Western Electric Company II

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Western Electric Company II, Graybar, Clinton Complex, Gotham Lofts
Life Span: 1883-Present
Location: Clinton & Van Buren Street
Architects: Treat & Foltz.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1884

Western Electric Company

Lakeside Business Directory of the City of Chicago, 1899
Western Electric Company 242 S. Jefferson tel Harrison-1170

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Western Electric Co 259 S Clinton St. Store 250-254 S. Clinton st. Electric Lighting and Power Apparatus and General Supplies Also Cor. West and Bethune Sts. New York

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1911
Western Electric Co Harry B Thayer pres; Geo C Pratt sec 500 S Clinton

Chicago Tribune, April 15, 1883

To the Western Electric Company, for a four-story factory, 250×50 feet, at No. 251 Clinton street, to cost $80,000

Chicago Tribune, December 9, 1883

The largest and most expensive building erected on the West Side was the Western Electric Manufacturing Company’s new home at the corner of Van Buren and Clinton streets, built by Messrs. Treat & Foltz. It is four stories in height, has walls of Anderson brick, and is in every way substantially built.

Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1889

The Western Electric Company will build a two-story addition to the north wing of their building on Clinton street after plans by Treat & Foltz. It will be of mill construction, with pressed brick exterior, and will cost $10,000.

Chicago Tribune, August 27, 1893

THE LIGHTING OF THE GREAT WHEEL.
The Work Done By The Western Electric Company of Chicago.
Like a rainbow of promise the great wheel stands out at night the admiration of the multitudes who have journeyed from the four corners of the earth. Magnificent and awe-inspiring as it is at all times it is doubly so when the electric current is turned on and nearly 2,500 lamps illumine the celebrated wheel like a circle of fire.

Mr. Ferris made a wise selection when he arranged with the Western Electric company of this city to install the plant to furnish the electric illumination. No company in this line of business is more favorably known or has established a more wide-spread reputation than has the Western Electric. They are in touch with the latest improvements in electrical lighting, and indeed are the originators of many new and admirable features which, after once being adopted, are acknowledged to be indispensable.

The lights of the Ferris wheel are operated from two 800 light compound wound dynamos, made by the company and which have given the very highest degree of satisfaction. The station is established on Lexington avenue and the wires are run from there in conduit to distribution house in the enclosure, where are located main fuse cut-outs to protect the wiring system. technical description is impossible within the limits of this article, but to all who feel an interest in the matter the invitation is extended to call and the system will be fully explained.

The Western Electric company have been in existence for more than twenty-one years, and in that time have made a wonderful growth. The main offices are in this city, being located at No. 227 South Clinton street. They have established branch offices in New York, London, Paris, Antwerp, and Berlin.

They have the most extensive exhibit in Electricity Building. and their “Electric Scenic Theater” in the southeast corner is free and open to the general public, and a cordial invitation is extended to every Exposition visitor to call and witness the beautiful and interesting display.

The character of the work done and the class of machinery and appliances introduced by this company have been such as to give them a standing second to none other in the United States, and their recent suecess in illuminating the great wheel will add another to the long list of difficult undertakings which they have carried out with the most satisfactory results both to the company and to its patrons.

A History of the City of Chicago, The Inter Ocean, 1900

In the fall of 1871 the Western Electric Manufacturing Company was organized, a consolidation of the factory of Gray & Barton (Graybar) of Chicago and the shops of the Western Union Telegraph Company, at Ottawa, forming a nucleus, which rapidly developed into a manufacturing establishment at that time second to none in the country.

The company was capitalized at $150,000, a capital which was soon found too small to suit the rapidly in creasing business, and within three years from its organization the capital was doubled. General Anson Stager, formerly vice-president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, was the first president of the new organization,and continued in that capacity up to the time of his death.

The manufactory of the company was originally located at 220 to 232 East Kinzie street, where it was continued until the winter of 1883, the name of the company being changed in the meantime by dropping the word “Manufacturing.” During the period from 1872 to 1883 the principal lines of manufacture engaged in by the company were printing telegraph instruments, Morse telegraph instruments, fire and burglar alarms and batteries. Electric lighting was taken up in 1880, the company first acting as agents for other manufacturers, and afterward engaging in the manufacture of apparatus of their own design. They were among the first to enter the field of series arc lighting, and the rapid increase in the demand for this apparatus, together with telephone apparatus , which they had taken up about the same time, made it necessary to increase their facilities, as well as their capital.

In the year 1883 the Western Electric Company erected its first building on the site of its present works. The buildings had a frontage of 249 feet on Clinton street and were four stories high. In 1887 an extension of 60 feet was made on Clinton street. This gave the company a four-story building, extending from the alley south of Van Buren to Congress street, with a frontage of 309 feet. In 1889 and 1890 two stories were added to the entire block, making the building six stories high. From this time on new buildings were gradually being added to the original building.

