Ludington Building, Warshawsky & Co., Columbia College
Life Span: 1892-Present
Location: 523-533 Wabash (Old), 1100-1110 South Wabash
Architect: Jenney & Mundie
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Ludington Bldg.—521-531 Wabash av.
The Ludington Building is the city’s earliest, surviving all-steel frame building, a type of construction that changed architecture.
1891 Industrial Chicago: The Building Interests
The Ludington estate decided to erect a great building on the southwest corner of Wabash avenue and Harmon court, at a cost of $200,000 to $250,000, in August, 1891. The ground is owned by this estate, and is now occupied by several three-story frame buildings. It has a frontage of one hundred and twenty feet on Wabash avenue and one hundred and sixty five feet on Harmon court, and will be fully covered by the new structure. The details of this important improvement are in the hands of Charles J. Barnes, the managing director of the American Book Company. The plans for the building are being prepared by Architect L. G. Hollberg, and it promises to be a magnificent creation. The details have not yet been decided upon, but it is determined that the building shall be eight stories high, constructed of steel and stone, and thoroughly fireproof. The exterior will be built of stone, but whether it is to be cut or rough is yet to be decided. The first story will be used for a store or stores, with an entrance at the side leading to the elevators. It is not known what the stories immediately above the first will be devoted to, but it is probable that the upper stories of the building will be occupied by the American Book Company, which now occupies the whole building at 258 and 200 Wabash avenue, with one other used as a warehouse.
Inter Ocean, March 6, 1892
WABASH AVENUE BUILDING.
Description of the Ludington Estate New Structure at Harmon Court. Architects Jenney & Mundie are hurrying to completion plans for the building to be erected by the Ludington estate at the southwest corner of Wabash avenue and Harmon court. The structure will be eight stones high, and will cost $350,000. The ground fronts 130 feet on Wabash avenue by 166 feet on Harmon court. The walls will be of brick and terra cotta; the decoration will be after the same style as in the new Fair building. An entrance to the upper stories will be located in the center of the Wabash avenue front. At a distance of about twenty-five feet from the front there will be three passenger elevators. In the first story a deep court Eas been provided. There will be two freight elevators.
The upper stories win be occupied by the American Book Company.
It is probable that Doggett Bros, will improve their land across the street with a four-story building, at a cost of $60,000 to $75,000.
Inland Printer, April, 1891
Chicago Central Business and Office Directory, 1922
Chicago Tribune, March 23, 1999
By Meredith Grossman
Tribune Staff Writer
With an eye on expanding its South Loop campus in order to accommodate a growing student population, Columbia College Chicago officials said Monday the college had purchased a historic building to house the school’s student center and film and video departments.
The college paid $4.9 million for the eight-story Ludington Building at 1104 S. Wabash Ave. designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney, who is widely considered to be the father of the skyscraper. The building, constructed in 1891, is the earliest steel-frame building still standing and its construction style helped change modern architecture, according to the Chicago Commission on Landmarks.
The Ludington Building was designated a Chicago landmark by the City Council in 1996. It also is a state landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Frankly, this was the nicest and best and certainly the largest building left between Congress and Roosevelt,” said Bert Gall Columbia College provost and executive vice president.
The building is adjacent to other properties on Michigan Avenue owned by Columbia. Gall said he has had his eye on the building for five years, but he did not begin talks with the building’s owners, the Warshawsky family, until last August. The sale was completed Friday.
The Warshawsky family had owned the Ludington Building since 1960. J.C. Whitney & Co., a direct marketer of auto parts and supplies that also is owned by the family, does business on floors 5 through 8, and the first four floors are vacant, said Tim Ford, president of J.C. Whitney. Until last year, J.C. Whitney was known as Warshawsky & Co.
The Ludington Building was constructed in 1891 to house the American Book Company. It was commissioned by Mary Ludington and Nelson Ludington, a lumberman of Escanaba, Mich. The Ludington family owned the building until the Warshawskys bought it in 1960.
Columbia will spend an additional $9 million to $15 million on building renovations over the next two to three years, Gall said. The college expects to begin using the building in the fall.
- Ludington Building
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
1906
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