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Beaurivage French Flats

Beaurivage French Flats, Victoria Hotel
Life Span: 1876-1908
Location: NW corner Michigan av.and Van Buren
Architect: Clinton J. Warren

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1875

Beaurivage Bldg.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1880
Beaurivage Building, 194 Michigan av.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1884
Beaurivage Building, 194 Michigan av.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Hotel Victoria hotel co props 194 Michigan av

Chicago Tribune, December 19, 1875

FRENCH FLATS.
A Genuine Apartment House.
There are a great many buildings in the city designated as French flats which do not possess the least right to the title, and are in fact nothing more or less than tenement-houses. In speaking of them as tenement houses we do not mean that they are the rickety old rookeries generally occupied by fruit peddlers and organ-grinders, but we mean tenements of the better class, occupied, perhaps, by some of our most respectable citizens, and in many cases to be found situated on the best streets in the city. In all large cities there are houses occupied by two or three families, and sometimes dozen families. These are chiefly occupied by small business men and clerks who put up with living in a house with a dozen other families for the sake of being near their business, and it not unfrequently happens that these buildings resemble a business block full of offices much more than a French flat, though they may glory in the name. London and all other large cities have this kind of houses in abundance, and Paris has the same.

The name French flats conveys the idea of a building with a court in the centre and a carriage-way entering from the street, where each tenement or flat is a complete residence in itself and not a few rooms without any conveniences as is the case in many of our so-called flats.

A building which is a good specimen of the genuine flat is situated on the corner of Michigan avenue and Van Buren street. It is five stories high above the basement, and has a frontage of 101 feet on Michigan avenue with 110 on Van Buren street. It has an interior court of over 40 feet square, access to which is had through a carriage-way in the centre of the Michigan avenue front, and also by a wagon-way in the rear. The court will be paved with asphalt, and will have a fountain in the centre. The building is of pressed brick with sandstone trimmings and terra cotta cornices and ornaments. Each story contains three complete residences fronting on the corner and on Michigan avenue and Van Buren street respectively. There is a bay window on the corner and also on each street front, which gives each residence a bay window for all the parlors. Each dwelling is complete in itself, and will contain parlor, sitting room, dining room, bed rooms, bath room, kitchen, drying closet. ash and garbage flues, etc. The kitchens and bath rooms will be supplied with hot water from the boiler in the basement, and all the halls and stairways will be warmed with steam. The building will have three elevators, one passenger and two freight, also two principal and two servants’ stairways. The principal stairways will be entirely inclosed with brick walls. The dwellings in the first story will have direct entrances from the streets as well as from stairways, while those on the second story and stories above will each have a commodious balcony on the street fronts in addition to their main and rear entrances.

Every precaution is taken against fire. building is constructed in the strongest manner, all joists being carried by brick walls and not stud partitions, as is too often the case.

Chicago Tribune, January 6, 1884

The Beaurivage, one of the largest and handsomest apartment buildings in Chicago, located at the northwest corner of Michigan avenue and Van Buren street, was invaded by a disastrous fire yesterday morning at an hour when the inmates were in their deepest slumber, and when the cold was most bitter. The scenes of distress and excitement which followed the outburst of the flames and the surge of smoke through the corridors and halls may well be imagined, and so, too, may the daring and torturesome struggles of the firemen, who had not only their natural enemy to contend with, but the icy atmosphere as well.

The Beaurivage is a six-story brick building fronting on Michigan avenue, prettily trimmed and ornamented with bay windows and outside balconies. It is divided into two wings, separated by a court, and provided with fifteen suites of living apartments, or French flats. There is an archway leading from the avenue to the court, and at the right of this archway near the court is the office.

The Start.
The fire started in the basement under the office, but how no one seems to know. There are several different theories as to the origin, and the most plausible one is, that some of the beating apparatus became too hot. The fire had burst through the office floor and gained considerable headway when discovered. An alarm was received by the insurance patrol at 3:53 from the American District Telegraph Company, and at 3:54 the Fire Department received an alarm from Box 55, which was promptly responded to. In spite of the cold a lead of hose was soon in the office. and the fire there was quickly extinguished. But it had eaten its way along the basement and around the line of the court to the elevator-shaft at the northwest corner of the building, up which it climbed to the roof with startling rapidity.

A Panic Among the Occupants.
The halls were now filled with smoke, and the cry of “Fire!” was heard echoing on all sides through the building, creating, of course, a panic among men, women, and children, rushed wildly from downy beds in luxuriantly-furnished apartments only to be driven back by the smoke which rolled in opaque. masses through every door opened in its way. People living on the lower flats had no difficulty in making a safe exit, and might have safely stopped long enough to exchange night-robes for toilets more suitable to the freezing atmosphere on the outside. The majority, however, ran madly from the place with costumes better adapted for a midsummer night’s dream than a 27°-below-zero reality. The women screamed, the children cried, and the men yelled themselves hoarse, almost drowning the crackling of the flames gathering about them. A large number of the young ladies appeared on the street protected each only by her night-robe, a sealskin sack, and a red plush album on a silver card-receiver. Those occupying apartments on the upper floors in the vicinage of the flames were in the greatest danger, but even they might by exercising greater coolness have dressed warmly and reached the street and some of the more cool-headed men hastened to the relief of the women and children up above, and not a few were carried half-fainting from the danger. One or two invalids were removed in this way. and one child was carried from the fifth floor by a man on the tire-escape. Chief Swenie had his men make a tour of the building early in the progress of the fire in search of the panic-stricken, and all accidents were prevented. Not a single one occurred.

A Harbor of Refuge.
Fortunately the Leland Hotel just north of the Beaurivage afforded a comfortable and convenient shelter for the terrorized and frozen people. Mr. Leland and his employés rendered all the aid in their power, not only to the unfortunate occupants of the burning structure, but also to the hard-worked firemen. The former were met with blankets and wraps and safely housed, and gallons of hot coffee were served to the firemen.

A Second and Third Alarm.
All this time the fire was gaining dangerous headway, and at 4:19 Chief Swenie ordered a second alarm. Even with the increased force the fire was too severe a one, hampered as the firemen were by the merciless cold. They were coated with ice, and so were the hose and other apparatus, the handling of which stiffened the fingers and chilled the blood until the struggle became a most discouraging one. Although fearing that another big fire might make the engines necessary elsewhere, Chief Swenie ordered a third alarm turned in twenty-eight minutes after the second was given. The fire by this time had carried its destruction to the roof and the total extermination of the entire building was threatened. However, with the reinforcements a stop was finally made, but not before the north wing had been well gutted in the neighborhood of the elevator-shaft, and fire. smoke, and water had laid waste thousands of dollars’ worth of elegant and costly furniture.

Loss and Insurance on the Building.
The loss on the building, which is owned by Mr. J. K. Fisher, is estimated at about $35,000, although Mr. G. W. Flersheim, the agent and manager, figured it much higher. It is insured for $114,000, divided among different companies as follows:

The Phoenix of New York had $1,500 on the boiler and engine in the basement.

Sufferers in the Flats.
The occupants of the building numbered about 125, there being in all fifteen flats, some of which were sub-let. The flats were occupied as follows:

–

The loss on furniture will reach $20,000, which loss, leaving insurance aside, falls on
both those who rented the flats and their roomers or sub-tenants. Among the lucky tenants were Gov. Bross, Thomas Murdoch, H. F. Humphreys, and Dr. Morgan. Their apartments were not rendered untenentable.

There was some damage done to the top of the Masury Building. adjoining the Beaurivage on the north, but this is well covered by insurance. None of the Masury suffered any loss.

Beautiful Ruins.
The Beaurivage presented a beautiful external appearance yesterday, despite the ravages made on the interior by the fire. The walls were coated with snow-white ice, while the iron balconies were fringed with a heavy and fantastic lacework of the same cold, glittering formation. Ice was glittering everywhere in and about the court, and its picturesque figures called forth expressions of admiration from the hundreds who braved the cold to gaze upon the
ruin. Early in the forenoon the expelled tenants returned for a survey of their once comfortable and costly apartments. Some found only total wrecks of what had been theirs, while others found their property somewhat damaged, but covered by the tarpaulins of the patrol.

The repairing of the building will be commenced as soon as possible. Mr. Fisher, the owner, is at present in Europe.

Chicago Tribune, May 7, 1891

Not Sure What Will Be Done.
The projected plan to tear down the Beaurivage, at Michigan avenue and Van Buren streets, and to erect in its place a 400-room hotel to be known as the Victoria, has not yet been definitely decided on by the owners of the property. R. Hall McCormick, in whom the title of the Beaurivage is vested, said last night that the expiring leases on the old building brought about some discussion on its future disposition. It might be torn down and a business block erected on the site, but the fate of the old building had not been settled. The Beaurivage was built in 1876, and was one of the earliest apartment houses erected in Chicago.

Chicago Tribune, August 23, 1891

THINKS THE WALLS ARE TOO WEAK.
Mr. O’Neil Revokes Permit to Add Two Stories to the Beaurivage.
Building Commissioner O’Neil yesterday revoked a permit granted by his predecessor, John M. Dunphy, to Leander McCormick for the addition of two stories to the Beaurivage flats, Michigan avenue and Van Buren street. Mr. O’Neil gave the order that the two stories should not be added because he did not believe the walls strong enough to stand the extra weight.

“The permit ought never to have been issued,” he said. “The Beaurivage was originally a five-story building. It was partially burned six or seven years ago, the walls of course being weakened by the fire, and when it was rebuilt two stories were added. Now it is proposed to add two more, and I do not think the walls and foundations are strong enough.

“The architect, Mr. Warren, gave up the idea when I explained my position, and no effort will be made by the owner to avail himself of the permit. I should certainly fight it in the courts. Nothing will be done except to put a small one story addition, 20 by 25 feet, between the court and Masury building, covering only a sixth of the building.”

Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1892

NEW HOTEL OPENS THIS MORNING.
The Victoria the Latest Addition to the Line of Michigan Boulevard Caravansaries.
The “Victoria,” the latest addition to the increasing line of palatial hotels on Michigan boulevard, will be thrown open to the public this morning. Yesterday it was shown privately for the first time in its completed condition.

The new hotel is on the site formerly occupied by the Beaurivage, immediately adjoining the Richelieu. There was at one time some prospect that the Leland, Richelieu, and Victoria, which now fill the entire Lake-Front block from Jackson to Van Buren, would be merged into one hotel. The project was never carried out.

Leander J. McCormick purchased the Beaurivage, and before tearing it down he leased the projected hotel to J. M. Lee. The latter recently sold his Indian River Hotel in Florida for $100,000, but still has a partnership in the Fountain Spring House at Waukesha.

The lower floor of the new hotel is decorated in the colonial style. Various colors of French, Georgia, and African marble in walls, stair-ways, and pillars contrast well with the decor-ations. The dining-room is on this floor. It is made unique by walls and ceiling of pure white and sage green. No two of the rooms on the six upper floors are decorated or furnished alike. The hotel is lighted by its own electric plant. The building was erected under Mr. Lee’s personal supervision.

E. A. Whipple, widely known from his long connection with the Grand Pacifie and Audi-torium, will be associated with Mr. Lee in the management. The office force is expected to be popular. Among the members of the staff will be Will S. Shafer, J. W. Wheaton, Walter Barnes, and John Kelly, all of whom come from similar positions at the Auditorium.

Beaurivage Bachelor Apartments as the Victoria Hotel, 1900

Rand, McNally’s Bird’s-Eye Views to Chicago, 1893

⑤ The Victoria Hotel Building
Fronts 102 feet on Michigan Boulevard and 172 feet on Van Buren Street, at the northwest corner, and was once the Beaurivage, “Chicago’s first French flats,” or fashionable apartment building. The structure is 80 feet high, in 6 stories and basement, with 2 passenger elevators. It was erected about 1878, and burned in 1882. It was rebuilt and stood until 1892, when it was remodeled for the Victoria Hotel, with 278 rooms. Cost, $600,000. (See “Hotels.”)

The Victoria. This is one of the Lake Front hotels, and has its fame yet to make. It caters to English tastes, and is favorably situated to lay out a campaign to please the public. It is on the Lake Front at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street, and has a first-class café.

Chicago Tribune, February 20, 1909>

New McCormick Building Planned.
The McCormick building is to be the name of the new twenty-two story building which R. Hall McCormick is to build on the site of the Victoria hotel at the northwest corner of Michigan avenue and Van Buren street. Mr. McCormick announced yesterday that all the arrangements in connection with the construction of the building have been completed and that it was planned to have it completed by May 1, 1910.

It will be an office building. with stores on the ground floor, will be twenty stories above ground and two below. and will cost $1,500,000. The contract has been let to the George A. Fuller company and the plans were prepared by Holabird & Roche. It will have a granite base extending up three stories, with long grayish colored bricks above, with interior finish of marble and mahogany.

The entrance, twenty feet wide, will be at the north end of the building, while the Spaulding Jewelry company will occupy the store at the corner of Van Buren street, 60x 171 feet, under a lease running fifteen years. There will be a twenty foot store to the north of this.

