Oliver Building
- Architect
- Holabird & Roche 1920 top addn.
- Year
- 1907
- Style
- Chicago School
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collection
- the chicago school
The Oliver Building went up in 1907-08 at 159 N. Dearborn Street as headquarters for the Oliver Typewriter Company, with Holabird & Roche returning in 1920 to add two more floors. Its cast-iron facade carries typewriter-related motifs, tying the building's ornament directly to its tenant's product. In the 1990s, when the neighboring Oriental Theatre needed backstage space, architect Daniel P. Coffey gutted the interior but preserved the Dearborn Street facade and about a third of the original steel frame.
the building
Chicago windows. Above the second floor, the facade is organized around "Chicago windows" — a wide fixed central pane flanked by narrower double-hung sash — with the Oliver Typewriter Company's name lettered below the central pane of each.
the style
The Oliver is cataloged as Chicago School work, built by Holabird & Roche around large windows and a functional street front, with cast-iron ornament unique to its typewriter-manufacturer tenant.
More on Chicago Schoolsignificance
Designated a Chicago Landmark on May 9, 1984, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Oliver survives only in part: a 1990s expansion of the Oriental Theatre demolished the interior, leaving just the Dearborn Street facade and roughly a third of the original steel structure standing.
nearby
- Delaware Building
- Nederlander Theatre
- Chicago Theatre
- Daley Center
- Page Brothers Building
- Leo Burnett Building