Kingsbury Block, Union Hotel
Life Span: 1887-1949
Location: Randolph Street, between Clark and Dearborn streets
Architect: Otto Strack
The Inter Ocean, October, 31, 1895
It is reported on reliable authority that the Pabsts, the Milwaukee brewers, have purchased from A. J. Alexander, of Kentucky, through R. A. Waller, for $300,000, the property fronting south on Randolph street between Clark and Dearborn streets, adjoining the Ashland block and the Schiller Theater, being eighty feet of frontage with a depth of about eighty feet.
This is a portion of the land Mr. Alexander required from Henry W, and Effie Kingsbury last June at the rate of about $32 per square foot. Providing the details of the sale, made known to The Inter Ocean, are correct, Mr. Alexander now sells at the rate of nearly $47 per square foot; a very substantial profit. It must be remembered, however, that this is the street frontage, and consequently the choicest part of the building.
North of the holding is located the auditorium of the Olympic Theater, on land that is part of the property acquired by Mr. Alexander last summer. Possibly an arrangement will be made for a light shaft from above this improvement to help in the development of the property on Randolph street, as wll as the Ashland block and the improvement to be made north of this structure on Clark street, over the entrance to the theater.
One familiar with the details of the transaction said yesterday: “The disposition to be made of this property by the new owners could easily, be surmised even were definite information lacking. The Union restaurant, occupying the west half of the site, bas been for years the headquarters in Chicago for the sale of Pabst beer. To insure the permanency of the location it was necessary to purchase the property. Present leases expire in 1897. After that time it is probable a handsome improvement will be erected to cover the land.”
Mr. Waller was seen that confirmation of the report might be bad. He expressed himself guardedly, admitting negotiations, but denying that the sale had been closed. As he was not talking for publication, details of the interview are withheld.
Chicago Chronicle, August 15, 1897
PABST TO BUILD IN CHICAGO.
Brewer Plans New Hotel.
Captain Fred Pabst, president of the Pabst Brewing Company of Milwaukee, will shortly commence the erection of a thirteen-story hotel in Chicago. Otto Strack, a Milwaukee architect, is preparing the plans. The building will be located in Randolph street, on the site of what is now known as the Union restaurant, between the Ashland block and the Schiller building, and will be called the Pabst Union Hotel.
The lot which will be covered by the new hotel is 50×150 feet. The building will be in the Norman-Gothic style and is expected to be one of the handsomest buildings in Chicago. To provide light for all the rooms the court on both sides will be cut from the front in the form of a semicircle, which will extend from the street to the court in the middle of the lot. The main floor will be taken up by a restaurant and part of the entrance to the hotel. The main office, lobby and dining-rooms will be located in the second story, It will be mainly a European hotel, with all the modern equipments and accommodations. The architect is rapidly pushing the plans to completion.
Chicago Tribune, November 30, 1895
PABST BUYS VALUABLE PROPERTY.
Purchases Ground Between Ashland Block and Schiller Theater.
Another skyscraper will probably adorn Randolph street, between Clark and Dearborn streets. The property between the Ashland Block and the Schiller Theater has been sold to Capt. Fred Pabst of Milwaukee for a consideration of $300,000. The frontage on Randolph street is eighty feet, and the property is eighty feet deep, num- bering on Randolph Nos. 111 to 117. It was sold on a basis of nearly $47 per square foot.
It is a portion of the Kingsbury estate, which included the rear 100 feet of the Kingsbury Block, together with the ground on Clark street upon which the Olympic Theater stands. The price paid is said by real estate men to be moderate. Mr. Pabst intends to erect a modern fire-proof building on the same general plan and style of architecture as the Ashland Block, Plans have been submitted, but nothing will be done at present.
The negotiations for the sale were conducted by the firm of G. C. Morgan Jr. & Co., who completed the sale through R. A Waller, for A. J. Alexander of Spring Station, Ky. It was reported in one of the morning papers a short time ago that Mr. Pabst was compelled to purchase this property in order to retain his brewery headquarters, located in the property purchased. This is denied, and it is said Capt. Pabst purchased the block as a real estate investment for the erection of a large office building.
The Union Hotel under construction.
