Chicago Tribune, December 29, 1865
BUILDINGS.
In the erection and improvement of buildings, the city has done as much as in any former year. notwithstanding the facts that building interests of all descriptions have ruled very high, and the wages of all classes of operatives have been far in advance of those demanded in any previous season for years past. Dwellings especially have sprung up in all parts of the city with scarce exampled rapidity, both for the habitation of our merchant princes, and of the secondary class of business men, se of operatives and laborers. In the suburbs in particular, a wonderful change is apparent, and the former verdure-clad prairies now in thousands of little spots teems with humanity. In the business portion of the city, the hand of improvement is also manifest, in the metamorphosis of low, ricketty shanties into massive marble and brick buildings, stored with merchandise and goods. In relation to this class of buildings, the greater number were commenced in the latter part of 1864, though probably the “lion’s share” of the expense was incurred in their completion during the past year.
The style of our civic architecture is, too, very much improved. The former heterogeneous assemblage of buildings, without regard to the correspondence of parts or contiguities, is giving place to the harmonized series of structures, the architect having regard not only to the requirements of his art in the details of his own building, but to the character of its surrounding edifices. Hence, though the erections of 1865 are not, perhaps, vastly superior to those of former years, the higher uniformity attained is much more pleasing. The establishment of the grade has, too, attracted much more attention than formerly, and within the year, a great number of buildings, among them some oi our largest blocks have been raised to place. Among these is the large iron block on the corner of Wells and South Water streets, weighing nearly thirty thourand tons, which was raised some two feet seven inches during the summer.
The following are the principal public bulldings erected during the year, or completed or commenced within its limits.
CHURCHES,
First Baptist Church.—This building is situated on Wabash avenue, a little south of Hubbard court, and has been erected from plans by W. W. Boyington. It is of the Gothic style of architecture, and has a frontage of 90 feet, by 165 in depth. The edifice is constructed of roughly cut stone in imitation of rustic work, and bas a very fine appearance. Surmounting one corner of the roof is an elegantly carved stone spire, shooting 130 feet into the air, and resting at its foundations on piles sunk in concrete. A side entrance to the church is in this tower, but the principal one is in the center of the building on Wabash avenue. The audience-room is 70 feet in width by 120 in length and will seat, with galleries, about thirteen hundred people; throwing open doors in the rear of the pulpit, connection will be made with an elaborately furnished lecture and Sabbath school room, by which means over 2.000 people may be brought within the sound of the speaker’s voice. The edifice will have windows of handsomely stained glass, and be elaborately finished both externally and internally. Its estimated cost is $90,000.
Plymouth Congregational Church.—This Church is now in course of erection on the southeast corner of Wabash avenue and Eldridge court, and will probably be fully completed this year. It has a front of 72 feet, by 113 in length, and when completed will cost over $70,000. It has a deep and commodious basement, with principal story above. The front is of stone on both streets, with transepts on each side, both in the front and rear. The sides next the streets are built of stone and the rear of brick. On the front are two small towers, rising to an elevation of 112 feet above the pavement, and terminating with spirelets, which are to be bullt of stone to their full height. Between these towers there is a large massive doorway, projecting considerably in advance of the main wall, the crown of which is to be surmounted with a large stone finial. Outside of the towers, also in front, there are two doors, both of which, as well as the one in the centre, open into the main vestibule, and communicate with the basement and stairs to the main story.
The bold projection of the central doorway, the massive buttresses, and transepts on the sides, are all surmounted with gables, the apices of which together with those in front are to terminate with elegantly wrought stove finials. Internally. the basement will contain a lecture room about 40 by 60, with Sunday School rooms adjacent; and on Eldridge Court, a pastor’s study, of ample dimensions, and connecting by folding doors, with a parlor 24 by 40, with closets, cloak rooms, and all the modern conveniences. On the principal floor is the main auditorium, a room 68 by 88, with transepts on each side, and organ gallery in front. The ceiling is to spring from the walls by fan grains, and is to have longitudinal and transverse ribs, with pendants at the joinings; and the whole will be elegantly frescoed. The church will comfortably seat one thousand people. G. P. Randall is the architect.
