Built in 1884 and now an official Chicago Landmark, the John Lothrop Motley School building reopened in 2019 with 34 high-end apartments. This beautiful Renaissance Revival style structure, featuring a peculiar pinwheel arrangement of classrooms, was one of 53 CPS schools declared obsolete and shuttered back in 2013. The school was enlarged in 1898 with a top floor gymnasium, and new fireproofing systems were installed, beginning Chicago's trend toward fireproof school buildings. The building’s most recent renovation introduces modern luxuries like stone countertops, top-quality appliances, and in-unit laundry to vintage interior spaces characterized by 14-foot ceilings, wainscoting, transom windows above doorways, old chalkboards, and original 1880s cupboards. The redesign preserved the dimensions of the hallways as used by students, and added parking and a common rooftop deck with skyline views.
