Cook County Hospital Administration Building

“Four years later, Dr. Olga Jonasson, a surgeon and professor at the nearby University of Illinois Medical Center, became head of surgery at Cook County Hospital. She was the first to achieve such a position in any major hospital in the country.”

“This new Fantus Clinic was named for blood bank pioneer Dr. Bernard Fantus. A later Fantus Clinic building replaced this repurposed hospital building in 1961. Throughout its history, Cook County Hospital has been a hospital of last resort for poor Chicagoans of all backgrounds.”

“Finally, on November 11, 1912, the Cook County Board selected the prominent construction firm of John Griffiths & Son, with their winning bid of $2,275,000. A new election that month replaced County Board President Bartzen with Alexander McCormick.”

“Perhaps the most nationally significant was the creation of the first blood bank in the United States by Dr. Bernard Fantus. It opened on March 15, 1937. Dr. Fantus was the hospital's director of therapeutics and a University of Illinois College of Medicine professor.”

“The building's exterior cornice was removed in 1960. The Cook County Hospital Administration Building was closed in December 2002 when the new John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital of Cook County opened to the southwest.”

“It represents the historic commitment of Cook County to provide medical care to its citizens regardless of their ability to pay. Over its almost 90 years of service, the Administration Building served Cook County's indigent and under-served populations, including immigrants and African Americans.”

“Beaux-Arts architectural practices were adopted by United States architecture schools and influenced several generations of American architects, including Gerhardt. The Cook County Hospital Administration Building's large scale and its grandly-detailed facade exemplify both the Classical Revival style and Beaux-Arts tenets.”

“Gerhardt came to Chicago in 1893 and soon started his own architectural firm, taking on various residential, commercial, and industrial projects. Prolific in the first decade of the twentieth century, his list of projects listed in the American Contractor, a trade publication, alone numbers nearly 70 between 1898 and 1910.”

“Some of the more notable school buildings designed by Gerhardt during his three-year tenure, include the mammoth Lane Technical High School at 2501 W. Addison St. (1930) and the terracotta-ornamented Von Steuben High School at 5021-55 N. Kimball Ave.”

“Although Paul Gerhardt, Sr. is best known for his municipal and school designs, he was a pioneer in industrial architecture for his efforts to increase the glazed wall area of reinforced concrete buildings.”