2620 Lofts was developed to save a great historic building from a famous architect and provide large, bright, interesting living space with 68 units, indoor heated parking, roof deck, and more. The intent was to keep the architectural beauty and provide a totally renovated modern living, beautiful, true industrial, concrete residential “TRUE” loft living with roof top amenities (grills, lounge sofas, cafe tables), city and sunset views, indoor heated parking, security and other amenities. Development lead by LK Growth LLC, a Chicago-based real estate company that solely focuses on adaptive reuse projects and on the preservation of historically significant structures...
The Lindemann & Hoverson (L&H) Company
Showroom and Warehouse Building, located at 2620 W. Washington
Boulevard in Chicago's East Garfield Park, is a rare industrial
design by noted late 19th-
and early 20th-century
Chicago architect Paul Gerhardt, Sr. Gerhardt, whose 50-year
career includes celebrated designs for Cook County Hospital and
a number of monumental Chicago public schools, was also a pioneer
in the design of reinforced concrete industrial buildings. The
six-story L&H Company Showroom and Warehouse is a mercantile
building of reinforced concrete, flat slab construction with
a handsome pressed brick and terra cotta exterior. It features
classical white glazed terra cotta ornamentation along the first
and second story façades and at the roof line, with an
elegant terra cotta-clad showroom inside its first floor to showcase
the company's product line.
The building was constructed in 1924 as a
sales showroom and warehouse for Milwaukee-based A. J. Lindemann & H.
C. Hoverson Company, which specialized in the manufacture of
a wide range of heating devices, including stoves, ranges, and
water heaters, as well as kitchen appliances like hot plates
and waffle irons. Since firms in mercantile buildings of the
early 20th-century
required rail service to move their products, the Lindemann & Hoverson
Company of Milwaukee chose a location in an industrial corridor
along the Chicago & North Western Railway and Penn Central
tracks at the eastern edge of the East Garfield Park community.
The L&H Company occupied this Chicago location for 17 years
from 1924 until 1941. It was then occupied by International Register
Company of Chicago until 1958 and remained a storage facility
by a succession of companies until recent years. Today, the L&H
Company Showroom and Warehouse Building is one of the few remaining
significant examples of early 20th-century
industrial architecture within East Garfield Park's once
thriving industrial corridor.
ARCHITECTURE OF
THE L&H COMPANY BUILDING
Paul Gerhardt, Sr.'s design for the L&H
Company Showroom and Warehouse combines a typical 1920s flat
slab reinforced concrete structure with a finely detailed pressed
brick and terra cotta exterior. Flat slab construction consists
of a grid network of wide concrete columns with flared tops and
flat concrete plates supporting reinforced concrete floor slabs.
This type of construction, with open floor plans that could accommodate
a variety of uses, was especially suited for the L&H Company,
which planned to occupy the first three floors of the building
and rent out the rest as office and warehouse space. Although
concrete loft buildings were usually functional structures that
were not highly ornamented, Gerhardt's design for the six-story
L&H Company Building features an impressive two-story terra
cotta base with fluted pilasters, four stacked floors faced in
red pressed brick, and a terra cotta cornice at the top. The
first-story ornamentation was undoubtedly meant to draw attention
to the company's showroom, the entire interior of which
was also covered with gleaming white terra cotta.
The internal concrete structure of the L&H
Company Building is displayed on the outside in the simple grid
appearance of its applied pressed brick facades. Window bays
are separated by soaring vertical brick piers, and floors are
divided horizontally by brick panels accented with circular terra
cotta medallions. Capitals for the brick piers are circular panels
with central rosettes and draping garland, which mark the window
bays on three sides of the building and wrap around the corners
of the east (railroad) facade. There are terra cotta rectangular
panels with winged horses (Pegasus) and projecting cornices that
cap the exterior design, and other foliated ornament in the cornice
itself.
