French & Potter Building

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French & Potter Building (Potter Building)
Life Span: 1883-1913
Location: 90-94 Wabash NE Corner Wabash and Washington
Architect: TBD

Lakeside Annual Directory for the City of Chicago, 1876
French Abram & Co. (Abram French and Wm. O. Chapman) china, glassware, lamps, etc. 101 Wabash av.

Lakeside Annual Directory for the City of Chicago, 1880
French, Potter & Wilson (William A. French, Edwin A. Potter, W. Herbert Wilson and Arthur B. French) crockery 91 and 93 Wabash av.

Lakeside Annual Directory for the City of Chicago, 1884
French, Potter & Wilson E. A. Potter, pres; W. A. French, v. pres; H. C. French, treas; W. Herbert Wilson, sec; china, glass and queensware 94 Wabash av. cor, Washington

Lakeside Annual Directory for the City of Chicago, 1885
French, Potter & Wilson E. A. Potter, W. Herbert Wilson) whol. china, glass and queensware Wabash av. cor. Washington

Lakeside Annual Directory for the City of Chicago, 1887
French, Potter & Wilson china, glass and queensware 94 Wabash av.

Lakeside Annual Directory for the City of Chicago, 1899
French, Thomas & Co importers’ and mnfrs’ agts for crockery, china and glassware 50to 54, 90 Wabash av.

Chicago Tribune, September 2, 1894

Early in this month the Women’s club and the Fortnightly club will abandon their rooms at the Art Institute and take possession of new headquarters in the French & Potter Building at Wabash avenue and Washington street. The entire fifth floor of this large building has been rebuilt to suit the requirements of the two societies, which have taken a five years’ lease of the property. The location is accessible and the wealth of space will add materially to the comfort and pleasure of the members and their guests.

With the exception of the foyer at the main entrance to the floor, and a passageway at the rear, there is no connection between the two suites. The division is from north to south, the Women’s club having the Wabash avenue side of the building, while the Fortnightly apartments extend north from Washington street along Dearborn place.

Home of the Women’s Club.
The suite to be occupied by the Women’s club comprises the auditorium, a commodious apartment 47½x83 feet, four cloak rooms of good proportions, a directors’ room, tea-room, storerooms, kitchen, pantry, and toilet rooms. The color scheme decided upon for the auditorium is a somewhat audacious one for America: it was planned by Miss Alice E. Neale, a member of the Woman’s club, and the committee is appre-bensive that it may rouse adverse criticism not only through its unique character but from the peculiar contrasts in color. The side walls are to be developed in burlaps in Venetian yeilow; this is a soft reddish ehade of yellow that artists pronounce a delicious bit of color. The woodwork will be a medium olive green. The ceiling will be greenish yellow, and the floors will be covered with a green carpeting. The frieze, about three feet in width, will be of burlap diapered in a stencil design in gold bronze. As a whole this room cannot tail to be extremely effective. The curtains of silk will also be greenish yel-low, to harmonize with the ceiling and contrast with the side walls.

The committee rooms will be fitted up in a soft-toned old-blue complemented with low. The tearoom it is intended shall be particularly bright and cozy. It is in the northwest corner facing Walash avenue. The woodwork will be whte, the walls red and white, and the curtains red and white. It will be he directors room, which te lighted by a skylight only, will be in white paint with colonial yellow side walls. One of the dressing rooms will be finished in Indian red, the other in yellow.

Work for Coming Year.
The work of the Woman’s club for the coming year will embrace the usual departments of education, art and literature, reform, philosophy and science, and Homer. The department of philanthropy is about to try an experiment of the deepest interest. They intend to open a sanitary sewing shop. It is proposed to lease a building on Mather street, near Halsted, and arrange it suitably to carry out this plan. It is in the heart of the “sweat-shop” district. The Emergency committee of the club contemplates the operation of this sewing shop on precisely the same lines followed by other “sweaters,” with the difference that there will be no disease, no dirt, and that the operatives will be surrounded by elevating influences. It is their especial wish to assist the weakly, sick, and “detached women.

The place under consideration is the third and fourth stories of a building on Mather street, adjoining the public baths. The fourth floor will be used for the shop, a large skylight aiding the windows in furnishing abundant light. The sewing-machines will be run by steam. The third floor will be fitted up as a lodging-house after the style of the Friendship Inns, with the addition of a large, pleasant sitting room on the south side. Each lodger will have a room to herself. It will contain a bed, washstand, water set, and-boon to weary womanhood—a rocking chair. There will be washing facilities also in the general toilet rooms. The house will accommodate sixty-five lodgers without crowding. The charge will be 10 or 15 cents per room per night. Any homeless women can obtain lodging by sewing for it. They can obtain meal tickets for the Hull House coffee-house in the same manner.

