“Last week, the City Council designated the Art Deco skyscraper at 2 N. Riverside Plaza as an official Chicago landmark.
“‘It’s a building that was incredibly important for a number of reasons: architecturally but also urbanistically and culturally to the city. Because of where it is and what is across the river from it, it never really has received the kind of star treatment that it deserves,’ Thomas Leslie, the Ralph E. Johnson professor of design at the Illinois School of Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said. ‘It’s great to see it getting landmarked, and probably long overdue.’
“According to the city, the Near West Side building is undergoing a nearly $70 million commercial rehabilitation by the owner, 2 N. Riverside Owner LLC. The building, designed by Holabird & Root, was completed in 1929. It was the first office structure in the city built above railroad tracks and the first with a public plaza.
“‘It’s a really important piece of urbanism. It was one of the first buildings in the city to face the river, which for a long time had just been an industrial sewer. It’s an important piece of the Downtown landscape in that it’s a building that really does try to connect the city with the riverfront, and that’s a tradition that goes on today,’ Leslie said.
“‘It was built on top of the active rail yards that were west of the Loop, and the structure is literally woven down through the tracks which were existing at the time. You can’t see any of that steelwork but it held up all of the newspaper’s printing presses, literally suspended over the tracks when it opened,’ Leslie said. ‘It’s really an important landmark for its engineering prowess, in addition to its style. This is a building that encapsulates so much about what the city is all about, how the city relates to the river, its history with writing, with journalism, and then also, if you look really closely, its really long history with structural engineering.’
“Ward Miller, executive director of the nonprofit Preservation Chicago, said the designation for the building is the result of a nearly 20-year effort.
“‘The old Chicago Daily News building was one of our most endangered buildings,’ Miller said. ‘We’re hoping that this landmark designation really does bring a spotlight to this building that it protects it in perpetuity and it encourages a reinvestment in this structure.’” (Puente, WBEZ, 7/21/26)
“Designed by noted architecture firm Holabird & Root and completed in 1929, the building is known as the first in Chicago built over railroad tracks, with innovative features such as a special venting system for railroad locomotive exhaust, according to a city report submitted to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. The public plaza has the distinction of being the first privately developed open space in the city and one of the first nationally.
“Golden is also working to secure Chicago landmark status for the building, a move that would end decades of uncertainty and permanently protect it from demolition — an option Zell once explored, along with adding another tower on the adjacent riverfront plaza.
“‘The prior owner didn’t want to landmark it because they had entertained tearing it down. I love this type of building because they really express who Chicago is, and I’m not that ambitious to build a skyscraper.’
“‘We’re trying to modernize something while paying respect and giving a nod to what the original builders built.’” (Ori, CoStar News, 5/11/25)
Preservation Chicago is thrilled that the Chicago Daily News Building has finally been designated a Chicago Landmark. This is the culmination of a nearly twenty-year preservation campaign — from our 2008 Chicago 7 Most Endangered listing, when the threat of demolition and replacement was real and active, through our formal Landmark Designation recommendation submitted to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on May 16, 2025. Preservation Chicago and Landmarks Illinois have pushed for this designation since 2008. The Chicago City Council’s vote makes permanent what advocacy and political will only temporarily secured.
Ward Miller has been in active communication with Blue Star Properties and Craig Golden throughout this process, encouraging Landmark Designation, Class L classification, and the return of the building’s missing monumental murals. Blue Star Properties was open to the conversation and proved a committed partner in the landmark process.
Despite Ward Miller solving the mystery surrounding the location of the long-lost murals, the future for the murals remains unknown. John Warner Norton’s monumental triptych — “Gathering the News,” “Printing the News,” and “Transporting the News” — adorned the 180-foot vaulted ceiling of the building’s concourse from 1929 until 1993, when roof damage prompted the removal of the entire canvas for a restoration that never happened. The murals have been in storage for more than thirty years, most recently at Mana Contemporary. Preservation Chicago has urged Blue Star Properties to pursue the murals’ return to the concourse where Norton designed them to be seen. The landmark designation creates exactly the right moment to complete this work.
Preservation Chicago congratulates Blue Star Properties, Tyler Quast and Craig Golden, the Wolcott Group, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, and the Chicago City Council for this long-overdue designation. We also thank the many journalists, historians, and advocates — including Landmarks Illinois — who kept the case for this building alive for nearly twenty years. We look forward to the $70 million rehabilitation underway, and to the day when John Warner Norton’s murals are back on the ceiling of the concourse where they have been absent far too long.
Read the full story at WBEZ and CoStar News
Chicago Daily News Building II, Chicagology
Chicago Daily News Building Landmark Designation Report, April 2026
News mural held hostage by dueling interests, Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune, 8/15/04
Art Deco Treasure Chest: Daily News Building, John Morris, Chicago Patterns, 4/28/15