Photo by Catherine Cook School Historecycle has emerged from fall hibernation with renewed energy, like an aging building newly retrofitted with LED lights. For the past several months, we’ve been Sherlock Holmes-ing a few “mystery” structures we’ve discovered, to dig into their murky past. And the rigorous pursuit of historical data has been like a shot in the arm. Take, for example, the former B.&B. Shoe Company factory, which dates to at least the 1920s. Located in Chicago

Colorful. Comfortable. Inviting. Not adjectives that describe your typical vocational school building. What was originally a nondescript brick hardware equipment factory built in 1908 on Chicago’s southwest side was gutted, cleaned up, and transformed into a modern training center. The goal of Chicago Center for Arts and Technology (CHICAT ) , which opened in 2017, is to connect technology, art, and the community. To get to class, CHICAT students – low-income adults and teena

Time is of the essence for firefighters. In old firehouses like the one at 1700 W. 95th St. on Chicago’s South Side, firemen would sleep upstairs and, at the alarm bell, zip down the fire pole, rev up the fire truck on the ground floor, and zoom out to extinguish the flames. Now that Optimo Hats , a manufacturer of luxury men’s hats, has moved their headquarters into the 1915 firehouse, things have slowed down a bit. The handful of hat craftsmen who work there can peek throu

Chicago’s Goose Island--the island, that is, not the beer--has been undergoing a metamorphosis in the last few years. Once a manufacturing mecca, its sweaty, grimy old brick factories are, one by one, being turned from blue collar to white collar. Just across the Chicago River and less than a mile east of hipster haven Wicker Park, for example, sits the newest version of the former Burhop building at 1071 W. Division Street. During its first century of life, the LEED Gold-cer

School’s been out for the summer, but now college students are descending on two historic buildings in Milwaukee’s old Pabst Brewery complex, abandoned in 1996 but slowly coming back to life. Like the Brewhouse Inn down the street ( see previous article ) and the Best Place banquet hall around the corner, the two buildings--a student residence known as Eleven25 and the Zilber School of Public Health -- are both classic examples of how to shed new light (literally) on a shutt

Chicago, aka hog butcher for the world, is home to The Plant , a meat-packing factory-turned-food production center and farmer’s market. The three-story building, vintage 1925, sits squarely on the border of a gritty south side industrial and a residential neighborhood. It is a hotbed of activity where recycling is paramount. A tour of The Plant gives you a chance to see its “food loop” in action, surrounded by re-engineered building space and salvaged materials. On the firs

The colorful history of the 42,700-square-foot building at 1071 W. Division Street in Chicago begins in 1905, when the Horween Leather Company tannery moved in and started making razor strops (sharpeners) out of horse hide. In 1927, the Burhop Paper Compan y took over the building, churning out tons of boxes and paper, and endless rolls of twine. In its heyday, it anchored a bustling complex in the heart of the industrial area known as Goose Island. There Burhop workers wou