Brunswick set up an impressive exhibition at the event, including a display of their high quality cabinetry and bar work, a display of rare ivory, and of course several billiard tables, including one that was dubbed: “The Most Expensive Billiard Table in the World“.
The Book of the Fair, H. H. Bancroft, 1894
On a billiard table contained in this group he who is so disposed may expend the sum of $5,000; for such is the price of what is said to be the finest table that English makers have produced. Its frame of oak is richly carved, and on its panels are depicted sporting incidents or scenes from rural life. The pockets are of novel device and above it is a specimen of artistic metal work in the form of an electrolier, each burner fitted with a crimson silk shade. Among other exhibits in the furniture line are dining-room, drawing-room, and bed-room sets in the last of which the display is especially strong. By a Birmingham firm is exhibited a bedstead with canopy of solid brass, the central panel of the foot-rail containing a figure of liberty in full relief, and the pillars supporting vases whence issue flames symbolic of the Chicago fire. Of wall papers, carpets, curtains, stained glass, and other decorations, and especially of the first, exhibits are fully in keeping with the remainder of the group.
- Interior of the Bar Room
- Interior of the Billiard Table Exhibit
- Exterior of the Billiard Table Exhibit
Prize winning exhibit of the Brunswick-Baker-Collender Co.
Highest Award of Merit for Superb Cabinet Work
- Annex Ivory Exhibit
Showing the priceless collection of rare ivory tusks and curios.
Unquestionably the most unique specimens in the world.
- The Most Expensive Billiard Table in the World.
Catalog of Billiard and Pool Tables Manufactured and Sold by the Brunswick-Blake-Colender Co., 1894
- The Pfister. Probably so-named as it was used in the Billiard Room in the Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee. The hotel opened in 1893 and Henry C. Koch was the architect.
The three tables on the second rendering are the (L to R) Pfister, the Northern and a custom Cabinet model. The Pfister and Northern were production models that appeared in BBC’s 1894 table catalog. The Pfister was rumored to have been designed by famed Architect, Louis Sullivan, for and used in the billiard room of the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. The Northern was a popular high-end table that was clad in bronze filigree. Three cabinet models are displayed in the 1894 catalog, but none with the carving detail of the one shown in the rendering. Other cabinet models had built-in drawers for cue-stick and accessory storage. BBC’s main office, factory, and showrooms were in Chicago and great effort was put into their billiard line for the Exposition. Fifteen models premiered at the factory showroom and Exposition booth as well as exquisite bars and restaurant furniture.