old downtown chicago street sign sheds light on the corner of michigan ave and van buren street during the early 20th century

outside of architectural ornament, signage is an important element of the built landscape for its ability to retrace a specific area's changing landscape. as a salvaged object, it is always implicated in whatever historical narrative might arise. this is embodied in a very rare original early 20th century unusually large city of chicago exterior street sign from the intersection of michigan avenue and van buren street, in the heart of downtown chicago. the sign was bent and contained holes from mounting flush against a building facade. the nearly 6 foot long oversized porcelain enameled sign is an excellent representation of an early downtown chicago street sign and like most early signage of this manufacture, the letters are slightly sunken in relation to the surround sheet metal or iron, appealing marks of its age.

as a commonplace marker, the street sign announces an intersection of the city that has historically been well-trafficked by carriages, vehicles, and pedestrians alike. the signage once marked the convergence of congress parkway, grant park, and a row of historically important buildings along south michigan avenue. at its southwest and northwest corners, the crossroad is overseen by the mccormick building and the chicago club.

in a former iteration the mccormick building was known as the beaurivage bachelor apartments, a 6-story building, that was one of the first “french flats” in the city. these luxury apartments burnt down in 1882 and were rebuilt and remodeled as the victoria hotel in 1892.

this in turn was demolished by 1908-1909 when the lot was redeveloped for the mccormick family. the building which was constructed there represents an atypical design for the firm of holabird & roche, and was further added to in 1911, when the architects were called back to merge the building with the property directly north of the recently completed structure (after the mccormick family secured it). having doubled the size of the original, the building went on to hold the mccormick family offices on the uppermost floor.

similarly, the intersection is bordered on the southwest corner by another paragon of elite chicago. the original burnham & root-designed building once housed the art institute of chicago, but when the museum moved to its current location in 1892, it was thereafter occupied by the chicago club, a private social organization founded in the loop during 1869 as a gathering place for politicians, businessmen, and their families. in its heyday the club was once a lunchtime gathering place for the likes of marshall fields, potter palmer, and george pullman, and some suggest it was the center of power in the city. the ornate structure, comprised of connecticut brownstone and brick, survived until the 1920’s, when it collapsed during remodeling. this was replaced by an 8-story granite romanesque revival building by 1929, designed by granger & bollenbacher. burnham & root’s recognizable triple-arched entrance was saved and moved to a different side of the building during construction.

as a section of the city which hosted many important chicagoans, as well as commuters arriving by the adjacent illinois central trains, the signage of van buren and michigan is shown to be a symbol of a dynamic between-space. the area is pictured as such in archival photos from the late 19th and early 20th centuries - ground for parades, rallies and conventions as well as the to-and-fro of illustrious chicagoans making their way to the lakefront or the chicago club.