Former Wax Trax! Records building in Chicago to receive landmark status

The former home of Chicago’s legendary Wax Trax! Records store is being commemorated with landmark status.

According to the label and store, the original, two-storey Wax Trax! building on 2449 N. Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park will be officially designated a “Chicago landmark”.

On Tuesday, May 20, Chicago’s Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards Committee voted a unanimous “yes” in granting the site's historic status.

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“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,” they said on social media following the vote.

“In a special twist of fate, the designation was approved yesterday (May 21) on co-founder Dannie Flesher's birthday. We want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts.”

According to Block Club Chicago, the designation will protect the building from alterations made to its exterior, as well as protection from demolition, remaining a cultural place of significance for the city.

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Wax Trax! Records first opened in Lincoln Park in 1978 by founders Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, following the opening of their flagship store in Denver, Colorado.

The store, and later its offspring record label launched in 1981, became a crucial space for the city’s emergent punk, industrial, and electronic music scene.

Wax Trax! moved out of Lincoln Park to a new site in Wicker Park in 1993, before it ultimately closed for good in 1996 following the death of co-founder Jim Nash. Wax Trax! no longer owns the building.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor, follow her on Twitter