In 1892 and 1894 the building on Clinton street, south of Congress, was purchased . In 1895 work was commenced on the building facing on Jefferson street. In 1897 five stories were added to the two-story building formerly erected on Jefferson street. The upper part of the building on Jefferson and Congress streets was designed for the general offices of the company. In the spring of 1899 the building, ten stories high, was completed on Clinton street, south of Congress street, the eighth story of which forms a continuation of the general offices.

Numerous other buildings have been erected, until at the present time the buildings occupy the greater part of the two blocks extending between Jefferson and Clinton streets, and from Van Buren to Harrison streets. The floor space of the buildings now in use approximates 1,000,000 square feet.

In 1898 a steel stack resting upon a brick and stone foundation was erected. The brick portion is 75 feet high. The remaining portion is of steel, lined with fire-brick. The extreme height of the stack is 203 feet. Its internal diameter is 12 feet. This chimney has a capacity for 3,500 horsepower .

The Western Electric Company manufactures arc and incandescent lighting dynamos and power apparatus, arc and incandescent lamps, telegraph testing and measuring instruments, fan motors, electric-light fixtures, wires, cables, electric light and general supplies.

Mr. E. M. Barton is president of the company and Mr. C. D. Crandall is the manager at Chicago. The company has additional offices and factories in New York, London, Antwerp, Berlin and Paris, the head quarters of the company being in Chicago.

Fireproof Magazine, August, 1903

The Western Electric Co.’s Building.
The new steel-tile fireproof building of the Western Electric Company, located in Chicago, is the largest and most complete plant of its kind in the United States.

Before the tremendous advance in the manufacture and use of electrical apparatus
the business of the company was adequately cared for in a single shop, where now the completed series of the Western Electric buildings cover an area two blocks in length by one in width, two-thirds of the new structures being ten stories in height and none less than eight.

The progress of this development has been marked not only in the dimension and area of the construction, but to the advances and changes of the materials employed, its structural history covering the whole range of evolution from the original “ordinary” through a subsequent improvement of five stories built of wood and iron, 250 by 150 feet, to the present magnificent steel-tile fireproof construction .

The arrangement and enlargement of the plant has been conducted under the direction of Architect S. A. Treat, who designed the complete network of buildings as they now stand.

To him and to the owners is due the credit public and private and publicly expressed for the enterprise and ability which have made it possible.

Nothing but the best materials in the market were permitted to be used each selected for the excellence of its kind and adapted after the latest and most approved methods of construction.

The dominant note in the entire scheme has been to produce structural entities absolutely rigid, proof against vibration, and fireproof.

The most critical examination of these structures fails to discover any exposed steel. Every care and precaution has been taken to render them absolutely and genuinely fireproof in theory and in fact and in practice.

There is no single exception to the rule; floors, columns, partitions, girders , lintels, roofs, brick walls, sheet iron doors, metal window frames and sash with wire-glass, are in evidence at every turn.

Attention is called to the perfected details of fireproof rust-proof construction used, as shown in the illustrations .

A pronounced feature is the rounded form of skewback employed. This particular construction was suggested by Mr. Treat, so that the subsequent installation of a sprinkler system under ceiling of this kind permits a revolving spray of the water around and under the beams. Were the skewback designed with a square shoulder it would act as a drip and prevent the play of the water underneath the beam, which is the most vital point of fireproof construction.

The application of this form of construction, designed, as it is, with a view to increasing the effectiveness of the sprinkler equipment, is a commentary upon the enterprise of the architect and owner, as contrasted with the perennial status quo in which the “automatic contingent” is usually found.

The digression may be permitted, as the case in point so clearly illustrates a frequent contention of this publication to the effect that the sprinkler as ordinarily installed is a contents protector exclusively, its effect upon the structural parts of a building being incidental and not usually within the calculation of the agent or principal putting in the equipment.

In fact, the sprinkler folk and their insur- ance copartners and beneficiaries have done less to advance the cause and practice of tested fireproof construction than any other element within hail, innovations and betterments, even in relation to their own work, usually emanating from the architect, contractor or fireproofer .

There are thousands of machines of varying sizes constantly in action in the Western Electric buildings, to operate which thousands of feet of shafting are installed. How to suspend and dispose parallel and cross shafting from the floors of this construction is illustrated in the accompanying sketches, in which space economy without confusion has been worked out in its perfection.

In the fireproofing of all lintels and girders will be observed the closest adherence to this often neglected rule of good practice.

Both Mr. Treat and his clients are to be complimented and congratulated for the entire absence of makeshift construction there is no “metal lath and plaster” in the Western Electric plant with consequent advantage to all concerned.

