Fire in South Loop (George Diamond Steakhouse)

This is very sad. Huge fire at 630 So.Wabash. Building housed the famous, now closed George Diamond Steakhouse. It was a favorite of my late parents.

I was on my way to lunch at Thai Spoon and next door was burning!!!

Diamond's was closed for awhile, so I'm more concerned about poor Spoon. It appeared okay when I left.

Here's a shot:

Making the fire even more tragic is the fact that the building was designed by Adler and Sullivan and was a Chicago Landmark.

The building is a loss, the restaurant was gone long ago, even before it closed, and that was already four or five years ago.

Antonius

Hi,

I had seen the George Diamond sign and long meant to photograph to inquire about it here.

Regards,

How did nearby buildings fare in the fire, does anyone know? 'Cause I believe that's just a couple of doors from the south loop Harold's Chicken Shack which I've enjoyed several times in the last couple of weeks. It's a damn shame.

Yea, Harold's is 3 doors south. It looked fine when I left at 5pm. But soon after the Dexter building's roof collapsed and the whole block was in a cloud of smoke, so I don't know.

This shot was taken early, when the firemen were still fighting the fire from the inside.

kiplog wrote:This shot was taken early, when the firemen were still fighting the fire from the inside.

The place next to Harold's (to the north) in the photo is a liquor store which carries some nice stuff. The prices aren't especially low and the selection isn't astounding, but then again the prices aren't beastly and the selection isn't bad, so for the South Loop, it's a good place to have around.

I never visited George Diamond's but having lived just a couple of blocks away from there for many years I heard a fair number of tales about the place from friends. From what I gather, it was still possible to eat a decent meal there in the mid 1990's, though the place was already in serious decline. Around 2000 or so, shortly before it closed, a friend went there out of curiosity and it sounded a little bit like a story from the Twilight Zone.

Wasn't there some snag about developing this piece of real estate? I vaguely remember talk of that in the neighbourhood when I lived there. Was it the historical status of the building? Or was it unwillingness of the owners to sell? Well, let's see what happens now...

(probably another high-rise... )

Antonius

How ironic. I never noticed this little blurb in the description of this forum

"keep at low heat please".

Sad. I'd hoped that someone would revitalize the place and make a new retro steakhouse or something that would at least preserve the building and the sign. I suppose a similar but probably less spectacular fate has met the Diamond in Acapulco, which looked like a place where (Dean Martin's) Matt Helm might hang out.

Does anyone know if the fire affected the South Loop Club around the corner?

stevez wrote:Does anyone know if the fire affected the South Loop Club around the corner?

Why would it? It's a full block and a half or so away (corner of State and Balbo, whereas the fire was on Wabash, more than half a block north of Balbo)... Unless they've gotten a boost in business from the demolition guys going in for beers and burgers...

But I would suspect the places on that same block may well have been affected -- George's at the corner, Harold's, the liquor store.

Antonius