chicago one of america's most popular cities as it covers 234 000 square miles and there are hundreds
of secrets and mysteries held on its premise we've already explored the forgotten tunnels
l lines and waterworks but did you ever wonder what might be hiding in plain sight well several
buildings in chicago's downtown area the loop appear to be normal at a distance complete with
windows and doors or even decorated in a stylish construction however upon closer inspection one
finds that the doors do not open and the windows are not windows at all instead they are lures this
is the story of chicago's fake buildings i'm your host ryan sokesh and you're watching it's history
today we will discuss the so-called fake buildings of chicago structures necessary to conceal vital
power grid elements and with all the news we hear about climate change this is a topic bound
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back to the fake buildings of chicago in short these buildings house electrical substations
built to provide power to the downtown chicago area discreetly a topic we've actually covered
in our video about new york's secret substations however the history behind the chicago buildings
are far more interesting these utility buildings are the culmination of electrical progress in
chicago dating back as far as the late 1870s 1878 saw chicago's first demonstration of the arclight
which generated a continuous spark across two carbon rods emitting light equal to
approximately two thousand candles arc lights easily lit the streets and other public spaces
but were unsuitable for homes and shops though in 1880 a man stepped forward with a solution
thomas a edison and his incandescent light bulb finally brought domestic electrical lighting
into a state of commercial practicality producing a flameless light in the fire safe container
provided a perfect lighting source for the electrical age these new light sources along
with street railways and the developing rapid transit cars or even l trains significantly
increased the city's electrical consumption 1878 also marked the beginning of the so-called battle
of the systems a time of great technological and political conflict with the electrical industry
suddenly revolutionizing there was an enormous demand for energy in the area and initially these
demands were met by one of illinois's primary economic activities coal mining the 1880s saw
co-production at the central braidwood mines at its absolute peak however it also saw its mining
company cnw and its workers at their most dire point of conflict yet tensions between the miners
primarily scottish immigrants and the company had reached a boiling point extreme enough to make
national headlines ever since the creation of the mines the miners built workers associations
eventually climaxing in a brief minor strike in 1868 tensions continued and in 1874 another
uptick of conflict occurred during a nationwide economic downturn putting a quarter of the
miners out of work at this point cnw brought the pinkerton national detective agency of chicago
in as a private security force as they hired replacement workers the pinkertons were notorious
during the time for their highly ruthless approach to strikes and protests often pacifying resistance
with violence the pinkertons and illinois troops fought against the workers as they rose up
losing in 1877 1889 and 1894 however by the 1900s coal production started to drop the most easily
accessible deposits had been drained dry and mining activity steadily declined after that
by 1892 the decline had reduced coal production to a fifth of what it was in the decade before in the
will county mines this was highly problematic as energy consumption only grew in 1882 the western
edison light company began operation in chicago it rebranded to chicago edison company in 1887
and in 1892 a significant figure in public utilities took the lead of the company as
the president of chicago edison samuel insell once edison's secretary rapidly began monopolizing the
city's central electrical services consolidating the commonwealth electric light and power company
under the new corporate title of the commonwealth edison company insole's low rates and marketing
schemes undercut his competition allowing him to secure an exclusive franchise with chicago
making the commonwealth edison company the only company operating within the city by securing the
state commission the commonwealth edison company gained favor with the governor when chicago's gas
companies fell into hard times during world war one insole applied low rates brought technological
advancements and consolidated the city's network into one by 1920 generators of the commonwealth
edison company consumed more than 2 million tons of coal every year the generators at
5th street and west 22nd on crawford avenue and the sanitary canal generated the most
energy for the company's plants employing 6 000 people the companies served around 500
000 people reaching annual revenues of 400 million dollars after leading efforts to connect texas and
the midwest via a gas pipeline in the late 1920s things would sour significantly for insole the
stock market crashed wiping away most of his funds leaving him bankrupt in fact and so he
fled the country though the commonwealth edison company did not exactly survive the depression
it eventually became a leader in nuclear power as the city's power grid took shape and developed
its physical structure also fully came into form it starts with the power plant which generates the
power that runs the grid the energy runs into power lines taking it wherever it needs to go
but before it gets there it visits a substation transforming the energy into quantities that local
power outlets can use substations in suburban environments today are pretty small basically
being a telephone pole suspended cylinder called a transformer since the transformers are generally
stepping the energy down into similar levels it can get away with being small however a simple
transformer is insufficient with something like the chicago downtown area which powers the 8 l
train lines and hence an entire substation is needed a complete substation is not exactly an
eye-pleasing sight at best it's an ominous looking box with many mechanical protrusions
