Posts Tagged former Chicago fire station has new tenants

New use for old Chicago firehouse

Excerpts from chicago.curbed.com:

A former fire house in Beverly for Engine 121 was redesigned into a sharp, stylish factory and headquarters for bespoke hatmaker, Optimo.

After 25 years, Optimo needed to expand and recruited architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to create a new space in a 100-year-old decommissioned firehouse at 1700 W. 95th Street. The 7,700-square-foot, two-story building houses a design team, operations, and production.

The new headquarters is highly customized for the small team, which can spend up to six weeks crafting one hat. Throughout the workspace you’ll see elegant 12-foot open steel shelves displaying handmade hats which range from $395 to $1,000. The machinery for trimming, shaping, and steaming is beautiful too and finished in matte black. Elements of glazed brick, blackened steel, walnut, and cork create an earthy but luxurious feel.

On the second floor, the new design embraces the building’s history as a fire station by inserting porthole windows in the floor where firepoles had existed. A 10-foot circular light fixture centers the room which is decorated with collections of custom tools and historic hats.

Off to the side, there is a lounge area with leather sofas, brass light fixtures, and more hats on display. The second floor can also double as an event space with a full kitchen and staging area where the original firehouse showers once stood.

thanks Dennis and Austin

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

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New use for old Chicago fire station (more)

Excerpts from Michiganavemag.com:

Unique Places to Get Married Around Chicago

Firehouse Chicago

Firehouse Chicago.

Though it’s now a quaint and beautiful event space, Firehouse Chicago was once—you guessed it—a firehouse. The Northside building was home to Engine Company 70 for more than 100 years, and included four horse stables in addition to its high ceilings and white glazed brick. The building was renovated to maintain its original character and beauty, including antique doors and lighting, making it not only a unique and spectacular wedding venue, but also an unforgettable setting steeped in history. 1545 W. Rosemont, 773-850-1545

thanks Dan

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Chicago African American Firefighters Museum

This from Brian P. Kazmierzak:

While on my way to O’Hare Airport the other day, I took a side trip off the Dan Ryan to Al’s Beef and to drive by the old quarters of Engine 61/Ambulance 36 (5349 S. Wabash).  I spent a lot of time “fanning” in that firehouse from 1993-1999.  The firehouse, which was last in-service as EMS South before they moved to the new Engine 16’s quarters, has been given to the African American Firefighters Museum.  There are some pretty neat historic graphic stickers on the window.  Here are a couple photos.

African American Firefighters Museum

Brian P. Kazmierzak photo

African American Firefighters Museum

Brian P. Kazmierzak photo

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New use for old Chicago fire station

The ChicagoReader.com has an article about the current tenant in a former fire house on Chicago’s north side

The sign above the century-old building at 1545 W. Rosemont still reads fire department, having once belonged to Engine Company 70. But since 2008, the address has been a media production hub.

Its ground floor, where a fire truck once parked, is now Firehouse Studios’ 22-by-60-foot video and photo studio as well as a rentable event venue run by its sister company, Firehouse Chicago. The editors of the video production company Plum Productions, whose clients include Visa, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and White Castle, work upstairs in what used to be the firefighters’ sleeping quarters. The firehouse’s old horse stable from the preautomobile days has been renovated into a kitchen.

new use for old Chicago fire house

Former Chicago firehouse with a new tenant. – Courtesy Firehouse Studios

Firehouse Studios’ owner, Tim Plum, first heard about the building in ’08, when Engine Company 70 was preparing to move to a $9.3 million, 16,000-square-foot firehouse at 6030 N. Clark. He was in the market for new office space, and 40th Ward alderman Patrick O’Connor was looking for a new use for the soon-to-be-empty firehouse.

“I initially approached Alderman O’Connor because there was an old police station on Foster Avenue. I thought it’d be really cool to have a production company in a police station and the editing suites in the jail cells. Then he told me about the firehouse,” Plum says. “We drove by it that night, had a peek, and a formal tour with the firemen.”

Without the steady stream of emergency calls and sirens, the firehouse has settled into a tranquil rhythm—except, of course, when someone takes a giddy slide down the fireman’s pole.

 

 

 

thanks Dan

Previous mention of a new use for a different Chicago fire house

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