Old Franklin Building

The Old Franklin Building features a distinctive terra cotta facade adorned with intricate carvings of printing presses and open books. Constructed in nineteen twelve, the structure provided a permanent home for the Chicago Typographical Union, which served as a powerhouse for local labor organizing. During the nineteen thirties, the building became a key meeting point for pressmen during bitter industry strikes. Union members gathered behind these heavy masonry walls to coordinate their picket lines and negotiate contracts while the city’s newspaper industry shifted around them.