Rehabbed former Chicago fire house for sale. Chicago Tribune photo
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribume.com:
2414 W. Cuyler Ave. in Chicago: $1,049,000
Listed on Nov. 3, 2017
One-of-a-kind gut-renovated 3,600-square-feet of a 1899 Chicago Firehouse in North Center by Lincoln Square and in the popular Coonley School District. This historical landmark is the only frame firehouse remaining in the city. Soaring 12-foot ceilings, wood beams, open first floor-floor plan, radiant-heated concrete floors on first floor and wood floors on second. Second floor has master suite with bay window, two bedrooms, an office/exercise room and a den. Oversized, attached two-car garage.
Agent: Sharon Gillman and Marissa Schaefer of Baird & Warner, 312-640-7010
Chicago Tribune photo
Chicago Tribune photo
Chicago Tribune photo
Chicago Tribune photo
Chicago Tribune photo
thanks Dennis
#1 by Phil Stenholm on November 12, 2017 - 3:13 PM
Not counting annexes built with existing firehouses, fireboat facilities, and short-term temporary quarters, the last four frame firehouses specifically built for the CFD were Engine Co. 86 (2414 W. Cuyler) in 1899, and Engine Co. 88 (3500 W. 60th Street), Engine Co. 89 (4456 N. Knox), and Engine Co. 90 (1016 W. Division on Goose Island) in 1900. No permanent frame firehouses were built for the CFD after 1900.
Engine Co. 86 and Engine Co. 90 were closed and abandoned in 1932, and most of the rest of the frame firehouses that were still in service (Engine 48/Squad 3, Engine 54, Engine 67/Truck 46, Engine 68, Engine 69, Engine 81, Engine 88, Engine 89, Engine 128, and Truck 20) were closed and rebuilt as sturdy brick structures in 1936 as part of the U. S. Public Works Administration CFD firehouse project.
The one CFD frame firehouse that survived as a working firehouse beyond 1936 was Engine Co. 92 at 11050 S. Albany, but this was actually an annexation-inherited firehouse (ex-Mt, Greenwood Vol. F. D>) that was not originally built for the CFD. It was finally replaced by a new Engine 92/Truck 45 brick firehouse that was built next-door and around the corner at 3112 W. 111th Street in 1949.
Naturally frame firehouses were cheaper to build than brick & mortar facilities, and cost of construction mattered a lot when the City of Chicago had to build many new firehouses in a relatively short period of time as the city grew in the latter part of the 19th Century. But although cheaper to build, frame firehouses were not very durable. They really were best used as an office or residence (as happened eventually with Engine 86 on Cuyler).
#2 by Phil Stenholm on November 12, 2017 - 2:15 PM
Engine Co. 86 was organized in this firehouse in July 1899, and then Engine Co.86 was disbanded and the firehouse was closed on January 1, 1932 during the darkest days of the Great Depression. (Engine Co. 86 was reorganized 33 years later with Truck Co. 57 in a new firehouse at 3918 N. Harlem Avenue).
Including Engine Co. 86, eight engine companies (7, 10, 15, 32, 86, 90, 105, and 118) were disbanded, six truck companies (17, 27, 34, 40, 43, and 45) were combined with engine companies to form “combination companies” (46, 47, 62, 121, 125, and 127), and four firehouses were closed over a nine-month period July 1931 – April 1932.