Christ Church.—This handsome edifice, on the corner of Michigan avenue and Twenty-fourth street, was completed last year and dedicated December 17th. It is built in the early English style of architecture, of what is termed “rock work”—a peculiar and handsome finish—of Athens stone. The main entrance is through a finely cut projecting porch, with three separate doors, and fronts on Michigan avenue. On either side of the portico, and in the sides of the building, are large and elaborately stained glass windows. The roof is of the gable type, the front being terminated by a belfry. The main audience room is 57 feet by 85, exclusive of the chancel, which is 15 feet by 25 in size, and is octagonal in form. The only gallery is for the use of the choir. The church will seat about 700 hearers. The basement contains a lecture room 40 feet by 56, and commodiously fitted rooms for the use of the Sabbath school. T.V. Wadskier is the architect. The cost was about $30,000.
First Free Will Baptist.—This church was situated on the corner of Jackson and Peoria streets, and was burnt to the ground and hour after it was dedicated, on last Thanksgiving Day. It was a wooden building, 75 feet in depth, by 43 in width, and contained a lecture room and two committee rooms on the first floor, and on the second audience room, capable of seating about five hundred and fifty persons. The building was adorned by a tapering spire, one hundred and twenty six feet in height. Its cost was about $14,000.
Olivet Presbyterian Church.—A very handsome church is in course of erection on Wabash avenue near Fourteenth Street, for the Olivet Presbyterian congregation. It is of the Norman style of architecture, and composed of pressed bricks with stone facings and trimmings. The building has a frontage of seventy five feet by one hundred and twenty-seven in depth, and stands forty-four feet back from the street. The main entrance is on the avenue in an ornamental tower eighty feet high, surmounted by a spire seventy feet in height, having elegant pinnacles at the bare. This lower projects eight feet from the building, and the entrance is by three doors, reached by reached by a flight of eight cut stone steps. The space between the building and the street is to be tastefully laid out with grass plate and terraces. The main audience room is fifty-nine feet by eighty-four. The pews are to be divided by four aisles and will accommodate seven hundred (700) people. The light enters the edifice in the day through ten stained glass windows in the side, and at night the room is lighted by gas jets with reflectors from the centre of the ceiling. The ceiling is to be supported by grained arches in the sides and will leave a circular panelled center, where the gas jets will be arranged. Its height will be thirty-six feet under the side aisles and forty-four under the center. On one side of the pulpit will be an organ, and on the other side an imitation one. The basement will contain a hall fifty-eight feet by fifty-nine for the use of tie Sabbath School, lectures, etc.There are also here situated other smaller rooms. The estimated cost of the enterprise is $40,000. L. B. Dixon is the architect.
Jewish Synagogue.—The new Jewish Synagogue on the corner of Harrison street and Fourth avenue, which was commenced in 1864, has been completed at a cost of about $16,000. It is built of pressed bricks, with stone trimmings, and has a front of forty-six feet by eighty in depth. The main audience room is forty-two feet by seventy-five, and is arranged lo seat eight hundred people. The basement is fitted up for the use of the Sabbath School. The building possesses one of the old-fashioned gable roofs. Is was built under the supervision of A. Bauer.
First Unitarian.—A very handsome stone edifice is in course of erection for the First Unitarian Church, on Wabash avenue, near Hubbard Court. It will possess accommodations for more than one thousand people, and when completed will cost over $60,000.
West Indiana Street Methodist Church.—This church has been completed during the past year at a cost of §8,000. It is constructed of frame upon a stone basement for Sabbath School purposes. The main audience room bas an open timber roof with spranded arches and plaster cornices. The style is Gothic, with corner towers, porches, pinnacles, mullion and lancet windows, with stained glass. The church accommodates four hundred people with seats. O. S. Wheelock is the architect.
Church of the Holy Name.-Several important alterations have been made to this church during the year, under the supervision of A. Bauer, at a cost of $6,500. The church is located on the corner of Wolcott and Superior streets.
Trinity Church Rectory.—In connection with the subject of churches, it will not be inappropriate to mention the building of a rectory for Trinity church, on Calumet avenue, near Twenty-second street. It is two stories in height, with basement and Mansard or French roof, and is built of Milwaukee pressed brick, with cut stone trimmings and dressings. The cost of the erection was about $20,000. T.V. Wadskier was the architect.
COLLEGES AND SCHOOL HOUSES.
