Dave Clark, Windy City Road Warrior

There is good news indeed along Route 66 in Chicago! The John J. Murphy Filling Station at 3801 W. Ogden Avenue, is currently being spruced up and adapted for reuse as a restaurant. The castle-styled station was built in 1925, and Mr. Murphy operated it for over 45 years. It changed names a few times in the 1970s, likely due to Mr. Murphy’s retirement or sale of the business. Its last use was as the Castle Car Wash. It was in this last, likely failed attempt at commercial use that the lettering was painted onto the stone facade.

The castle stood vacant and deteriorating for many years, but it caught the eye of many a traveler with an eye for fine roadside architecture. Earlier this year, Landmarks Illinois placed the castle on their Chicagoland Watch List. Every time I drove down Ogden, I worried that I would look over and see the old castle demolished.

Imagine my delight when I received a call a while ago from a gentlemen who said he had signed a deal to refurbish the castle and use it as a restaurant. As you can see from this photo, the stone has been tuckpointed and all painted lettering has been removed.

I will be meeting the man behind the refurbished castle soon. Stay tuned for more information!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Chicago, Eateries, Illinois, US. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.