The work of wrecking the Victoria will begin May 1. Originally this was an apartment building and one of the most exclusive in Chicago. During world’s fair time it was converted into a hotel. The McCormicke paid $400,000 for the property, and it is said Mr. McCormick has refused an offer of $75,000 annual ground rent for a lease of ninety-nine years. This is 4 per cent on $1,875,000.

Hooley’s Theatre

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Vaudeville Theaters of Chicago

Hooley’s Theatre, Powers’ Theatre
Life Span: 1872-1924
Location: 124 W. Randolph Street, Randolph St., Between Clark and La Salle Streets
Architect: TBD

Edwards’ Annual Directory in the City of Chicago, for 1873

Hooley’s Theatre

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1874
Hooley’s Theater, 149 Randolph

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1880
Hooley’s Theatre, R. M. Hooley, prop. 149 Randolph

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Powers Theatre, Harry J Powers prop 149 Randolph

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1911
Powers Theatre 124 W Randolph

Chicago Tribune, October 13, 1872

Hooley’s Opera House is rapidly approaching completion. Its location insures it a prosperous business when the city is entirely rebuilt. Situated near the junction of the Clark and Randolph street railroads, in the immediate vicinity of several of the best hotels, and adjacent to the city buildings, it will be in the very centre of trade, and conveniently placed as regards population. The front elevation, which will be entirely finished before the next week closes, is 20 feet wide by 72 feet in height. The material used in its construction is gray Cincinnati stone, chaste and elegant in color, and susceptible, as our readers are aware, of fine and elegant finish. The architectural design of the front is handsome. The first story will be entirely occupied by the entrance, which will be 18 feet in length, by 20 in width, and width 70 feet deep to the doors of the auditorium. On each side of the entrance, at the upper corner, are two figures carved in relief in solid blocks of stone, representing Comedy and Tragedy, They are eight feet in length, and placed partially leaning over the entrance in such a manner to form an archway. The story next above will be of iron and plate glass. The third story will be also of stone and plate glass, heavily encircled with columns and pilasters, and adorned on the upper part with two winged figures, also carved in stone, representing the geniuses of Music and Art. The upper story will have similar windiws, fluted columns, pilasters, and arches, and be surmounted by a neat cornice of galvanized iron, with a broken pediment adorned with a gilded globe. The interior of the upper stories of the part of the structure devoted to the entrance will be divided into offices, to be used for purposes of miscellaneous business. One of the finest offices will be appropriated by Mr. Hooley to his own private use.

The entrance will be handsomely frescoed. Three elegant stairways on the left give access to the offices above, and to the different circles of the auditorium. The dress-circle is gained by a few steps that rise from the further end of the passage. Just at the left of this is the flight of stairs leading to the second circle; still further back is the flight leading to the gallery. The ticket office will be a neat pagoda in colored woods, standing on the kleft of the passage just at the foot of the gallery stairs.

The auditorium is entered at its southwest corner. It is 67 feet in depth by 65 in width, and 54 in height from the floor of the parquet to the dome. A dome 25 feet in diameter, gives character to the ceiling, and forms its principal ornament. Qbove the first floor are two tiers of seats supported by elegant iron columns, smoothly turned, and gilded to represent shafts of gold. The general appearance of the interior, the sweep of galleries especially, at once suggests McVicker’s Theatre. The proscenium is much like that of the latter, although less extensive. There are two stage boxes, elegantly upholstered, handsomely arched, and flanked by gilded Corinthian columns. The upper stage boxes are further adorned by caryatides, which support the cornice. They represent full-length female figures, handsomely draped, and bearing the superincumbent weight upon elegant tasseled cushions. They are made of stucco, bronzed, and gilded, and were modified by Signor Giovanni Meli, the sculptor. The design of the proscenium is elaborate, and the coloring is in white and gold. The frescoing is in mixed Egyptian and Oriental pattern. The interior of the dome represents simply a sky with stairs, which terminates in a gold fringe made up of semi-circles and portions of triangles in chaste hues ornamented with flowers. The main portion of the ceiling is laid out in panels and triangles of antique suggestion, traced with lines of red, blue and gold. The ceiling terminates in a beautiful border, colored in faint pink, green and gold, having as its chief ornament the lotus flower. The walls are laid out in mauve-colored panels, there being under each circle a rich cornice in the prevailing hues, and of the same general design. The combined view of the walls and ceiling is unique and handsome, and reflects much credit upon P. M. Almini & Co., the designers and contractors, and upon Mr. Hopkins, who has had much to do with the execution of the work. The gallery fronts are painted in cream-color, pink, and gray, and have a wire railing of neat pattern. The parquet and dress circle are seated with opera chairs; the upper circles with sofas, upholstered in crimson velvet and magenta-colored rep. The entire auditorium will be carpeted luxuriously. The entrance is to be floored with tiles, laid in handsome design, and opposite the entrance are to be showy street lamps of novel character, imported especially for the theater.

The various dimensions of the theater are as follows:

The ventilation will be from the courts and alleys on three sides, and will be ample. The auditorium will be lighted by a chandelier suspended from the dome, and gasoliers variously disposed about the circles and the proscenium. They are of the latest Booth pattern, and placed by Mr. Jacobsen. The height oif the great chandelier is 35 feet, and its diameter 12 feet. It will have 200 gas jets, and be composed of 60,000 distinct pieces of crystal, which assuredly ought to give it a splendid effect. The management claim that their theatre will be more brilliantly lighted than any other in the city. The seating capacity will not be far from 1,300, and the seats are arranged with ample space about them, and due regard to the convenience of the spectator. There will be few handsome theatres in the country than Mr. Hooley’s. It will be thrown open to the public next Thursday evening, with the pantomine of “Humpty Dumpty,” by the Abbott Kiralfy Troupe. Mr. Hooley is negotiating with Mr. Strakosch, for his (Adelina) Patti concerts; and also for “King Carrot,” now running at the Grand Opera House, New York. He assures the public of a rapid succession of elegant light entertainments during the coming season.

Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1872

INAUGURATION OF HOOLEY’S THEATRE.
On the night of the great fire, Richard M. Hooley was at the Briggs House in this city, with his wife, and all his personal paraphernalia, including costly jewels and with his wife, and all his personal paraphernalia, including costly jewels and valuable wardrobes, expecting to take the morning train for New York. He intended to retire from the profession of which he had long been an honored member, to enjoy a handsome competency which a life of labor and energy had enabled him to accumulate. Much of his fortune was invested in this city. The fire came, and swept away the earnings of thousands, his among the rest. But his spirit was not broken, and with gallant courage he went to work to repair the ravages of the fire. How well he succeeded was apparent last evening to those who visited his beautiful theater on the occasion of its opening. It was brilliant in every respect. The audience was composed of our best citizens. They went to honor and encourage the man who had faith in them and their city. There was not standing room. The building was cozy and comfortable, elegant, even luxurious in its appointments. Handsome gasoliers illuminated the scene. Elegantly attired women and correspondingly arrayed men awaited the rising of the curtain. We have not space to-day to enter into an elaborate criticism of the performance. The Abbot-Kiralfy troupe had possession of the stage. Pantomime was the programme. It was fairly represented. There was the usual gestures and tumbling and knocking down perhaps too much of the latter exercise, and brilliant dancing and more than average singing, and everything decent and in order. The Jee Brothers played upon their peculiar piano of stony formation with really wonderful effect. Mademoiselles Elise and Marie Gratz gave their Tyrolean eccentricities in song to the gratification of the audience, and, later in the programme, a cat duet, the broadest part of the performance and the only part to which the prudish could object. The scenery was admirable, especially so the first scene and the illuminated garden in which the grand Mardi Gras divertissement took place. The artists did themselves credit in these scenes, and extended to the public promise of fine productions in the future. Mr. Hooley was surrounded by a host of friends last evening. Mr. McVicker was there to congratulate him, and so were many others of the profession. Frank Agnew, Mr. McDermott, and the other contractors who contributed to the construction of the tasteful dramatic temple, were also present, and everybody hailed with delight this new evidence of the restoration and progress of our city.

1884 Glossop’s Guide to Chicago

opera

Chicago Tribune, August 14, 1898

WHEN old playgoers who have watched the comedies at Hooley’s for the last twenty-six years go to the remodeled theater on Aug. 22 they will hunt in vain for the orchestra, and tight chairs, and dingy colors, and other things that have been drawbacks to what William Gilbert called the “best house for comedy in America.” The coziness will be there, but the orchestra will be out of sight under the floor, the narrow chairs will be replaced by big, roomy ones, and instead of the old dismal colors the new playhouse—now Powers’—will glow with rich Indian red, old gold, and ivory. The work of remodeling the theater is nearly done and all there is left of the famous old playhouse are the four walls and the cozy feeling that every one has felt who ever watched a play there.

It is still Hooley’s Theater in the sense that it belongs to the Hooley estate, and Hooley’s name will still glow in incandescent lights over the front door. But what discomforts there were in the old theater have al been done away with and all the comforts have been kept in the new playhouse.

Mr. Powers followed the plan of the Knickerbocker and Daly’s Theaters in New York in putting the orchestra out of sight. Doubtless it will please everybody but the musicians, and people who now go to the theater to talk to each other between the acts as well as to see the play will stand some chance. There will be a good deal less profanity also on the part of artistic souls who object to seeing half a dozen fiddle bows waved back and forth when the orchestra is trying to fill out a sensational stage scene.

The orchestra pit is sunk four and one-half feet below the parquet floor, which will effectually screen the musicians. The change has given the theater two extra rows of seats. When an opera is to be played the seats may be removed and the orchestra brought to the parquet level.

Decoration of Auditorium.
The auditorium decorations are in Louis IV. style, with all flat surfaces in different shades of red, and to rococo relief work in ivory and gold. The paintings of the proscenium arch are done in tapestry imitation of the manufacture Royale de Bauvais, the subjects after Antoine Wateau.

The seating capacity, 1,250, which was reduced by the larger opera chairs, has been increased to the old number by the removal of the third tier boxes, as well as by sinking the orchestra. The removal of the upper boxes allows the gallery and balcony to be extended slightly.

All the wall panels on the first floor are in Indian red, like the ceiling, the gaudy effect of the red being softened by silk damask effects in the panels. Enough floral work has been introduced in the ceiling cove and on the soffit of the firsy balcony to break the monotony of the red.

The Louis IV. style is carried into the decorations of the foyer. The coloring of the foyer is old rose, the ceiling having a sky effect and the walls carrying out the silk damask effect of the auditorium panels in the new color. The entrance is in the Empire style, in light shades of ivory and shades of osage green. The wainscoting and balustrade for the gallery exit is of Alps green marble, like that used in the pillars of the Waldorf-Astoria rotunda and lower corridors.

St. John Lewis is still engaged on the new drop curtain, which will be a fourth wall to the auditorium decorations. The center of the drop is a copy of A. P. E. Morland’s painting in the Louvre, representing the meeting of Louis IV. and Mlle. de la Vallière, where Louis, alighting from his coach as he drives from the palace with his courtiers, lifts his chapeau above mademoiselle’s head saying, “The royalty of France now protects you.” An asbestos drop will overhang this one till the orchestra enters, and will perform the function also of telling audiences at certain plays that all is over.

In the old Hooley’s there never was a superabundance of emergency exits, and Manager Harry J. Powers has gone to the other extreme. If it were possible, in the remodeled theater. There is an areaway on three sides of the building, and into these open fire exits from the gallery and four from the balcony, and a spiral iron stairway descends in the auditorium, besides the regular entrance and exit to balcony and gallery. The balcony stairs have been removed to the foyer, which will do away with the frequent overcrowding at the old Hooley’s. Every electric light wire in the building runs through iron conduit, ehich Manager Powers boasts can be said of no other house in the city.

Extra precautions have been taken against fire in the dressing-rooms, thirteen of which are in the basement, and the remaining eight on the stage. The basement floors are all cement and the dressing-room partitions terra cotta, and there is no wood about them but the doors.

The old Hooley’s was built after the fire and opened Oct. 17, 1872, by the Abbott-Kiralfy company. It was under the control of Mr. Richard M. Hooley from the opening until his death, in 1893, with the exception of one year. Before the fire Hooley’s Theater stood on the site of the present Grand Opera-House. It has always been a paying institution.

The change in name was through no choice of Mr. Powers, who has managed the theater almost since the opening, and who wished to keep the old name. The bonus required by the Hooley estate, from which it is leased by the new management, was too great, however, for him to feel justified in meeting the conditions. Mr. Powers was urged to use his own name by managers who have come in contact with him for years and who knew his value to the old Hooley’s.

The new theater will reopen on Aug. 22 with Clyde Fitch’s new play, “The Moth and the Flame.”

opera

The Moving Picture World, January 15, 1916

Chicago Theatrical Manager Sees Boon in Pictures.
Harry J. Powers, the veteran manager of Powers theater, this city, is by no means pessimistic over the outlook for the drama in Chicago, nor is he fearful of the competition of moving pictures. Unlike many of his managerial colleagues, he actually sees in moving pictures and their present vogue a boon to histrionism and to theatrical business. Speaking of the business of the past year in Chicago’s first class theaters, he classes it as one of the best in the last ten years.

