Occupants: Marshall Field, New Bauhaus Refugees
Location: 1905 S. Prairie (Old 923), Telephone: South-270 (1892)
Life Span: 1873-1955
Architect: Richard Morris Hunt
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1876
Field Marshall (Field, Leiter & Co.) Madison ne. cor. Market, house 923 Prairie av.
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1880
Field Marshall (Field, Leiter & Co.) 251 Madison, house 1905 Prairie av.
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1884
Field Marshall (Marshall Field & Co.) 251 Madison, house 1905 Prairie av.
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1885
Field Marshall (Marshall Field & Co.) 251 Madison, house 1905 Prairie av.
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Field Marshall (Marshall Field & Co) 200 Adams h 1919 Prairie av
Inter Ocean, November 27, 1873
Diblee-Field.
The marriage of Mr. Henry Diblee to Miss Laura Field took place at the mansion of Marshall Field, Esq., 923 Prairie avenue, at 6 o’clock last evening. The event has called considerable attention from society circles, from the social and commercial prominence of the people interested, tbe magnitude of the preparations, and the magnificence of the display. Eight hundred invitations were issued, not only in Chicago, but in New York, Boston, and other Eastern cities, where both the bride and groom have large circles of friends. The preparations for the event were on a scale seldom exceeded even in this city of magnificent extravagance, and the entire appointments were of a character in harmony with the position and the wealth of Mr. Marshall Field. Within and without his elegant mansion, carpenters and decorators and caterers bare been busy for several days, under the supervision of Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Field’s steward, and Wednesday evening found everything complete and perfect to the smallest particular. Over the carriage entrance at the north was erected a mammoth marque, which was handsomely decorated and made brilliant by calcium lights. The pavement was spread with bright figured carpet, and the balusters and stairways were handsomely draped. The adornment of the parlors was a triumph of the floral art. The extensive conservatory that spans the south wall of the house was brilliantly lighted, and the air was heavy with the perfume of the tropics.
The ceremony was performed at 6 o’clock, in the presence of a few family friends, Misses Scott, Calhoun, Ballard, and Hamilton, and Messrs. Henry Field, Gould, Dayton, and Keep composing the bridal party. The reception continued from 7 till 10, and was attended by 500 ladies and gentlemen. The display of toilets surpassed anything that bas been seen in Chicago within the memory of the oldest usher, and the brilliancy of the scene is beyond the descriptive powers of ordinary reportorial talent. The bridal gifts were not displayed; but are said lo be very rich and rare.
The supper, from Brown’s, was in unison with the other arrangements, and tested the skill of Mr. Kinsley to the extreme. The table was a marvel of beauty and richness, and the menu covered all the rarities of the season.
The bridal party left last erening for an extended trip in the east.
- The Library
- The Hallway
Chicago Tribune, November 11, 1935
Plan to Raze Old Marshall Field Mansion
By Kay Hall
The old mansion at 1905 Praitrie avenue, built sixty years ago by the first Marshall Field, is being stripped of its furnishings. It is to he razed as an economy measure, according to officials of the Field estate, unless a rather tentative plan to turn it over to an institution for charitable use be agreed upon within a week.
The mansion was the first Chicago home to have electric lighting. It is built of stone and brick and contains twenty-five rooms. Its design is austere and a high fence of Iron grill work surrounds the grounds.
Because of Mr. Field’s desire that the great house never be used for anything except his family s home, the public has been barred from the structure. A group of sightseers who went through the mansion yesterday afternoon under the auspices of the Chicago recreation commission were said to be the first outsiders ever to cross its threshold.
Kept Open Until Recently.
Until a few weeks ago, in accordance with Mr. Field’s instructions, servants kept the home ready at all times for any member of the third or fourth generation of the family who might appear. For several years, however, none has entered to stay, according to the veteran caretaker, David Wheeler.
Officials of the estate said the widow wished that no further effort be made to maintain the establishment as a home. She became the second wife of Mr. Field in 1905, a year before his death, and now is 82 years old. Many years ago she removed to Washington, D. C.
Mrs. Field was the widow of Arthur Caton, son of Judge John D. Caton of early Chicago fame. The Caton residence on Calumet avenue adjoined the Field mansion. The first Mrs. Field died in 1891 and Mr. Caton in 1903.
Descendants Stay Abroad.
Marshall Field Jr., only son of the merchant, died a short time before his father. Since the children of the second Marshall Field have lived much of the time in England, the Prairie avenue abode has been little used for a quarter of a century. Gradually the servant staff was reduced to a housekeeper and a caretaker.
Mrs. Albert J. Beveridge, widow of the Indiana senator and a niece of Mrs. Field, has aided in disposing of the furnishings. Some of them have been claimed by the grandchildren and others are to be placed in a Marshall Field & Co. exhibit.
Visitors yesterday saw little of interest except a tall grandfather clock in the hallway dated 1689. The walls have been stripped of their paintings. The sightseers were assured that the gilded iron bedsteads still standing were those really liked by the merchant and his family.
