Peter C. Stohr Arcade Building
Date: 1909
Address: 856 Wilson Ave., Chicago, IL
City: Chicago, Illinois
Category: Commercial
Notation: Demolished in 1922
The Peter C. Stohr Arcade Building was a commercial structure that housed a variety of businesses including a grocery, photography studio, and real estate office. Destined for a triangular lot beneath the elevated tracks of the Northwestern Railroad, the project posed a number of design challenges. Steel columns punctuated the irregularly shaped property, and Wright had to ensure access to the train platform above. In order to maximize the amount of usable space, he designed a building that stood a single story high under the tracks, and two stories in the spaces that extended beyond them. Its first story façade was stepped to follow the angled contours of the corner lot. In order to dampen the sounds of the trains overhead, Wright designed the structure with an air space between the reinforced concrete roof and plaster ceilings. The shops’ second story windows were arched, and featured inverted crescent-shaped mullions.