Former Chicago nightclub where House music was born is now a designated landmark

2023-06-22T17:04:00-04:00

A one-time nightclub where the roots of house music spread from a group of Chicago DJs to worldwide prominence is now an official city landmark. [...] “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 [...] The Warehouse is where Frankie Knuckles, a Grammy winner and proud openly gay Black man, created a safe space for everyone.”

The Chicago City Council approved a landmark designation on Wednesday, June 21st, for The Warehouse at 206 S. Jefferson Street in the city’s West Loop. The three-story structure, built in 1906, served as a dance club between 1977 and 1982.

It was where world-renowned artist and House pioneer Frankie Knuckles served as the club’s resident DJ, who used the space to develop and popularize the genre. The club became a safe space for Chicago’s Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities. The venue closed in 1983 due to safety concerns.

Today, the building is home to law offices. It has long had no historical protections, allowing the potential of its demolition after being sold in December 2022. This led to the creation of a petition by Preservation Chicago that garnered close to 15,000 signatures calling on the City to recognize and preserve the building. The nonprofit organiz...

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Former Chicago nightclub where House music was born is now a designated landmark