Chicago Athletic Association Building
Life Span: 1893-Present
Location: Michigan Avenue, between Madison and Monroe streets
Architect: Henry Ives Cobb
- Lakeside Business Directory of the City of Chicago, 1907
Chicago Athletic Assn 125 Michigan av
Rand, McNally & Co.’s Bird’s-Eye Views of Chicago, 1893
⑨ The Chicago Athletic Association’s Building
Is conspicuous in our drawing, and has a history singular among all the genuine steel buildings so far built in the world. No sooner was the colossal structure under roof than, on October 31, 1892, fire damaged it to the extent of $200,000. It stands at 124-126 Michigan Avenue, 80 feet front, 172 feet deep, 165 feet high, 10 stories and basement, and boasts the largest number of athletic conveniences that have been arranged together. The architecture follows the order set down in our chapter on “Steel Construction,” or the description of Rand-McNally’s in the chapter on “Notable High Buildings.” It cost $600,000, and was repaired and finished in 1893.
Notable High Buildings.
The Chicago Athletic Association’s Building, 121-126 Michigan Boulevard, south of Madison Street a ten-story, modern, steel-built structure, with two elevators caused widespread comment on account of a conflagration that occurred there as this building neared completion. A pile of lumber caught fire October 31, 1892, and the building did not escape until $200,000 of damage had been done. Heat enough was generated to burn all the finishing woodwork in place in the upper stories and to utterly ruin the ornamental gothic stonework of the front, all of which had to be replaced, thus delaying by months the completion of the building. The edifice was slowly rebuilt, as it had slowly risen. It is claimed that this is the finest athletic club-house in the country, and second to none in Europe. The floors are occupied as follows: Basement—shooting-galleries, bicycle storage-rooms, and 7 bowling-alleys; first floor—main office, barber-shop, coat-room, bicycle club-room, and swimming-tank, 40×60 feet; second floor—evening-room, smoking room, and 20 billiard tables; third floor—library, 103 dressing-rooms with 1,344 lockers, 24 shower and 6 tub baths, lavatory, and closets; fourth and fifth floors—gymnasium, the gallery of which forms a running-track 6 feet wide, with a circumference of 11 laps to a mile; sixth and seventh floors, divided into 48 bed-rooms, with baths, etc.; eighth floor—large general dining-room 58×80 feet, 3 private dining-rooms, kitchen, laundry, etc.; ninth and tenth floors—hand-ball, 2 racquet and tennis courts.
Inland Architect, March, 1896
- Chicago Athletic Club
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
1906
Leave a Reply