Thursday, April 7, 2016

April 7, 1955 -- Contract to Arcade the Auditorium




April 7, 1955 -- Walsh Brothers, Inc. is the low bidder at $334,995 on a contract to construct an arcade along the south side of the Auditorium building to clear the way for the Congress Street expressway's route to Michigan Avenue. The 1889 building, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, is the last of six buildings along East Congress Street to be arcaded. A part of the building that will be lost is a bar on the southeast corner believed to have been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright at the beginning of his career. The photo above shows the Auditorium as it existed in 1900. The close-up shows the arcade created when the sidewalk to the south of the building was gobbled up to make way for the expressway's entrance into downtown.



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