The first of three adjacent buildings to be razed for a new residential development just beyond the right field wall at Wrigley Field is nearing completion. The building at 3631 North Sheffield Avenue in Wrigleyville has been reduced to a tiny portion of the north façade and the front stairs to the entryway. To its left and right, two more buildings will soon meet the same fate, as all three come down for a residential development on the site.
The permit to tear down 3631 was issued on February 25 of this year; demo work by Precision Excavation got started soon thereafter. Public records site CountyOffice.org shows 3631 North Sheffield, remembered fondly by Cubs fans for the TORCO sign atop the roof for decades, was built in 1899 or 1900, and was purchased by a redevelopment group for $3.425 million in May 2023. According to Crain’s, they’ve owned the two bookending buildings since 2012. Those two buildings, at 3633 and 3627 North Sheffield, have not been permitted for demolition yet.
A Red Line train passes by the rubble of 3631 North Sheffield Avenue. Photo by Daniel Schell
Broken front steps. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
“Torco Apartments LLC” Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
The excavator is moving pallets of salvaged bricks to the alley to be hauled away. Photo by Daniel Schell
In the background, you can see the gargantuan video board in right field that blocked baseball views from these rooftops. Photo by Daniel Schell
Hidden from view is the brick pallet being salvaged. There are so many bricks. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
3633 North Sheffield from the alley. Note the pallets of bricks at right. Photo by Daniel Schell
3627 North Sheffield from the alley. Photo by Daniel Schell
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Appreciate all the construction updates Daniel! 🏗️
A loss that far transcends economic land value
My sentiment too. Banality to follow.
Are you willing to house the 20 additional households that this new building will provide shelter for on your own dime in the universe where this new apartment doesn’t get built?
On one side, housing for people who need it. On the other side, nostalgia. Impossible to tell which one is more valuable
Just comment on the construction not your biased view on this tear down. We need new development in this city!
Readers are welcome to comment on anything they like or don’t like here, Steve.
We need construction, not cultural destruction.
great to see 29 units of new, modern, in-demand housing being built.
I may be a YIMBY, but this is definitely hard for me to support.
FWIW, I’ve never understood how exactly YIMBY should be defined. But whatever the interpretation, I don’t think you or anyone else should ever feel the need to support anything just because of an acronym someone made up. It’s okay to be against a demo and against what comes next.
Everyone has their own line of what deserves to be saved and what can/should be redeveloped when the conditions are right. It’s why, if and when YIMBY policies get implemented, historic preservation will be the next hottest topic. It’ll likely be abused by some groups, since it will be their last resort to kill progress, but overall we need to be prepared to handle determining preservation status quickly and earnestly as possible.
What are YIMBY policies?
Upzoning, land value tax, expediting the approval process, eliminating parking minimums, single stair reform, elevator code, fire truck standards, etc. Basically anything that helps spur more density.
If these buildings have to come down, I am happy that at least the bricks will be reused elsewhere. I hope other items could be salvaged,too,like the doors and woodwork. The quality workmanship that went into these old buildings is impossible to do in these days. It’s just unaffordable to do.
We’ve lost so much history in the past few years while empty lots stay empty
The history still happened, Carsten. What’s happening on this lot is new history being written.
To be fair there’s no way the new facade will be as high quality stone as what was just demolished. And we rarely build proportions & details as nicely as stuff from 100+ years ago.
That being said there was nothing particularly special about the structure, there are plenty more of them around.
The slow dismantling of Wrigleyville. I can only hope that the facades were somehow saved to be reused and rebuilt at a later time.
Are you in fantasy? Save what facade , to be used where? Didn’t you see the bulldozer just smash it all up to smithereens and every bit just haul away?
Yes it is a fantasy that the facades could have been saved. The point is these were beautiful buildings with character that are being replaced by nondescript buildings.