Chicago Police Headquarters

The Central Police Station and Court Building is a nine-story office building that houses the city's detective bureau, First precinct station, and twelve Municipal court branches. As architecture goes, the building features a plain and serviceable style - with a cut stone facade on the first five floors and buff-colored brick rising to the cornice line.

To the back side of the building is a covered concourse for police cars, allowing for prisoners to be loaded and unloaded out of sight of the public. Court rooms occupy the upper floors, along with cell-rooms for the holding of prisoners when court is in session. The Central Police station is outfitted with state-of-the-art telecommunications rooms, as well as crime laboratories for researching cases. The lobby, where most visitors will be received, is a large and fairly minimalist room supported by marble columns on a poured concrete floor - with a few desks, benches, and sparse plants as decoration.

Nowhere to be seen are the art-deco and neo-classical flourishes of City Hall, Union Station, or the Illinois Services & Trust Bank. The Central Police Station on 11th and State is here to serve one simple purpose. Not to be pretty, but to stand as a bulwark against crime flourishing in the city.