Fine Arts Building

Description

The ten-story Fine Arts Building, also known as the Studebaker Building, is located at 410 S Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in Chicago in the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. It was built for the Studebaker company in 1884–5 by Solon Spencer Beman, and extensively remodeled in 1898, when Beman removed the building's eighth (then the top) story and added three new stories, extending the building to its current height. Studebaker constructed the building as a carriage sales and service operation with manufacturing on upper floors. The two granite columns at the main entrance, 3ft in diameter and 12ft high, were said to be the largest polished monolithic shafts in the country. The interior features Art Nouveau motifs and murals dating from the 1898 renovation.Currently, true to its name, it houses artists' lofts, art galleries, theatre, dance and recording studios, interior design firms, musical instrument makers, and other businesses associated with the arts. It also holds offices of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Jazz Institute of Chicago, the Grant Park Conservancy, the World Federalist Association, the Chicago Youth Symphony, the Boitsov Classical Ballet School and Company, and the venerable Artist's Cafe, known to generations of late-night diners. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on June 7, 1978.