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The Film Exchange Lofts (renovated and established as condominium homes in 2000) is a community of 73 homes. Located at 1307 South Wabash Avenue, in the heart of Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood, the Film Exchange Lofts is conveniently located to take full advantage of all that downtown Chicago living has to offer. The building is a seven story structure with private indoor heated parking and a commercial space (soon to be a French bistro dining establishment) on the ground floor. The Chicago Landmarks Commission has identified the Film Exchange Lofts Building as a historically significant structure – one designation short of naming the building a Chicago Landmark.
The building was constructed in 1929 at the end of a post World War I building boom and just as the nation was headed into The Great Depression following the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Designed in the Art Deco architectural style by Zimmerman Saxe and Zimmerman Architects, the building was originally constructed as a film exchange facility for Warner Brothers Pictures. Warner Brothers used the building for their Chicago corporate offices and to house highly combustible motion picture films as they were distributed to Chicago area theaters. For this reason, the building structure is constructed entirely of cast-in-place concrete to provide maximum resistance to fire. Fire-proof concrete construction was a relatively new innovation in Chicago at that time born out of concerns generated by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
In those days, Chicago (along with New York) was a motion picture film center during the silent film era and before the motion picture industry had even heard of Hollywood. For years, Chicago film studios Essanay, Selig, and Vitagraph produced films here in Chicago until the years just before the dawn of “talkies” in 1928. After the exodus of the film studios to California, Chicago continued to be an important city in the motion picture film industry. The film industry was well represented in the South Loop along the Wabash Avenue corridor during this period and thereafter. In 1921, the Vitagraph Building was constructed at 839-843 South Wabash Avenue. Four years later, Warner Brothers acquired Vitagraph and renamed the company Vitaphone and soon after the Vitaphone name was phased out as well. The following year, Warner Brothers Pictures commissioned Zimmerman Saxe and Zimmerman to begin design of the studio’s Chicago home on South Wabash Avenue.
Film Exchange Lofts is located in the heart of Chicago's South Loop at 1307 S. Wabash Ave.
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