Industrial Hard Chrome Plating Corp.

Built in the 1920s, this two-story brick building originally operated as The Industrial Hard Chrome Plating Corporation.

The two-story building had a smooth brick surface and a Gothic parapet. At the rear of the building was a mass of convoluted ducts.

It became Electro-Coatings Inc. in 1962 after merging with the Chicago-based company. It was also a machining shop for American Tractor Equipment Corp.

By 1990 the factory had shut down and the building was converted into office space.

The building was eventually demolished except for the front brick façade to qualify as a “renovation” instead of a complete demolition to preserve the character of the district (and evade additional tax and permitting burdens).

The five-story Icon apartments were built on the site in 2008.

Prior to the site’s redevelopment, the toxic soil was remediated with cottage cheese which neutralized the cancerous hexavalent chromium used in the chrome plating process.