The Dexter Building was a landmark building located at 630 South Wabash Avenue, in the

South Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

area of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. The building was designed by the firm of

Dankmar Adler Dankmar Adler (July 3, 1844 – April 16, 1900) was a German-born American architect and civil engineer. He is best known for his fifteen-year partnership with Louis Sullivan, during which they designed influential skyscrapers that boldly addr ...

and

Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

, and built in 1887.Dexter Building
Chicago Landmarks, City of Chicago, retrieved October 4, 2011.Ron Grossman, Michelle Keller and Tony C. Yang
"Fire guts historic building: 2nd Louis Sullivan structure destroyed this year in Chicago,"
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' October 25, 2006. Prior to its destruction in 2006 it was one of the earliest surviving Louis Sullivan buildings, and was considered a precursor of the nearby Auditorium Building. It was designated as a Chicago Landmark in 1996 and was described by the Landmarks Division of the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development as an "irreplaceable link in the chain of work of one of the nation's most important architectural partnerships". It was distinctive in its use of exterior perforated girders, prefiguring designs of seven decades later.

History

Architects

and

designed the Wirt Dexter Building as a warehouse and a furniture store for Wirt Dexter Walker, a prestigious lawyer in 1887, twelve years before his death. This building housed many businesses all around the years, from 1967 it was the home of the George Diamond Steak House, and the upper floors later housed the Sawyer Secretarial College.

Fire

On October 24, 2006, workmen were cutting up a

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

in the basement for scrapping with

acetylene torch Principle of burn cutting Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, ...

es that sparked a large fire. The fire was allowed to get out of control and gutted the building.Ron Grossman and Josh Noel
"Woman's dream now lies in ruins,"
''Chicago Tribune'' October 26, 2006. At its peak, the fire, which started in the basement at around 3 pm, was a five-alarm fire, the

Chicago Fire Department The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) provides fire suppression, rescue services, Hazardous Materials Response services and emergency medical response services to the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Ch ...

's highest level of alert, with over 250 firefighters responding. Following the fire, the surviving shell of the building was too unstable to save and was demolished. At the time of the fire there was no insurance on the building.

In popular culture

The Wirt Dexter Building can be seen in the near background of one scene in the 2001 movie ''Just Visiting''.

References

External links

Article about the fire
by Lynn Becker

Landmarks Illinois: Article about the fire and use of acetylene torches in rehabilitating historic buildings, with pictures {{Louis Sullivan Industrial buildings completed in 1887 Former buildings and structures in Chicago Chicago Landmarks Louis Sullivan buildings Burned buildings and structures in the United States Demolished buildings and structures in Chicago