(Above) 1963 photo by Cervin Robinson of 632 North Dearborn Street. Click on image to view larger version.

28-Dec-14 – The latest nightclub to occupy the Romanesque, historic, and possibly haunted building at Dearborn & Ontario is closing.

Castle Chicago’s last day is January 3, according to a message posted on its Facebook page on December 22.

“It is with mixed emotions that we announce the end of an era as Castle Chicago will open the velvet ropes for the last time on Saturday, January 3,” reads the message. “The longest standing nightclub of its size in the country, this iconic landmark in entertainment will officially close its doors at 632 North Dearborn after 25 magical years of unparalleled clubbing.”

Constructed in 1892, the building in which Castle Chicago is located was the Chicago Historical Society’s second headquarters. Its first, at the same location, burned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Just before the original building was consumed by fire, the building’s caretaker, who survived by jumping out a window, claimed he saw three women run inside, never to be seen again except as ghosts that some believe haunt the new building.

The architect, Henry Ives Cobb, also designed the Newberry Library seven blocks north of Castle Chicago.

After the Chicago Historical Society moved in 1931, the building housed the Chicago office of the Works Progress Administration. It has been a Loyal Order of Moose lodge, The Institute of Design, a recording studio, and home of the men’s magazine, Gallery.

More recently, a series of nightclubs started with The Limelight from 1985 to 1989 and Excalibur from 1989 to 2012.

When Excalibur closed in 2012, the building was renovated at a cost of $3 million. Castle Chicago opened on December 31, 2012, with three nightclubs, a restaurant, and private party facilities.

The building is owned by Four Corners Tavern Group, a Chicago property management company that paid $12.5 million in May 2014. It has been an official Chicago landmark since 1997 and on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places since 1978.

Ghosts were victims of Great Chicago Fire, says paranormal expert

Ursula Bielski, founder of the Chicago Hauntings tours and author of multiple books about ghosts, is convinced the 1871 fire left the River North building haunted.

“I believe that the panic caused by the spreading fire left behind a residue of emotional energy that we still feel and interact with today,” she says. “It is also entirely possible that some deaths occurred there if refugees from the fire sought shelter in the former structure.”

She points out the Chicago Historical Society kept the bones of some of the city’s earliest settlers. And, she says, drug warfare in the 1980s was responsible for more deaths at the location.