Page Brothers Building

“Cast Iron in Chicago The Page Brothers Building is an important source for examining this transformation in architecture which took place largely in Chicago. The first cast-iron fronts erected in Chicago were designed by John Mills Van Osdel in 1856.”

“These buildings in most instances replaced burnt-out iron fronts and were developed by the same men who had built the original ones in the 1850s. The Page Brothers Building Stiles Burton's redevelopment of the "Old City Hotel Block" site (southeast corner of State and Lake streets) as a five-story cast-iron front is the only surviving example of this type of construction in Chicago.”

“On the Lake Street facade today, the original cast iron remains on the second through fifth floors. The use of cast-iron fronts in Chicago was limited to two brief periods: 1856-57 and in the first two years after the fire.”

“These iron fronts were usually five stories in height with a cast-iron front wall and masonry side and back walls. The first story of the facade was composed of wide expanses of glass with intervening cast-iron columns supporting the upper floors.”

“The Page Brothers Building is a unique example in Chicago of this type of construction. It recalls the early development of the city along Lake Street, a time when the river was a major transportation route, and Lake Street, was the main commercial street of the community.”

“The Page Brothers Building is a typical Italiante cast-iron front building in which the dominant feature is the repetition of window bays. Although some of its ornamental details have been removed over the years, its essential elements are intact.”

“Another New Yorker, Daniel D. Badger, a manufacturer of cast iron, began producing building fronts in 1850. Cast-iron fronts were facades applied to buildings constructed in the traditional manner with masonry loadbearing walls and interior supporting columns.”