University of Chicago.—This magnificent building, situated on Cottage Grove. just south of Camp Douglas, bas advanced rapidly toward completion during the past year. Early in the summer it was sufficiently complete to be occupied by the faculty and students. The main building, with main tower and turrets, covers eighty feet by one hundred and twenty. It is built of sold masonry, roughly hewn stone, and presents a very fine appearance. The total cost is estimated at $150,000, of which $50,000 has been expended during 1865. Boyington is the architect.
Astronomical Observatory.—Immediately adjoining the last named edifice the Chicago Astronomical Observatory, called the Dearborn Tower, has been nearly completed. It is a massive octagonal structure, comprising a solid isolated stone pier, (the cap or tripod stone of which weighs over seven tons) within, an octagonal stove tower 35 by by 35 feet and has been erected for the reception of the “Great Telescope” just completed at Cambridge, Mass. The dome is now finished, and everything prepared for the immediate mounting of the telescope. The cost of the tower is $30,000, of which $13,000 has been spent the past year. W.W. Boyington is the architect.
The Wells School.—Toward the latter part of the past year, the erection of a large and commodious new public school house has been commenced in District, No. 12, where the want of increased accommodation had long been felt. The edifice is constructed of brick, with stone facings and trimmings, and the plan is after that of the well known Haven school, on Wabash avenue, near Sixteenth street. It is named after W. H. Wells, Esq., late Superintendent of Public Schools. The school is situated on the comer of Reuben aad Cornelia streets. It contains fourteen large rooms, and a commodious hall, and will accommodate about fourteen hundred pupils. When completed and furnished it will have cost $40,000. Bauer is the architect.
Chicago Theological Seminary—This edifice, situated on Reuben street, opposite Union Park, is rapidly progressing toward completion. The front is of pressed brick. with stone window caps, corner quoins, and handsomely carved projections. The structure is fifty feet by sixty-five in depth is five stories in height, with a basement and Mansard roof. The building is divided into three lecture rooms, with apartments for Professors and libraries, and fifty-seven studies and dormitories for students. The cost will be about $22,000. O. L. Wheelock is the architect.
Congregational Mission School.—This building on the corner of West Indiana and Morgan streets, will be when completed, the largest Mission School in the city. It is of frame with outside brick walls. The building has a front of sixty feet, with a square tower on one of the front corners, and a porch and octagonal tower on the other. The interior is ingeniously divided by movable glass partitions, so that when required the whole length may be thrown into one hall. The main audience room seats about eight hundred persons. The cost of the erection is $15,000, O. S. Wheelock is the architect.
German School.—A school-house for the German School Association of North Chicago bas been erected by the German citizens of the North Division, on North LaSalle street, under the superintendence of C. Matz, architect. The building is forty-six feet square. and two stories in height. It contains five school-rooms, each provided with ante-rooms, and also a private study. The rooms are twelve feet in height, and are ventilated and heated to the most approved manner. The lot has a front of seventy-five feet on LaSalle, thus providing good play room for the children. It cost $7,000.
Catholic School.—The internal furnishing of the school-house of the Church of the Holy Family, on Morgan street, near Twelfth, has been effected during the past year, for Rev. A. Damon, at a cost of $10.000. A. Bauer was the architect.
Reform School.—Two handsome and commodious family houses have been erected for the Chicago Reform School. They are seventy feet by thirty-two, built of brick. The roof is gable. The principal floor has dining, library and officers’ rooms, and on the second floor are arranged hammocks to accommodate thirty boys. The cost of each building was about $17,000. They were built under the supervision of O. L. Wheelock, architect.
In addition to the above, several important improvements and alterations have been effected in many of the public school buildings.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND HALLS.
The Chamber of Commerce—This true type of Chicago stability and prosperity bae been fully completed daring the past year, and duly inaugurated as the “Bourse” of the Queen of the West.
It is situated on the southeast corner of Washington and LaSalle streets, and presents a bold and imposing appearance. The design is solid and substantial, and the effect very fine. The building has a front on Washington street of 93 feet, running back on LaSalle street and Exchange place 130 feet. Each front ie composed of beautiful white stone. The principal entrance on Washington street is contained in a handsome facade, composed of three arches supported on composite columns with heavy carved capitals, giving entrance to a spacious corridor 16 feet wide running the entire length of the building. Internally it is designed to accommodate thirty-six business firms, and contains an Exchange Boom 88 feet wide, 128 feet long and 45 in height.
The cost of the building was $250,000. E. Burling was the architect.
