Chicago’s former Wax Trax! Records building granted landmark status

The original Chicago home of Wax Trax! Records has been granted protected landmark status.

The Chicago City Council’s Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards committee approved the designation of the Lincoln Park neighbourhood building on Wednesday, 21st May, CBS News reports. The landmark status will now “protects all exterior elevations of the building”, located at 2449 N. Lincoln Ave., the council said. 

“We could not have done this without all the amazing support and input from fans and people who cared to preserve this piece of music history”, the Wax Trax! team wrote in a Facebook post announcing the news. “In a special twist of fate, the designation was approved yesterday on co-founder Dannie Flesher’s birthday. We want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts.”

Founders Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher opened the first Chicago storefront of their record shop in 1978, after operating in Denver, Colorado since 1975. (The Denver record store is still open, though ownership and the exclamation point changed with the 1978 move.) The label launched in 1981 with a record by Chicago punk group Strike Under. Wax Trax! relocated to Wicker Park in 1993, and closed in 1996 after Nash’s death in ’95. 

Wax Trax! Records’ label was revived in 2014 by Jim Nash’s daughter Julia Nash and her husband Mark Skillicorn, according to CBS News. The couple has been leading the efforts to protect the record store and label’s historic original location. 

In a February Instagram post as the landmark designation process won a significant step towards approval, Wax Trax! wrote: “Why this landmark matters: The building is now queued to be protected and flagged by the city if current or future owners try to demolish or change the structure in any way… We want to thank every person who has signed our petition…sent in personal testimonials…shared our cause, as well as the people who took the time to join us at the past three meetings.”

The building that housed legendary Chicago club The Warehouse went through the landmark protection process in 2023 and secured the designation in June.  

Read the Wax Trax! posts in full below.