It is not the intention to dispense charity from this establishment, only as such an undertaking is intrinsically charity, but in the highest sense of the word.

It is hoped this institution may be nearly self-sustaining; the club possesses money left over from last year’s emergency fund, which will be applied to this purpose if necessary, and a prominent circle of King’s Daughters on the South Side will probably assume the responsibility of the rent.

In general charitable work the Woman’s club will be found as active as during past seasons.

Quarters of Fortnightly Club.
While the space which the Fortnightly club will occupy in the French & Potter Building is not as extensive as that utilized by their sister club, their headquarters will not lack in convenience of arrangement or beauty of finish. The auditorium, which is 48×67 feet, will be in colonial style. The color plan is the recent stylish combination of red and green. The carpets will be blood red and the side walls a warm dull green. The ceiling will be finished in pale greenish buff and the woodwork in cold cream white. The chief ornament of the room will be an elaborate chimney piece, like the rest of the room, colonial in design. It will be of white tiling. with elegant wood carving. A peculiarity of this chimney piece is the retreats on each side, each containing a seat richly upholstered in heavy silk. The window frames will be in richiy carved wood. work, and curtains of picturesque design will be draped over the windows in various quaint styles. The tea-room will be developed in three shades of red, but the details, as well as those of the library and remaining apartments, are not yet decided upon.

Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1894

The members of the Chicago Woman’s club opened their new rooms in the Potter Building with a large and brilliant reception, to which men were invited as well as women for the first time in the history of the club.

The meeting was called to order by Miss Ada C. Sweet, who made the inaugural address to 600 women seated in the auditorium hail, which was handsomely decorated with palms, chalias, marigolds, and American Beauty roses. Miss Sweet commenced her address with the words, “What are we here for?” Her paper was a serious and able examination into the reasons why women should organize into clubs: the highest reasons for life itself, what one is in the universe for. She held the object of life was to learn to live. Women’s organizations, she said, were educational, and they brought women to know each other. Miss Sweet’s address, which consumed half an hour, was followed by a short address from the Chairmen of each department of the club’s subdivisions on the outlook in her branch of the educational work. Mrs. Charles Henrotin spoke for the department of “Reform,” Miss Jane Adams of Hull House reported for the new philanthropy, Mrs. Mary H. Wilmarth spoke for the philosophy and science department, Mrs. Charles E. Affeld for the educational department, Mrs. George F. Bartlett for art and literature, and Mrs. Leslie Lewis for the home department. The speeches were all interesting, and at their conclusion the social function began. The tea room and committee rooms were thrown together and three tables attractively adorned with flowers were presided over by six of the members who poured tea and helped entertain the many people who thronged the rooms. President Sweet held a reception in the auditorium, and was assisted by the other officers of the club, who are: First Vice-President, Mrs. F. A. Smith; Second Vice-President, Mrs. J. D. Harvey; Recording Secretary, Mrs. C. G. Wheeler; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. George B. Huddleton; and Treasurer, Mrs. William E. Furness.

Reception Committee.
The reception was in charge of the Social committee and the Room committee, the former comprising Mrs. E. H. Keen, Chairman; Mrs. L. B. Doud and Mrs. John W. Ela. The members of the Room committee are Mrs. R. B. Farson, Chairman; Mrs. Sumner Blis and Mrs. Augustus F. Nagle. The ladies presiding at the tables in the tea-room were Mrs. W. H. Bush, Mrs. John G. Shortall Jr., and Mrs. Noble B. Judah. In the other rooms were Mrs. John W. Ela, Mrs. Edwin H. Keen, Mrs. Mary E. Bundy, Mrs. Caroline K. Sherman, and Mrs. Julia B. Shattuck.

The rooms are attractive and most convenient. Their fitting up has been under Miss Sweet’s direction, and the decorations have been designed by Miss Alice Hale. The furnishings are substantial and comfortable, and throughout one notes the feminine touches and that homelike appearance which only a woman can give to a room. Harmony in color and artistic effect has been well carried out. The decorations are original and have been selected with a view to permanency as well as adornment. The assembly hall is large and commodious, with a raised platform for the presiding officers and speakers. The walls are covered with coarse, heavy canvas of a terracotta color, surmounted by a wide frieze in mottled green and red, with the ceiling done in a pale shades of the plain tint. The woodwork is a deep rich green. The center of the hall is lighted by a conical skylight draped in yellow. The hangings and furnishings are all of the reddish, brown, yellow, and green shades, the colors of the nasturtium flower being carried out. The directors’ room opens immediately off the platform, which is at the east end of the hall, and its decorations are in the yellow tones from deep orange to pale lemon. In the tea-room the walls are hung with Japanese paper, the white background of which is covered with a straggling design in red.

