Drake Block III

< --Previous Up Next–>

Drake Block III, “My Block,” A. T. Stewart, Tobey Furniture Building
Life Span: 1872-1927
Location: SE Corner of Wabash and Washington Streets
Architect: John Van Osdel

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1874

Drake Bldg.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1880
Drake Blk.—Wabash ave. se. cor. Washington.
Stewart A. T. & Co. (Henry Hilton and William Libby) dry goods Wabash av. cor. Washington

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1885
Drake Blk.—Wabash av. se. cor. Washington.
Michigan Stove Co. Fred W. Gardner, manager, 10 to 16 Washington

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1887
Drake Blk.—Wabash av. se. cor. Washington.

Lakeside Business Directory of the City of Chicago, 1899
Drake Bldg.—Wabash ave. se. cor. Washington.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Tobey Furniture Co (The) Frank B Tobey pres; Frank McMartin sec 100 Wabash

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1911
Tobey Furniture Co (The) Asa F Shiverick pres; Frank McMartin sec 33 N Wabash

This building was an exact rebuild of the Drake and Farwell Block II.

Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1872

The work on Drake’s building, near Washington street, which is to be rebuilt as handsomely as before, is progressing rapidly.

Chicago Evening Mail, April 24, 1872

On the opposite, or southeast corner, the Drake block will stand, a structure fully as imposing as the original, 100 feet on Washington street by 80 feet on Wabash avenue.

Immediately east of this, Mr. Wilder has begun a fine block, which will be uniform in style with the Drake block.

Chicago Evening Mail, August 29, 1872

The “My Block,” of N.P. Wilder, on Washington street, adjoining that of John B. Drake, is a six story palace just finished. The Drake building is partially occupied. The numbers 1870, 1871, 1872, on its front are significant of the sad past.

Chicago Tribune, September 8, 1872

Railroad Offices.
Our railroad companies are beginning to take for themselves their quarters of their own commensurate with the metropolitan character of the city. It is said the Michigan Central and Pullman Palace Car Company are to lease for entire occupancy, the magnificent five story marble building on Washington street, east of Wabash avenue, that bears “My Block” cut in enduring stone on it facade, understood pretty correctly to beling to N.P. Wilder, Esq.

Chicago Evening Post, October 8, 1872

The new Drake Block is a six-story and basement structure, constructed of Athens limestone in the Italian school of architecture. It is 81 feet front by 120 in depth. The first story is all in one room, designed for a mammoth store. This story is all of cast iron and plate glass, while those above are stone.

Chicago Tribune, March 23, 1873
Chicago Tribune, November 2, 1873

We notice that the last touches of finish have been given to N. P. Wilder’s fine six-story marble-front building on Washington street, opposite Dearborn Park, and it is now offered for rental.

Mr. Shorey reported on behalf of the Committee on Buildings and Grounds, that the second and third floors of Wilder’s Building, on Washington street, between Wabash and Michigan avenues, were the only desirable quarters available for use for the Library, and that they could be had for a rental of $5,000 per year until April 30, 1875, with the option of continuance of the lease for the three following years at the rate of $7,500 per year. On motion of Mr. Shorey, the report was accepted and concurred in, and the President of the Board was authorized to make a contract with Mr. N.P. Wilder, the owner of the building, on the above terms. The building is furnished with a separate boiler for heating, and Mr. Wilder is to put in the heating apparatus; the Library is also to have the separate use of an elevator.

Chicago Tribune, August 28, 1876

A. T. STEWART & CO.
“The Ball In Motion”-It Will Be Kept Rolling
Written for The Tribune.

Before the embers of the “Great Fire” had ceased smoking, one of Chicago’s representative men commenced building an elegant block of warehouses on Washington street, near Wabash avenue. His best friends looked coldly upon the enterprise, considering it almost suicide, financially speaking. But the projector of the enterprise went boldly forward to the completion of his work, and the result was the erection of one of the very handsomest buildings in this city of palatial structures.