Besides terra cotta ornament, the building's
brickwork is also notable. Window and door openings are accented
with brick soldier course lintels and brick dentils just below
terra cotta sills. Brickwork also accents the classically inspired
three-bay truck façade, framed by a slightly projecting
brick portico, with brick dentil frieze, brick pilasters, and
terra cotta panels.
A striking two-story, white terra cotta base
visibly indicates the showroom portion of this mercantile building.
Elegant fluted terra cotta pilasters divide bays along the first
and second stories of the front façade and part of the
west side façade. Above the pilasters is a terra cotta
frieze displaying a repeated Greek key motif and rosettes. The
ground floor once featured large display windows on the front
and wrapping around two bays of the west side. The principal
entry in the easternmost bay on the front façade has a
classical pediment topping a double door entry, generous sidelights
and transoms. The frieze above it has a Greek key design and
rosettes, while the foliated cornice is marked with lion heads.
This entry leads into a lobby which is the formal entrance to
the showroom.
The west (Talman Avenue) façade of
the building has a secondary, employees entrance also trimmed
in some ornamental terra cotta. On either side a few of the original
multi-light metal sash are still in place. There is a three-bay
truck loading dock where the company's products could be
brought in and out of the building and into the adjacent showroom.
The north (Maypole Avenue) façade has similar window openings
and brick and terra cotta treatment as the west facade. The ground
floor has a variety of different openings, including a single
truck dock and another secondary entrance, although with no ornamentation.
The east (railroad) façade is considerably
plainer. Service dock openings also line this façade,
where rail transit is situated. According to historic photographs,
window openings on the principal and two secondary facades originally
had three grouped fixed metal sash with pivoting metal hopper
windows at the center. Almost all window openings were infilled
with concrete block in 1979.
Metal fire escapes, supplied by the Standard
Fire Escape Company of Chicago, appear on the west and north
facades. At one time, a water tank was located towards the east
end of the building on the roof. The brick platform still remains
indicating its former location. Adjacent to the platform is a
brick rectangular tower.
The interior of the L&H Company Building
was designed for two purposes: the first was to house a company
showroom with attractive finishes to highlight the company's
products, while the remainder of the building was to accommodate
a warehouse with optimum functional utility. Both types of spaces
are still clearly marked by interior finishes and treatments.
Just inside the front entrance on Washington Boulevard is the
main lobby, two steps up from ground level, with white glazed
terra cotta tile walls and ornamental plaster crown moldings.
A fireplace, with terra cotta mantel and foliated rectangular
panel above, graces the east wall. Although the lobby was altered
sometime after 1941, terra cotta tile, decorative frieze, and
decorative plaster crown and cove molding still indicate the
original space. At the rear of the lobby, the main staircase
retains white, glazed terra cotta tile up to the level of the
second floor landing, terrazzo steps and landing floors, and
simple metal stair post and rails.
Through wood double doors on the west wall
of the first floor lobby is the original showroom. Similar to
the lobby, the walls are lined with glazed white terra cotta,
and have decorative plaster crown and coved moldings above. Pilasters
along the showroom walls have octagonal white glazed, terra cotta
panel inserts with decorative urn designs and a tile frieze above
with rosettes. Along the north wall of the showroom are three
arched doorways with fluted tile frieze and central rosette.
Terrazzo floors are found throughout the principal first floor
spaces -- the lobby and showroom. Later wood partitions for the
1941 personnel offices of the International Register Company
have almost all been removed.
Rear spaces on the first floor were built
for warehouse purposes and are utilitarian in appearance. At
the center of the building at the west end is the concrete loading
platform and three-bay truck dock. Adjacent to the truck dock
is the secondary entrance and staircase, with simple utilitarian
finishes and directly across on the east wall are two freight
elevators. The remaining five floors of the structure are reached
by the principal staircase at the southeast end of the building
and the secondary staircase at the west central part of the building.
Built originally for warehouse purposes, these five floors are
mainly open and unfinished, with exposed concrete columns and
flared capitals. Each floor now has a partitioned office in the
southeast corner, constructed by individual tenants at different
times after 1941.
