Cermak Road Bridge District

“The Cermak Road Bridge District is one of Chicago's most significant surviving groupings of early twentieth-century factories and warehouses along the Chicago River, the City's earliest industrial corridor and its most important during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”

“The Cermak Road Bridge District exemplifies Chicago's national importance as a historic center of commerce and industry and the significance that manufacturing and wholesale trades had in the City's economic history.”

“The I & M Canal had hardly been opened, however, when railroads began to transform Chicago. Two decades before, on July 4, 1828, the first public railroad in the United States, the Baltimore & Ohio, had its first run.”

“Together the buildings and bridge of the Cermak Road Bridge District form the finest intact grouping of an industrial riverfront precinct in the city, commemorating the importance of the interconnected river and rail network that criss-crossed the city to the development of Chicago.”

“Early railroads radiated out from Eastern cities at first, but in 1848 the first Chicago railroad began operation, running the short distance between Chicago and Oak Park. By 1856 Chicago was the focus of ten trunk lines with approximately 3,000 miles of track.”

“The first Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge was constructed at Van Buren Street for the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway Company (a predecessor company of the Chicago Tansit Authority) in 1895, and it subsequently became the prototype for many of the Chicago River bridges erected during the early 1900s.”

“It was a "rolling lift" bridge, a two-leafed bridge that worked like facing rocking chairs that rocked back away from each other leaving a clear space between. The Cermak Road Bridge is the only remaining double leaf Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge in Chicago.”

“The buildings within the Cermak Road Bridge District display a distinct visual unity based on consistent building scale, setbacks, overall design, use of building materials and detailing. The district shares a common historic theme as a significant surviving cluster of early twentieth-century industrial buildings that exemplify the importance of the interaction of the Chicago River and railroads in the history of Chicago industry.”

“This is especially true of the Wendnagel & Company Warehouse at 2120-36 S. Jefferson, the oldest building in the district, built in two stages in 1901 and 1906, with its common-brick walls ornamented with simple coffered spandrels and corbeled roof parapet.”

“Prairie School-influenced details are applied on the five-story building's functional form while projecting piers and recessed spandrels emphasize its simple Chicago School style. The horizontal banding at the first floor level, belt courses, flat ornamentation on the pier blocks and peaked parapets at the building's cornice reflect the Prairie School influence of its architects, Nimmons & Fellows.”