Mr. Powers says:

Chicago Tribune, May 6, 1924

CHICAGO’S FIRST CLASS THEATER BEING DISMANTLED.
Left to Right:

Hotel Richelieu

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Hotel Richelieu, Solomon Karpen Building, Findlay, Richelieu Flats
Life Span: 1885-Present
Location: 318 S Michigan Ave
Architect: Slinger

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1887

Richelieu Hotel Co.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Karpen S & Bros Solomon Karpen pres; Adolph Karpen sec. and treas; furniture mnfrs 187 and 188 Michigan av and 22d and Union

Left:

Right:

Chicago Tribune, September 20, 1885

Taking a walk on Michigan boulevard last Sunday afternoon, and being overtaken by the the writer took refuge in the portico of Nos. 187 and 188. He had been there but a few minutes when the door opened and kindly extended an invitation offered to escort him through his latest acquisition, which from this time on will known as The Hotel Richelieu, The Cafe Richelieu, and The Richelieu Art Gallery, a trinity of such marvelous beauty that a brief review was seen will undoubtedly to The Tribune readers.

Mr. Bemis led the way first to the grand parlors of the hotel. To say they are handsomely furnished does not commence to express the lavish expenditure of money in the most modern and artistic decorations that could be executed by Chicago’s leading artist in this line, while the furniture was made and up-bolstered to harmonize; but the furniture and decorations appear to an artist’s eye insignit-cant when compared with the works of art selected by Mr. Bemis in his travels around the world. Oil-paintings by such noted artists as Jacque, Coreos, Kammerer, J. Portielje, Paul Jean Clays, Victor Pollet, Charles Henri Antoinebaron, G. Simoni, Felix Ziem, A. Corelli, James Bradford, W. H. Hilliard, and others. Especially noticeable were two gem watercolor paintings by the celebrated Riva of Milan, and numerous artist proof engravings were arranged around the rooms on the walls and on easels in great profusion, but on proceeding through the hotel we observed elegant = pictures by the above and other artists in every room. While talking about rooms it is apropos to say that every bedroom is furnished and decorated as a parlor, there not being a bedstead in the house, but in place thereof very fine new improved upright folding-beds, with large French plate-glass mirror fronts, none or which cost less than $125; so that guests can invite friends to their rooms and be as comfortable as if in a private parlor. Page after page might be written describing the 120 rooms, with their elegant velvet carpets and rich furniture, etc., but we must now go to the top or sixth floor and say a few words about the art galleries which are located here. They are about 50×60 feet, with two of the finest skylights for the purpose in the country. Here are graceful
curves and decorations finished in Lincrusta Walton, etc.; but why mention such things as the galleries? It is what they contain that mostly interests readers; when it is absolutely and positively known that pictures having a value of over $100,000 are displayed, that statement alone will carry the strongest idea possible of the beauty and character of the galleries’ contents, which are reached from the office floor by an elegant elevator. In a conversation with Mr. Bemis it is very evident he is not only a good judge of art but an acknowledged connoisseur, as his elegant collection most conclusively proves. These galleries will be accessible to the guests of the hotel at all times. A few words about

THE CAFE RICHELIEU,
on the main floor. It is undoubtedly the finest in Chicago, if not in the United States.
The utilization of mirrors, with the elegance of the decorations, combine to make the general effect so rich and vast in appearance that it is evident Mr. Bemis kept both eyes open in his travels, thus adapting the best from all foreign lands and combining in effect something almost wonderful. The floor above the office and café is a series of elaborate club-rooms to accommodate parties of from four to a hundred, and it is safe to predict that in the very near future, when Chicagoans want to entertain in the most recheché manner, The Richelieu will be the rendezvous; in fact, it will be more to Chicago than is Delmonico’s to New York. A few remarks on the china and glassware en passant. Thousands of dollars’ worth of these articles (which to describe each individual piece would fill a page of The Tribune), plates costing $75 each, sets of China with the crowns and monograms of Louis Philippe and Louis Napoleon, etc. A dinner for twenty-five persons could use china and glassware that cost over $2,500. But enough. In conclusion it can be said from personal observation that the tout ensemble is so superior to anything heretofore seen on this continent that readers who appreciate art will be proud to show Chicago’s latest acquisition to her already famous reputation. Such elaborate belongings must of necessity be supplied with the finest and best service in every department, consequently the waiters engaged are experienced Swiss; the head cook and his assistants are all artists in their line. The wine cellars are filled with the most choice vintages of the world in endless variety.

The office or working management will be under the control of Mr. George W. Cone, who is one of the partners, as is also Mr. Hiram Cheesbro, who sees to the stewardship of the house. Both these gentlemen are favorably and widely known to the traveling public. The opening of this elegant European Hotel, cafe, and art gallery oceurs on Monday, the 28th of September.

Chicago Tribune, September 27, 1885

HOTEL RICHELIEU.
The opening of this hotel will take place on Thursday, October 1, instead of tomorrow, as previously announced.

Mr. H. V. Bemis having secured forty of the finest Jersey cons in this country, the butter, cream, and milk used by the Hotel Richelieu will be unsurpassed for quality and purity. This now famous herd of beautiful Jerseys have been named and will hereafter be known as The Richelieu Hotel Jersey Herd. Our friends can see them at all times by calling at the “Richelieu Farm” of B. Gansel, Hyde Park.

1887 photo of South Michigan Avenue. In the order of their sequence may be seen the old Leland Hotel, the Hotel Richelieu, the Masury Building, the Hotel Victoria, the Art Institute, and the Studebaker Building (the Fine Arts Building).

Inter Ocean, October 4, 1885

HOTEL RICHELIEU.
“America’s Finest European Hotel” Such is the Unhesitating Verdict of All.
To Mr. H. V. Bemis Chiongo has long given the honor due a son distinctively her own in enterprise, daring and success, and we can not doubt that the same pride now animates, only in fuller measure, this great and rich metropolis in contemplation of the crowning compliment and benefit done her by this most public-spirited citizen and capitalist. In the olden time to build in one’s city a triumphal arch was to deserve well of the republic; and what else but this has Mr. Bemis now done in lifting to completion the massive walls and equipping the gorgeous interior of a motel that proclaims Chicago to be indeed the capital of the great interior, with needs and appreciation not a whit behind New York as regards liberal provision and patronage of first-class institutions of entertainment and refreshment. New York has her Delmonico’s, so it was fit that the past week Chicago should welcome her Hotel Richelieu, and The Inter Ocean publicly this morning thanks Mr. Bemis for his grand venture of faith just thrown open in all its glory, and for his determination that no expense shall be spared on his part to uphold this honor of our city. Accustomed as he is to large transactions and habituated to success, it can not but be that our people, who always admire pluck and nerve and public spirit, will co-operate in their characteristic, generous style in assuring the enterprise signal success.

No better location for this lineal European hotel in America could have been selected than the spot chosen, Nos. 187-88 Michigan avenue, overlooking, as it does, our inland sea and lakeside park, and facing Chicago’s most popular drive and boulevard, while at the same time so convenient to the heart of the city; and here Mr. Bemis has expended a large fortune, as one can readily understand on viewing. as we did yesterday, the splendid result. There are two six-story and ground-floor buildings, the rear one separated from that in front, for purposes of absolute protection against fire, by a fourteen foot glass-covered court, across which a hall, way of easy passage runs at each story; and throughout the hotel there is the same originality of treatment. The massive front is imposing, with its, heroic statue in marble of Cardinal Richelieu, but it is upon the interior, in its great branches of hotel, café, and art gallery, that money has been lavished Like water in carrying out the proprietor’s ideal of an “hotel with all the luxuries, elegance, and comfort of the palatial private residence,” and here undoubtedly will be the favorite resort of our people when they would dine down town, say after theater, with friends in the finest manner or exhibit to outside visitors one of the prides and institutions of the town, and its mission wit ever be to cater to the “best people in the city”—to the same class of patronage as that of the Brunswick, Hoffman, Gilsey, and St James in New York.

With Mr. Bemis as proprietor, and giving his personal supervision, Messrs. George W. Cone and Hiram Cheesbro are associate partners and managers, and thus the working management is assigned to the best possible hands. Both of these experienced gentlemen have long resided in Chicago, and successfully discharged important trusts. As general manager of the Hotel Richelieu, Mr. Cone will not be less popular with his many business acquaintances and friends, both in town and country, and Mr. Cheesbro, who supervises the cuisine, has been all his life in the hotel business,

Chicago by Day and Night. The Pleasure Seeker’s Guide to the Paris of America, 1892”

A block north of the Auditorium is the Richelieu, the famous hostelry the destinies of which are presided over by the renowned “Cardinal” Bemis. For people of means, to whom money is less of an object than the engagement of luxuries, the Richelieu, they say, is the place par excellence at which to stop. Some notable people have honored the Richelieu with their presence, and one is just as liable to run plumb against a real, live English Lord or Italian Marquis within its doors as against a plain, everyday American citizen. Sara Bernhardt selects the Richelieu when in the city; so does Mrs. Langtry when the confines of her private car become too narrow for comfort. The Richelieu is famous for the rare pictures that adorn its walls, some of which are worth small fortunes, and also—whisper this with bated breath. Oh, ye irreverent!—for its wine cellars, which are stocked with some of the rarest and costliest vintages to be found on the entire continent. On state occasions, when the Cardinal is entertaining some choice party of notables, he is wont to disappear suddenly, absent himself for about fifteen minutes and then reappear with a quaint-shaped bottle or two in either hand covered with cobwebs. Those who sample the contents of said bottles close their eyes, pat their stomachs softly as the divine liquid glides down their throats, and then shed tears of joy and gratitude to the Cardinal for having given them the happiest moment of their lives. If you are a connoisseur of wines and wish to test your art in judgment thereof, cultivate the acquaintance of the Cardinal, and perhaps he will go down into the cellar for you.

⑨ The Richelieu Hotel
Next south of the Leland, fronts 125 feet on Michigan Boulevard, and is 125 feet deep. The building is 90 feet high, with 6 stories and basement; brick and terra cotta walls. There are 125 rooms and 1 passenger elevator. The furnishing of this hotel, the service, and the indefinable thing called “tone” are such as to attract guests of and large wealth. The great reputation article on ” Hotels ” in this guide mentions some of the characteristics of this hostelry. Erected in 1885.

Inter Ocean, April 2, 1896

HOTEL RICHELIEU TO BE CLOSED.
Property Sold, but Landlord Bemis Will Continue Business.
A final decree was entered yesterday morn-log in the Superior Court in the Richelle Hotel litigation. By the decree the doors of the hotel will be closed in ten days and the property sold in its entirety after the expiration of three weeks.

The proceeds of the sale will be divided between the bondholders who commenced the foreclosure proceedings against the company. The first mortgage bondholders are represented by the Northern Trust Company, the bonds being for $200,000, and the First National Bank is the owner of the second mortgage bonds, which are for $100,000, the bonds being in its possession as security for loans made to H. V. Bemis, the former bolder of these bonds.

By the decree a compromise has been made as to the disposition of the property. The proceeds of the sale of the Masury lease, which covers the southern portion of the hotel, will go to the benefit of the second mortgage bond-holder, the hotel property being sold for the benefit of the first mortgage bondholders. The Masury lease has eleven years to run and this portion of the hotel contains the café dining-room, and a number of handsomely furnished suites.

There is a movement on foot by which Mr. Bemis’ friends will put him in possession of the Masury portion of the Hotel Richelieu, and it is to be hoped that the Richelieu under Mr. Bemis management will not be a thing of the past. Mr. Bemis has done for Chicago what few men have in his line of business; that is generally recognized. The hope is widespread that Chicago may not be without a Hotel Richelieu.

Inter Ocean, January 17, 1899

A deed was recorded yesterday for the sale of the six-story building at Nos. 164 and 155 Michigan avenue, and a leasehold interest for 198 years in the ground, to James F. Meagher. The grantors are Solomon, Oscar, and Adolph Karpen, members of the firm of S. Karpen & Bros., who now occupy the building. The sale was effected about ten days ago, and it is said that Mr. Meagher made the purchase in the interest of the People’s Gaslight and Coke company, which oceupies the bullding next to the south. The consideration was $105,000. The property is 39 feet by 171 feet, east front, on Michigan avenue, 52 feet north of Adams street.

Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1910

Lease Is Feature of Week.
But the one particular feature of the week’s market was the lease by W. K. Cowan & Co. from S. Karpen & Bro. of the Karpen building, formerly the old Hotel Richelieu, at 187-188 Michigan avenue, in the block between Jackson boulevard and Van Buren street and adjoining on the south the Stratford hotel.

The lease is a particularly important one because of the magnitude of the transaction, involving as it does a seven story and basement building fronting 58 feet with a depth of 171 feet, but what gives to it its particular interest is the fact that the lease, which is for ten years and provides for a total rent of $500,000, is on the basis of 4 per cent on a valuation of about $20,000 a front foot, a high water mark in a leasing way along that thoroughfare. The earnings of the Railway Exchange are said to be equivalent to 4 per cent on over $35,000 a front foot, but that is an eighteen story structure and is admittedly on one of the two best corners on Michigan avenue—namely: Jackson boulevard—while the Karpen building is a seven story commercial structure with the most of its renting value on the first floor.

