History Walk Site 9:
Weiher Building

This two-story commercial building was started in 1927 and completed in 1928. Original building plans show it was planned as the DuPage Theater. However, shortly after construction began, plans changed: the Tivoli Theater had also just begun construction, and the owners concluded that Downers Grove could not support two cinemas. As a result, only the retail and office space part of the building was completed. The center section of the first floor, planned as an entrance to the theatre, was converted into retail space.

The building is a fascinating example of Spanish Baroque Revival. The wings are of smooth-faced limestone, topped with a medallioned cornice and a decorative roof of terracotta tiles. The center pavilion is an explosion of Baroque details in carved limestone. In the parapet is a garland of ribbons and flowers from which hang two roundels, each with a grotesque (face), a common decorative element in Baroque architecture. The focal point of the main façade is a group of four windows, framed by engaged Ionic columns, and centered around a niche topped with a scallop shell and containing a cenotaph. 

In the early years, the retail space was used by the Palace Meat Market and Dernbach Chevrolet. By 1937, Chuck Rumpf opened Chuck’s Meat Marketecjca meat market. 

The Weihers purchased the Chuck’s Meat Market business in 1948. Two generations of the family ran the meat market.  In 1979, Dave and Marilyn Weiher purchased the building. They continued to run Chuck’s Meat Market until 2007.