Printer's Row, Chicago

Printer's Row, also known as Printing House Row, is a neighborhood located south of the Chicago downtown area known as the Loop. The heart of Printer's Row is generally defined by Ida B. Wells Drive on the north, Polk Street on the south, Plymouth Court on the east, and the Chicago River on the west.[1] This neighborhood overlaps significantly with the officially designated landmark Printing House Row District. The neighborhood includes Dearborn Station, which is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

M.A. Donohue & Co. Building at Plymouth Court and Polk Street in January 2007

Many of the buildings in this area were used by printing and publishing businesses. Today, the buildings have mainly been converted into residential lofts with the exception of one commercial printer, Palmer Printing, Inc., near the corner of Clark and Polk streets.

Buildings

Buildings in the neighborhood include the M.A. Donohue & Co. Building at Plymouth Court and Polk Street, and the red brick and polychromatic tile Franklin Building. It features painted tile depictions of printing tradesmen such as a bookbinder and typesetter as well as a painted tile mural of the "first impression" of the Gutenberg Bible.

Education

Printers Row is zoned to the following Chicago Public Schools campuses: South Loop School and Phillips Academy High School.

The area is also a student-oriented center with the University Center of Chicago (UCC), housing over 3,000 college students in dorm and apartment style units, as well as Dwight Lofts and 731 South Plymouth Court, two student housing buildings owned by Columbia College Chicago. Colleges in the area include Roosevelt University, Columbia College, Robert Morris University, John Marshall Law School, and the Loop campus of DePaul University.

Transportation

Printer's Row is served by the Harrison Station on the CTA's Red Line.

Festivals

The annual Printers Row Literary Festival, "Lit Fest", is held in early June along Dearborn Street.[2]

See also

Notes
  1. "Printer's Row". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. 2005.
  2. "Printers Row Lit Fest". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 1 December 2013.


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