienic_Building_Chicago_IL.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"12000040","name":"Chicago Park Boulevard System Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/chicago-park-boulevard-system-historic-district-12000040/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28890968","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygienic_Manufacturing_Company","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14688000"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/overton-hygienic-building-86001091/"}