The Chicago building that once housed The Warehouse, the legendary club that is widely considered to be the birthplace of house music, has been given protected landmark status by Chicago City Council.
The decision to give the building such a status was made earlier this week by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. The building is now protected from the threat of demolition, with a campaign having been set up earlier this year by local conservation group Preservation Chicago after a real estate listing tagged the building as a potential site for redevelopment.
The Warehouse, which closed many years ago, counted Frankie Knuckles as a resident DJ in its early days, and his sets made the venue a beloved spot for Chicago’s Black LGBTQ+ community. He often played soul, R&B, disco, gospel and electronic music across his sets, with the combination of those sounds eventually going on to form the foundations for early house music. The term ‘house music’ itself, takes its name as an abbreviation of Warehouse music.
