United States Post Office - Chicago, IL - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

paraphrased fr Wikipedia and other sources:

The old main Chicago Post Office is a massive building and was the largest post office in the world when built. The original structure was a brick sided mail terminal building that still sits just east of the main building that engulf the Eisenhower Expressway right before it turns into the Congress Parkway. It underwent a major expansion in 1932 which brought the structure to more than 60 acres, or 2.5 million square feet of floorspace. It is one of Chicago's widest highrise buildings, measuring about 798 x 354 feet on the ground. Borders for this massive structure include: on the west, South Canal Street & West Congress Parkway; on the east, the Chicago River; on the north, W. Van Buren Street; and on the south, W. Harrison Street.

The Eisenhower Expressway passes right through an east/west opening in the building. To allow for the Expressway to eventually be built, a hole was purposely designed in the base of the Post Office that would eventually be utilized twenty years later.

The old Post Office was closed in 1996, when it was replaced by a new facility across Harrison Street to the south. But you still get to drive through it if you head east or west in or out of Chicago!

In 2004, the post office was used in the filming of "Batman Begins", and returned in late April 2007 for filming "The Dark Knight." The outside of the Post Office was decorated as "Gotham National Bank" on the North side, and "Gotham Police Department" on the East side.

Street address: 433 W. Van Buren St. Chicago, IL USA 60607 County / Borough / Parish: Cook County Year listed: 2001 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949, 1950-1974 Historic function: Government Current function: Vacant/Not In Use Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2009 To: 12/31/2009 Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Privately owned?: Not Listed Secondary Website 1: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/08/2014 veritas vita visited it