After a long 3 years, the restoration of this one-story terracotta storefront at 4629 N Broadway is finally complete!
The story of this building begins in the roaring 20s — at the time, the surrounding Uptown neighborhood was buzzing with glitz, glamour, over-the-top theatres, and thriving businesses. Seeking to capitalize on shoppers flocking to the area, building owner A. W. Hannah hired architect William H. Harlev Jr. to build a new retail outpost on his existing lot. He was even able to sign Thom McAn Shoe Company for a ten-year lease before construction had even started! Maybe the footwear retailer should have thought it over, because that deal was inked only 20 days before the stock market crash of 1929. Whoops…
But, knowing they could count on the equivalent of $86,000 in annual rent for the next decade, no expense was spared for the new building. Completed in 1930, Harlev’s elaborate design features custom, hand-painted, polychrome terracotta with two prominent Native American faces (likely inspired by the motif used on nearby Essanay Studios).
The years were not kind to the façade, which fell into a state of disrepair over the next century. In 2018, we were brought on to help contractor, Formed Space, restore the now-landmarked building. Each piece was tagged, measured, evaluated, and carefully removed. Components needing to be replaced were mailed to S.Anselmo, where artisans made custom molds of the damaged pieces, painstakingly touched up the replicas, and glazed them to match the faded 1920s colors.
Once the material made its way back to Chicago, salesperson Dave assembled the whole elevation in our yard to check his work. Project architects from MDT Architecture stopped by to give their blessing for reinstallation… and get a sneak peak of what their new offices would look like! When you’ve spent countless hours deep in the weeds of a project, you might as well move in, right?
Do drop by the next time you’re in the neighborhood — you can even peek in the windows and say hello to Zuzu, the office cat!
LOCATION: 4629 N Broadway, Chicago
ARCHITECT: MDT Architecture
GC: Formed Space
PRODUCT SUPPLIED: S.Anselmo
