42nd Precinct / Town Hall Police Station, Police station in Lake View, Chicago, United States

The 42nd Precinct is a two-story structure with carved limestone ornaments framing its entryways and a copper cornice running along the roofline. The building retains its original architectural details as a protected Chicago landmark.

Lake View Township, annexed to Chicago in 1889, had its town hall on this site; the hall was torn down and this station built in 1907. In 1959 it became home to the 19th District, and in 1966 the district was split, making it the 23rd District. The lockup closed in 2004, and in 2010 a new station opened behind it at 850 W. Addison.

The site was the municipal centre of Lake View Township before its 1889 annexation to Chicago, and the old town hall stood here until it was demolished in 1906. The building is still known locally as the "Old Town Hall", a name carried over from that earlier civic role.

The station stands at 850 W. Addison Street, with the 1907 building in front of the newer 19th District facility behind it. It is a working police station, so the interior is not open to visitors; the symmetrical façade and copper cornice are seen from the public sidewalk.

On December 6, 1969, during the Days of Rage, a bomb made from a coffee cup filled with black powder went off on the hood of a squad car across the street, shattering 20 to 30 windows of a building at 742 Addison Street. No one was hurt and no suspect was ever arrested.