Berghoff’s Restaurant, Chicago

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The closing of this historic German restaurant was front page news last December. Lost in the press coverage was that neither of the two buildings housing the restaurant is a protected Chicago Landmark, although they date to 1872 and feature one of only two surviving cast-iron facades in the Loop. Efforts to landmark the structures (15-27 W. Adams) failed to pass City Council in 1990, due to owner opposition. The owner’s current plans are to operate a banquet facility in the old restaurant and reopen the historic tavern under a new name.

Meanwhile, the U.S. General Services Administration has purchased other properties on the block, as part of long-range plans to expand the Federal Center, which was designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1959-64.

Photo credit: Commission on Chicago Landmarks