{"nrhp_refnum":"97000435","name":"Silversmith Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"10 S. Wabash Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.88121125500004,"lon":-87.62639327199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-05-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A ten-story commercial and office building at 10 South Wabash Avenue in Chicago's Loop, built in 1897 to a design from D.H. Burnham and Company, with Joachim Giaver as engineer.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be locally significant under Criterion C as a distinctive late nineteenth century Chicago commercial building. It is one of the last Burnham firm commissions to use Romanesque Revival design. Its dark green glazed terra cotta lower floors were an innovative use of colored terra cotta cladding for the period.","narrative":"Built in 1897 at 10 South Wabash Avenue in Chicago's Loop, this ten-story steel-frame building was designed for the jewelry and silver trade by Peter J. Weber of D.H. Burnham and Company. Its upper floors are faced in warm red brick and unglazed terra cotta, with rounded columns, acanthus capitals, spiral columns on the top story and a corbeled cornice that recall Romanesque Revival design. The first two floors were clad in dark green glazed terra cotta, an unusual and innovative choice for the mid-1890s, when terra cotta was usually made to imitate limestone. The building marks a moment when the Burnham firm was shifting from robust Romanesque work toward restrained neoclassicism. Storefronts and the lobby have been altered, but the masonry, window openings and original cornice remain remarkably intact. It was recognized for its architecture and its place in Chicago commercial design of the late nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":"1897","architect_builder":"Weber, Peter J., Architect","architectural_style":"Commercial Style","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Exterior is largely intact with altered storefronts and lobby; the second floor and most upper floors are vacant apart from offices on the seventh floor and a store on the tenth.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.614726-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/8919/28891974/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/97000435.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000435/76c7b8622b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000435/76c7b8622b-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_Silversmith_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_Silversmith_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/28891974","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silversmith_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7516777"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/silversmith-building-97000435/"}