The Warehouse, a West Loop building in Chicago known as the birthplace of house music, was officially designated as a historic landmark on Wednesday (June 21). The three-story loft at 206 S. Jefferson St. served as a dance club from 1977 to 1982 where Frankie Knuckles, the club’s resident DJ, originated and popularized the genre.
The landmark designation protects the 113-year-old structure’s facade and roofline elevations from alteration or demolition. Preservationists and the music community feared it may be in jeopardy after the building, which is currently home to law offices, went on the market and was listed as an “opportunity to clear the site for new development.” The building was sold to two lawyers in December 2022.
Built in 1906 and purchased by nightlife organizer Robert Williams in 1975, the warehouse building was renovated into a three-story club with a high-tech sound system based on legendary dance floors like London’s Ministry of Sound and New York City’s Studio 54. Williams hired Knuckles, who was living in New York City at the time, as the club’s resident DJ. He relocated to Chicago for the job for the nightclub’s grand opening in 1977. Over those five years, Knuckles spliced together different records to keep attendees dancing without interruption, shaping the sound of house music by drawing from disco, techno, R&B, and gospel. In the process, he created a haven for the city’s Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ communities who were looking to dance freely. In 1983, the Warehouse closed due to safety concerns from the City of Chicago and crowds moved over to Knuckles’ new club, the Power House.
Preservation Chicago named the Warehouse as Chicago’s most endangered building of 2023, and were integral in helping it gain landmark status. “The Warehouse at 206 South Jefferson is where Black and Brown Chicagoans celebrated life and love and the birth of house music, a genre that has taken over the globe,” said Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who also serves as City Council’s Zoning Committee Chair. “The Warehouse is where Frankie Knuckles, a Grammy winner and proud openly gay Black man, created a safe space for everyone.”
Frankie Knuckles died in 2014 at age 59 due to complications from diabetes. In addition to his iconic singles like 1987’s “Your Love” and 1991’s “The Whistle Song,” he also reworked music by Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Pet Shop Boys, and Hercules & Love Affair, among countless others. Knuckles was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2005, and has since had a street in Chicago named in his honor.
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