Chicago Tribune, February 28, 1955
BY JOSEPH EGELHOF
(Pictures on back page)
Wreckers will begin this week the difficult job of demolishing the house that Marshall Field built—the mansion at 1905 Prairie av. which was erected 79 years ago and was the first house in Chicago to have electric lights.
The three story palace of the “merchant prince” stood silent and deserted behind its iron grillwork fence yesterday after its last occupant moved out. For 15 years the building has been used for a branch of the Aeronautical University, Inc., which is consolidating its operations at Midway airport.
Floors Not Worn
Built to last 1,000 years, the landmark to the gayety and extravagance of society of the last century is as solid as ever. Its parquet floors of rare woods, each of which would cost as much as an ordinary house, show few signs of wear, altho they are covered with dust and litter from the moving job.
Its huge doors of 3 inch walnut are as formidable as ever. Firemen attacked one of them with axes a few years ago when the school had a minor blaze. They were unable to do any more than put a few dents in the door.
Schoolroom gray paint covers the mahogany woodwork and the ornate wall coatings which provided a rich background for the most elaborate ball ever held in Chicago—the $75,000 “Mikado ball” held in January, 1886, in honor of Marshall Field Jr., then 17, and his sister Ethel, 14.
500 Guests DanceUsed by Guests
In the rear is the long two story carriage building. The bowling alley used by guests of the Fields is still in the basement. Rooms on the upper floor have been occupied for 25 years by Gus Klemm, 80, retired coachman who once drove for the Fields.
Klemm, who gets in and out of the old stables with an enormous brass key, 6 inches long, has been the sole occupant of the grounds on weekends. In the eerie darkness of the carriage building hangs a large photograf, said to be of Field. The building will be the first to feel the wrecker’s blows and Klemm, a taciturn German immigrant, was moving out yesterday.
Cost Million Dollars
Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the square red brick and stone trim mansion was erected at a cost of more than a million dollars. The first Mrs. Field died in 1896 and Field remained in the house until 1905 when he married Mrs. Delia Spencer Caton, a widow. He died shortly afterward and the second Mrs. Field lived there for several years.
Until 1937, when it was given to the Association of Arts and Industries, it was occupied only by caretakers. After two years as an art school the mansion was vacated again until 1940 when it was purchased by the aviation school. It was crowded with military trainees in World War II.
Ceilings Heavily Braced
Lewis Churbuck, chairman of the Aeronautical university, said the building was sold recently to a trust. Attorneys for the trust said the land would be used for “business purposes.”
Churbuck, a former secretary for President Coolidge, said students and faculty were awed by the solid construction of the place. Altho the house pioneered home electric lighting, modern electricians always had trouble with the thick walls. They broke into a ceiling once and found the rafters were 2 by 8s spaced a foot apart and heavily braced. The floors never have sagged.
“Moving out of the office in the reception room was like. losing an old friend,” said Churbuck. “I often had fires in the fireplace which had flues on each side instead of above and produced a beautiful broad flame.”
- The 79 year old Marshall Field mansion at 1905 Prairie av., which was built to last 1,000 years but which wreckers will begin to demolish this week. Its circular walnut staircase (second photo from left) has been painted, but is in flawless condition. Its parquet floors of rare woods (third photo) cost a fortune. The green marble fire. place (right) was another of the mansion’s marvels. (Story on page 1).
Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1955
Little remained yesterday of the old Marshall Field mansion at 1905 Prairie av. as crane operator swung ball on end of cable to demolish the building.
The old Marshall Field mansion at 1905 Prairie av., built 79 years ago and the first Chicago house to have electric had all but disappeared yesterday under the blows of wrecking equipment of the Speedway Wrecking company, 58 E. 29th st. The work of demolishing the building was started March 2 and Bud Ruttenberg, general superintendent, said the site would be cleared in a few more days.
- 1905 S. Prairie Ave.
Robinson Fire Insurance Map
1886
NOTES
Marshall Field built his mansion here in 1873-1876 at a cost of $2,000,000. It was designed by the same architect that built the Vanderbilt’s “The Breakers” in Newport, Rhode Island. It was the first house in the city to have electric lights. It was common knowledge that Field and his wife had many loud, violent arguments here in their home. They were divorced in the 1890s, and Mrs. Field moved to France where she died an invalid in 1900. Field then married a neighbor, Delia Caton a short time after her husband, Arthur died in 1904.The Caton’s lived directly in back of Fields at 1910 Calumet, and rumors were that Fields and Mrs. Caton were lovers before the death of her husband. There were even stories that there was a tunnel that connected the Field and Caton homes. When Field died here in 1906, he was the richest merchant in the world.
After Mr. Field’s death in 1906, the home was passed on to his wife, Delia. She chose to live in Washington, D.C. instead.
In 1937-38, the Field’s mansion served as a center for the New Bauhaus refuges from Germany. The home was torn down in 1955.
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