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Tuesday, March 19

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To be Demolished

444 W. Lake St.

Chicago Historic Resources Survey: Not included [?]
Year: 1911
Architect: Unknown; Signal Engineer: J. A. Peabody
Owner: River Point LLC
Permit Description: Wreck and remove 2 story brick control tower building on Amtrak property.
Status: Demolition permit issued 11/20/2012

Additional Details

This former Lake Street Interlocking Station once housed the machinery that enabled trains to negotiate the nearby complicated track patterns. Well documented by railfans, the building was used as an example in the General Railway Signal Company's 1913 "Electric interlocking handbook," from which this wikimedia commons photograph originates. Additional information about the tower and its operation was published in 1911's "The Signal Engineer," among other period publications (e.g. "The Railway Age Gazette" and "Annual Report of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission").

It is being demolished to make way for the construction of River Point, a proposed office tower.

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About the series

Over the course of 2012 David Schalliol produced a photographic portrait of 100 of the hundreds of buildings threatened with demolition in the city of Chicago. Nearly all of the buildings have since been demolished. Visit the background information section for more information about the project, including definitions and links to other building resources.

The series is supported by a generous grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.


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