For a straightforward, industrial warehouse
structure, Gerhardt designed a building whose exterior clearly
expresses and distinguishes its two interior functions. The terra
cotta framing of the ground floor showroom space calls attention
to the large display windows where the company's products
would have been visible. The more utilitarian treatment of the
upper floor facades in brick is suitable for their warehouse
function. The cornice which tops the building is reflective
of classical orders, yet individualistic in its ornamental detail.
Despite the loss of most of the original windows in this building,
the masonry materials and configuration of all exterior facades
are completely intact. On the inside, the entry lobby and main
showroom also retain original materials and configurations and
the rear of the first floor and all upper floors display the
open floors with exposed concrete columns, floors, and ceilings
that typify this type of industrial construction.
INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURE
AND THE L & H COMPANY SHOWROOM
AND WAREHOUSE BUILDING
The industrial building as a building type
was first created after 1800 when manufacturing shifted away
from individual artisans laboring in small workshops to a process
that involved a series of large machines, each doing a separate
task, to create a single product. This introduced the need for
special purpose structures designed and built just for industry.
Many early industrial buildings were one-story buildings, however
in urban areas where land values were high and space was in demand,
the industrial building evolved into a new type: the multi-story
industrial loft building. The loft is multi-purpose and can be
used for manufacturing and assembly operations, materials storage,
office and support functions, machine shop and equipment repair,
and a variety of other industry-specific uses. The Lindemann & Hoverson
Company Showroom and Warehouse Building is a prime example of
the multi-story industrial loft building type.
The loft is generally rectangular with a flat
roof and may be one of several types of construction - standard
mill timber frame, reinforced concrete, or steel skeleton construction.
Standard mill construction, which predominated in the 19th century,
has a framework of heavy wood columns supporting timber beams,
and small wood, double hung windows penetrating thick masonry
exterior walls. Reinforced concrete became the primary structural
material for multi-story loft construction after 1900. This material
permitted a structural skeleton with wide areas between columns
to be filled with windows for maximum daylight. Structures of
concrete were more fire-resistant, less susceptible to vibration,
cleaner and safer than wood or load-bearing brick.
Two variations of reinforced concrete construction
were employed in the early 20th century:
beam and girder construction and flat slab construction. Flat
slab construction, as seen in the L&H Company Building,
features wide, usually round columns having flared tops (the "mushroom
system") that support broad, flat, concrete plates. These
columns and plates in turn support a reinforced concrete floor
slab of uniform thickness with no dropped beams. This became
the preferred method after 1920 because it permitted easy installation
of uninterrupted conduit and ducts along the ceilings. Ceilings
were characteristically 12-14 feet tall and the structures had
flat roofs similar to mill construction. Freed from load-bearing
requirements, exterior walls could be curtain walls with large
expanses of windows. Multi-light steel sash were favored for
providing more light and ventilation. Typical window configurations
included operable center pivot (as found in the L&H Company
Building), awning, or hopper sections that opened with rods or
pull chains.
The first American patents in reinforced concrete
construction were attained in the late 1860s and in 1875 the
first successful reinforced concrete building was constructed
by engineer William Ward in Port Chester, New York. Experiments
by engineers in France and America in the late 19th century
and early 20th century
furthered the use of reinforced concrete. By 1907, civil engineer
Claude A. P. Turner had developed the "Mushroom System" of
flat slab construction and his work was published in Western
Architect in May 1907. The "Mushroom
System" embedded reinforcing bars in the floor slabs, extending
from column to column. It is named for the flared shape of the
concrete column heads that spread the weight of the floors throughout
the building.
Reinforced concrete loft structures built
between 1900 and 1930 were often utilitarian structures designed
by engineers, without benefit of an architect. Lesser-known firms
borrowed the new technology from trade publications and offered
their services to economy-minded industrialists. Yet, a handful
of architects, including those based in Chicago, brought attention
to refining techniques in reinforced concrete construction and
inserted architectural interest into what had once been featureless
construction. Better industrial buildings of this era in Chicago
reflect experimentation with wall treatments and decorative elements
either by integrating dramatic decorative detailing based on
past historic styles or by expressing modernity in proportional
designs with simplified ornamentation.
