Dearborn Station
- Architect
- Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz
- Year
- 1885
- Style
- Romanesque Revival
- City
- Chicago, IL
Dearborn Station, also called the Polk Street Depot, opened in 1885 at Dearborn and Polk Streets for the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad, one of six intercity stations then serving downtown Chicago. Designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz in the Romanesque Revival style, it cost $400,000 to $500,000 to build and served rail passengers until it closed on May 1, 1971.
the building
Clock tower and materials. The three-story headhouse and its twelve-story clock tower were built of pink granite and red pressed brick under steeply pitched roofs; a 1922 fire led to modifications that eliminated the original roofline.
From rail yard to neighborhood. The train sheds and trackage behind the headhouse were removed after the station closed, and that land was redeveloped into the Dearborn Park neighborhood, while the headhouse itself was converted into office, retail, and entertainment space.
the style
Cyrus Eidlitz worked in the Romanesque Revival style, a common idiom for major American train stations of the 1880s, giving Dearborn Station's headhouse and twelve-story clock tower their solid pink-granite-and-red-brick presence.
More on Romanesque Revivalsignificance
Dearborn Station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It operated until May 1, 1971, and after the tracks and train sheds behind it were cleared, that land became the Dearborn Park neighborhood while the headhouse survived as office, retail, and entertainment space.
nearby
- Lakeside Press Building
- Pontiac Building
- Johnson Publishing Company Building
- Blackstone Hotel
- Crane Company Building
- Ludington Building