Imperial Building

Imperial Building
Life Span: 1885-1936
Location: 304-12 S. Clark
Architect:: Lawrence Gustave Hallberg

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1885

Imperial Blk.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1887
Imperial Bldg.,—252 to 260 Clark

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Imperial Bldg.,—252 to 260 Clark

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1911
Imperial Bldg.,—312 S. Clark

Chicago Tribune, December 7, 1884

Another Big Building on Clark Street.
Architect Hallberg has just completed plans for a four-story building to cover the two lots fronting on Clark street in rear of the new Traders’ Building, which has a frontage on Pacific avenue, south of Jackson. The structure will have a frontage of 100 feet on Clark street and a depth of ninety-five feet. The first story will be of glass and iron, and the three upper stories of Anderson brick. The basement will be occupied as a restaurant and refreshment room, and the front of the first floor will be a billiard hail. The upper floors will be divided into offices. Ten feet of the south end of the first floor will be set aside for a passageway leading from Clark street to the alley on the south side of the Traders Building. The owners of the new building will be J. Foster Rhodes, F. S. Eames, Mr. Conley, and others, who are also interested in the Traders’ Building. The name of the new structure will be the Imperial Building, which, it was erroneously stated would occupy the lot south of the Traders’ Building on Pacific avenue. The name of the building that will be placed on this lot has not been determined upon.

Inter Ocean, December 28, 1884

The permit was taken out for the Imperial Building on the west aide of Clark street, beginning fifty feet south of Jackson street The building—more than once referred to heretofore—will have a frontage of 100 feet and be 116 feet deep. It was further learned from the Permit Clerk that it will be of pressed brick and stone, and four stories high, to begin with, and with strong enough walls for several more, as they may be needed, It will be ready for use May 1; the first floor, stores, and offices above.

Inter Ocean, May 3, 1885

IMPERIAL RESTAURANT.
With Bar and Billiard Accompaniments. ,
To Messrs. Hollister, Westlake & Co. will certainly be voted the thanks of the Chicago Board of Trade, even if not so formally as to the oratorical caterers at last week’s grand dedicatory feast of the new palace of commerce. For are not their benefactions quite as real and even more substantial and indispensable? These gentlemen will open on Saturday, May 9, in the Imperial Building-just across Pacific avenue from the new Board of Trade Building and connected with its elevator entrance by a straight corridored walk—the finest restaurant, billiard-room, and bar there is in Chicago, and served by experts who know their business, yet all at popular prices.

The restaurant, situated on the ground floor and communicating by several entrances with the court that divides the Imperial Building from the Traders’ Building, will comfortably seat 300 guests at once, and will be finished in a style of elegance corresponding with the two grand entrances from Clark street, the southern one for ladies and the other via a magnificent branching stairway leading to the great billiard parlor above, or to the sumptuously appointed bar-room, opening on Clark street, No. 256. Tbe ladies’ entrance is a wide corridor with beautiful pink and white marble walls, while the bar-room approach has been enriched regardless of cost, whether the eye of surprise and admiration rest, upon the polished bar with its rare and often novel equipment, and always select brands, the artistic frescoing, the gold-embroidered screens of silk and hangings of crimson tapestry, partially shutting oil the view from street and restaurant, or the unique fire-place, with solid brass andirons, basket of molten coal, and supporting mirrors encased in marble. Passing up, by either wing, the nobly designed semi-circle of stairs—the whole ascent being but a few feet—you enter the presence of fifteen billiard tables, the finest of the Brunswick & Balke manufacture, and see on every side surroundings of elegance that comport with the gentlemanly game of the cue. On passing down the oaken steps into the great space of the restaurant, with seating capacity, aa stated, of 300, and finished and appointed en regle, in the height of taste and style, perhaps you will prefer to refresh the inner man at the lunch counter at the north end—ninety feet thereof—for quick service; or perhaps appropriate one of the six cozy private dining-rooms. ornamented with ground cathedral-glass. Wherever it be, the handsomest treatment and entire satisfaction await you.

Mr. Louis E, Martinez, formerly of the Maison Dore, New York, will be caterer, with Raymond Wetzler, formerly of the St. James. New York, as chef of the cuisine. James Nicholson, late of Mahler’s & Gales, of this city. will nave charge or the bar. Of the proprietors, Mr. W. C. Hollister will be general manager, and Mr. E. J. Westlake, formerly s resident of Chicago, will give his attention to the restaurant, his large experience in that line having been gained as superintendent of the Northern Pacific dining-cars—wnich service he organized—and as assistant commissary of the Pullman Palace Car Company. . .

Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1885

THE IMPERIAL. This New and Elegant Establishment, Located In the New Board of Trade District, Will Be Opened Today.
Members or the Board of Trade, and the people of Chicago in general, have no conception of the trnly magnificent establishment that has been fitted up, positively regardless ot expense, in the New Board of Trade district The Imperial is truly well and appropriately named, for it is imperial in everything.

