The Vassar Swiss Underwear Company Building is an industrial loft building located at 2545 West Diversey Avenue in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. It is also known as the Cooper Lamp Building and as of 2010 is slated to house the Green Exchange, a combination business incubator and office space. The building was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2008, and as of 2010 is being redeveloped into the Green Exchange, a site for small businesses dedicated to natural products and the environment.

Vassar Swiss Underwear Company

Near the end of the 19th century, the form-fitting

union suit A union suit is a type of one-piece long underwear, most often associated with menswear in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. History Created in Utica, New York, United States, it originated as women's wear during the 19th-century United S ...

was growing in popularity. Sensing an opportunity, Chicago native George E. Rutledge experimented with the design of the union suit, adding reinforcement for increased wear resistance and altering the weave and construction. His changes resulted in an improved suit that was less bulky, more comfortable, and cheaper to produce. Rutledge obtained a patent for his improved suit in 1900 and designed production equipment to produce it. That same year, he partnered with Emil A. Basener and Frederick S. McCoy to form the Vassar Swiss Underwear Company. Starting with $10,000 the trio set up a manufacturing operation in Chicago to produce Rutledge's union suits as well as other high-quality men's undergarments. In 1903, with labor troubles looming, Vassar Swiss moved their production west to

Rochelle, Illinois Rochelle is a city in Ogle and Lee counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,446 at the 2020 census. Rochelle is approximately west of Chicago and south of Rockford. History Originally named "Lane", the town sits at the inter ...

. The company grew in size, and in 1912, Northwestern Knitting Company (later

Munsingwear Munsingwear was a Minnesota-based underwear company from which Original Penguin developed. The company was established as Northwestern Knitting Company. It also was known as PremiumWear. History The company was started by George D. Munsing, who ...

) purchased the firm. Shortly after the sale, Northwestern decided to ramp up production and move Vassar Swiss back to Chicago. The company contracted real estate developer Stewart Hodges, a specialist in factory construction, to build a new plant, which Vassar Swiss would lease. Hodges chose a site on Diversy, near the rail lines and adjacent to the Maplewood station. Hodges also contracted his father-in-law, Lawrence G. Hallberg, to design the new factory. A building permit was issued in September 1913, and construction was completed in April of the following year. Vassar Swiss prospered in its new location. Rutledge, now a vice-president at parent company Northwestern, joined with other company designers to improve his original union suit design. In 1923, the company constructed an addition on the western portion of their building, again designed by Hallberg, to house their box factory and shipping. Over the next four decades, the company shifted focus and products. Union suits became less popular, and

briefs Briefs (or a brief) are a type of short, form-fitting Undergarment, underwear and swimsuit, swimwear, as opposed to styles where material extends down the thighs. Briefs have various different styles, usually with a waistband attached to fabric ...

soon became the company's leading product. Vassar Swiss purchased the building from Stewart, after having leased it since construction. Rutledge retired in 1937. The company shortened its name to "Vassar Company" and, in 1951, "

Vassarette Vassarette is a brand of women's underwear owned by Vanity Fair Brands, a division of Fruit of the Loom. Until 2010 the brand was owned by the Northwestern Knitting Company, which became Munsingwear. Their lines include bras, stockings and lin ...

." In 1967, production operations were moved from Chicago to

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River ...

, and as of 2010 the Vasarette name is owned by Vanity Fair Brands, and produces women's underwear.

Later Building History

After Vassarette's departure, the building was purchased by the Frederick Cooper Lamp Company, a manufacturer of high-quality lamps. Cooper used the building as a manufacturing facility until 2005, when it closed down, selling its name to new ownership and sold the building to Baum Brothers LLC. Baum began redeveloping the building into a space for small businesses dedicated to natural products and the environment, dubbing their project the Green Exchange. As of 2010, the redevelopment is unfinished. File:VassarSwissUnderwearCoBldgChicagoA.jpg, Facade of 1913 building from northeast File:VassarSwissUnderwearCoBldgChicagoD.jpg, Rear (southeast) corner File:VassarSwissUnderwearCoBldgChicagoB.jpg, Facade from northeast, showing tower

Vassar Swiss Underwear Company Building Description

The Vassar Swiss Underwear Company Building is an excellent example of a four-story

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

industrial loft building, built in two architecturally identical sections that are seamlessly integrated. The original 1913 portion of the building is by and the 1923 addition is by 204 feet; the entire building houses 250,000 square feet. The building is U-shaped in plan, with wings of unequal length backing onto the diagonal railroad track in the rear and flanking a narrow central courtyard. The reinforced concrete construction can be easily seen in the exterior detailing, with obvious horizontal and vertical elements. Although the building is quite long, architectural emphasis on the vertical

pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

, capping them with stylized

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

ornamental detail, de-emphasizes the horizontal dimension of the building. The corner bays are further ornamented with taller pilaster

capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

projecting through the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

, and inset stones above the windows. The building is topped with a distinctive four-story tower concealing the roof water tank. The tower is constructed of brick,

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

, and concrete, and is topped with a stepped parapet. It originally had a clock on each face.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Industrial buildings completed in 1914 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Chicago Landmarks