Deutschen im Chicago
Near the intersection of Clark Street and North Avenue on Chicago's near north side, sits the last physical reminder of an immigrant community that once made up a majority of the city's population.
German immigrants settled into this area in the 1840s, far outside the city center. By the 1880s when this building was constructed, not only was the German community the city's largest ethnic group, they dominated a large swath of Chicago's north side following Clark Street and Lincoln Avenue out toward the city's border.
The Germania Club was designed by August Fiedler for the Germania Maennerchor, a men's choir. The male singing club had been organized in 1865 to perform a requiem for Abraham Lincoln when his body laid-in-state in Chicago on its way to Springfield, Illinois for burial. When the social hall was built in 1888, this neighborhood was at the center of the city's now German-American community. The neighborhood began a slow decline at the end of the First World War when the original settlers moved on, and by the mid-1960s most of the old buildings along Clark Street had been demolished to make way for the gigantic, Carl Sandburg Village housing development.
The Germania Club building survived the wholesale destruction of the old neighborhood, but just barely. In the intervening years, there were several proposals put forth which would have required tearing down the slowly deteriorating structure and replacing it with a high-rise building. But time, and a new way of thinking about old buildings, saved the structure.
The ballrooms have been spruced up and are available for special events, and new tenants fill the ground floor retail spaces of the immaculately renovated building. Now named Germania Place, this architectural gem is listed as a national and city landmark. However, reader beware, no iron clad law ever exists that completely protects a building from demolition. The elegant interiors, beautiful terra cotta and intricate ironwork of the Germania have lasted 111 years, hopefully with sensitive owners and a commitment to preservation, there are at least another 111 to go.
Posted by designslinger at 8/27/2009 2:30 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Chicago's German population Germania Club
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Chicago's German population Germania Club
You all seem to have unlimited energy! The Germania - another building to put on the "list" Nice work.
Chicago has turned out to be a very energizing place! Hopefully during the time we live here, we will never have to go over to the Germania building to take pics of it being bulldozed to the ground. Thanks for the positive feedback, as well.