7th District Police Station
Encyclopedia
The 7th District Police Station, or Maxwell Street
Station in Chicago, Illinois
was built in 1888 in response to the need for increased police presence in "Bloody Maxwell", known colloquially as "the Wickedest Police District in the World." The neighborhood, a changing melting pot of Irish, German, Italian and European Jewish immigrants, grew mightily in the years following the Chicago Fire of 1871. The housing and sanitation situation in the district was substandard, and the residents poor. Criminal activity flourished.
The Romanesque style
station is architecturally significant as an example of pre-1945 police stations in Chicago. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke
and Franklin Pierce Burnham
. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1996.
The Chicago Police Department vacated the station in 1998. After extensive renovation, the red brick and limestone building became the home of the University of Illinois at Chicago
Police Department. The renovations were done in a manner designed to uphold the historic significance of the building's architecture. "The building’s original windows were sent to a company in Kankakee for restoration, the masonry cleaned and repaired, the roof replaced, and parapets at the top of the station rebuilt using custom-made bricks, the exact texture and color of the originals."
The building is known in popular culture because the outside was used as the picture of the precinct house in the opening and closing credits, and establishing shots of the iconic television series, Hill Street Blues
.
Maxwell Street
Maxwell Street is an east-west street in Chicago, Illinois that intersects with Halsted Street just south of Roosevelt Road. It runs at 1330 South in the numbering system running from 500 West to 1126 West. The Maxwell Street neighborhood is considered part of the Near West Side and is one of the...
Station in Chicago, Illinois
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
was built in 1888 in response to the need for increased police presence in "Bloody Maxwell", known colloquially as "the Wickedest Police District in the World." The neighborhood, a changing melting pot of Irish, German, Italian and European Jewish immigrants, grew mightily in the years following the Chicago Fire of 1871. The housing and sanitation situation in the district was substandard, and the residents poor. Criminal activity flourished.
The Romanesque style
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
station is architecturally significant as an example of pre-1945 police stations in Chicago. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative federal and state governments that were spurred by his stint in...
and Franklin Pierce Burnham
Franklin Pierce Burnham
Franklin Pierce Burnham was an architect.He designed or co-designed:*Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard, California, listed on the National Register of Historic Places ;...
. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1996.
The Chicago Police Department vacated the station in 1998. After extensive renovation, the red brick and limestone building became the home of the University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois at Chicago, or UIC, is a state-funded public research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, near the Chicago Loop...
Police Department. The renovations were done in a manner designed to uphold the historic significance of the building's architecture. "The building’s original windows were sent to a company in Kankakee for restoration, the masonry cleaned and repaired, the roof replaced, and parapets at the top of the station rebuilt using custom-made bricks, the exact texture and color of the originals."
The building is known in popular culture because the outside was used as the picture of the precinct house in the opening and closing credits, and establishing shots of the iconic television series, Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
.