White Castle # 16

Architect: Lewis E. Russell
Year: 1930
Style: Commercial Vernacular
City: Chicago, IL

White Castle #16 at 43 E. Cermak Rd. dates to 1930, designed by Lewis E. Russell as one of the chain's early prefabricated restaurant buildings — a standardized structure meant to go up quickly and look identical wherever White Castle expanded. It's one of the few of these early units still standing.

the building

Prefabricated build. The restaurant was built as a prefabricated structure, part of White Castle's strategy of engineering a repeatable building type that could be assembled fast and give every location a consistent look as the chain grew.

the style

Commercial Vernacular (c. 1850–1930): The American Main Street block: brick fronts with big glass storefronts below, regular windows and a decorated cornice above.

significance

Chicago designated the building an individual landmark (L-309) on October 5, 2011, recognizing it as a rare surviving early White Castle unit.

nearby

Chess Records Office and Studio 450 ft · 1911
Second Presbyterian Church 0.2 mi · Gothic Revival · 1874
Harriet F. Rees House 0.2 mi · Romanesque Revival · 1888
Quinn Chapel 0.2 mi · Romanesque Revival · 1892
Wheeler-Kohn House 0.3 mi · Queen Anne · 1870
Henry B Clarke House 0.4 mi · Greek Revival · 1836

All 382 buildings in Chicago