Veseman Building (Vesemen Building)

“The Veseman Building also exemplifies the widening and redevelopment of LaSalle Street through the Near North Side community area carried out in the late 1920s as part of the overall transportation improvements recommended in the 1909 Plan of Chicago.”

“The earliest maps showing buildings on the site of the Veseman Building at 442-44 North LaSalle Street are Robinson's Fire Insurance Atlas, published in 1886, and Rasher's Fire Insurance Atlas of 1891, both of which show a row of attached two-story brick structures with street-level storefronts along the west side of LaSalle Street north from the alley to Illinois Street.”

“The Veseman Building's terra-cotta ornament is handsomely ornamented with a wide array of pastel colors and Art Deco-style details such as chevrons and abstracted fruit baskets. Although building research has not attributed the design of the building's terra-cotta to a particular company, its marvelous polychromy and decorative ornament appears to be influenced by the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company's French-trained designers, if not designed by them.”

“Use of terra cotta expanded when Chicago passed an ordinance in 1886 requiring that all buildings over ninety feet in height should be absolutely fireproof. In addition, the city's building boom of the 1880s and 1890s gave terra cotta manufacture a tremendous boost as builders of skyscrapers found the building material an attractive medium because of its lightness, durability (crisp details did not erode over time and could easily be cleaned), and potential for decorative uses (terra cotta's plastic quality allowed for highly original ornament)-all attributes which stemmed from the nature of the material.”

“Chicago was a center of terra-cotta manufacture, and the building reflects the popularity of this building material and the significance of the industry to Chicago. The exuberant detail and exotic coloring of the terra cotta make the building an exceptional example of small-scale Chicago commercial architecture and the Art Deco style.”

“The building's terra cotta façade reflects the appeal of colored terra cotta in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as advances in terra cotta manufacture made possible a vast array of details and colors for building design.”

“(While the permit indicates that the building was altered at this time, it was likely largely completely rebuilt.) The result was the eye-catching, three-story Veseman Building clad with highly stylized terra cotta decoration in a whimsical array of colors.”

“The frieze also features flowers amid green leaves on an orange ground. Information about the architect and contractor of the 1930 changes, George F. Lovdall and Paul F. P. Mueller and Son, is sparse.”

“The floral motifs use cream, light orange and light yellow colors. Each spandrel is framed with plain light green terra cotta molding. Below the parapet at the top of the building is a small frieze of circles and chevrons with green-colored segments.”