Sheffield Historic District (Boundary Increase)

This extension to Chicago's Sheffield Historic District adds a group of factories, warehouses and a few 1880s houses along West Fullerton Avenue, between Sheffield and Southport avenues. Most of the industrial buildings went up between 1905 and 1922 and are built of red or yellow brick with limestone, terra cotta or concrete trim. The factories employed workers from the surrounding neighborhood, which was heavily German, and several were founded by German owners such as Dietzgen, Linkman and Bolter. Two buildings stand out for early reinforced concrete construction: the Milwaukee Road general office building, begun in 1904-05, and the Eugene Dietzgen Company building of 1906, which housed a major blueprint paper and drafting supply maker. Other additions include the Standard Cap and Seal Company buildings, the Williams Piano and Organ building and the Julius Bauer Piano Company building. Bringing these properties inside the boundary connects the district's workplaces with its homes and gives a fuller picture of the neighborhood.