Demolition permits were issued for 1235 and 1237 North Ashland Avenue in the Wicker Park neighborhood on Monday, signaling that construction of a five-story, 16-unit apartment building on the site is imminent. Noah Properties is erecting the new development here, having applied for a construction permit on October 14 of last year. That permit remains pending.
Rendering of 1235 North Ashland Avenue by Jonathan SPLITT Architects
1235 North Ashland. Photo by Daniel Schell
1237 North Ashland. Photo by Daniel Schell
A Christmas Day visit to the site showed demolition fencing set up around the perimeter of the two buildings, so expect razing to begin any day now. The two-story 1237 North Ashland and single-story 1235 North Ashland were constructed right up against each other, so the teardown will seem like one structure. Real estate website Redfin shows 1237 North Ashland was built in 1894 and sold in November 2024 for $627,000. There are no transactions showing for 1235; the two buildings may have been sold together as one entity.
The posterior exteriors of 1235 and 1237 North Ashland, from the alley. Photo by Daniel Schell
Left to right, 1301, 1259, and 1257 North Ashland Avenue surrounded by demo fencing on Christmas Day 2024. Photo by Daniel Schell
Noah Properties has another project coming soon on this block, at 1257 North Ashland. A construction permit for a five-story, 24-unit building is pending there, and three buildings will be torn down to make room for that development. All three were home to Mike’s Furniture, and those have also been surrounded by demolition fencing.
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So they tear down a characteristic building for a completely anonymous block. SPLITT architects is maybe just an algorithm? Why would humans be so totally uncreative? Hanna Architects were replaced because their design was too interesting? Too much history is slipping through the cracks. As someone else said “The city of architecture becomes the city of no architecture.”
man losing 1237 N Ashland is a damn shame.
Is it that hard to incorporate that beautiful building in the new design? Any child can design a generic brick box
So sad to see 1237 torn down, a really lovely building whose facade could have and should have been saved, similar to the old Leona’s on Augusta at Damen. I’ve been in the West Town area for over 35 years and the horrific boredom of so many of these new buildings is anemic and sad. So many unique and lovely buildings are being torn down for boring cookie cutter nonsense. Chicago is destroying its great architecture bit by bit.