Gerhardt, as a pioneer in reinforced concrete
construction, naturally chose this type of loft construction
for its fireproof, strength, and vibration-free qualities. Its
open floor plans could accommodate a variety of uses, especially
suited for the L&H Company, which planned to occupy the
first three floors of the building and rent out the rest as office
and warehouse space. Although Gerhardt used continuous window
walls in other multi-story industrial loft buildings, his client
was looking for a warehouse and showroom structure that did not
demand high levels of light for efficient production. Instead,
Gerhardt focused on the L&H Company's dual purpose,
creating a showroom and mercantile storage facility.
For a straightforward, industrial structure,
Gerhardt has designed a building whose exterior clearly expresses
and distinguishes its two interior functions. The terra cotta
framing of the ground floor showroom space undoubtedly calls
attention to the large showroom display windows where the company's
products would have been visible. The more utilitarian treatment
of the upper floor facades in brick is suitable for their warehouse
function. The showroom interior was covered with gleaming white
terra cotta, while the warehouse spaces are strictly utilitarian.
Generally well-executed warehouse architecture tends to exhibit
to decorative treatments at doorways, draw attention to corners,
detailed cornices and parapets, and insert strong banding or
vertical elements to break up the monotony of the grid-like structure.
Gerhardt's design for the six-story L&H Building features
strong brick elements and elaborate terra cotta and treatment.
The cornice that tops the building is reflective of classical
orders, yet individualistic in its ornamental detail. The main
entrance, with intricate terra cotta pediment and entry, intentionally
was placed on the "boulevard side," whose connotation
with status and high-end real estate also dictated a more elaborate
architectural expression.
PAUL GERHARDT, SR.
When the Lindemann & Hoverson Company
sought an architect for their new building in Chicago, they looked
for an expert in industrial building design. Chicago's emergence
as a major U.S. manufacturing center offered considerable work
and exciting challenges to architects who were pioneering achievements
in concrete engineering and innovative industrial building design.
Chicago architects such as Alfred Alschuler, George C. Nimmons,
Howard Van Doren Shaw, and Richard Schmidt are recognized for
having forwarded the industrial factory from earlier featureless
structures to aesthetically pleasing designs. Another of these
pioneering architects was German-born Paul Gerhardt, Sr., whose
arrival in the U.S. was due to his industrial building expertise.
Paul Gerhardt, Sr. was born in Dobeln, Saxony,
Germany on December 24, 1863, attended the Royal Academy in Leipzig
and earned an engineering degree at the Technical University
of Hanover in 1884. He came to the United States in 1890, at
the behest of the German Textile Corporation, to design and construct
spinning mills. His expertise with textile mills led to an understanding
of utilitarian forms and industrial processes, leading him to
design one of the largest mills in the United States -- the Botany
Worsted Mill in Passaic, New Jersey. Gerhardt continued to take
commissions for other large manufacturing facilities throughout
his career, including several mill complexes, a plant for International
Gas Engine Company, LaPorte, IN (1904), and a distillery in Elgin,
Illinois.
In 1893, soon after his arrival in Chicago,
Gerhardt started his own architectural firm, taking on various
residential, commercial, and industrial projects. Prolific in
the first decade of the twentieth century, his list of projects
from the American Contractor alone
numbers nearly 70 between 1898 and 1910. Projects announced in
the Chicago Daily Tribune from
that period include apartment and flat buildings, such as the
Portage brownstone-clad "Roseberry Flats" on Elaine
Street (1896). Additionally, by 1910, Gerhardt's Who's
Who listing cites him as the architect
for "many warehouses, mercantile buildings, and hotels" in
and around Chicago.