Chicago Chronicle, June 13, 1897
In 1858 in a three-story frame building at the southeast corner of Clark and Randolph streets and in the second floor of the building the principal justices of the peace in Chicago had their offices. Justice Calvin De Wolf occupied the three-windowed corner room, Justice J. A. Hosington occupied the next room south and Justice Doolittle occupied the next room to that. The Justices’ business all centered there, and there were not many hours of the day and sometimes of the evening, when in one or another “shop” a justice court was not in session. There were plenty of lawyers at call in the same floor of this building, and among them were H. T. Helm, J. H. Kedzie and C. S. Jenks. P. F. W. Peck also had an office there. This was one of the few structures that was menaced by the mob at the “lager beer riots,” and J. H. Kedzie, who was rash enough to stand and look put of his window at the mob, was shot, a musket ball cutting the scalp on the top of his head. The injury he received was slight, and he now lives at Evanston to tell the tale, if he is hard pressd for one. On the ground floor was George W. Cobb’s grocery store, and on Randolph street, next east, was a tea and coffee store, and over this was Warner’s hall, which in political campaigns was used generally as headquarters for one party or the other. “Cobb’s building,” as the one on the corner was called, was the first ever built there, except a cottage that stood in the midst of a garden. It was occupied by George Davis, the popular singer of the early days, but was owned by Samuel Davis, a carpenter, who also owned the northwest corner of Washington and State street, where in a cottage he lived. He was a careful, thrifty man, but once thought himself outwitted and wronged by a debtor. Someone for whom he had done a job of carpentry was owing him $500, and as he could get no money upon the claim, and no property but a paltry piece of land, which measured eighty feet on Clark street and forty feet on Randolph street, he was nearly in a state of despair. But he took the land and cancelled the debt. It is still held in the Davis family, or rather the daughter of Samuel Davis became heir to it, and afterward married Dr. MacCarthy, and it now belongs to the MacCarthy estate. In order to put up his building on that corner Mr. Cobb leased the whole lot for ten years at $1,000 per a year. Its value at the present time, the reader may compute for himself.
Northeast and Southeast corners of Clark and Randolph streets, thirty-nine years ago (1858).
The Ashland Corner.
The Kingsbury block (now the Ashland) extended on Randolph street 160 feet and on Clark street north to the alley. This block was only a quarter of the original purchase by Kingsbury, an army officer, in 1833. But he soon disposed of the other three-quarters and would have sold the remainder could he have found a buyer with $900. It is, or was, of record that he paid some $900 for his entire original holdings. Onn the corner, in 1858, was a three-story brick building erected by Dr. D. Brainard, having leased the ground of Kingsbury for twenty years at $2,000 a year. Afterward, when land had risen in value, Kingsbury brought suit against Brainard to vacate the lease on the ground that his agent had not been authorized to make it. But the court decided in Brainard’s favor. Dr Evans had a similar lease and erected on it like a building next north of his brother doctor’s. Next to that was the so-called Tribune building, and next to that again was located, from 1852-1858, during Franklin Pearce’s presidency, the postoffice. Isaac Cook was the postmaster. The Olympic theater and adjoining refreshment bar occupy the site of the old postoffice. In 1858 a number of lawyers had offices on the ground floor of the Evans building, and on the second floor of the Brainard building Paul Cornell had his office. The adjoining building on the east was occupied on the ground floor and basement by a livery stable, and above was the first free concert hall in the city that is remembered. It was Pete Kerwin’s. Where the east half of this building stood is now the Schiller theater. On the forty west Colonel Wood subsequently built his museum building.
Threatened With Confiscation.
So much of this property was owned by the Kingsbury estate figured extensively in the civil war. S. B. Buckner came to Chicago at an early day from Kentucky, and was active in various ways. He was decidedly popular in society and about town. He married one of Kingsbury’s two daughters and at the death of his father-in-law undertook the management of the Kingsbury block. Afterward he returned to Kentucky and when the war broke out he was found on the side of the south. His wife espoused the same cause. They were warned that their Chicago property was in danger of confiscation and hastened to transfer the title in some way that the lawyers know all about, but which it is not necessary to be inquired into here. Long, tedious and costly litigation between the owners and the government ensued. At last the government was beaten. It was decided that the property was a part of the Kingsbury estate, that the estate was loyal and could not be touched by the federal power for the purpose of confiscating it. General Buckner held, through his wife, his interest in the property, and probably nobody now will regret that the great rise in the value of the property long ago made him rich.
No considerable improvements had been made on the property down to near the time of the great fire, but just before that calamity General Buckner caused a fine building to be erected on the corner. It was destroyed, but before the heat was out of the ashes he was back in the city, and ordering work to be commenced on a new building that should be finer than the one consumed. This was the first substantial building put up and completed after the great fire.