The Imperial Building is located on Clark street, half-way between Jackson and Van Buren. In the centre of the building is the main entrance to the finest fitted up billiard-room, restaurant, and bar in this city. A detailed description of the many elegant features of the whole would be to draw such a line picture that it would almost seem incredible; it must therefore be sufficient to say that The Imperial has received such decorating and artistic workmanship in every department that it must be seen to be appreciated. In one respect only can its fine decorations be excelled, and that is by the unapproachable cuisine of tbe establishment which is cimnlv rt re fection. The proprietors, Hollister, West-lake & Co., have secured the services of Louis E. Martinez, caterer; Raymond A. Wetzler (from the St. James Hotel, New York), chief cook, his assistants all being from New York; James T. Nicholson for years with J. Wolford in charge of the bar, assisted by Curtis Royce, formerly with Chapin & Gore. The billiard-room contains fifteen of the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company’s Brilliant Novelty billiard-tables, and is under tho management of N. B. F. Shock. Tropical plants will be profusely scattered around the billiard-room, tbe restaurant, and throughout the whole establishment, The restaurant bas a capacity of accommodating 250 guests at the tables and in the several private dining-rooms: besides the lunch-counter will accommodate at least fifty people at one time. The waiters are all experienced white men. Every department of The Imperial is furnished with the finest and best productions of the Old and New Worlds, which we doubt not will be much appreciated by Chicagoans and visitors, who should attend the opening today..

Inter Ocean, April 18, 1885

THE IMPERIAL BUILDING.
Still More Attractions.
As a result of a careful inspection yesterday The Inter Ocean recorder of what is most notable in this season’s harvest of important new edifices, can unqualifiedly commend the admirable Imperial Building, on which the finishing touches are now being bestowed preparatory to May day occupation. Indeed it is not questionable, considering at once the multiplied attractions and the astonishingly low rentals—only from $15 to $30 a month for the largest, lightest, and best offices, and the very nearest in the district, with the single exception of the Traders’, to the elevator of the Board of Trade—it is not doubtful, we repeat, that the Imperial will continue to fill up at its present rapid rate, and the last of its choice accommodations, both of offices and stores, be bespoken considerably before May 1. If this means overpraise, the kind reader is recommended to go and see for himself and will find chaperons to escort him between 10 and 12 in the morning, and after 3 in the afternoon.

In advance of the house-warming, some account of the handsome new office building may prove interesting. Its eastern front extends 100 feet on Clark street, in the middle of the block between Jackson and Van Buren streets, and the westerly extension runs back a distance of 116 feet to an open court, twenty one feet wide, between it and the Traders Building, which latter is immediately across the narrow line of Pacific avenue from the great new Board of Trade Building. Viewed from without, the building presents elegantly massive proportions, the walls being of pressed brick and brown stone, emphasized by ornamental features in terra cotta, and the five stories built at present will doubtless in time receive as many more. On the south side of the Imperial Building, Clark street front, is a richly treated entrance that opens into a magnificent corridor, ushering one along a direct line westward to the elevator entrance of the Board of Trade. This passage-way is being finished up, regardless of expense, in pink and white marble, and from it iron steps and two of the finest elevators lead up into the spacious and everywhere luminous interior. Too strong emphasis can not be placed on the unexcelled light that permeates the building in every part, wether from the great windows or the greater and altogether remarkable skylight in the midst that floods with radiance a corresponding court 65×25 feet on the main office floor beneath. In the three tiers of offices the visitor is impressed with three things especially, the great size, a feature that surpasses ail precedent in the neighborhood; the splendid light and ventilation, which could not be improved, and, lastly, the thoroughness of interior equipment, whether in hard-wood finish, radiators, wash-stands, mantels, in fact, every convenience. Better offices no man could desire, nor is it any disqualification that they cost only one-half of what is charged throughout the neighborhood. Of the offices there are about forty, while on the Clark street side there are five large stores, 20×60 feet. Throughout the building the iron columns and beams and the fire-proof interior proclaim strength and security, while the most approved system of steam-heating has been introduced, and the hardwood finish throughout is the very best.

On the first floor facing the court adjoining the Traders’ Building will be a mammoth restaurant, that is undoubtedly destined, under the management of Mr. Martinez, formerly of the Maison Dore of New York, to achieve a permanent popularity with the gentlemen of the board. The great billiard hall overhead, is reached by a separate and elaborate entrance and hallway, a single feature of decoration having cost $1,000

But after all it is the offices that most deserve and command attention, and after quite extended opportunities or comparison with the varied accommodations of the neighborhood, one can truthfully say that the Imperial Building affords offices the very lightest, best ventilated and largest, and yet the management ask but half the ruling rates, there being, be it repeated, first-class accommodations for from $15 to $30 per month,

Rand McNally Bird’s Eye Views of Chicago, 1893

③ The Imperial Building.
At 252-260 Clark Street, presents a double floor at its entrance, and in this respect is unique in Chicago. It is 100 feet wide, 80 feet deep, and 55 feet high, with 4 stories and basement. It is a small but first-class building, and was long a favorite place for sporting men. There are 5 stores, 20 offices, and 1 passenger elevator. The occupants are the Postal Telegraph Cable Company, the Ives Billiard Hall, grain merchants, and stock operators. Erected in 1885.