Cozy Quarters.
The walls and woodwork are of blue, with the ceiling and eaves of yellow. The hangings are also blue. The kitchen adjoins the tearoom and is a model of convenience. A cozy “rest room,” with lounges and comfortable chairs, is provided for members to retire in. and the foyer, which is a square room situated between the hall and assembly-room, is especially designed for those members who wish to chat and amuse themselves during long sessions. The decorations and coloring of this room are also of the reddish-brown tints.

The Chicago Woman’s club has 600 members. It was incorporated Oct. 28, 1885.
The officers are:
President, Miss Ada C. Sweet; First Vice -President, Mrs. F. A. Smith: Second Vice-President, MA Mia: Send Vice-President, Mrs. J. D. Harvey: Recording Secretary. Mrs. C. G. Wheeler: Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. George B. Huddleston; Treasurer, Mrs. William E. Furnese. Directors-Louise Dickinson Sherman, Julia B. Shattuck, Ida Edwards Keen, Mary K. Lewis, Emma C. Mann, Louise C. Stanton, Helen W. Affeld. Ellen S.Murray, Agnes E. Sterling, Mary K. Bartlett, Clara M. J. Farson, Laura H. Clark, Mary E. Bundy, Matilda L. Ware, Mary H. Thomas, Caroline K. Sherman, Lucretia M. Heywood. Caroline Baker. Membership committee-Julia Plato Harvey, Chairman; Isabel A. H. Prindle, Alice A. Abbott, Caroline E. Hamilton, Elizabeth H Ball, Ann E. Smyth. Isabel J. Long, Kate Hutchinson Judah, Elizabeth Hinds Kingman, Laura B. F. Kett, Marietta A. Dow, Mary E. Farnham, Nellie J. O’Connor. Social committee—Keen, Chairman: Elizabeth R. Doud, Annie M. Ela. Rooms committee-Clara M. J. Farson. Chairman; Addie Moore Ellis, Mary Blucker Nagle. Finance committee—Agnes E. Sterling, Chairman: R. A. Crouse, Mary A, Brooks. Printing committee-Kate G. Huddleston. Chairman; Sarah J. Wheeler, Lucy F. Furness.

Lakeside Business Directory, 1899

Inter Ocean, March 3, 1911

In a partition of the real estate owned jointly by Simon Reid and Thomas Murdoch, both deceased, the heirs of the first named have taken the five story building and 96×162 feet of ground at the northeast corner of Wabash avenue and Washington street, valued at $846,025 by the board of review.

For many years the two men were not only partners in the wholesale grocery business but shared in real estate deals, owning several pieces of valuable property in common. Since the death of Mr. Murdoch, who survived his partner by more than ten years, these properties have been partitioned from time to time, the most important of the transactions being the deal closed yesterday.

In exchange for the half interest held by the Murdoch estate in the Wabash avenue corner the estate of Simon Reid gave its equal share in the following properties: A six story building and 50×189 feet of ground at the southeast corner of Monroe and Franklin streets, valued at $366,500 by the board of review; a five story building and 30×180 feet of ground at 170 East Randolph street, on which the board of review placed a valuation of $130,979; a store and flat building, known as the Waverley, on a lot S0x150 feet, at 530 to 536 West. Lake street, and a parcel of 23×135 feet on the east side of Michigan avenue, 300 feet south of Thirty-Seventh The aggregate value of the properties involved in yesterday’s transaction is around $1,800,000, though all the conveyances were made for a nominal consideration.

Chicago Tribune, December 31, 1913

James O. Heyworth and Thomas J. McNulty leased from trustees of the Simon Reid estate the property at the northeast corner of Wabash avenue and Washington street for ninety-nine years at annual rent of $55,000 for the first five years after fourteen months, when it is $45,000, and $65,000 for rest of term. Capitalizing the $35,000 rent at 4 per cent gives $1,375,000, which is at the rate of $14,175 a front and $87.61 a square foot.

The Potter building at 90 Washington) erroneously identified as the J. Taylor building, which was located on Monroe street on the 1891 Greeley-Carlson’s Atlas of Chicago.

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