The Fine Arts Building: Where Manual Elevator Operators Still Work

At 410 S Michigan Avenue, across from Grant Park, stands the Fine Arts Building — built in 1885 as a showroom for Studebaker wagons and carriages. After Studebaker moved its operations to a new building, it was converted into artist studios and performance spaces in 1898. It has housed artists, musicians, writers, and small theaters ever since. L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz, had his offices here. The Chicago Little Theatre, an influential early 20th-century theater company, performed on the building's fourth floor. But the most remarkable feature is the elevators. For more than a century, the Fine Arts Building was one of the last buildings in Chicago whose elevators were run by uniformed attendants. Riders asked to be taken to their floor, and the attendants knew the building's history and many of its tenants by name. The original cars are now being replaced with automatic ones, with at least one attendant-run elevator expected to keep operating through the end of 2026.