The needs of a growing business are said to be behind the move on the part of Cowan & Co., who are now in the Fine Arts building, but which they will vacate on May 1 next to take possession of their new home. Their coming into the block in which Spalding & Co., Jewelers, are located will add to its prestige as a great retall point.

Karpen & Bros. will move into their new building, now in course of construction at the southwest corner of Michigan avenue and Eldridge place, May 1, 1911.

Chicago Magazine, April 8, 2014

A New Era Begins at Michigan Avenue’s Richelieu Flats
The 1885 building was once a grand hotel, then a furniture warehouse. After years of vacancy, it’s been redeveloped as a set of luxury condos, the last of which just sold.
By Ian Spula

The last of the five luxury units in the Richelieu Flats sold out last week. Two 2,650-square-foot full-floor spreads on the third and fifth floors of the 7-story masonry building, at 318 S Michigan Avenue, were the last to go after 18 months on the market.

The pricier half the pair went for $1,430,000, which was $65,000 above the asking price. Sure, that sounds astonishing. But Millie Rosenbloom, the Baird & Warner agent for the whole building, says, “90 percent of the time when you think you’re looking at a full list price for a new-build or developer conversion, you’re not seeing costs like parking and custom finishes.”

When I snooped around the building last September, model unit 300 was the only space with finishes, so buyers of the other four spaces got the opportunity to customize the look, which often runs up the closing price. They “sat down with the developer to discuss options for cabinetry,” says Rosenbloom, part of what made the process “intimate and emotional…unlike the normal way of doing things.”

Richelieu’s crown jewel, a duplex penthouse with 4,300 square feet of interior space, extra-high ceilings, and a 1,000-square-foot Grant Park-facing roof deck, was such a compelling piece of real estate that it sold completely raw for $2,300,000 in October 2013, five months after listing.

This process all started in March 2013, when Chicago-based LG Development Group purchased of the vacant structure from Louis D’Angelo’s family firm, Metropolitan, which held it since the 1970s. It was known as the the Karpen furniture building at the time, but, more than a century before, it was the Richeleu Hotel—”the famous hotel, endeared to epicures the world over,” as it was described in 1895. It seems fitting that some form of residential use would return at this address, although credit must be given to S. Karpen & Bros for updating the exterior with its sculpted, silky terra cotta.

Working from the wide-open floor plans of a defunct furniture warehouse and showroom made it easy for the developer, also practiced in interior design, to minimize the number of walls in each layout. The model unit presents an open central space that merges living room, dining room, and a marble-clad kitchen. Two bedrooms attach to the common area and a third is down a short hallway, paired with a family room and bathroom. All five units—penthouse included—are drawn up with three-and-a-half bathrooms.

Now that these units are out of the equation, are there other Loop prospects for well-healed buyers hoping for a small-scale, custom find? Nothing compares to the Richelieu project, says Rosenbloom, but nearby is the more formidable but still boutique-y 888 S Michigan, from titans of the early skyscraper Holabird & Roche. Most of the slighter structures of Richelieu’s generation—the early 1880s—have vanished from Michigan Avenue and the Loop’s other desirable drags.

Marshall Field Wholesale Warehouse

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Marshall Field & Co.

Wholesale Warehouse District

Marshall Field Wholesale Warehouse
Life Span: 1885-1930
Location: Quincy, Franklin, Adams and Wells Streets
Architect: Henry Hobson Richardson

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904

Field Marshall

gcs

Inter Ocean, December 31, 1881

MARSHALL FIELD & CO.
This great house has had a very large increase in trade the past year and still retains the commanding position which it has occupied in the dry goods business of the country for several years. Each year brings a necessity for more space to accommodate new business, until the great building on the corner of Madison and Market streets has become little more than a salesroom and office. In addition to the building named, which is 240 feet on Madison, running back 200 feet on Market—one of the largest edifices in the world used for mercantile purposes, the firm occupies Nos. 224, 226, 238, and 230 Randolph street, corner of Franklin, a five-story and basement structure, solidly built of stone and brick, known as Warehouse C, and the adjoining building numbered 232, 234, and 236 Randolph street, also five stories and basement, known as Warehouse D. This makes a total of 170 feet on Randolph street 120 feet deep. Nos. 71 and 73 Market street, also a five-story and basement build-ing, is used as a storehouse, and known as Warehouse E. The three upper stories of the gigantic building used as a barn are also used for storage. This building has a frontage of 200 feet on Pacific avenue, numbered from 42 to 60 inclusive, and a depth of 120 feet. In addition to all these there is the magnificent fire-proof building on the corner of State and Washington streets. This building is 150×160 feet on the ground, six stories high, and unquestionably the finest retail store in the world.The buildings occupied by this firm have a street frontage of 825 feet, nearly three blocks in length, and equal to thirty-three ordinary stores Every foot of all these buildings is utilized, and, in addition, the firm always has a large quantity of goods in the government bonded warehouse.

No intelligent man can question the ability of this market to supply the jobbing trade of the West who know anything about the resources of Marshall Field & Co. Under their roof alone the Western merchant can all his stock in every line to as good advantage as it he personally visited the principal markets of the world. An an illustration, the carpet department carries as large a stock and as great a variety as any exclusively carpet house it. the country.

In addition to the brauches at New York, Manchester, and Paris, which bais honse maintains, they have twelve buyerr in the various Europeaa markets. This close connection with the leading markete of the world is of the greatest importance to Western merchants, as it puts within their reach the newest goods and the latest styles at lowest prices, independently of the New York market.

This house has been for a year or more the sole agents in the United States of the renowned Alexander kid gloves, and is the owner of several leading brands of different fabrics. The upholstery department carries a stock that for quality and variety is unsurpassed The furnishing of theaters, public buildings, steamboats, etc., receives especial attention from the firm.

The gross sales of Marshall Field & Co, in 1865 were eight and a half millions; in 1881 they reached nearly twenty-six millions. This remarkable growth has not been fitful or spasmodic, but constant and progressive, the result of wise foretbought and thoughtful and systematic conformity with the established laws of trade.

Chicago Tribune, September 30, 1885

It was learned yesterday from a contractor who is in a position to know that in about two weeks from date work will begin on one of the largest and finest buildings of the kind that have ever been planned in this city or in any other in the country. It is the intention of Marshall Field to put up a ten-story fire-proof warehouse which shall cover the whole of the block owned by him bounded by Adams, Quincy, Fifth avenue, and Franklin. This is a small block as compared with most of those of the South Side, but it is so large that the building which shall cover the whole of it will be an enormous one. None other, indeed, would do for a wholesale trade of such dimensions as that of Field’s. It is understood that the reason why the present one is to be abandoned is not only because there is not room enough there, but also because the ground does not belong to Mr. Field. It is made up of many lots which were leased by Field & Leiter when they built there after the fire, and the lease will expire in about three and a half years. Part of the ground—the larger part—is owned by L. C. P. Freer, some belongs to the estate of Dr. Foster, and part of it to the Peacock estate. It may not be easy to get a new lease on satisfactory terms, and then, too, there is not ground enough. Besides which; the corner of Madison and Market might pay better were it used for something beside a wholesale store. The plans for the immense warehouse have, it is understood, been prepared by S. S. Beaman, and it is the certainty that the work of excavating will begin so soon which has put the contractors on the alert.

Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1885

Marshall Field’s New Warehouse-His Purchases of Boulevard Property.
It is understood that some of the material for the building to be erected by Marshall Field on Fifth avenue, Adams, Franklin, and Quincy streets has already been contracted for, tough it is not known whether the work will actually begin on it this fall. Mr. Richardson, the famous Boston architect, will draw the plans. The exterior will have more elegance of design than is usually seen in business structures. Of the seven stories the walls of the two lower ones will be or stone and will necessarily be massive to support the immense weight of the upper stories and goods stored within. The upper stories will be of brick. There will be a large quantity of plate-glass in the construction. It is intended that the shipping facilities shall be on the Quincy street front, which will be deeply recessed for that purpose. Freight elevators will be built close to that front, and there will be two passenger elevators in the building. Thefollowing sketch will give an idea of the shape of the structure:

Inter Ocean, June 18, 1887

A PALACE OF TRADE
Glimpses of Marshall Fields’ New Wholesale Store and Some Facts About the Merchant Prince.
Marshall Field & Co, haring completed the fitting up of their handsome new wholesale warehouse, will open it up to the public on Monday, The building covers the entire block of ground bounded by Adams, Franklin, and Quincy streets, and Fifth avenue, and is undoubtedly the finest structure this country designed for commercial use. Its dimensions are 325 feet front by 190 feet deep, or about one and a half acres; it is seven stories and basement in height, and the total floor space which will be occupied for selling goods on all floors combined in about twelve acres The stone used on the exterior walls is Missouri granite and Massachusetts brown stone, and in the construction of the building great care has been taken to combine strength and simplicity, and to secure a superabundance of light for the interior.

On the Adams front, there are thirteen broad windows on each floor, except the main fear, where an entrance way sixteen feet wide, furnished with three double doors, is placed in the center of the building. On the Fifth avenue and Franklin street trout there are seven broad windows on each toor, and at the rear on Quincy street a recess one hundred and fifty feet long and about twenty feet deep is constructed in the center of the building for the accommodation of the shipping department, thereby enabling the teams to load and unload under a glass and iron roof without in any way interfering with the traffic on the streets. This recess, extending the full height of the building, enables additional windows to be placed in the two wings, thereby securing more light for the various departments. On entering the building the visitor is at once impressed with its solidity and enormous size. It is practically divided into three section by two massive fire walls, running through above the roof, the two openings in each wall being protected by four fire-proof doors. In order to render the building as far as possible fire proof, what is known as the mill construction has been adopted in the construction of the floors, or in other words there is an air space between the ceiling of one room and the floor of the one above it. All the boilers used for driving the steam elevators and also for warming the building are placed in the old Newsboys’ Home Building, on Quincy street, and the steam-pipes are conveyed to the new structure through a tunnel under Quincy street, so that there will be no fire of any description in the building, except in case of an accident to the electrical lighting apparatus, when gas will be used, The sales-rooms will be lighted by arc lights and the offices by incandescent lamps, and in order to guard in every possible way against fire mercurial fire alarms and Grinnell annunciators are provided, in addition to which six watchmen will be on duty all night in the interior, and two on the exterior. There are on the outside of the building three fire escapes and five stand-pipes, to which the city fire department can attach hose in case of an outbreak of fire.

Two passenger elevators and three broad stairways furnish access to the various floors, and there are also freight elevators, all of which can be utilized to clear the building of clerks in case of an emergency, from which it will be seen that every means have been adopted to render the building fire proof and to protect those whose business requires their attendance there. There will be thirty-three departments in the building arranged as follows:

In the basement, domestics and upholstery hardware; the first story will contain the offices, upholstery goods, prints, silks shawls; the second will be devoted to cloths, flannels and dress goods; the third to underwear, blankets and cloaks; the fourth to linens, to white goods, handkerchiefs, laces, etc.; the fifth to notions entirely; the sixth to notions, carpets, mattings and oil cloths; and the seventh floor to rugs and the packing department. The firm, which in its wholesale department employs twelve hundred clerks and assistants, and in the retail department between thirteen and fourteen hundred clerks, started in 1865 in Lake street, as successors to the business of Potter Palmer, and in 1868 removed to the building on the corner of State and Washington. streets now occupied by the retail department. After the big fire the retail and wholesale departments were separated, and the building at the corner of Madison and Market streets
was erected for the wholesale trade, the retail departments being placed in the new building erected on State and Washington streets. The steady increase of business and the demand constantly made upon the firm for additional space in which to exhibit and store their goods, rendered the construction of the new building just finished an absolute necessity, and in round numbers about two millions of dollars bare been expended in the purchase of the site and completion of the structure. The firm is the largest legitimate jobbing house in the country, has branches in New York, Manchester, England; Paris, and Chenmitz, and does a business amounting to about thirty million dollars yearly.

Rand, McNally’s Bird’s-Eye Views of Chicago, 1893

② The Marshall Field & Co. Building (“Wholesale).
This structure one of the most impressive in the whole world is described in our chapter on “Notable High Buildings,” although the building is an exception in that category of edifices. While only partial attempts were made to fire-proof its interior, the outer walls have 110 equal for solidity in the city. Great monoliths of red granite compose the exterior to the cornice of the upper or seventh story. Inner partitions of iron, shutters of iron, and a well-disciplined watch, add to the security of the colossal house. It fronts on the south side of Adams 325 feet, on Franklin Street and Fifth Avenue 190 feet, and is 130 feet high, with 7 stories and basement. There are 13 elevators, 12 acres of floor space, and 1,800 employes. The visitor may enter and look about for a moment, beholding a wonderful hive of actual, time-saving trade. Erected in 1886.

