Relic House

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Found in Tour: Old Town and Lincoln Park

Landmark Images:
Original Relic House, Before the Refreshment and Music Hall Was Added--1872; Photograph (ichi-51044)

Original Relic House, Before the Refreshment and Music Hall Was Added--1872; Photograph (ichi-51044)

This architectural curiosity was supposedly fashioned out of objects that had passed through the great conflagration, including stones, pipes, sewing machines, bottles, tools, plates, doll heads, and iron toys.  Dating from shortly after the fire, it underwent multiple transformations and moved at least once after it was built, spending most of its existence opposite Lincoln Park on the triangular plot where North Clark Street and Lincoln Park West intersect.

The Relic House Refreshment Hall; Cover of Promotional Pamphlet, 1906 (ichi-63842)

The Relic House Refreshment Hall; Cover of Promotional Pamphlet, 1906 (ichi-63842)

This pamphlet invites the public to enjoy the Relic House’s hospitality.  Over the years a series of owners added interior appointments that included mounted game fish, moose and deer heads, assorted engravings, and a six-by-eight-foot oil painting of the Great Chicago Fire.