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Located within Chicago’s
Black Metropolis – Bronzeville Landmark District and listed on the National
Register of Historic Places, this 1922 building was designed by architect Z.
Erol Smith and built using funds raised by the local African-American
community. This four-story, 31,000 square-foot office building originally
housed Anthony Overton’s cosmetic company and some of the first commercial
real estate in the city marketed and leased exclusively to the black
community. By the 1980s, the building had
been abandoned, and it sat vacant and deteriorating for the next 20 years.
In 2006, the Davis Group LLC began an extensive restoration of the building
which included replacement of 300 terra cotta pieces and the replication of
117 wooden-sash windows. At street level, 1,300 square feet of storefront
space that had been previously boarded up was rehabilitated, creating a more
inviting atmosphere along the State Street corridor. The awards jury noted
that “the rehabilitation of the Overton Hygienic Building, an anchor within
the community, is paving the way for further revitalization within the
neighborhood.”
Photo credits: 3-6
BauerLatoza Studio
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