Pullman Building

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Pullman Building
Life Span: 1884-1958
Location: SW corner Michigan & Adams
Architect: S. S. Beman

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1885

Beaman (sic) S. S.

Central Union Telephone Co.

Chicago Telephone Co.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1887
Pullman Bldg.—Adams sw. cor. Michigan av.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Pullman Bldg.—2 to 14 Adams sw. cor. Michigan av.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1911
Pullman Bldg.—79 E. Adams sw. cor. Michigan av.

Chicago Tribune, December 9, 1883

PULLMAN’S LATEST.
The nine-story office and appartment building which is being erected by Mr. Pullman at the southeast corner of Michigan avenue and Adams street will be a very handsome structure. The architeet is Mr. Beman, who designed the Town of Pullman. The building will be fire-proof throughout. It is hoped to have it under shelter this winter and ready for occupancy next summer. The total cost will be about $500,000.

Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1884

MILITARY HEADQUARTERS.
The headquarters of the Military Division of the Missouri, Gen. John M. Schofield commanding. are being removed from the Honoré Block to the new Pullman Building, corner of Michigan avenue and Adams street. The entire fourth floor at the new quarters will be occupied, and also one room on the first and two rooms on the fifth floors. Gen. Schofield’s main office is in the apartment at the northwest corner of the fourth floor, a room 24×30 feet. His suite includes a private office 13×14 feet, a vault, a toilet-room, and two rooms for his Aides-de-Camp. Gen. Tompkins, Division Quartermaster, has rooms adjoining, which include his private office, 19×23 feet, and his clerks’ office, 26×39 feet. All of these front on Michigan avenue, commanding a view of the lake. The office of the clerks of the Adjutant-General, 31×13, are found in going west on the south corridor, next to the Quartermaster’s clerks’ office, and Capt. Handbury’s engineering department is located in a room 12×19 in a relative position on the west side. Paymaster Condee has an office 20×20, furnished with a large vault, in the southwest corner. North of the Paymaster’s is Surgeon Forwood’s, 16×32. Next is a room, 32×32, with a large vault, to be used by the engineer for draughting. Inspector-General Davis’ office, 22×21, is in the northwest corner, with his clerks’ office, about the same size, adjoining, with a north front. Gen. Simpson, Chief of the Commissary Department, has the adjoining office, 21×22 feet, and facing the court is his clerks’ office, while in the two rooms on the same court adjoining are the dispensary and office of the Inspector of Rifle Practice. Adjutant-General Williams has an office 20×32 feet on the east side of the court, facing west, and also facing on Adams street. Col. Corbin, A. A. G., has an office just south, facing the court, and two large rooms adjoining are used for the Adjutant-General’s clerks The new headquarters are very pleasant.

Rand McNally’s Birds’ Eye Views of Chicago, 1893

① The Pullman Building. Fronts 169 feet on Adams Street and 120 feet on Michigan Boulevard, at the southwest corner. This structure is described fully in our chapter on “Notable High Buildings.” Its 10 stories are 125 feet high and its northwest tower rises 162 feet above the street. It has 125 suites of offices and 75 apartments for residence, with 4 passenger elevators. The construction is of steel within, and granite, pressed brick, and terra cotta outside. Here Mr. George M. Pullman has his offices, and here are the headquarters of the Pullman Palace Car Company. The United States Army maintains departmental headquarters here, and many professional men and merchants occupy offices and stores. The Pullman, which is one of the principal edifices of Chicago, as well on account of situation as of intrinsic splendor, was erected in 1884, at a cost of $1,000,000.

Notable High Buildings.
The Pullman Building is a Michigan Boulevard “hive,”at Adams Street, and has long been dedicated to the use of the regular army, to the Pullman offices, and to people of means who could afford the luxurious apartments which it offers for rent. The architect was S. S. Beman, and he, like John W. Root, strove to select a style of architecture which should unite beauty and utility. In this he succeeded, for the Pullman Building is handsomely as well as practically designed. It has nine clear stories, and is ornamented with turrets, chimneys, and gables which offer many details worthy of study and admiration. It has a re-entering front to give its wings full light, and its entrance on Adams Street vies with the finest in the city. The Pullman is the oldest in a group of buildings which give a stranger arriving on the lake front his first impression of Chicago’s wealth. Thence to the Auditorium Building the whole facade is imposing and attractive. It may be of interest to know how this edifice is partitioned among its tenants. Above the basement are stores, and business offices as far as the sixth floor. The apartments which have done so much to make sojourners in Chicago comfortable are on the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors, where the tenant may have a large or a small home. On the first floor is a reception-room, where an attendant, through a speaking-tube, learns whether the tenant is at home or absent. Two apartment elevators operate night and day, and in the ninth story is a family restaurant. If occupant has small quarters, cooking is not allowed; but full household privileges are offered in the more extensive suites.

opera

The Pullman Building was replaced in 1958 with the Borg-Warner Building.

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Chicago Millinery History: Martha Rahl | FrouFrou 4 YouYou says:

March 11, 2017 at 5:56 pm

[…] at the drawing of the Pullman Building in block 5, https://chicagology.com/goldenage/goldenage067/, one sees the western half of the block north, block 4, with the Palmer House across from it. The […]

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