7th District Police Station

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7th District Police Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates: 41°51′52″N 87°39′2″W / 41.86444, -87.65056Coordinates: 41°51′52″N 87°39′2″W / 41.86444, -87.65056
Built/Founded: 1888
Architect: Edbrooke, Willoughby James; Burnham, Franklin Pierce
Architectural style(s): Romanesque
Added to NRHP: May 02, 1996
NRHP Reference#: 96000515

[1]
Governing body: State

The 7th District Police Station, or Maxwell Street Station in Chicago, Illinois was built in 1888 in response to the need for increased police presence in "Bloody Maxwell", also known as "the Wickedest Police District in the World."[2] The neighborhood, a changing melting pot of Irish, German, Italian and European Jewish immigrants, grew mightily in the years following the Chicago Fire of 1871. The housing and sanitation situation in the district was substandard, and the residents poor. Criminal activity flourished.

The Romanesque style station is architecturally significant as an example of pre-1945 police stations in Chicago. It was designed by Willoughby James Edbrooke and Franklin Pierce Burnham. Its appearance and presence are fortress-like. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

The Chicago Police Department vacated the station in 1998. After extensive renovation, the red brick and limestone building became the home of the University of Illinois @ Chicago Police Department. The renovations were done in a manner designed to uphold the historic significance of the building's architecture. "The building’s original windows were sent to a company in Kankakee for restoration, the masonry cleaned and repaired, the roof replaced, and parapets at the top of the station rebuilt using custom-made bricks, the exact texture and color of the originals."[3]

The pop culture claim to fame of the building is that the outside was used as the picture of the precinct house in the opening credits of the iconic TV series Hill Street Blues.[2][4]


[edit] References

  1. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2008-04-15).
  2. ^ a b History of Maxwell Street Station. University of Illinois @ Chicago Police Department. University of Illinois (2008-06-07).
  3. ^ Maxwell St. Station. University of Illinois @ Chicago Police Department. University of Illinois (2008-06-07).
  4. ^ "Mystery Reader's Walking Guide:Chicago", iUniverse ISBN 0-59523-021-0. (Excerpt at http://books.google.com/books?id=Efj3-rh2XE0C&pg=PA326&lpg=PA326&dq=7th+district+police+station+chicago&source=web&ots=3_2xn4iTmP&sig=V_brGFr5G4eN-K59AucmvTzdU-M&hl=en, accessed 2008-06-07)
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