This week, the University of Illinois at Chicago resumed its demolition of buildings in the historic Maxwell Street neighborhood.
On Monday, January 8, the building at 1214-16 S. Halsted was destroyed. It previously housed Mike's Shoe Center and Kay's Fashion. Built in the 1950s, it was not considered a "contributing" building for the proposed historic district.
On Tuesday, January 9, Century Fashion vacated the building at 1213 S. Halsted to make way for demolition of that structure. This building once housed the Vienna Sausage Company (Today's Vienna Beef). It is a two-story brick building constructed in 1898. Although covered by siding since the 1950s, the original brick façade likely is intact beneath the siding. Century Fashion is relocating to 47th and Ashland.
According to the demolition company, the next buildings to be razed are 1220 S. Halsted and 1234 S. Halsted, two of the neighborhood's gems.
Twelve-twenty is a four-story red brick building erected in the 1880s that is characteristic of the commercial buildings of that era. It has a terrazzo entranceway from the 1940s that bears the name of its then occupants: Wexler Brothers Shoes. More recently it housed the Nike Team Bank Shoes store.
Twelve-thirty-four is a four story brick building constructed in 1911 by Isadora and Leo Ginsberg as a warehouse and furniture store. It was designed by Henry Leopold Newhouse, a locally prominent architect. Historic photographs reveal that it has Chicago windows on the second and third story levels. Terra cotta details define the fenestration of the upper levels and at the upper parapet wall, which extends above the building's flat roof. For years, turquoise siding has covered the entire second, third and fourth stories, but the original façade likely is intact underneath.
We also have learned that Homer the Sock Man, who sold socks on Maxwell Street for many years and who was well known there, passed on Tuesday, January 9.
The Juketown Community Bandstand that stood on the northeast corner of Halsted and Maxwell since 1998, which was fenced off by UIC in September, has been demolished and removed along with the MAX sign and other artifacts that accumulated there over the last three years. Click here to see them in their final days.
Thanks to Merlyn McFarland for keeping us informed of these latest developments.
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Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition
P.O. Box 6435
Evanston, IL 60204