Three decades before “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf built his One Chicago universe on NBC, executive producer Steven Bochco revitalized the genre with “Hill Street Blues,” considered by many to be TV’s first prestige drama. The classic series — which aired from 1981 to 1987 — broke barriers by introducing serialized, documentary-style storytelling to the crime procedural, focusing on the daily lives of an urban police precinct with character-driven story arcs. By 2014, “Chicago P.D.” was one of many great police procedurals that came along to proudly carry that same torch.
Despite the decades gap between their original air dates, “Hill Street Blues” and “Chicago P.D.” share a physical connection that goes beyond being in the same genre or on the same network. The fictional 21st District station house seen on “Chicago P.D.” is the exact same building that stood in for the “Hill Street Blues” precinct house. In the real world, this iconic piece of architecture is the historic Maxwell Street Police Station, located on Chicago’s Near West Side. Built back in 1888, the Romanesque Revival building is steeped in genuine local history.
On “Hill Street Blues,” the brick facade was a staple of the show’s memorable opening sequence, providing an authentic sense of location even though the show took place in an unnamed, fictional U.S. city. On top of that, the bulk of the interior scenes were actually shot on soundstages in Los Angeles. Today, “Chicago P.D.” takes a similar approach.
Chicago P.D. and Hill Street Blues both used Maxwell Street Police Station for external shots
According to production designer Gregory Van Horn via NBC Insider, the interior for “Chicago P.D.” is filmed across 15,000 square feet of stage sets at Cinespace Studios. “The 21 District Station is comprised of five distinct sets: Front Desk, Intelligence, Roll-Up, Motor Pool, and Lockup, spread over two sound stages plus a maintenance building,” he told the outlet. The real-life exterior of the Maxwell Street station — which now serves as the University of Illinois Chicago Police Station — is still used for those essential establishing shots.
Aside from the Maxwell building, there is one more notable piece of connective tissue between both shows: Wolf and his personal connection with Bochco. The “Chicago P.D.” creator got his big break writing for Bochco’s “Hill Street Blues.” Wolf’s very first TV cowriting credit was for a Season 6 episode titled “Somewhere Over the Rambo.” He also wrote the episode “What Are Friends For?,” which earned him his very first Emmy nomination in 1986. Wolf ended up writing a total of eight episodes, before moving on to “Miami Vice.”
In 2018, Wolf penned a Hollywood Reporter article which detailed his intense time working on the show, but he ultimately praised Bochco, who he first met at age 5. “Everybody agreed that the intellectual level of ‘Hill Street Blues’ was higher than most television,” Wolf wrote. “It was a definitive shift in the reality factor in drama. Steven changed that part of TV single-handedly and completely.”
