Pride Cleaners, the space-age dry-cleaning shop that has anchored 558 E. 79th St. in Chatham since 1959, is set to close on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, after 67 years in business. The shop’s manager says the property’s new owners told her two weeks ago that the storefront will shut and that no buyer has stepped forward to take over the operation.
Architecture critic Lee Bey first reported the impending closure and pointed out that both the building and its colorful freestanding electric lozenge-shaped sign have no city landmark protection, leaving their future up in the air. As detailed by the Chicago Sun-Times, Pride Cleaners at 558 E. 79th St. is scheduled to close Friday and there is currently no new owner on deck.
An architecture oddball on 79th
The building was designed by architect Gerald Siegwart and completed in 1959. Its self-supporting hyperbolic paraboloid concrete roof gives the one-story shop an almost airborne profile and keeps the interior free of columns. Local architecture writers have long celebrated the site as an unusually intact example of postwar “Googie” commercial design. That history has been documented in local coverage, including WBEZ, and a 2016 market listing noted by DNAinfo underscored how rare the building is in Chicago’s architectural record.
On screen and on the marquee
The cleaners' distinctive silhouette has made it a familiar backdrop far beyond 79th Street. IMDb lists Chicago among the shooting locations for the 2001 film Ali, and Chance the Rapper’s 2025 “Ride (Remix)” video used the shop as a South Side landmark. The music video coverage helped bring renewed attention to Pride Cleaners outside architecture circles, with release coverage highlighted by Shorefire.
Who owns it, and what’s next?
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, new owners bought the building last July, and local mortgage holder Greg Ehman, who holds the note on the property, told the paper he will try to find a buyer who might preserve the structure. The report says the shop’s manager was given two weeks' notice and that Sixth Ward Ald. William Hall has warned the city is on the verge of losing an unofficial neighborhood landmark. Preservation advocates quoted in the coverage argue the site’s rare roof and original sign make it worth saving, per the Chicago Sun-Times.
Landmark status and what it would mean
If Pride Cleaners were designated a Chicago Landmark, proposed alterations or demolition would trigger review by the city’s landmarks process and require additional permit scrutiny. That review and designation pathway, along with the protections it can create for exterior features, are described in local reporting on the landmark process and recent preservation fights in the city. For context on how landmark review affects projects and protections, see reporting from WTTW.