Marshall Field and Company Wholesale Jewelry Department Catalogue 1894.

Beginning in December, 1908, Marshall Field & Co. created their own private label pocket watch line and named it “Ariston.” The trademark was patented on May 18, 1909. The watches were manufactured by the Illinois Watch Co. in Springfield, Illinois. The line ended in 1916.

These watches are much sought after by collectors for their quality. The unique enamel dials were marked Ariston USA, Ariston Jr and Ariston Rated. The movements were marked “Ariston” on the movement along with MF&Co logo and on the back of the case as well.

Inter Ocean, August 3, 1912

A notable deal on the West Side was disclosed yesterday by its being recorded in the sale of the warehouse property at the northeast corner of Fulton and Desplaines streets by George E. Spry to Frederick W. Matthiessen of La Salle, 111., for a nominal consideration, subject to an incumbrance of $165,000. The transaction was negotiated by White & Tabor for the seller and W. A. Merigold & Co. for the purchaser. The property is 170 feet square and is occupied by a seven story ware. house structure under lease for six years to Marshall Field & Co. The buildings at Fulton and Desplaines were occupied at one time by Sears, Roebuck & Co. Mr. Spry obtained in exchange for his equity in the property the vacant property at 733-35 South Dearborn street, near Polk street, fronting fifty feet. upon which a valuation of $85,360 is placed by the board of review; thirty acres of land in Washington Heights and a tract of 160 acres at Forty-Eighth avenue and Ninety-First street.

Chicago Tribune, June 20, 1912

Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1927 (Excerpt)

Replaces 12 Present Warehouses.
Some idea of the magnitude of the proposed concentration of the Field manufacturing, storage, and wholesale departments can be gained when it is known that twelve warehouses and factories throughout Chicago are to be moved to the new building.

These properties are at Polk and the river, Polk and Ellsworth, the Pennsylvania terminal, North Pier terminal, Fulton and Desplaines, Fulton and Jefferson, 14th and Indiana, 17th and Wabash, 14 North Sangamon, 618 South Canal, 705 West Harrison, and 308 West Madison.

In addition to these is the dignified old red granite wholesale house on Adams, between Wells and Franklin, designed by H. H. Richardson, famous architect of Boston. This is owned by the Field estate and leased to the Field store.

Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1930

We are satisfying herewith the curiosity of the many Chicagoans who have been wondering what is to become of the huge blocks of granite forming the walls of the old Marshall Field & Co. wholesale store when that landmark is torn down. The blocks of granite will not move from their location—at least for the time being—as they will be used to fill the hole left when the old structure is torn down.

The old Marshall Field wholesale house occupies the block bounded by Wells, Franklin, Adams, and Quincy streets. The ground has been leased for a term of years to R. G. Lydy for use as an open air garage. The use of the land necessitated a level surface and it was decided to employ the old granite blocks to obtain this. It is planned to start tearing down the structure on May 15.

Left to Right

Merchandise Mart

Prairie Avenue

Chicago Streets

D. B. Cooke & Co.’s City Directory for the Year 1859-1860

Prairie Avenue

Halpin & Bailey’s Chicago City Directory for the Year 1863-64
Prairie Av., From Douglas pl. north to Sixteenth, S.D.

Edwards’ Annual Directory to the City of Chicago for 1867
Prairie Av. fr. 16th s. to 31st, s. of E. Porter’s div. and fr. Lyon av. s. to Douglas place, S. D. This avenue is numbered to correspond with State street for the convenience of parties using that line of cars.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago. 1880
Prairie av., (S.D.) fr. 5 Sixteenth s. to City Limits. Even nos. w.s.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago. 1885
Prairie av., (S.D.) fr. 9 Sixteenth s. to Fifty-fifth. Even nos. w.s.

1600, John G. Shortall
1601, Herman W. Heinrichs, James Darlow, William Morton Payne
16th Street Station
1608, Henry L. Frank
1609 E. T. Cade (Commercial Building)
1611, George F. Greenleaf (Boarding House)
1612 (815), Joseph Goodman
1613 (827), Boarding House
1616, William R. Stirling
1619 (833), Joseph Liebenstein
1620 (838), Robert H. Law
1621, John H. Hamline
1623, Granger Farwell
1625, Hugh J. McBirney, Jr.
1626, Abraham Longini, C. W. Harvey,
1628 (844), Morris Einstein
1630 (846), Peter Brust,
1634 (848 ), Charles J. Gilbert
1635 L. A. Herrick
1636 (850 ), Amos T. Hall
1637 (847), Jesse Spalding
1638 (854), John G. Shortall

1701 (851), William G. Hibbard
1702 (852), John Staples
1706, John G. M. Glessner
1709, Palmer V. Kellogg
1712 (864), Albert Sturges
1720 (870), James M. Walker
1717/1721 (869), Wirt Dexter
1726 (874), Charles Silverman
1729 (879), George M. Pullman
1730 (878), Amariah A. Dewey
1736, Henry Strong

1800, John J. Glessner
1801, William W. Kimball
1804 (888) & 1808 (890), Horatio Hitchcock (1804), Andrew J. Galloway (1808)
1808, O. R. Keith
1811, Joseph Coleman
1812, George H. Wheeler
1815, Joseph Sears
1816 (896), Charles M. Henderson
1823, Thomas Dent
1824 (902), Samuel Barber Pomeroy
1827, John W. Doane
1828 (906), Daniel B. Shipman
1834, Fernando Jones

1900 (916), Elbridge G. Keith
1901, O. R. Keith
1905 (923), Marshall Field
1906 (924), Edson Keith
1912, Byron T. Moulton
1919, Marshall Field, Jr.
1923 (941), Charles P. Kellogg
1936 (936), Daniel M. Thompson
1945 (945), George Armour

2000 (948), John M. Clark
2001, Dr. John W. Streeter M.D., James M. Allen, A. E. Storey
2003 (949), George F. Bissell
2009, Max A. Meyer
2010 (956), William L. Grey
2011, Mrs. Wilbur F. Storey
2013 (957) I & II, William H. Reid III
2017, William Armour
2018, E. Walter Herrick, J. L. Lombard
2021 (963), Benjamin Adams
2026 (964), Louis & Christian Wahl
2027, William B. Walker
2031 (971), Samuel A. Tolman
2033 (973), Frederick R. Otis
2035 (975), Horatio O. Stone
2036, Ebenezer Buckingham

2100 (980), John B. Sherman
2101, Eugene S. Pike
2108 (984), Mark Kimball
2109, Robert W. Roloson
2110, Harriet F. Rees (house moved to 2017 Prairie in 2014)
2112, W. G. Wilson, Max. M. Rothschild
2115 (945), Philip D. Armour
2120, Ozra W. Clapp
2123, Moshier T. Greene
2125 (995), Charles H. Wheeler
2126 (998), Charles D. Hamill
2130, Thomas Murdoch
2140 (1010), William F. Tucker

The Land Owner, May, 1874

The Prairie-Avenue Residences.
Our artist shows in this issue a number of the beautiful homes on Prairie avenue, one of the most fashionable and handsomely-built of all our South-Side thoroughfares. No city in the world can rival Chicago in its residences, a fact which shows that this class of buildings has not suffered by the fire and the consequent turning of capital into the erection of business blocks.

After all, one of the greatest attractions a city can offer is its homes, for to obtain them is the end of most men’s aspirations, for which they toil and sweat in the counting-room and at the various trades and professions. Visitors who crowd to Chicago neglect to see the homes of our citizens, being wholly absorbed and astonished by the wonderful buildings put up since the fire in the burnt district. They should not fail to visit such streets as Prairie avenue, where the home-life of our citizens of means is laid.

THE HOMES OF CHICAGO

Inter Ocean, January 2, 1887

Chicago has every reason to be proud of her beautiful homes. The stranger from the distant East, the far West, or the sunny South, after a brief sojourn in the Garden City, looked upon the shores of a great lake, carries back with him pleasant memories of the avenues, boulevards, and palatial homes that adorn them, as well as recollections of the city’s wonderful activity and progress. Upon the South Side, for a distance of six blocks, Prairie avenue is pronounced the residence street par excellence. A pleasing feature is the marked individuality displayed by the owners in erecting mansions, substantial and beautiful, but different from each other in the style of architecture. The aggregate wealth of the residents of these blocks is placed at $50,000,000, at a low estimate. Presidents of banks and large corporations; senior members of the most prominent firms, transacting a larger business than any in their particular line in the West; owners of bonds, stocks, and real estate; the leaders of society, the patrons of the opera, and the subscribers to every charitable object are among the number whose homes are within these few blocks, and whose residence property has reached the highest market price. The stroller notices among the number the following, first on the west and then on the east side of this avenue to Twenty-second street.

Leaving Sixteenth street and wending his way southward, the sightseer observes on the west side of the street an oddly-constructed brick house, with steps peculiarly shaped leading to the main entrance. It has a rounded corner surmounted with a tower. The grounds are enclosed with an iron fence. Mr. John G. Shorthall, the President of the Humane Society, and a lover of the god and beautiful, had his house built under his personal supervision.

Prairie Avenue, 1887

Morning and night, a showy turnout is noticed before the squarely-built house, with the number 1612 over the portals. It is owned by Mr. W. P. Studebaker, one of the Studebaker Brothers, whose immense carriage-warehouse rears its head aloft upon Michigan avenue.

The venerable and well-preserved Mr. Robert Law, the pioneer coat merchant, makes No. 1620 his abode. The house is commodious, olive green in color, and affords a fine view of the lake. Mr. Law shares the honors, as a dealer in black diamonds, with Mr. William P. Rend, in ranking.

Among the millionaires, Mr. William R. Stirling, the treasurer of the Joliet Steel Company, received No. 1616 and its furnishings from his model father-in-law, Mr. William G. Hibbard. At No, 1638 is another son-in-law of Mr. Hibbard’s, R. R. Gregory, Esq., who has many substantial reasons for remembering the generosity of the large-hearted hardware merchant when he enters his English cottage.

Mr. Morris Einstein, the retired clothier and capitalist, is the fortunate owner of several houses facing this avenue. His own residence, No. 1628, is a three-story pressed-brick front, which stands back in well-kept grounds. The house is none too roomy for the numerous children and grandchildren.

A most attractive house, No. 1702, is that of Mr. Turlington W. Harvey, the lumber merchant, and one of the few of that line of business whose riches approximate a million of dollars. The chief charm of this house, French chateau, in the style of architecture, is its home-like appearance, displaying the good judgement of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey. While it is large, it does not suggest a chilling splendor, but an atmosphere of comfort and content pervades their earthly paradise.

Prairie Avenue

The dark colored frame house, with the entrance in the center, is the residence of Mrs. J. M. Walker, who is spending the winter in Italy. Wirt D. Walker is often seen at the races, driving a pair of jet black horses to a dog cart. His brother, James Walker, before his departure for Europe, purchased the double-swell brick houses immediately south of the family residence. The coming summer it is his intention to replace these houses with a dwelling house rivaling in beauty any on the avenue, and in keeping with its surroundings. The purchase price was the highest paid for inside lots of residence property in this city. Mr. Joseph E. Otis has completed the remodeling of No. 1730, where he has dwelt many years. Mr. Otis is one of the three brothers who have grown wealthy in the rise of real estate. The Eighteenth street corner, the northwest, was formerly owned by Mr. E. G. Asay, the lawyer, Mr. Hugh J. McBirney, President of the McBirney & Johnston Company, lives at No. 1736. At the close of a summer day the veranda of this hospitable home is always filled with the family and their many friends.

Passing to the opposite corner upon the south, and a most originally planned structure greets the eye. The architect was the late Mr. H. H. Richardson, of Boston. The same gentleman designed Mr. Franklin McVeague’s house upon the lake shore drive and the new Field store. This strange looking building elicits many comments from both residents and strangers. For solidity it is superior among the thousands of well built homes in this city. There is no dividing line between the outer walls of the house and stable. The windows upon the street and avenue are for the most part small and the roof is sloping. The house covers every foot of the frontage. The grounds within are not visible except from the house of the owner.

The northern wall of the new house, adjoining upon the south is unbroken. The residence is said to be of the Spanish-Mexican type, and of convenient internal arrangement. Its late architect had a National reputation. When finished the house will be occupied by the builder, John J. Glessner. Warder, Bushnell & Glessner, and will lone represent a large fortune. In strong and marked contrast to Mr. Glessner’s, is the granite house of Mr. O. R. Keith, which is receiving its finishing touches. Mr. Keith has personally attended to the pettiest details in the construction of his new home and is highly elated with its unique facade and superb interior. During his sojourn abroad he collected numerous rare articles and choice paintings which will adorn the walls.

Mr. G. Henry Wheeler has a charming house, No. 1812, arranged and furnished in exquisite taste. Mr. Wheeler is of the firm of Munger, Wheeler & Co., and a son of the venerable Hiram Wheeler, Esq.

Mr. Charles M. Henderson, a leading jobbing shoe merchant, and a millionaire, has enjoyed his airy but substantially built mansion for many years.

