The building's roof and portions of one wall collapsed inward, and what's left of the building will eventually be demolished. Firemen have established a collapse zone around the Dexter Building at 630 S. Wabash Ave. and have evacuated the area.
Flames engulfed the building around 3 p.m. Tuesday and continued to burn through Wednesday, even though no smoke could be seen. Firemen were still pouring water on the building to extinguish any remaining embers.
"When a roof falls in like that, we have tar and shingles trapped under there that could still be burning," said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Richard Rosado.
Rosado said no one has been able to enter the building to assess its structural stability or to determine what caused the fire.
The Dexter Building, built in 1887, was designed by Louis Sullivan, who has been called the father of modern architecture. It was designated a Chicago landmark in 1996 and is an "irreplaceable link in the chain of work of one of the nation's most important architectural partnerships," according to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
Jonathan Fine of Preservation Chicago, an architecture preservation advocacy group, noted that the Dexter is the second historic building recently destroyed by fire. Pilgrim Baptist Church, also designed by Sullivan, was gutted in January.
"We keep losing them," Fine said of Sullivan's buildings. "It's quite a tragic loss, and quite an unnecessary loss. It was an accident that should have been prevented."
Streets around the building were still closed and the fire disrupted elevated train service to the Loop. The Green and Orange line elevated train tracks, which run next to the rear of the building, have been closed until further notice.
Both lines go only as far as the Roosevelt stop, where northbound passengers can transfer to buses or the Red Line to get into the Loop. The tunnel at Roosevelt connecting the Red Line subway with the Orange and Green elevated tracks was packed with passengers Wednesday afternoon.
Chicago Transit Authority officials said there's no telling when trains will resume service. CTA officials were still trying to determine whether the fire damaged the tracks' supporting structure and whether the building might collapse on the tracks.
Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said at a news conference Wednesday morning that the building would probably have to be at least partially demolished before train service can resume.
In the meantime, Metra will accept CTA passes on trains that serve the South Side area affected by the "El" train closures.
About 300 firefighters were dispatched to the building Tuesday, but they were ordered out of the building because of the danger of a collapse. One was taken to Northwestern Hospital with minor injuries
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