This mammoth edifice contains 75,000 square feet of room, being six full stories in height, with a high and well-lighted basement 102×136 feet in measurement.

Many people have paused for a while in front of this block to admire the lofty height and architectural beauty of its style. Still, for nearly five years it has been uninhabited, and the fears and prophecies of the proprietor’s friends seemed to be certain of fulfillment.

It was truly a heavy load to carry, this magnificent structure, costing about $200,000, with an annual expense of about $6,000, in insurance, taxes, and interest; a load under which many men of smaller calibre would have succumbed and fallen. But Col. Wilder’s motto, like that of Lake Erie’s hero was and is: “Never give up the ship!” and he has looked cheerfully upon his “white elephant” during all the years panic and the almost hopeless prospect of seeing his vast enterprise rewarded.

But daylight succeeded the intense darkness at last, and the present aspect of affairs is decidedly encouraging. Several weeks ago Mr. Sabin Smith, the accredited agent of the great house of A. T. Stewart & Co., of New York, arrived bere, looking for a desirable location for the establishment of a branch of that renowned house. Placing himself in consultation with the well-known real-estate dealer, Mr. A. J. Averill, the Wilder Block and its adjoining stores were at length decided upon as the very identical spot for the desired purpose; and, after several interviews with Col. Wilder, he was at last constrained to lease his elegant block, though on terms ridiculously low. And here the Colonel proved himself entitled to the reputation of being a thoroughly representative Chicagoan, for he saw the great benefit that would accrue to the city of which he has been for forty years an active, enterprising, and useful citizen; an although for five years he will receive no pecuniary benefit, so far as income is concerned, from the lease of “My Block,” still the future advantages were not to be ignored.

The excitement attendant upon the publication of the news that A. T. Stewart & Co. are really coming to Chicago to open up their immense dry-goods business is without a parallel in our history. Many of our prominent houses in the trade seemed to be utterly skeptical as to the assertion; and one or two “soreheads” pronounced it unworthy of belief. Having through Col. Wilder’s great kindness had desk-room in the building for several weeks, I can give you a few items of interest as to the excitement prevailing the week after Mr. Smith had concluded the bargain.

On Sunday last, during the forenoon, long lines of vehicles filled with pleasure-seekers, many of them clerks of the large houses in the city, filed past ” My Block,” gazing intently at its beautiful proportions; while now and then one of the more curious would put his head within the door, saying: “Sir, I beg pardon, but I would like to ask a few questions, and first of all, is it really true that these premises and adjoining ones are leased to A. T. Stewart & Co., of New York?” On being answered in the affirmative they would step down into the spacious basement, then move to the opposite side of the street, and gaze up to the lofty cornice with looks of wonder and excited interest.

On week days, from morn till night, the number of applicants for positions under the new firm is immense. Engineers, porters, dray-men, floor-clerks, etc., ad infinitum, drop in merely to ask a few questions, which no one now here is authorized to answer. The Colonel, in his facetious manner, told me that the other morning he left his domicile at 9 o’clock a m., and reached ” My Block” at 10½, nearly one hour and a half having been consumed by. button-holers, who had te offer him their congratulations and propound a score of questions as to the ” how,” the “when,” the “why,” etc.

The effect of this great move of the greatest dry-goods house in the world on the interests and business of Chicago can hardly be realized at this early day, but that it will be of mammoth proportions, who can doubt? It is literally saying to the world, “We are satisfied that Chicago is to become the great wholesale market for the supply of the grand Northwest!”

Honest John Davis has the contract for fitting-up the new house with heating-pipes, engines, and elevators, and on Thursday last some fifty mechanics were set to work, while the vast rooms and corridors, late so silent and deserted, are now resounding with the noise of hammer and of saw, and all betokens that activity which is so agreeable to the Western man of energy and ability.

By the 1st of October the new firm will be in “line of battle,” ready to compete with the extensive houses already successfully established here. Other large Eastern houses will soon follow the Stewart lead, and in a year or two business will be established at its most natural abash avenue, the coolest and healthiest pore tion of the Empire City of the West.—Capt. Sam.