According to Frank A. Randall's History
of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago,
Gerhardt's works of the period include: the Hall Building
(1908, demolished), 440-472 W. Superior Street, a seven-story
industrial building of heavy mill construction; the pioneering
Winston Building (1911, demolished), 341-349 E. Ohio Street,
a seven-story industrial building of flat slab construction and
concrete exterior. Some of his most noted designs in his early
career in Chicago were hotels and restaurants for German clientele,
including an earlier Bismarck Hotel, the Rienzi restaurant and
at least ten tavern buildings in Chicago for the Pabst Brewing
Company constructed between 1898 and 1910.
In December of 1910, Gerhardt was picked to
replace William Holabird as Cook County architect. Soon after,
the Cook County Board announced that a new building would be
constructed. As county architect, Gerhardt drew up designs for
the new hospital, an impressive and recognized Beaux Arts building
that still stands today along Harrison Street. However due to
numerous clashes with the Board over the hospital building and
other issues, Gerhardt was forced to resign his post as County
Architect to Richard Schmidt in January of 1913. The design of
the hospital, which was completed within the year, was Gerhardt's,
and remains one of his best-known buildings.
After leaving his position as county architect,
Gerhardt returned to private practice until 1928, when he was
chosen to serve as supervising architect for the Chicago Board
of Education. Some of the more notable school buildings designed
by Gerhardt during his three-year tenure include the mammoth
Lane Technical High School at 2501 W. Addison (1930) and ornamental
Von Steuben High School at 5021-55 N. Kimball. Gerhardt's
son, Paul Gerhardt, Jr., FAIA, who had joined his father's
firm following graduation from Yale University in 1921, succeeded
him as City Architect in 1929.
Paul Gerhardt designed the L&H Company
Mercantile Building between his position as Cook County architect
and architect for the Chicago Board of Education. According to
notices in the Chicago Tribune,
Gerhardt continued to take commissions similar to those he had
in the first decade of the twentieth century, including hotels,
multi-family residences, mercantile and manufacturing buildings,
and some commercial structures. Some of the known buildings Gerhardt
designed in Chicago during this time period, including the Three
Links Temple, now DANK-HAUS (a German cultural center) at 4740-48
N. Western Avenue; the Schlake Dye Works Plant, 4203 W. Grand
Avenue (1921); the Fraternal Order of Eagles Building (c. 1921,
demolished), Carpenters' District Council Building, Midland
Club, and the Edgewater Athletic Club (c. 1928, demolished).
Many buildings designed by Gerhardt were announced in local newspapers
and architectural publications were for hotels, small commercial
buildings, and apartment buildings.
Although Paul Gerhardt, Sr. is best known
for his municipal and school designs, he was a pioneer in industrial
architecture for his efforts to increase the glazed wall area
of reinforced concrete buildings. In 1917, Gerhardt patented
a new type of industrial reinforced concrete loft design, particularly
for introducing continuous sash or window walls to industrial
buildings. Patent number 1,243,281, dated October 16, 1917 proposed
illuminating interior spaces by introducing the supporting floor
columns in back of the sash line and extended floor slabs six
inches to allow for continuous window walls. Gerhardt's
Winston Building (1917, demolished), 341-349 E. Ohio Street,
a seven-story industrial building of flat slab construction and
concrete exterior was considered the first structure of this
construction type. Seven years after his patent in 1924, Gerhardt,
Sr. was hired as architect for the L&H Company Warehouse & Showroom.
The building is of flat slab, reinforced concrete loft-type construction,
the preferred industrial building type in Chicago after 1900,
but although it has wide window bays, did not utilize his patented
design.
Although a variety of sources state that Gerhardt
designed many mercantile buildings and warehouses in Chicago
during his architectural career, very few of those buildings
are known today. Of the thirteen buildings attributed to Gerhardt
in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, only two the
Ontario Building at 411 W. Ontari o Street (1916), a manufacturing
building and the Marty Building at 216 W. Ohio Street (1915),
a mercantile building with Renaissance Revival-style inspiration
-- appear to be industrial. Most of the rest of his work is either
residential or school buildings from Gerhardt's tenure as
architect for the Chicago Board of Education. The L&H Company
Showroom and Warehouse Building is one of the rare known examples
of Paul Gerhardt's industrial designs still standing in
the city.