at worst it's a complex of towers that look as deadly as they are neither option is very scenic
and in a location as dense as the chicago loop there aren't exactly places for them yet with the
energy demands they are completely non-negotiable so the city needed another answer and the
previously mentioned sam insel had a solution all the way back in 1899 the commonwealth edison
substation on the near north side was the first substation constructed in chicago and it blended
right in with the city this substation worked wonderfully disguising the gritty machines of
electrical equipment behind a facade or i mean a facade of a typical building insult bought out
more buildings to convert them into substations as the power grid expanded by 1901 construction
began on new buildings with the sole purpose of housing substations these fake buildings had doors
that did not open and windows covered in shutters however the buildings were otherwise works of art
built in art deco classical revival style and one in the river north area was constructed similarly
to a georgian mansion the 1910s saw many of the most beautiful of these substations come about
various architects lent their designs to these projects including holly bird and root rootin
and coolidge one especially notable architect was herman van holst who owned van holst and fife
his firm an independent practice designed most of the substations built from the 1910s to the 1930s
they constructed most of their buildings in a unique take on the perez school of style on scene
anywhere else in the city but despite the artistry the buildings were primarily made
out of durable materials to house the heavy electric equipment that made up the substations
regardless of the location or purpose of the substation whether they were serving a
neighborhood a streetcar system or an l train line they had both flair and functionality some of the
antiquated sites were refurbished or repurposed for modern use but construction did continue some
as recent as the 1990s and surprisingly their artistry has not decreased if anything the focus
on the aesthetic has seemed to increase that's not to suggest that the older ones don't hold up it's
just surprising when you consider how degenerate most modern architecture can be when compared to
the times of the old so now that we have our history lesson settled let's have a look at
what's left of chicago's fake buildings first up is 6155 south prairie avenue construction on the
washington park substation began in 1928 and ended in 1939 well it currently sits empty and abandoned
its electrical equipment remains compared to most of the other substations it is a massive
building since it served a large neighborhood with smaller substations to which it distributed energy
its ornaments resemble electrical equipment with light bulbs carved into its limestone facade
it currently faces demolition by neglect but there is a small glimmer of hope as preservation
movements wish to refurbish it next up is the commonwealth edison substation at 119 north
dearborn street this one designed by halliburton root in an art deco style and constructed in 1931
is defined by its enormous black doorway topped with a carving of a man bearing lightning bolts
hinting at its purpose the limestone building is small compared to its neighboring steel
glass and concrete structures but it once fit in seamlessly with those around it at the time of its
construction another substation with a great deal of history is the well street terminal substation
located at 321 south franklin street the building opened alongside the 5th avenue terminal which
opened on october the 3rd 1904 it was less of an art piece underneath the tracks
than the station itself as not to draw attention away from the building it existed to serve but
much like the station it had gerber architectural flourishes while the terminal no longer exists
today the substation remains serving the loop l long after its parent building's demolition
in august of 1964. the att equipment building at 10 south canal street is another building
designed by holly bird and roof unlike the others we have spoken of previously this building opened
in 1970 and is 23 stories tall the doors at the bottom are functional and the top seven floors
contain actual windows though the other 18 floors contain the electrical equipment and as a result
are windowless in place of windows groove concrete pallets fill the window sills to some degree this
building may be a product of the nuclear fears of the 1960s the building obviously wouldn't survive
a direct blast but its walls would protect the equipment and people from a nearby detonation
the telephone services it provides would be invaluable in the event of a war so
structural integrity was paramount at the time of its creation allegedly the building also
hides an oil tank with a million gallon capacity turbine generators and a water well allowing it
to operate for over two weeks without any outside contact but again let me emphasize this is just
speculation lastly one of the most recent buildings is the n-wave chiller plant
at 137 south state street constructed in 1995 using designs of eckenhoff sounders architects
one of its primary purposes is to inspire curiosity about its interior the building
has a cvs pharmacy at the bottom but it's topped with four near windowless floors the building
contains ice and water tanks in nearly all of its hidden areas for various purposes massive fans and
cooling towers lay at its top designed to preserve the cold that makes the water more efficient
you see the water that this building contains supplies the entirety of the loop with coolant
condenser water chilled water so on and so forth these strange buildings.chicago's downtown area
fitting in perfectly with neighboring structures and only with a curious eye will you ever notice
just how out of place they really are which begs the question what other mysteries does
the windy city contain chicagoans let me know in the comments section below and perhaps i will
make a video on your topic otherwise support the channel by subscribing share our chicago history
playlist and check out our video about new york's fake buildings this is ryan socash signing off