Chicago Tribune, January 1, 1880

A. T. Stewart & Co.
In the latter part of 1876 profound interest was excited here and elsewhere by the announcement that A. T. Stewart & Co., the largest and best-known dry-goods house in the world, were about to open an auxiliary establishment in Chicago. It was known that Mr. Stewart had long regarded this city as an obvious point from which his already herculean business might be still further increased, and that those who had been associated with him were of the same opinion. The latter, natural successors to Mr. Stewart in the management of his vast business, proceeded to carry out his idea of founding a great establishment in Chicago, and, just three years ago to-day, the plan was consummated and the auxiliary house opened. The location was admirably chosen, three large conjoined buildings at the intersection of Washington street and Wabash avenue having been secured. These buildings, originally intended for three large wholesale firms, were none too spacious for the requirements of A. T. Stewart & Co.’s Western branch. The five great floors and basements of each were connected by arches, and the three buildings were thus merged into one of imposing area. This gave a huge structure, running from Wabash avenue to a forty-foot alley in the rear, splendidly lighted on three sides, and perfectly calculated for the transaction of the fine business that was to ensue.

It is scarcely necessary here to recall the fact that this Western adjunct of the house of A. T. Stewart & Co. was eminently successful from the outset. It was placed under the personal management of men well seasoned in a lifetime of experience with Mr. Stewart, and was also kept a co-ordinate part of the whole firm, whose branches and ramifications extend over such a generous portion of the civilized world. With the broad and growing country tributary to Chicago to sell to, and with all the vast resources of the firm behind it, the establishment here marched into immediate and natural success.

The general revival of business all over the country has of course been of special advantage to the larger and more solid establishments everywhere, and none have been in better position and condition to profit thereby than than A. T. Stewart & Co. Its Western house has had a superb trade, large orders having been steadily received from all parts of its territory. Goods are now shipped by this firm from here to San Francisco and the whole California and Oregon coast in the West; to New Mexico, Louisiana, and Florida in the South: to the East as far as Central Pennsylvania, and north into the British possessions. When it is remembered that Chicago is in no sense Western, but is altogether central in its position in America, the scope of this trade will be the more readily appreciated. The Chicago house enjoys some sterling advantages accruing to its being a part of the A. T. Stewart & Co. firm. This firm is such a large buyer in the markets of the world that it secures variety in goods and excellence in bargains not always at the command of other dry-goods houses. It also has great manufactories of its own,—fourteen large mills, employing thousands of hands, being constantly running for its exclusive benefit. These mills supply it with carpets, cottons, prints, and other staple at what is essentially first cost. The foreign branch-houses at Paris, Lyons, Glasgow, Berlin, Manchester, and other great European centres, secure to it all that is standard or novel at rates not attainable by firms of lesser magnitude. The Chicago house reaps its full share of all these advantages, and the jobbers and retailers of the West find that this saving in first cost redounds particularly to their benefit.

A tour of inspection through this great establishment is uncommonly interesting. The magnitude of the building, variety and hugeness of the stock, excellence of the goods, perfection of the system for receiving, handling, and delivering the same, and the imposing dimensions of the business transacted, form a sense of modern trade-enterprise such as only America can show. A. T. Stewart has passed over to the shores of an unknown, and perhaps less busy world. But in the mammoth warerooms, foreign marts, the tireless manufactories, and vast agglomeration of business projected by him and carried on in his name, A. T. Stewart is a good deal more alive than most of those who still breathe mortal air. The house of A. T. Stewart & Co. is a latter-day wonder of the world, and its Chicago establishment is a successful adjunct of the mighty whole; a profitable credit alike to its proprietors and to the West.

