South Loop “artist's haven” enters a new chapter, revitalizing space to preserve history and increase accessibility
The Fine Arts building plans unique, yet necessary preservation initiatives throughout 2026, honoring the building’s artistic legacy and bidding farewell to its remaining hand-operated elevators.
By Paulina Czupryna
Many employees at the Fine Arts Building hold an office on a singular floor, often enclosed inside a cubicle or separate room. Robert Kurdej’s office rides up and down ten floors, contained in a 127-year-old moving box.
Kurdej hand operates one of the last three remaining elevators in the city, but not for long. Throughout 2026, the Fine Arts Building at 410 S Michigan Ave. plans a “multi-phase revitalization,” consisting of preservation strategies surrounding the city’s last hand-operated elevators. Additional initiatives include a more accessible storefront and an emphasis on Studebaker Theater visitor engagement, according to Fine Arts Building managing artistic director Jacob Harvey.
The building’s management made the announcement when the city’s last trained elevator mechanic gave retirement notice in 2022. The elevator’s manufacturer, Otis also no longer makes its Standard Elevator Company cars. With the technician’s retirement notice, Harvey and his team were able to “forecast ahead an expiration date” to visit the building, interact with its operators and ride the “dying art form.”
Today, visitors can ring the “Signal for all elevators” button and ride the same elevator as generations of musical legacies before them.
Kurdej, an elevator operator for the last seven years, speaks to over “100, maybe more” visitors daily — a dense mixture of tourists, locals and artists. During the school year, groups such as the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra rent the building’s eighth and tenth floors to hold up to 250 people. Kurdej’s summers are slower, but companies like Exile in Bookville, Belsky Piano Studio and the growing shows at the Studebaker bring mass amounts of visitors to his attention.
Kurdej has yet to establish plans for a post-manual elevator era, but regardless of where the news takes him, Kurdej’s “love” for the building will live on.
“The very first place that I ever visited in Chicago was the Fine Arts building,” said Harvey upon visiting the city in 2015. Originally from Los Angeles but living in New York at the time, Harvey soon moved states to work in an architectural landmark.
A major part of Harvey’s hiring was “bringing the Studebaker back to life,” he said. The current revitalization focuses not only on running the historic theater — where 125-year-old theater signs welcome guests — but also “making (the Studebaker Theatre) a live performance space for the city again.”
To avoid visitor and tenant disruption, the building’s management organized a diligent schedule to work around its daily operations, replacing “one elevator at a time,” says Harvey. “The impetus to update the elevators is to make sure that the Fine Arts Building stays active, stays alive.”
Although “disappointing” news to him and tenants, the revitalization period is “necessary,” he says. “The preservation of the building requires it.”
As the building grows into its next phase of life, it ensures its space is more accessible for occupants. “Renovating the storefront to be ADA compliant and accessible,” is a huge focus of the project. With the revitalization, including its elevator modernization, the building will become more accessible for more tenants.
Along with its elevators, the current revitalization restored the complete ground level storefront of the building’s facade, which originally housed the Artist’s Cafe for 60 years. Today, there are pending plans for a new shop.
While renovating, “we did a forensic paint analysis to determine the original paint color of the facade.” Now, the color looks more representative to what it did in 1898 than it did in the late 1970’s, according to Harvey.
Tony Eisel, a recent graduate at Roosevelt University who uses they/them pronouns, says they were “surprised” to hear about the building’s updates, especially because of the notably conserved space. Eisel would occasionally visit the building after class, to inquire about clarinet adjustment and replacement. The multi-instrument player said “[the elevators] really bring you back to the past of Chicago’s history.”
Harvey and his team “strive to maintain preservation at every turn.” The interiors of the manual elevators are “replicated,” he said, using the original 1889 style. The building is “working with the (Commission on Chicago Landmarks) and with the (Standard Elevator Company), going those extra steps to make sure that it stays as representative historically as possible.” However, “(The Commission on Chicago Landmarks) is not actively working on these projects, rather, they provide the approval for the building to move forward,” according to Fine Arts Public relations representative, Elizabeth Neukirch.
“I would love for the building to stay as original as possible,” said Jared Moore, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon who plays the trumpet. While completing his undergraduate degree at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, a college in Roosevelt University, Moore would often visit the next-door location for brass performance lessons and orchestra rehearsals on the eighth floor in Curtis Hall. For the musician, the Fine Arts Building had “everything for an artist,” including multiple studios, multiple performance theaters and the building’s significant musical history. Replacing the historic elevators “is a bummer for sure,” he said.
Tenants occupying spaces today have housed their practices for years, some renting for over 40 like Frank J. Rumoro’s Jazz Guitar Academy on the sixth floor. Rumoro teaches multiple students up to “ten hours a day,” according to the long-time instructor.
His office, decorated in plants and bordered with bundled wires, holds restrictions on drilling holes into its walls. There were also multiple levels of approval to get a pipe installed by his desk, which was needed for the additional bathrooms added to higher floors.
When entering the Fine Arts Building, you'll see plaques displaying stories of historically prominent legacy tenants, such as Wizard of Oz illustrator William W. Denslow and sculptor Lorado Taft.
Filled with hundreds of musicians, painters and craftsmen, the Fine Arts Building faces a new chapter.
“(We’re) making sure all those stories are told and heard,” said Harvey. “In the meantime, we're encouraging everybody to come visit the building, ride the elevators, interact with the operators and the community within the building.”