The Fernando Jones house has been improved and enlarged recently. The late Mr. Wilbur Storey passed the closing years of his life in this house.

The light stone-front house, No, 1828, is a gem of artistic beauty, and the taste displayed in the selection of the costly paintings and the articles of virtue in this truly beautiful home reflects great credit upon Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Shipman.

Contiguous to Mr. Shipman’s is the handsome brown stone of the old and well-known resident, Mr. George B. Marsh. The most striking architectural feature is the main entrance, which has highly polished pillars of Scotch granite on either side. Being a connoisseur of cabinet ware and hard wood, Mr. Marsh has made choice of the best material which grows in the forest to embellish his delightful abode.

Side by side stand the houses of two of the best citizens of which Chicago can boast and they are brothers. Edson is the name of one and Elbridge is the other. The name Keith is synonymous with honesty and integrity, With the growth of this city they have kept pace and are in affluent circumstances. Mr. Elbridge Keith is President of the Metropolitan National Bank and the senior member of the hardware firm of Keith, Benham & Dezendorf, and Congressman in embryo. Mr. Edson Keith is a millionaire, head of a prominent firm, and the first President of the Calumet Club. His residence, although erected over twenty years ago, still ranks among the most ornate and elegant of more recent date.

Mr. B. P. Moulton, of Reyburn, Hunter & Co., paid a high price for his lot, and has placed upon it an exceedingly magnificent house of the modern style. It embodies to a high degree of strength, convenience and architectural beauty.

Towering far above the Moulton turrets is the big brick, with brown-stone trimmings, of the packer, Samuel Allerton. The Allerton mansion is conspicuous for its size and the extent of the grounds attached to it. It was not built by its owner and occupant, but was purchased at a bargain. A rare and costly jewel is enhanced in value and beauty by its setting, and this fine residence is especially noticeable because of its unrivaled grounds. Some ideas may be gained of their value when it is known that Mr. Allerton refused $117,000 for the lawn south of his home. The house itself is of no one pronounced style of architecture, but it has both French and Gothis characteristics, which are harmoniously blended. Mr. Allerton is a self-made man, and free from ostentation. At Lake Geneva, his country home, he has a steam yacht, and recently, to his other possessions, has added a tally-ho. His millions rate as high as half a dozen, for Mr. Samuel W. Allerton is President of the Allerton Packing Company.

Located at the southwest corner of Twentieth street is the cheerful-looking residence of Mr. John M. Clark, of Grey, Clark & Engle, leather dealers. Mrs. Clark is associated with Mrs. Dexter and Mrs. Pullman, forming the incomparable trio that has made the dancing class so successful and exclusive, its members being the creme de la creme of the upper-tendom of Chicago society.

Mr. Louis Wahl made No. 2026 his home, and often gathered about him the young people, that they might make merry. Upon the upper floor there is a commodious dancing hall. Mr. Levi Rosenfeld, a retired dry goods merchant and capitalist, succeeded Mr. Wahl in the ownership of this beautiful home. Mr. Ebenezer Buckingham, President of the Trader’s Insurance Company, has his residence at No. 2036, and Mr. John B. Sherman, Vice President and manager of the Union Stock Yards, lives upon the opposite corner of Twenty-first street.

Mr. Charles D. Hamill, whose fair face is as well known on ‘Change, drives from No. 2126 Prairie avenue to his office.

The last house upon this avenue, at he corner of Twenty-second, was erected by the late W. F. Tucker.

It is made conspicuous by its rounded corners and many towers. Mr. Byron L. Smith, the present owner, is Vice President of the Merchant’s Loan and Trust Company Bank, and the only son of the late Mr. Sol Smith, who left an estate of nearly a million dollars.

Prairie Avenue, about 1890.

Upon the east side of the avenue Colonel Jesse Spaulding, the ex-Collector of the port and lumber dealer, has the title deeds of No. 1637. The house is one of the plainest upon the street, although the owner has abundance of means to build a residence that would add still another to the numerous palaces that ornament this avenue.

Wr. William G. Hibbard, the President of the Hibbard, Spence & Bartlett Company, the hardware firm, has his lares and penates at No. 1701, and that number is known for good cheer which prevails within. Of an amiable and cheerful temperament, this prosperous merchant, not only at his own fireside brings happiness, but his genial influence is felt in many other households. An ideal father and grandfather is Mr. William G. Hibbard.

The late Palmer V. Kellogg and family formerly occupied No. 1709. Mr. Kellogg has been gathered to his fathers, and Mrs. Kellogg is traveling in Europe. During her absence, Mr. Thomas Murdoch, of the firm of Reid, Murdoch & Fischer, has leased the handsomely furnished house. Mr. Murdoch drives a dog cart, to which is attached a pair of stylish horses. He keeps banking hours, arriving at his store at 10, and leaving at 4 o’clock. With congenial spirits, he lunches at the Chicago Club daily. Both Mr. Hibbard’s and Mr. Murdoch’s commodious dwelling houses would invite attention wherever located.

The tastefully constructed frame house with modern improvements, No. 1721, is where Mr. Wirt Dexter, the able lawyer, enjoys his repose, for, when he leaves his law office he leaves behind him the cares of his profession and thinks only of his comfortable home and its happy inmates. Short and heavy in build, when astride a cob, his favorite exercise, as he trots down Calumet avenue, Mr. Dexter has the appearance of a well-to-do farmer jogging leisurely along. When his son Sam is home from college he often accompanies his father and is a graceful equestrian. Only an imaginary dividing line separates the grounds of Mr. Wirt Dexter and his friend, Mr. George M. Pullman, of palace-car fame. Scarcely an hour in the day but carriages may be seen slowly passing by the massive brown-stone palace of Mr. Pullman, while the occupants gaze with admiration upon the ornate bronze doors, the antique vases and the richly-curtained windows, and imagining the eloquence concealed within. Probably there is no residence on the South Side so complete in all its appointments as Mr. Pullman’s. If there is a historic spot in this city it is near the porte-cochere of the Pullman palace, for, there stands an unsightly cottonwood tree, a connecting link between the Chicago of the present and of the past. When a sapling of it was a mute witness of the massacre of the unsuspecting whites by the treacherous red men in 1812.

Crossing Eighteenth street, there is a long east frontage of unimproved lots. Upon this desirable corner and the adjacent lots Messrs. Eames & Rhodes erected (upon paper) the sky-scraping flats, while the residents for many blocks upon this aristocratic avenue held up their hands in holy horror at the mere mention of such a sacrilege. These sacred precincts as yet remain unmolested by the ruthless flat-builders, and no huge shadows fall upon the domains of the Garden City’s untitled lords.

The first house is not so large as its neighbors, but with the ground is valued at $75,000. The owner, Mr. Joseph G. Coleman, is a fine-looking young man, a son-in-law of Mr. S. B. Cobb, the capitalist and President of the Ohio Butt Company. In pleasing contrast to Mr. Coleman’s house is the much-admired light stone front of Mr. Joseph Sears, the partner of N. E. Fairbank. The pressed brick residence, No. 1823, is the peaceful, domicile of the highly esteemed lawyer, Judge Thomas Dent.

There are two capacious brown-stone residences which are rivals in size, but entirely different in their style of architecture. The arrangements of the interiors are as dissimilar as the exteriors, yet both are harmonious in their designs. The first, No. 1827, is Mr. J. W. Doane’s, the President of the Merchant’s Loan and Trust Company and the Commercial Club, and whose face is familiar to all the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church, where he has been a vestryman a score of years. The furnishings of Mr. Doane’s house are modern, rich, and beautiful, as many who have shared his hospitality can testify. Among the distinguished guests who have graced his board are Canon Farrar and Bishop Beckwith.

The other brown stone referred to was built by Mr. Osborne R. Keith. Ill health compelled him to absent himself from this city, and he resided abroad for a year and disposed of his elegant residence to Mr. Norman B, Ream for $150,000. Mr. Ream, since taking possession, has still further beautified it, and the artisans have not yet completed their task. This young millionaire is the latest accession to the hautton of Prairie avenue.

South of Mr. Ream’s is the unpretentious residence of Mr. Marshall Field. It was erected when mnsard roofs were deemed necessary and indicative of the latest style in architecture. Upon the southern exposure is a conservatory fitted with rare flowers. It is conjectured that Mr. Field will soon build a palatial mansion on the boulevard property he purchased of Mr. Potter Palmer, commensurate with his wealth and taste, and which will be unsurpassed in the West.

The President of Jennings Drying Machine Company, Mr. William H. Murray, lives at No. 1919, and his brother-in-law, Mr. Charles Schwartz, the successful broker skillful driver of a tally-ho, and likewise of the most expensive and speedy roadsters in the Western country, is a member of his household.

The two stately houses, numbered respectively 1923 and 1945, between Mr. Murray’s and Twentieth street, are the homes of two wealthy widows, Mrs. Charles P. Kellogg and Mrs. George Armour. The last named is spending the winter in England, and is estimated worth over $1,000,00. It is her oldest son, Mr. George A. Armour, of No. 1932 Calumet avenue, who is the benefactor of that most worthy charity, St. Clement’s Church. Another son is Mr. William Armour, who lives at No. 2017, and is rich for a young man and young for a rich man. He inherited vast wealth, and has an annual income, and is not troubled about his ranch. Mr. William B. Walker is at home at No. 2027, and can there welcome his brothers-in-laws, Coleman and Armour. Another of the Otis family lives modestly and quietly at No. 2033.

The steamboat house at the northeast corner of Twenty-first street is where Mrs. H. O. Stone entertains her thousand and one friends. The opposite corner is owned by Mr. Eugene S. Pike, the shrewd real estate manipulator. Mr. Robert W. Roloson, the commission merchant, is a few doors north of Mr. Philip Armour’s elegant but not imposing residence. At nightfall Mr. Armour’s house is particular noticeable, as a glimpse of the library, statuary and paintings can be obtained by the pedestrian, the parlors and reception-room being brightly illuminated. A biographical sketch of Mr. Armour, as well as those of Mr. Pullman and Mr. Field, have previously appeared in The Inter Ocean.

Mr. Mozier P. Greene, the able President of the Chicago Lumber Company, is the next door neighbor of the millionaire pork-packer. Mr. Greene’s convenient and expensive house is in striking contrast to the home of his boyhood days. Mr. Greene is an exemplification of enterprise and Western growth. From a poor boy he has risen to a position which constitutes the head of a powerful corporation, controlling the largest number of lumber markets in the land. As at Mr. Armour’s, the curtains are drawn aside during the early hours in the evening, presenting a brilliant and attractive scene to the passer-by.

Rand McNally’s Bird’s Eye Views of Chicago, 1893

Prairie Avenue, a neighborhood of millionaires, that for twenty years has grown more celebrated in local annals. On this street live many prominent persons whose estates are worth from one to thirty millions each. The houses are very large, and there are but few to the block. Some of these houses for many years have been occupied by men of immense wealth, who, had they sought only their own happiness, might have lived solely for worldly enjoyment. But they allowed themselves only reasonable comforts, accepting burdens that they might help build the Fair. Mr. Pullman, at No. 1729; Mr. Field, at No. 1905; Mr. Pike, at No. 2101 together with their neighbors have had a large part in the “World’s Columbian Exposition, and without Prairie Avenue perhaps there had been no thirty-million-do’Har Fair. Whether this avenue will hold its distinction against the Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Boulevard depends largely on the determination of its leading residents. If Messrs. Pullman, Field, and the rest spend their days in their old homes, property will retain its social value for the elite. The avenue is quiet and free from the interminable throngs of Michigan Boulevard; yet the prospect that the latter will be ten miles long in a straight line, and that fifty feet front anywhere south of Twenty-second Street will yet be a large fortune, must militate against the prestige of Prairie Avenue.

The Pullman residence occupies an area on the north side of Eighteenth Street, the house facing Prairie Avenue, with a handsome approach from the foregoing street. The old homestead is a stately brown-stone mansion with Mansard roof, having been remodeled in 1892 to admit a picture-gallery and palm-house. A charming feature of this beautiful estate is the magnificent conservatory and spacious lawn, forming a private park, on the south side of Eighteenth Street, bordering Calumet Avenue and commanding a grand view of Lake Michigan. The entire grounds are marked by quiet elegance and taste. The spot is historic, the very cottonwood tree beneath which the Fort Dearborn massacre in 1812 occurred, still standing here, recalling the terrible fate of victims fittingly commemorated in

The Massacre Monument, the gift of Mr. George M. Pullman, a bronze group at the foot of Eighteenth Street, designed by Mr. Carl Rohl-Smith. The work is strikingly original, the action spirited, and the tragic incidents of the drama portrayed with impressive force. Great skill is shown in the delineation of separate figures, and the ensemble is both harmonious and effective. The central subjects were modeled from life after famous Sioux chieftains. The scene depicting the rescue of Mrs. Helm from imminent death; the prostrate form of the post surgeon, meeting his fate at the hands of a victorious savage; and the significance of a crying child, recalling the massacre of infants, are realistically vivid in their motive and execution. The monument marks the spot where the tragedy was enacted, and upon the panels of the pedestal are four bas-reliefs illustrating more fully the general subject of the work. The base, pedestal, and sculptured group are of commanding proportions, and the city may congratulate itself upon so important an addition to its many beauti- ful works of art and one of so permanent an historic value.