Inter Ocean, December 16, 1881

A. T. STEWART & CO,
The Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company filed a bill in the Superior Court yesterday againat Henry Hilton and William Libbey, comprising the firm of A. T. Stewart & Co., and Sabin Smith, under the following circumstances:
It appears that in 1876, when Nos. 10, 12, 14, and 16 Washington street, known as “My Block,” was owned by A. P. Wilder, A. J. Averill represented to him that a large New York dry goods firm was going to establish a branch in this city, and that it would be a great advantage to him it they took his building. Wilder then offered to rent the building to the firm from Oct. 1, 1876, to Dec. 31, 1881, at $7,000 a year. if the firm would expend at least $7,000 in finishing the building, fitting two elevators, and putting up steam-heating apparatus, such improvements to be permanent and not to be removed. Stewart & Co. refused to make the improvements, but suggested that citizens desiring the improvement of the city, and particularly real estate owners in the vicinity of the building in question, should subscribe and donate the stipulated $7,000 for improvements. Averill succeeded in raising the necessary amount. The complainant insurance company then held a heavy mortgage on the building, and consented to recognize the lease. The necessary improvements were made, and A. T. Stewart & Co. went into possession both of this block and of the Drake Block adjoining. They have now given notice that they will give up the Wilder Block at the end of their term, In the meantime the insurance company obtained a decree of foreclosure of the premises in March, 1879, and bought in the property at the sale, and received a deed in October, 1880. The Drake buildine is connected with the “My Block” by arches, and Stewart & Co. have actually engaged workmen to remove the steam-heating apparatus, elevators, and boilers “between two days.” The bill now charges that these improvements are permanent, and that their removal will greatly damage the building. They therefore ask for an injunction restraining the contemplated despoiling of the building. Judge Gardner granted a temporary injunction in bond of $7,000.

Chicago Tribune, December 24, 1881

NAT WILDER’S ” MY BLOCK.”
The dry-goods firm of A. T. Stewart & Co. are engaged in the process of removing their goods from the building on Washington street known 88 “My Block,” which has comprised the eastern portion of their store since their location in Chicago two years ago.

The entire clerical force were busily at work yesterday, carrying the goods into the Drake Block through the arches in the brick walls between the two buildings. Several of the arches have already been bricked up, and if the goods are not all removed today the clerks will be required to spend a portion of their Christmas effecting the transfer of the stock. The firm refuse to state whether they have relinquished their intention of claiming the steam-beating in by apparatus in the vacated store, which was put in by the subscriptions of business-men in the vicinity.

Inter Ocean, November 29, 1885

The Connecticut Mutual have sold for $135,000 to the Michigan Stove Company the six-story and basement stone-front block 82×120 feet, on the south side of Washington street at the corner of the alley east of Wabash avenue It was built by N. P. Wilder, and bears the name “My Block,” commemorating that gentleman. The buyer of the block already is at home in the building.

Chicago Tribune, August 3, 1890

The Lease of “My Block.”
The Tobey Furniture has rented for five years the “My Block” building, which was put up by N.P. Wilder. They are now adding two stories to the premises they now occupy and will take immediate possession of the Wilder Building. The way in which the “My Block” building got its name is interesting. The owners of a great many of the buildings that were put up just after the took the opportunity of handing their names down to the future by having them emblazoned on their lintels. Mr. Wilder did not approve of this bit of conceit, and when he put up his building he lampooned the custom by putting over the doorway the inscription “My Block.”

Inter Ocean, September 2, 1890

THE TOBEY FURNITURE CO.
Without question the World’s Fair city possesses. in the vast establishment at the southeast corner of Wabash avenue and Washington street, the largest retail furniture emporium in America. Of course reference can only be made to the Tobey Furniture Company, which yesterday inaugurated a noble addition to its already immense establishment, the enlargement being effected by annexing to the Drake Building the even larger “My Block,” on the west. With the Columbian Exposition on the Lake Front, this huge emporium just at hand, will be not the least important adjunct of the fair.