Throughout the whole work there has been insistence upon the best materials to
be had and the best workmanship. Metal lath and plaster were cut out for the good
and sufficient reason that they are not fireproof .

In these buildings of the Western Electric are some excellent details of column protection, showing the sheet iron guards around the bases. These guards are about five feet high and afford the fullest possible protection to the columns from local injury.

All the roof beams and girders are fireproofed in detail. There are no loose ends of construction, as in many so-called fireproof buildings, where vital members are left without protection, imperiling the structure and inviting collapse .

The deliberate choice of owners and architect of the Western Electric Company for
steel-tile fireproofing is a very forceful and timely refutation of statements made by the Engineering News recently in articles exploiting concrete, and more specifically in misrepresenting the general use of steel and tile in heavy manufacturing buildings .

These buildings of the Western Electric Company are good examples of manufacturing structures erected to endure the strain of heavy operating machinery and minimize
vibration.

Some of the best types of this class of construction are the Leader Building in
Pittsburg, with heavy newspaper presses, which are running daily, resting upon its
floors. The arches are only 12-inch hollow tile, with beams spaced about 5 feet on centers. This building has been in constant use for eight years .

Another is that of the buildings of the Arbuckles Sugar Refineries Company at Brooklyn , all of which have hollow tile in their construction; another is that of the Pittsburg Dispatch, with 10- inch floor arches, on top of which are heavy presses in daily use.

Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1997

Fifield Realty Corp. has acquired the giant Clinton Complex, a group of 15 commercial loft buildings at 500 S. Clinton St. in Chicago’s burgeoning West Loop neighborhood and plans a residential conversion for a portion of the property.

The 640,000-square-foot complex—bounded by Van Buren, Clinton, Harrison and Jefferson Streets—is bisected by the Eisenhower Expressway.

Steven D. Fifield, president of Chicago-based Fifield Realty Corp., said he plans to convert four buildings on the north side of the complex to residential lofts in a development called Gotham Lofts Chicago.

Eleven commercial loft buildings, bordered by Congress, Clinton, Harrison and Jefferson on the south half of the complex, contain a total of 420,000 square feet of rentable space.

“The commercial loft phase of the Clinton Complex will be upgraded and continue to be leased to a variety of industrial and light manufacturing tenants,” said Richard Blum, vice president finance of Fifield Realty.

Some of the current commercial loft tenants will be relocated from the north buildings to the south side of the Clinton Complex.

Fifield Realty plans an extensive upgrade of the Clinton Complex, including new comprehensive signage, refurbished entrance lobbies, updated security systems, landscaping, tuckpointing and roof repairs.

Built between the late 1880s and the turn of the century, the Clinton Complex formerly served as the corporate headquarters for Western Electric Corp. and had been owned by Crown family interests for 50 years.

Financing for Gotham Lofts Chicago was provided by Corus Bank. G.E. Capital Corp. and Fifield Realty Corp. are the owners.

“Preliminary plans for Gotham Lofts Chicago call for 187 lofts in two phases,” said Fifield, who has obtained a zoning change to permit conversion of the four buildings, bounded by Van Buren, Clinton, Tilden Court and Jefferson, into condominiums. The four buildings contain 220,000 square feet of space.

Plans for the first phase of Gotham Lofts Chicago call for 126 loft condominium residences in three six-story to eight-story buildings. Pre-construction base prices range from $89,900 to $179,900.

Architect Patrick FitzGerald & Associates has designed 25 floor plans for Gotham Lofts Chicago. The one- and two-bedroom lofts in phase one will have 617 to 1,253 square feet of living area.

Phase II will consist of 61 lofts in the fourth six-story residential building. Pre-construction base prices will range from $109,900 to $189,900 for one- and two-bedroom loft condominiums with 797 to 1,348 square feet of living space.

There will be 181 parking spaces for residents at Gotham Lofts Chicago–122 outdoor spaces, 31 covered spaces and indoor heated parking for 28 cars.

“Gotham Lofts Chicago will be a secured, gated community with only two direct access points to the buildings–one for each phase,” said Fifield. “Secondary secured entrances will be available through the secured parking areas, allowing for 100 percent private access.”

All residents will be able to enjoy an Italianesque landscaped courtyard area at Gotham Lofts Chicago. The courtyard will be accented with such amenities as barbecues and benches.

All units will feature their own outdoor space–a balcony or patio–fireplaces, wood floors in the kitchen, living and dining areas and a modern, full-appliance kitchen. Each residence also will have individually controlled heating and cooling systems.

Award winning designer John Robert Wiltgen Design Inc. is designing the sales center and two furnished model condominiums for Gotham Lofts Chicago, said Fifield.

William Senne and Michael Golden of Property Consultants Inc. are exclusive marketing agents for Gotham Lofts Chicago.

500 S. Clinton

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