CTA Moving 127-Year-Old Lakeview Building 30 Feet To The Right

LAKE VIEW, IL — The lease is almost up for a 127-year-old apartment building near the CTA "L" tracks.

In August, crews from the Chicago Transit Authority plan to move the historic three-story building about 30 feet west to make room for a sweeping Brown Line "flyover" project.

The CTA purchased 16 buildings standing in their way of the ambitious Red-Purple Line modernization project, which will also include a flyover to eliminate congestion at the popular Belmont station. The Vautravers Building is the only one the agency is not allowed to knock down due to its designation as part of a historic district.

The apartment building is part of the Newport Avenue historic district, a block about half a mile from Wrigley Field. The district is mainly composed of brick-and-stone three-flat buildings that represent some of Chicago's most popular home and apartment styles from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Since workers can't go around it, over it, or under it, they're going to have to scoot it.

"It's not every day you have to move a building," CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase told the Chicago Tribune. "It's one of the more interesting quirks of this project."

The CTA bought the Vautravers Building for $1.75 million in 2016. It will cost another $1.75 million to move it and restore it, Chase said.

The modernization project will straighten out the curve in the tracks that allows them to avoid the building.

A similar method has been used before, according to popular Chicago architecture TikTok user Carl Allens, for the historic Harriet F. Rees House in Chicago. Builders first made a new basement and foundation, then lifted the building off the ground with secure steel beams and slowly —it took about two days — rolled it over to its new home.

Its current address is 947 West Newport Avenue. Those in the area can walk past and see a deep hole where the building will soon occupy.

Engineers have been planning for the move for two years, but have just started working on pouring a new foundation for the building. Historic components like the building's limestone accents and Chicago bricks will be put back on the structure after it is moved.

The CTA reportedly plans to sell the property.

Whether the CTA gets the majority of its nearly $4 million investment back, the agency will still save money by taking the path of least resistance for the modernization project.