Building file · Printers Row
George C. Nimmons' 1916 printing house with the most beautiful facade on Printers Row — Oskar Gross's tile mural of the Gutenberg press over the entry — converted in 1989 into 65 loft condominiums.
Built in 1916 for the Franklin Printing Company to George C. Nimmons' design, the Franklin Building wears its trade on its face: Vienna-born painter Oskar Gross designed the tile work that climbs the facade — artisans of the book trade up the elevations, and over the entrance “The First Impression,” printers at a Gutenberg press. The presses themselves ran remarkably late, until 1983.
Developer Duncan Henderson bought the building in 1987 and ran an extensive renovation, reopening it in September 1989 as 65 loft condominiums.
At 65 homes the Franklin is the intimate counterpoint to the mega-conversions — a boutique building where the architecture is the amenity. Concrete-and-brick loft construction, deep windows over Dearborn, and a facade that makes it the most photographed address on the Row. Homes here trade less often than the neighborhood's bigger buildings; when one lists, it tends to find a buyer who wanted this building specifically.
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