As everyone in Chicago should know by now (if only due to reading Chicagoist), the Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight, started filming here last week. In the course of preparation, crews turned the old Post Office on Harrison into a Gotham-ready edifice. Planners and conservationists have wondered what to do with the hulking 1920s relic ever since it was vacated in 1996, but we doubt any of them wanted to set it on fire.
At 11:20 a.m., smoke appeared to come off the 16th floor of the 17-story building. The fire was put out by noon, but firefighters will most likely remain on the scene to make sure no more funny stuff happens. No doubt traffic will be snarled around that general area for some time, so proceed with caution on and around the Eisenhower. Officially there's no word on whether the fire/smoke is related to filming, but let's get real here: It's Batman!
We will try to give you updates on this story where appropriate. If you caught any action pictures, be sure to upload them to Flickr and tag 'em with "Chicagoist"!
Update, 2:25 p.m.: Apparently the fire was not related to filming after all. District Fire Chief Jose Santiago pointed to the ancient ventilation system, which most likely ignited some garbage left in the building. Still no word on whether the Post Office will suffer any lasting damage, nor how extensive it was. And props to Lauren for the tip!
Image courtesy of whereinchicago.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
Gaaah!
This reminds me of something I saw a few years ago. I was at a friend's condo on Wells near Polk, watching TV on a Saturday night in the summer. His apartment faced west, directly towards the old post office building.
My friend glanced out the window and said "Holy sh!t!." There was a fire on the roof of the post office, and a pretty big one too. We could see a huge amount of smoke, and then after a little while we saw huge flames as well. It appeared to be on the roof itself, not in the building. A bunch of fire trucks came down Harrison, along with ambulances and police cars. I've never seen so many emergency vehicles at once. We watched them fight the fire for about an hour or so, and my wife and I went home a little after that.
We scanned the local stations, and there was no reporting on it that night. I checked the trib and sun times sites the next day, and didn't hear anything about it. Never did. But the three of us saw it.
Anyone know about this? I doubt any of you will, but I felt compelled to share. We sometimes still bring it up in conversation. This happened about three years ago, and on a Saturday night, so it was no longer the working post office by then, and the building was probably empty. But still, it seemed like there would have been at least some mention of it on the news.
no prob!
It was freakin cool from my office window- we overlook the north west side of the post office so we've been seeing some crazy rooftop aerobatics and chopppers the past few days BUT this took the cake. besides all the prop school buses, the one throught fake wall, fake cops and cop cars, then like 20 or so firetrucks and a sky full of smoke billowing out of the post office!
judging from the fire chief's comments, it sounds like they've had ventilation problems there before, also leading to fires. why they'd have ventilation going when the building is unoccupied, i don't know...
Just checked out the video on the linked page (CBS Chicago). The fire we saw was much, much bigger than that. We saw billowing dark smoke and tall visible flames. Okay, I'll stop going on about this now.
Jeff, as a former reporter (trib and suntimes), I can tell you that unless a fire causes major structural damage, sends people to the hospital, evacuates other structures, etc., it probably won't get covered. in this case, even though the fire was large, it was in a huge, unoccupied building, far from other residential areas, and did little damage....so its sort of a non-story. A lot of times these fires turn out to be a lot more benign than they look.
Somebody had the idea of turning the post office into a massive transportation (trains,buses,cars,cabs) hub where cars and buses could exit congress and park before clusterfucking in the loop.
Looks like it's going to be offices, residences and a hotel now.
I work right by the set and must admit that it was a complete headache with the street closures in recent days. Film crews and Chicago Police would not let people get to their place of employment during the preliminary shooting. Last Saturday, I had to wait for thirty minutes before I could go to the office (thank you for not administering a release to building management!).
In any regard, who needs Bruce Wayne when you can be Peter Parker and take over 100 photos of the set and the actual fire. That's all harbored in my Flickr! account right now. I'm not a member of TypeKey, so I won't be able to post the URL on here. Sorry!
"Planners and conservationists have wondered what to do with the hulking 1920s relic ever since it was vacated in 1996"
I once watched an apartment in the Robert Taylor complex burn while attending a White Sox game. (Try seeing that at Wrigley!) Sadly, some folks around me were pleased. But I digress.
I don't think the post office is the best location (I think the shuddered Carson's is), but I'd like to see a marketplace a la Reading Market in Philly or West Side market in Cleveland (et al) in downtown Chicago.
When I was a kid my dad used to tell us we were going to drive THROUGH the post office, coming downtown on the Ike. What a thrill. I thought it would be condos by now. LOTS and LOTS of condos.
i've thought about it, and i'm positive we should try to work the post office into the olympics somehow. that i could get excited about.
I second the Olympics tie in. Perhaps the final torch bearer could ignite a giant pile of undelivered Chicago mail, setting it ablaze for two solid weeks.
I suspect the Olympics will transform the old post office in much the same way it will the CTA, the school system, the manufacturing base, gridlock, global warming, SARS, high cable rates, itchy t-shirt tags, bad breath, entitalitus...
I'm not sure what publication it was, but I read an article once about a proposal to turn the Post Office into some kind of public/private mausoleum.
Here's the article:
www.lynnbecker.com/repeat/post/post.htm