Inter Ocean, December 31, 1897

Chief Kipley may say there is no gambling in Chicago; the mayor may order all games closed, the sheriff may raid, and grand juries may indict, but nothing ever disturbs the even tenor of the way of the woman’s poolroom in room 426 In the Imperial building at No. 260 South Clark street. It has never missed a day since May 1. Its patrons have not even had a tremor.

There are no barkers on the street to announce the game, nor is it widely advertised. The woman who runs it is a timid person, who shrinks from publicity, and so modest and quiet, withal, that the men who have offices in the building are many of them ignorant even of the fact that there is a woman tenant. Presumably some one connected with the building knows this woman’s name, but diligent inquiry failed to discover it.

Patrons Few and Select.
Nevertheless, for eight months this woman has been carrying on business with a small and select number of patrons, who come and go between the hours of 2:30 o’clock and 6 o’clock each afternoon, Sundays excepted.

The players are limited in number and carefully selected. Only such new ones as are recommended by the regular patrons are admitted. So quietly do they pass through the hallways, go up the stairs, and take the elevator that they have not excited the suspicions of the other tenants of the building.

If the players were not selected it would not be a paying game, but they are all “producers,” coming mostly from the ranks of the women board of trade speculators, who endeavor to increase their winnings or reimburse themselves for their losses on grain in the morning by playing the horses in the afternoon. Most of them are middle-aged women, some elderly, a few young. but all inveterate gamblers, who wager good-sized sums of money. Questionable characters are not admitted Into this circle, and the usual habitues of women’s poolrooms do not go there.

The room where the pool telling is carried on is admirably located for the purpose. On the top floor of the building it is in a measure isolated from the rest of the rooms, its main door facing the inner wall of the building. and the other door, which opens into a hallway on which offices are located, is seldom used. The principal entrance is but a dozen steps from the elevator and stairway, and patrons reach it readily without attracting attention. Of course the elevator boy and the janitor know about the poolroom, but they respect the retiring disposition of the I woman who runs it and assist her as best they can to avold being drawn into publicity. They call it a woman’s club.

Unmolested for Elght Months.
Unmolested, this poolroom has been running since last May, when the racing season began in earnest. The opening of Harlem and the meting at Ingalls park and the Indiana tracks did not interfere with the business of this woman, whose ticker gave the track odds and announced the winners. Her patrons did not attend the races; they were accustomed to the sound of the ticker, and preferred its click to the sound of the horses’ hoofs as they came down the stretch. A hair-raising fish, with horses and riders straining every muscle Is nothing to these women. It is simply a question of which one wins.

When, the local racing season closed they came to play the raçes at other tracks, Pimlico, Ingleside, Oakland, and New Orleans, The poolrooms resorted to by men were disturbed by the police, and the players, as well as the operators, were arrested, but the women who knew the way to room No. 426 Imperial building played on undisturbed. The poolroom in the basement of the same building is now closed, as are those to the right and left of it, but yesterday afternoon the same anxious-eyed gamblers, with their care-lined faces, sat listening to the ticker as it told the story of the losses or gains.

Chicago Tribune, July 26, 1936

Lydy to Have $150,000 Unit in La Salle St.
Two of the oldest landmarks in the financial district will make way for what Is asserted will be one of the largest and most modern structures in the country devoted to the parking industry— a $150,000 air conditioned office building for the R. G. Lydy Parking company.

The buildings to be, wrecked are the eight story Traders building at 305-15 South La Salle street and the four story Imperial building at 304-12 South Clark street, both just two years past the half century mark in age.

On the south part of this site, which fronts 100 feet on both La Salle and Clark, with a depth of 213 feet, Richard G. Lydy, president of the firm bearing his name, will erect a two story building from plans by Loebl & Schlossman. Wreckers will start razing the present buildings on Sept. 1, and work will start on the new office building about Oct. 1.

Space for 600 Cars.
The north section of the site, 80 by 213 feet, will be used for open air parking, and in addition a lower level parking unit, 100 by 213 feet, under both the street level parking space and the building, will provide space for 600 cars.

The office building, 213 feet long, extending from La Salle to Clark, will be only twenty feet wide on the first floor. It will have shops at both ends on Clark and La Salle. The balance of the first Boor will be used for parking and ramps to the lower level, as well as elaborate lounges and rest rooms for patrons.

The entire second floor, which will be seven feet wider than the first floor, will be devoted to the general offices of the Lydy company. The personal offices of R. G. Lydy will occupy the center tower section, which will be two stories high.

Paid $203 In 1833.
A feature of this 20 foot high suite of offices will be a large stained glass window from the old J. V. Farwell residence. It will be placed at one end of a small auditorium used for personnel work.

The block of land which Includes this site was purchased for $203 from the state of Illinois in 1833 by Walter L. Newberry, whose name the Newberry library bears. The present buildings were erected in 1881.

Claude A. Welles, formerly manager of the Merchandise Mart and now vice president of the Lydy concern, represented his firm in the negotiation of a twenty year lease on the property. Albert H. Wetten & Co. were brokers for both parties..

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