1700/1701 to 1812/1815 Prairie Avenue.

1816/1823 to 1936/1945 Prairie Avenue.

From Eighteenth to Twenty-second. This locality is to be noted for the residence of J. W. Doane, No. 1827, which was perhaps the first “Chicago palace” to arrest the attention of city editors. Here, while Mr. Key, the artist, was at work within, the press reporters took daily assignments, and no doubt several of the Exposition buildings reached completion with half the notice that attached to the frescoes and finishing of Mr.Doane’s home. W.F. Storey then set out to astonish the community, and the house recently demolished at Fortieth and Grand Boulevard was the next object of local wonder. As we are not to return by this route, the carriage should proceed very slowly for the next four blocks, as there is much lo see. Here men of practically unlimited means have resided for two decades. Elder civilizations are not so democratic, and perhaps nowhere else on earth can so many wealthy households be found grouped together. Here within an area of five blocks there are at least forty of the sixty members of the Commercial Club. We have passed the Pullman and Field mansions, and now come to the residence of Philip D. Armour, the third in Chicago’s chief trinity of millionaires. This region has drawn heavily on the West Side’s leading men, a fact which has had much to do with the new slyle oiroeoco and belittled church architecture. The aristocratic quarter of Prairie Avenue is now passed. Wealth that at last aroused the jealousy of New York, merchants whose business affects every mart on earth, distributors and public servants of wide influence, have been left behind as we cross the cable tracks of—

Twenty-second Street.—Here was once the city’s ultima thule. Here, as late as 1865, on the prairie, men played ball and boys wandered off toward the old Chicago University, now no more. We come upon the diagonal Cottage Grove Avenue at Twenty-third Street, and because of the struggle between business and comfort, we seem to have lost our street and our pavement, and rumble along over a stone road already worn out. At Twenty-third Street are the Marathon Apartments on the right, and at 2535 the Loring School for young ladies and children, established in 1876.

Chicago Tribune, January 9, 1898

People have been living in Prairie avenue for thirty years and more, the span of a generation, and in the passing of this third of a century have hung crepe on their doors and admitted mourning into their hearts many a time. Indeed, so great a number of the residents have been taken away by death that the avenue in its old limitations, between Sixteenth and Twenty-second streets, might almost be called an avenue of widows and widowers. Time has dealt gently with many of the denizens of this quiet old street and some are hale and hearty, though far beyond the allotted three score and ten. The houses along the way are staid and prim and the sunlight makes them very bright and cheerful. Yet there are vacant chairs in nearly every one.

Take this avenue, beginning at Sixteenth street, and scan it, and here are some of the widows and widowers who dwell in it.

Beginning at Sixteenth street Prairie avenue in resent years has been changing its aspect in small degree. The noisy trans of the Illinois Central line, flying by in such close proximity, are no novelty, for they were there—some of them—as early as any of the residences. But the row of tall, old-fashioned houses that faces south in Sixteenth street and peers down the avenue is altered. All the residents of the choice neighborhood used to rejoice that two of those brown guardians at the street’s end, looking like twins, were occupied by Dr. Edmund Andrews and Dr. Hosmer A. Johnson. Dr. Johnson is dead, leaving a fine, fair memory, and Dr. Andrews has gone farther south in Prairie avenue, away below Twenty-second street. And now there is a blazing sign on this tall home of the two doctors announcing that it is the Hotel Abbott.

John G. Shortall First.
Just in front of this hotel, and the first house on the west side of Prairie avenue, is the home of John G. Shortall. He is a widower—the companion of his pipe and the friend of dumb animals. Mr. Shortall’s wife died seventeen years ago. She was the daughter of John N. Staples, a pioneer in Prairie avenue, and she grew to womanhood in the residence afterward bought by T. W. Harvey. Mrs. Shortall is remembered as a bright and clever woman who like society and loved her home. Mrs. Shortall’s full name was Mary Dunham Staples, and she was the pioneer’s eldest daughter. The marriage took place Sept. 5, 1861. Their one child, John Louis Shortal, was born in 1865. He and his wife reside with his father.

Just a little way south of Mr. Shortall lives Robert Law, the coal merchant, who is also a widower. Mrs. Law had been dead for a good many years. The home of Mr. Law is a three-story red brick of good old-fashioned proportions. Mr. Law is a Presbyterian and a member of the First Church.

Mrs. James W. Walker, widow of the railroad attorney, lives in the homestead at 1720 Prairie avenue, a large frame house with a hospitable look. Her residence looks directly over at that built and occupied by her husband’s partner, Wirt Dexter. His widow dwelt in that house until a year ago, when she removed to Boston. Mrs. Walker, however remains in the old neighborhood. Her husband has been dead a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. James R. Walker live next door on the south of Mrs. J. M. Walker.

The recent death of George M. Pullman has, of course, added one to the large list of widows in Prairie avenue. Mrs. Pullman lives in the great brownstone mansion at Eighteenth street, her two sons living with her. Her daughter, Mrs. Frank Orren Lowden, lives near by, in Twentieth street. It was in March, 1867, that Mr. Pullman was married to Miss Hattie A. Sanger, a daughter of James Y. Sanger, who was one of the earliest settlers of the city. Mr. Sanger is remembered as having been largely interested in notable public works, among them the Ohio and Mississippi railroad and the Illinois and Michigan Canal. When Mr. Pullman died he left, besides the widow, four children—Mrs. Lowden, and Mr. Frank Carolan of San Francisco. Mrs. Pullman is known among her friends and neighbbors as a kindly and benevolent woman who is always ready to open her home and the theater in its third story for charity benefits, children’s entertainments, and for all helpful work. Her father, it is recalled, was once a partner of General Stewart and John S. Wallace.

South of Eighteenth Street.
The widow of Charles Maher Henderson still occupies the family home at 1816 Prairie avenue. She was Miss Emily Hollingsworth, daughter of James Hollingsworth of Chicago. Mr. Henderson was one of the city’s business-men until his death a couple of years ago. He came to Chicago in 1853 and was married five years later. From the start his interests in this city were in the shoe and leather business. Mr. Henderson was, and Mrs. Henderson is still, a worker in the first Presbyterian Church.

George Henry Wheeler, whose home is at 1812 Prairie avenue. recently lost his wife. The President of the Washington Park club and the Chicago City railway company is a familiar figure to frequenters of the South Side boulevards. He is fond of good horses and generally tools his dogcart southward in the early afternoon. His daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Young, live with him. Mt. Young is a Louisville man, and was an Assistant Corporation Counsel in Mayor Swift’s administration.

Mrs. Edson Keith still resides in the homestead at 1906 Prairie avenue, next door south of her brother-in-law, Osborne R. Keith. With Mrs. Keith are her son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Walter Keith. Her other son, Edson Keith, Jr., lives further south in the street, at 2110. It ws in September, 1896, that the community was shocked by the tragic drowning of the elder Mrs. Mrs. Keith’s husband, the merchant. Mrs. Keith is deeply interested in church work, being a member of the Universalist society.

Marshall Field lives at 1905 Prairie avenue. Mrs. Field died while in Nice somewhat more than a year ago, and in answer to the desire of her son, Marshall Field Jr., and her daughter, Mrs. Arthur Tree, now residents of Leamington, England,. was buried near that old town. Mr. Field travels a great deal, but for more than half of each year is at the great red brick residence that has for so many years been an ornament to the avenue.

Next door south of the residence made vacant by the removal of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field Jr. is the large brick residence occupied by Mrs. Sarah H. Kellogg and her daughter, Mrs. Pierrepont Isham. Their number in the avenue is 1923. Mrs. Kellogg is the widow of Charles P. Kellogg, the wholesale clothier. She is a quiet woman, but very well known in society.

Mrs. Henry Corwith occupies the residence formerly owned by Mrs. Barbara Armour at 1945 Prairie avenue, with Charles R. Corwith and John W. Corwith. The house stands alongside the home of the widow of Charles P. Kellogg and is equally commodious. Mrs. Corwith’s house is on the corner of Twentieth street. Her husband now dead a number of years, came from Galena, and his wealth was made in real estate, in lead, and iron.

Samuel W. Allerton, whose big red brick house and ample grounds at 1936 Prairie avenue are typical of the man, is a widower remarried. Mr. Allerton was married in 1860 to Miss Paduella W. Thompson of Peoria, who died in 1880. A year later he married his deceased wife’s sister, Miss Agnes C. Thompson. Mr. and Mrs. Allerton are domestic and rural in their tastes—in fact, Mr. Allerton is always pleased to be called a farmer—and only recently this picturesque Chicagoan announced that he was going ton leave Chicago because it is too dirty to be endured, and make his home permanently at Lake Geneva. As a packer, a Board of Trade man, a miner of gold, a banker, and a businessman the story of Mr. Allerton’s success is a story of the success of Chicago. His venture into the field of politics have been no less interesting because less successful than his business enterprises. His campaign for Mayoralty against the elder Harrison in 1893 was unique, and his more recent Senatorial ambitions afforded Chicago and Illinois an interesting experience.

Mrs. George F. Bissell is the widow of the insurance man whose office was for so many years located in the Montauk Block, just west of the First National Bank. Mrs. Bissell lives with her two sons at 2003 Prairie avenue. Her husband was active in all public affairs, was interested in genealogical records, and for a time was President of the Illinois society, Sons of the American Revolution. He died but a few years ago.

At 2000 Prairie avenue Mrs. M. A. Meyer lives with her sons and daughters. She has been a widow for some time. She is the mother of Mrs. Levy Mayer, who has a home at 1815—one block north.

Mrs. A. D. Lamb, at 2011 Prairie avenue, is living with his son, Benjamin B. Lamb. Their home is the old Wilbur F. Storey homestead, where Mrs. Story lived and where she died in 1896. Mrs. Storey’s sister was the wife of A. D. Lamb and their maiden name was Bissell, their brother having been an innkeeper here in the earlier days. He kept the old Matson House at Dearborn and Randolph streets, where the Borden Block now stands. Mrs. Lamb died several years before her sister, Mrs. Wilbur F. Storey. In his more active days A. D. LAmb was a partner in the firm of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. Afterwards he had some mining interests. The Storey home is of gray stone and stands closely wedged in between a brown stone house and a tall new brick residence, bult in renaissance style.

William H. Reid of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, whose home is at 2013 Prairie avenue, is a widower remarried, the present Mrs. Reid having been a Kentucky belle.

Two widows live in the residence at 2018 Prairie avenue. It is the home of Mrs. L. A. Herrick, whose husband, a prosperous merchant, died a number of years ago. With Mrs. Herrick is her widowed daughter, Mrs. A. H. De Teresa. She was married to a Mexican gentleman, the owner of large properties in Mexico, He died soon after their marriage. With Mrs. Herrick also is her son, E. Walter Herrick, a well-known clubman.

Just south of the Herrick home is the old-time residence of a widow, Mrs. Mark Kimball, who no longer lives in the avenue. Her husband in earlier times was a hardware merchant of the firm of Botsford & Kimball. Her son is Eugene Kimball, who lives in Kenwood. The mother is at the Lakota.

Silas B. Cobb is one of the widowers of the street. He is also one of the landmarks of Chicago. He is a man of great wealth, and lives in a wide, rambling, red brick house at 2027, next door south of the attorney, James L. High. With Mr. Cobb are Mr. and Mrs. William B. Walker and Charles Cobb Walker. Mrs. Walker is Mr. Cobb’s daughter. Two doors north of the Cobb residence his daughter Bertha used to live. She was Mrs. William Armour. Her husband died, and later she was married to Walter D. Denegre, a resident of New Orleans, who not long ago missed an election to the United States Senate by the narrow margin of three votes.

Mrs. Cobb died several years ago. She was one of the twin Warren girls whose father settled in the vicinity early, and established the place near Warrensville. Her twin sister is Mrs. Jerome Beecher, who is now a widow but not a resident of Prairies avenue. They were beautiful girls, and widely known among the older inhabitants. Jerome Beecher was once a business partner of Silas B. Cobb in the shoe and leather business. Mrs. Beecher lives at 241 Michigan avenue. Mr. Cobb os now above 80 years of age. He walks about in the avenue, and takes the air in the constant company of a valet. He is a large owner of Chicago City railway stock. He took steps toward perpetuating his memory recently by building the beautiful Cobb Hall for the Chicago University. He has also given large sums to the charities of the city.

Bereavement came years ago to the home of Mrs. H. O. Stone, 2035 Prairie avenue. She has been a widow many years. Her children are everything to her now. These are Horatio and Carl, both married; Mrs. Secor Cunningham, whose runaway match startled Chicago society a few years ago; and Robert, a student at Yale, who is just now home for the holidays.

Ebenezer Buckingham has been in Chicago and likewise a resident of Prairie avenue for many years. He is a widower, and resides at 2036 with his son, Clarence Buckingham, and his daughters. He is a bank President, and is also much interested in the elevator business. In the old days the firm name was Sturges & Buckingham.

