The Dearborn Street Station, designed by Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz in 1883, was completed in May of 1885. It's a distinguished example of the Romanesque Revival style and a Chicago Landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and represents the only remaining nineteenth-century railroad station in the city. The three-story edifice is distinguished by its stunning exterior, featuring pink granite and red pressed brick walls crowned with several steeply-pitched roofs and a towering twelve-story clock tower. Despite being abandoned since 1976, the station occupied a vital position in the redeveloping Printers' Row neighborhood and was at risk of collapse until its current owners rescued it.
The challenge of this project was to restore and adaptively reuse the existing building while also constructing an additional 60,000 SF to create a mixed-use office and retail building with a total area of 130,000SF. HPZS was entrusted with the design, involving a range of tasks, including extensive exterior masonry and metal cleaning and repair, rehabilitation and restoration of significant spaces in the existing structure, and coordination of mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and fire protection systems for the entire project. HPZS' responsibilities also included roofing, window replacement, clock restoration, and the recreation of detailed millwork designs, such as entrances, windows, doors, and interior trim. HPZS was awarded the Excellence in Historic Preservation Award by the Chicago Bar Association for this preservation project.
