Bayless' Block
[425-449 N. Clark Street Block, Chicago (1873-5) Bauer & Loebnitz, Burling & Adler, William Arend, architects /Images: & Artwork: designslinger]
This group of buildings in the 400 block of North Clark street are probably recognizable to the millions of diners who have sampled Rick Bayless' Mexican inspired delights over the past 23 years. Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and more recently XOCO, have drawn visitors from around the world to Bayless' restaurants which occupy the ground floor spaces on half of the block. And while the food served at these establishments is remarkable so are the buildings that house them, because this is the most complete block of post-fire buildings still standing in Chicago.
[441 & 449 N. Clark Street, Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
Although the exteriors look very similar, they were designed by different architects for different owners. All were built in a short period of time from about 1872 to 1875 and have surprisingly survived with their upper facades virtually intact. The southernmost building at the corner of Clark and Hubbard Street was designed by architects Bauer & Loebnitz, names that don't exactly roll off the tongues of architecture buffs, but they drew up plans for a slew of buildings which were built in the city's business district after the destruction caused by the Great Fire in 1871. Most of their work has been demolished, and although not as famous as the name of Dankmar Adler who with Edward Burling designed the building where Frontera Grill and Topolobampo are housed, Augustus Bauer and his junior partner Mr. Loebnitz, were keeping pace and often out building Mr. Adler who would soon dissolve his partnership with Burling and team up with Louis Sullivan.
[425-9 N. Clark at Hubbard Street, Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
While men rented rooms at the northern end of the block in the building where XOCO is located, at the southern end, number 425 (or 60 under Chicago's old numbering system) contained the offices of lawyers and doctors where Fernand Henrotin set-up offices soon after the building was completed. Henrotin was the Cook County Physician in 1873 and a pioneer in the study of women's health issues. A top-notch surgeon, he was a founding member of the Polyclinic in 1886, which was subsequently named Henrotin Hospital in his honor. The space above Frontera Grill contained a large and open hall with high ceilings that appealed to men's choral groups. The Germania Mannerchor and the Swedish Sveriges Society met regularly in the room during the 1870s and early 1880s, while Joseph Huhn kept choristers belly's full of beer in his saloon located in the ground floor space under Dr. Henrotin's office. Summer practices may have been tough though, not only because of the heat but because of the aromas that wafted up from the corner store next door, John Stead's fishmarket, where XOCO is currently serving up a delectable selection of spicy scented tortas.
See the German Mannerchor's next home: Deutschen im Chicago, and a Clark Street neighbor at: Trials and Deliberations.
Posted by designslinger at 12/9/2010 4:37 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Burling and Adler Bauer and Loebnitz William N Arend commercial architecture River North
Categories: Architecture, History, Preservation
Tags: Burling and Adler Bauer and Loebnitz William N Arend commercial architecture River North
I love all the research you put into your posts!
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Thanks!!! Compliments like these are what keeps us going!
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