William Waller House, Palette and Chisel Club
Life Span: 1876-Present
Location: 1012 North Dearborn street
Architect:
- Edwards’ Annual Directory in the City of Chicago, for 1876
Waller William 11, 41 Clark, house. 336 Dearborn av.
Edwards’ Annual Directory in the City of Chicago, for 1877
Waller William 11, 41 Clark, h. 336 Dearborn
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1884
Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1875
The Young People’s Clab was given a party Friday evening by a downtown member, at the house of Mr. Wiliam Waller, on North Dearborn street. As is usual ar their meetings, the young folks got some hearty enjoyment.
Chicago Tribune, March 28, 1880
There died Friday night William Waller, Esq., at his residence,No. 336 Dearborn avenue, in this city. Mr. Waller was an old and highly esteemed citizen of Chicago, and leaves a large circle of relatives and friends to mourn his departure. The funeral services will be held at his late residence at half-past 2 o’clock p. m. to-day.
Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1921
PALETTE AND CHISEL CLUB NOW PART OF NORTH SIDE COLONY
By Eleanor Jewett.
Unless organizations are called to mind purposely from time to time one is apt to forget them. There are so many new things springing up, and no many old things dying out, from day to day, that unless those things which are permanent—here today and equally here tomorrow, as they were yesterday—are designedly, at stated intervals, lifted from the shade of their permanence, brushed off a bit with memory’s touch, and placed in the limelight afresh, they might almost as well be with the dust of Caesars, buried a thousand years.
Therefore, lest we neglect an organization that has stood for a great deal during the past twenty-five years, and that la trying to make itself more valuable in the present, it is time that here and now we mention the Palette and Chisel club again. The club was started in 1895, and there were eight charter members. The membership grew with the years. From the eight it grew to thirty-five, then to 100, and now it is 400. Study classes in the studio and in the country are held for the benefit of the artist members. As many as ten of the members were studying in Europe at the same time.
- The new town quarters of the Palette and Chisel club and their summer camp on Fox lake. Both places would be improved in appearance by shrubs. Will a volunteer gardener come forward to teach thess artists how to make a beautiful landscape outside of a canvas field?
Some of the original entertainments at the club, given during the past years, are amusing to recall. “Il Janitore,” by George Ade, afterward became known ta ” The Sultan of Sulu.” At the time when the newspapers were bringing influence to bear upon the Illinois Central to get them to electrify the roads into Chicago, the club produced a burlesque, “The Hog In Chicago’s Front Yard.” It might well be given again now. The electrification of the road is as much needed today as ev??.
“Carmine,” a take oft on the opera “Carmen,” was a marvelous production. “The Shredded Vast” was a huge comedy success. “Le Cabaret du Howard Pourri” was another famous bit of humor and sarcasm.
Aside from these amateur theatricals, the club indulges in more serious efforts, and has done so in a pleasant and worthwhile way. Annual exhibitions of paintings by the members have been held during the winters; December usually sees a sketch show: other interesting exhibits deal with commercial art, one-man shows, and exhibitions outside of the clubrooms, some given in the Art Institute galleries and others in various art galleries.
The club magazine is cleverly titled “The Cowbell.” The name was developed from the huge cowbell with which the noisy meetings were called to order in bygone, halcyon days by the president. It was published for three years and had a circulation of one thousand. The war put a quietus upon this effort, but the magazine is to be resumed.
Perhaps the most startling innovation of the club in recent days is its removal this spring from its old quarters in the Athenaeum building to the huge residence purchased by tho members at 1012 North Dearborn street. There are a number of other artist colonies, or fragments of colonies, in this neighborhood, and more than probably a few years’ time will see a Chicago Greenwich village spring from the nucleus of the Palette and Chisel club’s endeavor, like Minerva full panoplied from the brow of an aristocratic Jove.
The new building will provide for a studio and exhibition gallery, an etching room, a lounge, billiard room, grill, library, and reception rooms, as well a sleeping quarters for distinguished visitors. It will be as complete a thing of its kind an any city can boast. With all its new comfort, none of the mellow flavor of friendly companionship, so warmly felt in the old rooms, will be missed here. The dignity of the city house façade will not penetrate to the more or less Bohemian rooms within.
Some of the past and present members of the Palette and Chisel club who have attained distinction are: Leroy Baldrige, staff artist Stars and Stripes, author of “I Was There”; Gustave Baumann, gold medal, Panama-Pacific exposition, 1915; Clare Briggs, cartoonist; John H. Carlsen, Palette and Chisel club associate members’ prize, 1916, Palette and Chisel club medal, 1918; Frank V. Dudley. Butler prize 1916, Logan medal 1920; Walter Dean Goldbeck, Cahn honorable mention, 1911; L. O. Griffith, medal Panama-Pacific exposition 1915, Palette and Chisel club medal 1921; Martin E. Hennings, Pallette and Chisel club gold medal 1916, Englewood Woman’s club prize 1916; Victor Higgins, Palette and Chisel club medal 1914, Municipal Art league 1915, Logan medal 1917, Altman N. A. D. 1918; Edward Holslag, mural decorations, library of congress, member National Society of Mural Painters; Wilson Irvine, silver medal Panama-Pacific exposition 1915, Palette and Chisel club prize 1916, Chicago Society of Artists 1916, Grower prize 1917; Carl Kraft, Municipal Art league 1916, Artists’ Guild 1916-17; Ossip Linde, honorable mention Paris salon 1907, medal Paris salon 1910; Arvid Nyholm, Municipal Art league prize 1915, A. I. C. prize 1915; Edgar Payne, Palette and Chisel gold medal 1913, gold medal Sacramento fair 1918; Albin Polasek, Prix de Rome 1910-13, honorable mention Paris salon 1913, Logan medal 1917: Eugene Savage, Prix de Rome 1912-18; Walter Ufer, Logan medal 1917, Clark prize N. A. D. 1918; Ezra Winter. Prix de Rome 1911-14.
During the summer months the club maintains a place at Fox Lake for outdoor painting. The ” Summer Camp,” as it is called, is the property of the club and comprises a clubhouse of suflicient size to accommodate sev-entry-five persons. It occupies a sito adjacent to the lake.
The officers for this year are David L. Adam, president; Glen C. Sheffor, vice president; Fred T. Larson, treas urer; and C. Lynn Coy, secretary. Among the members of the club are Ralph Pearson, Walter M. Clute, J. Jeffrey Grant, Otto Hake, Alfred Jans-son, F. X. Leyendecker, Lawrence Mazzanovich, Karl Ouren, Sigurd Schou, Oswold Cooper, and Charles J. Mulligan.
The mention of the summer painting camp for members of the Palette and Chisel club brings to the fore thoughts of the plans for the summer courses at the Art Institute school. The school has decided to extend ite time of summer teaching, and courses have been arranged for a complete term of ten weeks, beginning July 5 and ending Sept. 10. The six week term closes Aug. 13; the eight week term closes Aug. 27. Special classes for normal students Instructed by leaders in the field of art instruction will be held the first three weeks of the term in the afternoons.
Pedro J. Lemos, editor of the School Arts magazine, will demonstrate colored cement craft. Lectures will be given by Hugo B. Froelich on high school design as applied to printing, by Miss Florence Fitch on ” School Management and Supervision,” and by Walter Sargent on “Art in High Schools.” Classes in out of door painting will be held, taught by Willlam Weish, and there will be varlous other classes in life, Jewelry, battk, tie and die, and gesso. There will also be morning classes for children.
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