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A Printer’s Row loft in a historic Chicago School style building asks $355K

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The Franklin Building features an original mural

A living room with high ceilings, a dining room table, a desk, and large windows with blue curtains.
720 S. Dearborn Street.
Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Miszczyszyn at D’Aprile Properties

Printer’s Row was once occupied by printing and publishing firms who constructed buildings near the Dearborn Street railroad station. In a post-Chicago Fire era, many of the structures were built in the Chicago School style—bulky, terra cotta-clad, steel frame designs.

An example of this is the 14-story Franklin Building which was built for a printing company in 1916. But the presses are long gone, those companies began moving out in the 1960s, and now the building at 720 South Dearborn houses 65 condominium lofts.

A painter from Vienna, Austria, Oskar Gross, was commissioned to create a mural over the main entrance and painted tiles too. His work is still there today, including an inscription above the entrance which reads: “The excellence of every art must consist in the complete accomplishment of its purpose.”

The unit for sale has eight-foot windows, exposed brick, concrete beams, and hardwood floors with custom inlays. A sliding reclaimed barn door separates the master bedroom and across from the kitchen there’s a second, smaller guest room. Plus, the owners recently updated the kitchen, bathrooms, and added a washer and dryer.

This condo is listed for $355,000 with Elizabeth Miszczyszyn at d’aprile properties.

A brick building with a mural depicting people in robes working on a printing press above the entrance. There are store fronts and a tree.
The building’s mural can be seen above the entrance.
There is a couch, coffee table, rubber tree plant, exposed brick wall, tv, and kitchen with a breakfast bar.
An open living room and kitchen soak up all the natural light.
A living room with high ceilings, a dining room table, a desk, and large windows with blue curtains.
Peep the sliding barn door in the back.
A kitchen with a range, breakfast bar, refrigerator and exposed brick with a rack of hanging pots.
The minimal kitchen is open and facing the condo’s large windows.
A bedroom with a large window, platform wooden bed, and a built-in closet wall with glass doors.
A tranquil bedroom.
A bathroom with a double vanity, soaking tub, and glass shade light fixtures.
The master bathroom was recently redone.