HISTORY OF THE A. J. LINDEMANN & H. C. HOVERSON COMPANY
When
the A. J. Lindemann & H. C. Hoverson Company of Milwaukee
decided to open a showroom and warehouse in 1924 in Chicago's
East Garfield Park community area, they were already an established
firm. Lindemann & Hoverson Company, incorporated in 1890,
had its beginnings in the mid-1870s as a small hardware store
started by Albert J. Lindemann and his father, John, in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. The father-son team soon expanded the business with
light metal work and "tinning," and by the time Albert
teamed up with partner H. C. Hoverson in 1890, the firm was doing
a brisk business selling light steel cooking utensils and pans
as well as solid fuel stoves and ranges.
The newly-formed company opened a five-story
factory on Hanover Street in Milwaukee, employing over 200 people
in the manufacture of its wood and coal burning stoves. They
also opened their first office in Chicago, at 620 Orleans Street.
This location served as their headquarters and sales center in
the city until the construction of the L&H Building in
1924.
Although the company offered a wide variety
of products, they were best known for their ornate stove designs,
many of which were patented. The L&H Company continued
to evolve and broaden their product range as wood and coal gave
way to gas and oil. The company reached its peak in the mid-1920s,
with the introduction of a complete line of electric ranges and
small electric appliances, including toaster ovens, hot plates,
waffle irons, and lanterns. At the same time it opened a sprawling
10-acre factory complex on Cleveland Avenue in Milwaukee that
housed more than 1000 workers. It is not surprising, that it
was during this period that the company chose to construct a
new showroom and office space in Chicago.
In 1924, the L&H Company purchased a
property owned by the Chicago & North Western Railway (C & NW)
aside tracks that ran north and south at Talman Avenue. Here
they constructed their 99x190x70 brick and terra cotta mercantile
building. The company's action made headlines when the real
estate column in the Chicago Daily
Tribune reported on the construction
of this important warehouse. Al Chase wrote:
"Contracts were let yesterday and work
is to start at once on a six story warehouse and office building,
to cost $475,000 and to occupy the entire block of west frontage
on Talman, extending from Washington Boulevard to Park Avenue
and east to the Chicago and Northwestern tracks. It will be erected
by the A. J. Lindemann & Hoverson Company of Milwaukee, makers
of various kinds of stoves and ranges, from plans by Architect
Paul Gehrhardt (sic). The stove concern will use two or three
floors and rent the balance. There'll be offices on each
floor on the boulevard side of the new building, with the balance
of the space for warehouse purposes. The property, 190 feet on
Talman and 80 feet on both Washington and Park, was bought from
the Northwestern railroad for $45,000. The buyer is one of the
oldest concerns of its kind in the middlewest, having operated
a factory in Milwaukee for forty years. It has maintained a Chicago
branch at 620 Orleans for thirty years. George W. Rue is manager."
Lindeman & Hoverson Company continued
to prosper until the late 1930s, when a series of bitter labor
disputes compromised production. The company discontinued its
line of small electric appliances, leaving intact the manufacture
of stove, ranges, and heaters. A. J.
Lindemann retired as president of the company
in 1939, just two years before his death. Lindemann's son
Eugene took over the running of the company. In 1941, L&H
Company left their showroom and warehouse on Washington Boulevard,
which became occupied by the International Register Company of
Chicago. In 1958, L&H was bought by Chilton Metal Products,
Inc. and Otto A. Boheim, both of Wisconsin.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CITY OF CHICAGO
Richard M. Daley, Mayor
Department of Planning and Development
Lori T. Healey, Commissioner
Brian Goeken, Deputy Commissioner for Landmarks
Project Staff
Terry Tatum, project director
Victoria Granacki, Granacki Historic Consultants,
writing, photography Jennifer Kenny and Lara Ramsey, Granacki
Historic Consultants, research
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