7th District Police Station
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7th District Police Station | |
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| Location | 949 W. Maxwell Street Chicago, Illinois 60608 |
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| Coordinates | 41°51′52″N 87°39′2″W / 41.86444°N 87.65056°W |
| Built | 1888 |
| Architect | Edbrooke, Willoughby James; Burnham, Franklin Pierce |
| Architectural style | Romanesque |
| NRHP reference No. | 96000515[1] |
| Added to NRHP | May 2, 1996 |
The 7th District Police Station, or Maxwell Street Station in Chicago, was built in 1888 in response to the need for increased police presence in "Bloody Maxwell", known colloquially as "the Wickedest Police District in the World."[2] The neighborhood, a changing melting pot of Irish, German, Italian and European Jewish immigrants, grew exponentially in the years following the Chicago Fire of 1871. The housing and sanitation situation in the district was substandard, and the residents poor. Criminal activity flourished.
The Romanesque style station is architecturally significant as an example of pre-1945 police stations in Chicago. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke and Franklin Pierce Burnham. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
