The Owings Building, Bedford Building
Life Span: 1890-1940
Location: 203 S. Dearborn
Architect: Henry Ives Cobb and Frost
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Bedford Bldg.,—215 Dearborn.
Rand McNally Bird’s Eye Views of Chicago, 1893
③ The Owings Building
Fronts 50 feet on Adams and 75 feet on Dearborn Street, at the southeast corner. This 14-story structure, on a lot so small, at a corner so conspicuous, produces a monumental effect. The brick used in this edifice were the first in the Western world to imitate in shape and color the brick used by the ancient Romans in the Eternal City. A tower with cupola, and ornate treatment at the roof, enhance the architectural effect. The history of this peculiar edifice is further given in our chapter on “Notable High Buildings.” There are 168 offices and 3 passenger elevators, averaging 9uO trips a day. The occupants are financial and coal companies, investors, and professional men. The Owings Building was erected in 1888, at a cost of $475,000, and like the Monadnock, Manhattan, Unity, and others is a genuine Chicago skyscraper.
Owings Building
Greeley Carlson Street Atlas of Chicago
1891
The Owings Building
About 1899
1922 Chicago Central Business and Office Directory
BEDFORD BUILDING
203 South Dearborn Street
S. E. Corner Dearborn and Adams Streets
Opposite the Federal Building; convenient to surface and elevated transportation.
Specially desirable for lawyers, real estate dealers, contractors and coal dealers. Janitor and elevator service of the best. Vacuum cleaning service furnished.
Judson F. Stone, Agent,
30 North La Salle Street.
Telephone Main 1776.
Owings Building
Acme Printing & Engraving Co.
1891
Owings Building and The Fair
1891
Inter Ocean, August 10 1902
Refunding of Loan on Bedford Building by Northwestern Mutual.
The loan market had several interesting features during the week, both in the line of central business security and in Industrial improvement bonds. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company has extended at 5 per cent mortgage of $250,000 on the property at the southeast corner of Adams an Dearborn streets for two years at a 4 per cent rate of interest. The land is 50×73 feet, and the improvement consists of the twelve-story Bedford building, as the formerly known as the Owings’ block. The property was purchased in April, 1898, by Cyrus H. McCormick for $425,000, and was valued by the board of review last year at $506,920. June 1, 1888, Mrs. Willa Mena Strong leased the land to Francis P. Owings for ninety-nine years at a graded ground rent, being $6,250 for the first year; $12.500 per year for the succeeding three years, and $15,000 annually for the balance of the term. The building was one of the many enterprises started by Mr. Owings at next to no capital at all, and, together with the lease-hold, was foreclosed in September, 1896, for $7,711, the amount of unpaid ground rent and accrued cost.
Bedford Building
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
1906
Bedford Building
Ross and Browne Real Estate Map
1928
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