The Owings Building

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The Owings Building, Bedford Building
Life Span: 1890-1940
Location: 203 S. Dearborn
Architect: H. B. Seeley, Henry Ives Cobb and Frost

Lakeside Business Directory of the City of Chicago, 1899

Bedford Bldg.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Bedford Bldg.,—215 Dearborn.

Lakeside Business Directory of the City of Chicago, 1907
Bedford Bldg.,—215 Dearborn.

Chicago Tribune, May 20, 1888

AMONG THE ARCHITECTS.
F. P. Owings will erect a seven-story building at the southwest corner of Fifth avenue and Monroe street. The plans are in preparation by Architect H. B. Seeley., It will have a frontage of seventy feet on Monroe street and on Fifth avenue of forty feet. The exterior will be of pressed brick, with Portaze Drownstone trimmings. It will be fire-proor throughout. It will be supplied with passenger and freight elevators, and will be lighted by electric light and heated by steam. Work has been commenced on the foundations, and it is the intention to have it completed and ready for occupancy by fall. It will be used for the wholesale business. It will cost $100,000.

Chicago Tribune, January 13, 1889

CHICAGO’S SKYSCRAPERS
Interesting Facts About Three Tall Buildings.
Beauty and prominence were the high aims of ancient architecture; for this the labor of many men for many years was thrown into a single structure. From the modern economic standpoint such labor was buried, since it never became self-aggrandizing in the form of capital. Chicago utilitarians are not given to apostrophizing the shades of Greeks and Romans or to making burnt-offerings to by-gone ideals—Chicago is notably fireproof—and although lines of beauty in arches and columns are all very well, the man of business is not to be deterred from getting what he would call his money’s worth by any frivolous objections made by devotees of the esthetic. Leaving out of account the Auditorium, which is the most admirable modern structure in the world, the three most notable buildings now going up in Chicago are the Tacoma, the Owings, and the new Chamber of Commerce Building, and in justice to builders and architects they must be viewed as nothing more nor less than huge money-making schemes. In what may be called commercial architecture, in which space, light, convenience, and safety are the essentials, Chicago already leads the world, and these three new structures will place it still farther ahead of all rivals.

The Owings Building, at the southeast corner of Dearborn and Adams streets, gets its name from its owner, Francis P. Owings. The architects, it is understood, are not altogether responsible for the appearance of the tall, slender structure with its animated top and Gothic lines. Mr. Owings, having got possession of 50 by 75 feet of ground at this corner, decided that he wanted upon it a fourteen-story building which should have certain picturesque features. Designs were called for, and that of Cobb & Frost selected as best combining with the conveniences of an oftice building that strong individuality which the owner desired.

The accompanying cut gives a better idea than words can of the general outlines and appearance of the structure. Although called fourteen stories high, the top story, it will be seen, is in the gable, and is of little value. In hight it measures 140 feet from the sidewalk to the main cornice line, 184 feet to the top of the gable, and 228 feet to the
corner peak, of the cone-shaped roof of the corner tower, the cone itself being fifty feet high. The steep roof of the gable is provided with flat decks to keep snow or ice from falling into the street.

The color of the exterior is a dull gray, and is not admired by all observers. but in the Chicago atmosphere it is probably as good a color as any. The first three stories are of stone, the walls being three feet thick and resting upon massive pyramidal which stand upon a substratum stone of piers concrete covering the whole lot two feet in thickness and having railroad iron imbedded and inter laced in it. Above the third story the exterior, still gray, is of terra cotta and Anderson pressed brick of Roman shape. The gable is roofed with red Akron tile and the cone-shaped roof of the tower is to glint and glisten under a sheathing of copper. Solidity is given to the stricture by steel girders on every floor, while at the top of the third and eighth stories heavy steel girders encircle the entire building.

The interior is to be absolutely fireproof, iron columns and steel beams being everywhere used. The corridor floors will be of tile, and the wood upon the office floors will be bedded in concrete resting upon tile arches. The elevator shafts and three cars, like those in the Rookery, are to contain not an atom of combustible material. The first floor, which will be reached by a short staircase of marble, will be rented, it is hoped, by a bank or by some concern requiring similar office arrangements. The stories above are intended for office uses exclusively, and a large amount of space, it is said, has already been spoken for. The building is to be finished next spring, and, according to Mr. Owings’ estimate, it will cost nearly $300,000.

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.

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.

The Fair

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.

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