The new building on the corner was named the Ashland block. It is still so called, although the name does not cover exactly what it did at first, owing to changes in the ownership of the whole or a part. General Buckner sold it to Mr. Alexander of Kentucky, owner of the great stock farm, and he in turn sold to the Ashland Block association. It is this association that built the present fifteen-story structure. It now owns all of the Clark street frontage on the original block except that portion on which the Olympic theater stands. This is the property of the Ashland Association Annex, a separate company, although some of the members in both companies are the same. Of the eighty feet east on Randolph street Fred Pabst, the brewer, has recently acquired the ownership. For this ground and the building he paid $350,000. It is a very shallow lot, only extending back to the body of the Olympic theater. In sixty years, therefore, a lot that is not one-eighth of the original block has come to be worth $350,000, whereas sixty years ago barely $900 paid for the entire block. There are not many parcels of land in Chicago that will so well illustrate by their increase in value the growth of the city in solid wealth.
Union Hotel in foreground, next to the Schiller Theater.
Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1914
Old employés of the Union hotel and restaurant at 68 West Randolph street, the oldest German restaurant in Chicago, wept yesterday as they shook hands with their old employer, Herman Weber.
Mr. Weber, gray haired and dignified, know in the catering business from New York to San Francisco, stood in his darkened bar and shook hands with chefs, head waiters, and waiters who had been in his service for years.
“Good-by boys,” Weber said. “Take care of yourselves.”
“Good-by, Mr. Weber,” Charles Sandroch said. Sandroch had tears in his eyes. He had been the Union’s head waiter for twenty years.
“You don’t know how sorry I am,” he sald.
“Thank you for everything.”
“That’s all right, boys, good-by,” Weber sald, waving his hand to the departing employes.
The employes fled out as the Central Trust company of Illinois took possession as receiver. Mr. Weber fled a voluntary petition in bankruptcy in the United States District court. Judge Carpenter appointed the receiver, and Fred E. Hummel, representing the trust company, took immediate possession.
Cabaret to Blame.
Mr. Weber, founder and head of the business for twenty-five years, blamed cabaret shows, “high jinks” dancing, and tango teas for the failure of his company. For many years the Union has catered to a patronage which the management believed did
not demand a big orchestra and tango dancing with its meals. Mr. Weber stubbornly refused to make concessions to the popular demand for this sort of entertainment.
The Café in the Old Hotel Union at 111-117 Randolph Street. It was managed by Herman Weber.
When the receiver took possession the guests of the hotel were given twenty-four hours’ notice to move out. The hotel formerly was much patronized by theatrical people. Several new hotels in the neighborhood of the “Rialto” recently have taken much of this business away from the Union.
The petition scheduled liabilities of $33,097 and assets of $20,471. Both the hotel and restaurant were operated by the Herman Weber company, of which Mr. Weber was president. Among the heaviest creditors are the Pabst Brewing company, with a claim of $5,588; James Stilwell, rent, $4,450; J. Waller, rent, $6,000; Chapin & Gore, $3,738; and a cialm of $9,700 for Mr. Weber’s salary.
Tango and High Rent.
“Twenty-five years of hard work gone for nothing,” Mr. Weber said. “This bar is the finest example of the German renaissance style of architecture in the United States. Artists and architects came here to study it. The Union was the first German restaurant in Chicago. Now it’s all over. Tango and high rent did it.”
Mr. Weber also lost heavily in the bankruptcy crash of the Charles Garben Baking company. His claim of $20,000 againet that concern, of which he was president, recently was denied by the United States District court. This is said to have hastened the present crash. The rent was $25,000 a year.
Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1914
Another important lease in the old Union hotel and restaurant building on Randolph street, between Dearborn and Clark streets, has been closed by E. F. Keebler & Co., comprising the third, fourth, and fifth floors, being the three upper floors of the building. This space was leased for Ben Roth to Samuel A. Cohn and James M. Lovelette for a term of fifteen years at a term rent of $90,000.
The premises will be remodeled and will be occupied for hotel purposes and will be known as the Union hotel. There will be a street entrance of twelve feet and each room will have a bath. Each floor contains approximately a space of 80×80 feet.
Kingsbury Block Lot
Robinson Fire Insurance Map
1886
Kingsbury Building and Union Hotel
Greeley-Carlson Atlas of Chicago
1891
Union Hotel
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
1906
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