Crosby’s Opera House—The beautiful Opera House, which has gained such a wide spread celebrity, was completed this last summer. Numerous descriptions of this edifice have appeared in the Tribune during the course of its erection, and a lengthened statement would be here unnecessary. It is in the Italian style of architecture, fronts on Washington street and runs back as far as Court Place. The entire space occupied is 140 feet wide by 153 in length. The erection on Washington street consists of a five storied block in the rear of which is a handsome building 90 feet by 150, and reaching nearly the height of the whole block. The entrance way is a splendid work of art, rich with stone cutting and statuettes worthy of the building and of the city. The hall possesses accommodations for 2,500 people. The total cost of the bulding was $325,000. Nearly half that amount was expended during the past year.
Crosby’s Block.—To complete the Opera Block Mr. Crosby has built on State street a fine brick block immediately connected with the marble erection on Washington street. It is built of brick. finished with stone trimmings, and is ninety feet front by one hundred in depth. The block contains a fine music hall, named in honor of the immortal composer, Beethoven, and already celebrated as well filling a want long felt in the city. The erection cost $75,000. W. W. Boyington is the architect.
Smith & Nixon’a Hall.—A fine block was completed during the past year, under the architectural supervision of Otto H. Matz. It is four stories in height with basement, and is constructed of brick relieved by cut stone dressings. The block has a front of 108 feet on Washington street by 133 on Clark.
In the centre of the block is the large hall used during the summer and fall for public purposes, but now destined to be converted into commercial uses. Its chief fault has been, that its been peculiarly distinct echo has been a nuisance, while the glare of the unrelieved whitened walls and ceiling was decidedly unpleasant to the eye. The edifice cost over $100,000.
Nixon’s Exchange.—This building occupies the space on Washington street, east of the Chamber of Commerce and west of the edifice last described Smith & Nixon’s Hall. It covers an area of of ninety-three feet by one hundred and eighty-two on Exchange place. The Washington street front has the same height, as the Smith & Nixon’s building, and is flanked by a tower thirty feet square and rising to the height of the exchange olace facade. The building is constructed of stone, brick and iron. The fronts are faced with Chicago pressed brick, ornamented with iron quoins, key-stones, pillasters, etc. The cornice is of wood and elaborately carved. The basement and principal story have iron fronts, with plate glass windows throughout. These two stories are nine and fourteen and a half feet high, and divided into eighteen offices, a portion of them provided with iron vaults. The principal story is reached by ornamental iron steps from a stone sidewalk, surrounding the entire building. The second, third and fourth stories are reached from Exchange place by stone steps, twelve feet long, supported by heavy stone buttress blocks, with paneled faces. There is also an entrance to these stories through the large portico on Washington street. The three stories are divided into twenty offices and two large rooms, thirty by eighty-five each, to be used for Commercial College purposes.
The Washington street entrance is ten feet wide through the large portico. In this block is situated “Morse’s Exchange,” a large hall sixty feet square by twenty-five feet in height, with private rooms attached. The building cost somewhat over $100,000. O. H. Matz was the architect.
Historical Society.—During the past year the west wing of the Historical Society building has been erected, on the corner of Ontario and Wolcott streets. The main
building will be erected at some future time. The front of the structure is of Athens marble, handsomely wrought. It is built in the Roman style of architecture. fire-proof, with metallic root, and cost $12,000. Burling is the architect.
THE UNION STOCK YARDS.
Among the vast works constructed in this city during the year past, none deservedly rank higher than those triumphs of commerce, the Union Stock Yards, located just outside the city limits, at the foot of Halsted street, now just completed. The building of these yards was commenced early in June last, and what was then a marshy and almost valueless prairie is now among the most valuable property in Chicago. Thanks to the enterprise and energy of the gentlemen to whom is due credit of the inception and development of this great project. The amount of land inclosed in these yards is not less than three hundred and forty-five acres, and the cost of the ground and the erections upon it has already been over $1,000,000. In addition to all the necessary barns, sheds, pens, fences, stock hospitals, pumps, tanks, railroads, streets, planking of the entire surface, cottages for employes, etc., there is on the ground a magnificent hotel called the “Hough House,” six stories in height, and 130×144 feet in extent, costing $125,000, second in comfort and elegance to none in the west. Also, a building containing an exchange, bank, eating saloon, telegraph rooms, brokers’ offices, etc. The entire appointments, system and extent of these yards, are such as to make them without exception the finest stock yards in the world.
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