Printers Row,[1] also known asPrinting House Row, is aneighborhood located in the south of theChicago downtown area known as theLoop. The heart of Printers Row is generally defined byIda B. Wells Drive on the north, Polk Street on the south, Plymouth Court on the east, and theChicago River on the west.[2] This neighborhood overlaps significantly with the officially designated landmarkPrinting House Row District to the north of Ida B Wells Drive and theSouth Loop Printing House District to the south of the Drive. The neighborhood includesDearborn Station, which is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
Many of the buildings in this area were used byprinting andpublishing businesses. Today, the buildings have mainly been converted into residential lofts with the last remaining printer, Palmer Printing, Inc., near the corner ofClark and Polk streets, selling to residential developers in early 2018.
Dupli Group, a family owned printer since after the Second World War, continues to operate a print shop in Printer's Row, having recently occupied an industrial loft space in the neighborhood.
Buildings in the neighborhood include the M.A. Donohue & Co. Building at Plymouth Court and Polk Street, and the red brick and polychromatic tileFranklin Building. It features painted tile depictions of printing tradesmen such as a bookbinder and typesetter as well as a painted tile mural of the "first impression" of theGutenberg Bible.
WhenIda B. Wells Drive, then known as Congress Parkway, was extended west between 1949 and 1952 through the area, it separated what is now the historic buildings of thePrinting House Row District from those of theSouth Loop Printing House District.[3]
Printers Row is zoned to the followingChicago Public Schools campuses: South Loop School andPhillips Academy High School. The campus ofJones College Prep High School is also located near Printers Row at 700 S State Street.
The area is also a student-oriented center with the University Center of Chicago (UCC), housing over 3,000 college students in dorm and apartment style units, as well as Dwight Lofts and 731 South Plymouth Court, two student housing buildings owned byColumbia College Chicago. Colleges in the area includeRoosevelt University, Columbia College,Robert Morris University,UIC Law School, and theLoop campus ofDePaul University.
Printers Row is served by theHarrison Station on theCTA'sRed Line, as well asLaSalle Station on theBlue Line.
The annualPrinters Row Literary Festival, "Lit Fest", is held in early June along Dearborn Street.[4]
41°52′25″N87°37′45″W / 41.8735°N 87.6292°W /41.8735; -87.6292