Last March the company shipped furniture to twenty-nine different States, and one bill of goods to London, England. When first established, thirty years ago, they had to go East twice a year, but now the Eastern dealers come to Chicago and Grand Rapids, whose goods are sold everywhere on the seaboard. and Chicago is recognized as the great center of the furniture trade, and the Tobey Company its special representation, its only difficulty being to enlarge its facilities fast enough to meet the demand. The company’s best goods are manufactured right here on the West Side, and its employes are legion, as may be inferred from the fact that often sixty car-loads of furniture are shipped a day. Designs of furniture are changed twice a year, Jan. 1 and July 1.

A tour of the seven-story structure, reaching away almost half a block in each direction and requiring even additional space in the lower regions, is a revelation of astonishment. In the basement everything is received on one side and shipped on the other, there being accommodations to load twelve teams at a time. There are four elevators, so that goods arriving for storage are at once assigned to their respective floors and heaped upon them to the ceiling. The main salesroom comprises the entire acreage of the first floor, and higher up are art rooms and boudoirs, equipped wit a wealth of furniture, polished, carved and upholstered, for a king, and divans and ottomans, decked out with damascene looms and Gobelin tapestries, for his queen.

Tobey Furniture occupied the Drake Block from 1886-1926. The building was torn down in 1927 to make room for the Pittsfield Building.

Chicago Tribune, September 20, 1925

One of Chicago’s oldest concerns, the Tobey Furniture company, established in 1856, is going to forsake the southeast corner of Wabash and Washington, where it has been for thirty-seven years, for Boul Mich. It was announced last night that it had leased considerable space in the six story building to be erected at the northwest corner of Lake and Michigan by the McCormick estates of which Judson F. Stone is agent.

The Ovington Brothers Company of New York has leased much of the balance of the space for a gift shop. The rental to be paid by Tobey and Ovington will total will total $3,900,000 for the term, and in one instance the owners of the building will share i the profits.

Field Estate May Build.
With the announcement that Tobey will quit Wabash comes a revival of the rumor that Marshall Field & Co, will go ahead with a contemplated furniture store of its own on on that corner. James Simpson, president of Marshall Field & Co., said that although such a move was once contemplated, it had been given up. He said he thought it possible that the Field estate, owner of the corner, might some time erect a skyscraper shop and office building.

The new McCormick estates building at Michigan and Lake was designed by Holabird & Roche and will front 166 feet on the boulevard and 130 feet on Lake. It also will have a frontage of 166 feet on Garland court, to be widened later.

Started on State Street.
The Tobey Furniture company was started in a small store on State street, near Van Buren, by Charles Tobey in 1856. A year later he was joined by his brother, Frank B. Tobey.

In 1862 they moved to Lake street, near Dearborn, opposite the Tremont hotel, then the center of the retail district. In 1865 they excited adverse criticism by moving out of the established retail center to the middle of the block on State, between Randolph and Washington, where the Field store now is.

Back on Lake.
After the fire of 1871 they established themselves at the northeast corner of State and Adams and remained there until 1888, when they moved to their present location at Wabash and Washington. Now, after a cycle of sixty years, they will be back on Lake, though it took Boul Mich to accomplish it.

Charles Tobey died in 1888 and Frank B. in 1913. George F. Clingman, manager, came with the company in 1888 and A.F. Shiverick, president, a nephew of the founders, in 1890. Two of the third generation of Tobey descendants are now active in the management of the business.

Albert H. Wetten & Co. were brokers for the Tobey company and Winston & Co. for Ovington.

Chicago Tribune, October 8, 1926

Chicago Tribune, November 20, 1927

BREAK RECORD IN PUTTING UP PITTSFIELD BLDG.
All records appear to hve been broken in the construction of the Pittsfield building at the southeast corner of Wabash and Washington. Work started on on the foundations for this thirty-eight story structure on Nov. 1, 1926, and eleven months later, Oct. 1, 1927, it was ready for tenants.

Incidentally the tip of this structure is the highest point in the city, being 557 above the sidewalk, or one foot above the tip of the cross on the Temple building, 556 feet above the sidewalk. The Pittsfield is two feet higher than the Washington monuments. Its foundations go down 110 feet to solid rock, making a total height of 667 feet.

Leave a Reply