NO MORE STEAKS, NO MORE STEAKHOUSE. The building that houses the abandoned George Diamond steakhouse on South Wabash burned today.

Dingwersen Train Art image

The Chicago Transit Authority recently relocated the Wabash Avenue L to run behind the building, which is listed.

The building on fire, known as the Dexter Building, after Chicago attorney Wirt Dexter, was designed by the firm of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and built in 1887, according to the Chicago Landmarks Web site.

The structure was declared a city landmark in July 1996 because it is considered a precursor to the Adler and Sullivan firm's celebrated Auditorium Building.

James Peters, director of preservation at the Preservation Council of Illinois, said it was one of the earliest surviving Sullivan buildings along with Pilgrim Baptist Church in the Bronzeville neighborhood, another Sullivan building that burned last year.

"It really hurts, on the heels of Pilgrim Baptist Church, that we lost another one," Peters said.

The building used to house the George Diamond Steak House, which closed several years ago, but was initially used as a factory and showroom for R. Deimel & Brothers, a furniture manufacturing firm.

Alas, the area south of the Loop is not yet a hot enough real estate market for such buildings to be occupied and maintained, which makes them less likely to burn.