John B. Sherman, 2100 Prairie avenue,, was for a long time—at least for ten years—in the widower’s list, but was married again three years ago, and thus is removed from that roll. Mr. Sherman is at the head of the Union Stock-Yards company.

At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene S. Pike, 2101 Prairie avenue, lives Mrs. Helen Rockwell, Mrs. Pike’s mother, a charming old lady, who has seen her four score years and ten. Mrs. Rockwell is a widow.

Miner T. Ames, the coal merchant, was once one of the substantial residents of the avenue. He lived in the house directly south of W. W. Kimball’s, but when he died his widow sold the property and removed a little south, to 2108 Prairie avenue, where dhe still resides. One of her daughters is the wife of Mr. Boldt, manager of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New YOrk. Her son, “Snake” Ames, was for several years a famous football player.

Robert W. Roloson, the Board of Trade man, whose home is 2100 Prairie avenue, is a widower remarried. The present Mrs. Roloson was Miss Belle Marshall of Kentucky, and her mother, Mrs. Judith L. Marshall, a widow, makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Roloson is a descendant of Chief Justice Marshall.

Mrs. M. M. Rothschild of 2112 Prairie avenue is a widow, her husband having taken his own life while temporarily insane. Mr. Rothschild’s dementia took a peculiar form, for, although he left an estate valued at $2,000,000, he imagined himself a pauper and hanged himself in his own home.

The big white house at 2115 Prairie avenue, of which Philip D. Armour is head, shelters a widow, Mrs. Alice A Sloan, the friend and confidant of Mr. Armour. Home life and domestic happiness mark the Armour family, father and sons, and while Mrs. P. D. Armour is still a young and striking-looking woman she is not so often seen in society as many of her neighbors.

T. M. Avery in the List.
Thomas M. Avery of 2123 Prairie avenue, the President of the Elgin Watch company, is a widower, and his son, Frank Morris Avery, who makes his home with his father, is a widower remarried. The present Mrs. Avery was May Clarke, the star of the Carleton club’s dramatic corps, and she is spoken of as “the beautiful Mrs. Avery.” Her mother, Mrs. Ella Clarke, who is a widow, also makes her home with Mr. Avery.

Mrs. Charles Schwartz was one of the widows of Prairie avenue, but she left Chicago soon after her husband’s death, about five years ago. She was a Miss Wadsworth, the daughter of T. W. Wadsworth, and more than one tragedy has marked her life. In her young womanhood Miss Wadsworth became engaged to a sterling young Chicagoan, who died on the eve of the day that had been set for the wedding. Later she met and married Charles Schwartz, the head of the great Board of Trade firm of Schwartz, Dupee & Co. and one of the founders and principal supporters of the Washington Park club. His sudden death in the very prime of a successful career closed one of the most charming of homes in Prairie avenue. Mr. Schwartz was one of the greatest entertainers in Chicago, and vied with his wife in preparing novel and amusing entertainment for his guests. It is related among his intimates that upon one occasion Mr. Schwartz engaged Paderewski to give a piano recital at his residence at the instance of his wife. The magnetic young pianist gladly accepted the invitation of the big stock broker—for a consideration of $1,000—and, with the check in his pocket, enraptured the select company that was gathered by the invitation of the broker’s wife. At the conclusion of the musicale some of Mr. Schwartz’s men friends lingered for a game of poker. The pianist joined the party, but—in the language of the club most affected by Mr. Schwartz—he also ran, for when the game broke up—so the story goes—the Schwarz check for $1,000 was back in the Schwarz pocket along with $500 in I.O.U.s signed by Paderewski. Mr. Schwarz was as engaging as his widow is charming. She has recently returned to Chicago from Massachusetts, but will not live in Prairie avenue again, having taken a house in Cedar street.

Mrs. Mosher T. Green was until recently a member of the colony of widows who live at 1912 Prairie avenue. She is the widow of the well-known lumberman, The tragic death of her husband not long since will be recalled by nearly every Chicagoan. Mr. Green was drowned from a pleasure boat off Highland Park while attempting to rescue a Newfoundland dog that had become exhausted while swimming in the lake. The accident added one to the list of tragedies, the shadows of which hover about the avenue. Mr. Green was one of the pioneers in Chicago’s lumber trade, a pillar in Bishop Cheney’s church, and a companionable citizen. One of the last incidents in the life of the Greens on Prairie avenue was an elaborate reception prepared with great pains and given for their friends from all parts of the city. That reception was a matter of much interest and is recalled as a part of the unwritten history of the thoroughfare. Mrs. Green moved away soon after her husband’s death.

Thirty Years Ago.
Thirty years ago two houses adorned Prairie avenue. One was at 1824, which used to be the home of the Marsh family. The other was the John N. Staples homestead in the middle of the block, on the west side, between Eighteenth and Seventeenth streets. No building relieved the monopoly of the sand flats on the east side of the street and only the tracks of the Illinois Central and Michigan Central railroads lay between the roadway and the lake. Street cars did not reach the home of these pioneers—the Staples and the Marsh families. A passenger who did not choose walking all the way fro the center of the town could ride as far south as Twelfth street in a State street horse car and go afoot the remainder of the distance. Mr. Marsh was a member of the lumber firm of Palmer, Fuller & Co. After his death his widow kept the place open for a time, but finally gave it up and went to a farm near Laporte, Ind., where she died. The old Staples homestead, 1703 Prairie avenue, was sold to T. W. Harvey. Fernando Jones was the third person to build in the avenue. He still lives in the house he built there, at 1834.

The avenue has retained its character and consistency and has had a large share in the history of Chicago, in that it has been the residence of so many of the city’s prominent citizens, some dead and some still living.

Chicago Tribune, November 17, 1929

By Betty Browning.
Brown stone mansions with spacious gardens behind wrought iron fences, carriage houses roomy enough for a dozen equipages, gray renaissance chateaux, high stoops, broad verandas. and blue slate mansard roofs still line Prairie avenue. The street preserves much of the outward semblance of the Prairie avenue of fifty years ago, when Marshall Field, George M. Pullman, Philip D. Armour, and many other builders of Chicago fortunes lived here and made it a center of the city’s avenue wealth and fashion.

But Chicago neighborhoods change quickly, and, with the passing of older generation, sons and grandsons moved away and Prairie avenue became a tradition of dead merchant princes and forgotten balls. A caretaker guards the empty, shuttered Field mansion at 1905, and “furnished rooms” proclaims the destiny of the Armour house at 2115. Chickens and ducks run wild in the premises of the J. D. Sherman house and vacant lots replace the old homes of Eugene S. Pike and Silas B. Cobb.

Only Stone Wall Remains.
All that remains of the Pullman mansion at 18th street, with its “picture gallery and palm house, magnificent conservatory and private park,” are a stone wall and a few steps leading to an empty site.

Publishing houses and engineers have taken over some of the more fortunate houses. The old Arthur Meeker house at 1815 remains nearly intact, with paneled walls preserved, in the hands of a firm of publishers. The Architects’ club has made its headquarters in the house of W. W. Kimball, the piano manufacturer, at 1801.

“Palace” Awaits Wrecker.
But “Chicago’s first palace,” the residence of J. W. Doane, whose construction is said to have caused more newspaper comment than that of any World’s Fair building, has been abandoned by its business owner, and now awaits the wreckers with paneling and statuary exposed to the weather through open doors and windows.

The houses of Charles D. Hamill, Frederick T. Haskell, Henry A. Blair, James E. Otis, and William Gold Hibbard are in other hands, and roomers have replaced guests in the ballrooms where Mr. H. O. Stone once held sway. Only a few scattered stone and wrought iron garden urns and carriage posts are left of that era of garden parties and cotillions.

Status Commemorates Massacre.
Prairie avenue has been linked with Chicago history since frontier days. The old trail from Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne ran near the upper end of Prairie avenue, and, when Fort Dearborn was abandoned in the war of 1812, the settlers fled along the trail as far south as Prairie avenue and 18th street. There the Indians attacked them, and a statue a few feet from Prairie avenue on 18th street, erected by George Pullman at the very doorstep of his house, commemorates the massacre.

In 1856 Stephen A. Douglas, who lived near Prairie avenue at 35th street, deeded ten acres at 34th street through which Prairie avenue now runs to an infant University of Chicago. This early university, of which Douglas was both incorporator and trustee, was later succeeded by the present university.

At Zenith After the Fire.
It was not until after the fire that Prairie avenue reached the zenith of its fame. At that time the older residences on the west side were abandoned and people began to move north or south. Prairie avenue was particularly favored because of its proximity to the lake, although the Illinois Central tracks presented a certain disadvantage which capricious fashion chose to disregard. By 1880 the street was lined with new houses of a style far more pretentious than any Chicago had ever before known.

An old Chicago guide of the time of the World’s Fair says:

Some of these houses for many years have been occupied by men of immense wealth, who, had they sought only their own happiness, might have lived solely for worldly enjoyment. But they allowed themselves only reasonable comforts, accepting burdens that they might help build the fair. Mr. Pullman, Mr. Field, and Mr. Pike, together with their neighbors, have had a large part in the World’s Columbian exposition, and without Prairie avenue there would have been no thirty million dollar fair.

Wane After Turn of Century.
With the turn of the century began the wane of Prairie avenue’s fortunes. A book published in 1899 comments:

Whether this avenue will hold its distinction against the Lake Shore drive and Michigan boulevard depends largely upon the determination of its leading residents.

By the second decade of this century the last of the old families had moved away, leaving here and there a solitary survivor.

Prairie avenue’s name was not idly conferred. In the fifties it ran beyond the city limits at 22d street through Stephen Douglas’ broad acres. As the city spread southward, Prairie avenue was extended to the less heavily populated outskirts, and to this day acres of open field break the street here and there before it finally ends at 134th street.

An aerial view of what the neighborhood looked like in 1935. This view, looking northwest, has the R. R. Donnelley plant in the foreground, depicts the numerous other printing companies surrounding the remains of the original mansions.

Chicago Tribune, March 22, 1935

Older Chicagoans who happen to drive out south on Prairie avenue cast a reminiscent eye at the house wrecking activities now under way. The street, in a district long abandoned by most of the fashionable folk who used to have mansions there, will shortly not have even its deserted old houses as reminders of the grandeur of another day. The wreckers have the Charles Hutchinson house razed to the second floor. The Sprague mansion is demolished to the basement. The old Henry Blair house, which has been a hotel for some time, and the Chauncey Keep home, now a rooming house, have not yet been touched.

The latest bit of old Prairie avenue news, however, is that the Edwin L. Lobdells, long faithful to their home in the 2600 block, are abandoning it this spring to move to the north side, and their house will be torn down shortly thereafter. They have taken an apartment at 70 Cedar street, and Harold C. Pynchon, husband to their daughter Adeline, has wangled the billiard table and the old-fashioned piano for the North Side Boys club, an organization in which he is much interested. The two chatelaines of old mansions in the long block on Prairie avenue that stretches between 2600 and 2900 south who remain faithful to their homes are Mrs. William Watson and Mrs. John Elliot Jenkins.

Chicago Tribune, December 12, 1937

PRAIRIE AVENUE! Fifty years ago this was the street where millionaires lived in their brownstone palaces. Their doors were opened by haughty butlers. In front waited smart Kimball broughams drawn by dock – tailed horses loaded with silver-plated harness and driven by correct British coachmen in cockaded top hats and neat livery of brown, maroon, or blue broadcloth.

Today there is a revival of interest in the once fashionable street.

The Marshall Field mansion, 1905 Prairie avenue, so long un occupied, has been given to the Association of Arts and Indus-tries, and it has been remodeled to suit the needs of the budding architects and designers who are studying there.

The exodus from Prairie avenue began shortly after the turn of the century. Young people, marrying, took apartments far ther south in Kenwood or Hyde Park or else went to the near north side. Parents, left alone in the great houses, no longer wanted the care attendant on keeping them up. The problem of domestic help grew increasingly difficult. One by one the mansions were boarded up or rented for business or for rooming houses.

In the eighties and nineties Prairie avenue was the habitat of notably solvent citizens, men who had been the builders of Chicago. Beginning at 16th street, you could hardly throw a stone, they used to say, without hitting a millionaire. Below 22d street there was a break, since business crept near at that point, but again from 26th to 29th streets Prairie avenue was a thoroughfare of magnificent res. idences occupied by people whose names were among the best known in the city.

Within these three blocks lived such families as the Albert B. Deweys, the Noble B. Judahs, the Lancasters, the Charles L. Hutchinsons, the Henry A. Blairs, the Chauncey Keeps, the Ernest A. Hamills, the Frederick T. Haskells, the Marvin Hughitts, the A. A. Spragues, and the William A. Fullers.

Let us walk south on Prairie avenue, as it was in the elegant elghties, from 16th street to 22d street. Look at these door plates bearing such names as those of George M. Pullman, W. W. Kimball, Wirt Dexter, John J. Glessner, Samuel W. Allerton, Byron L. Smith, M. A. Meyer, Henry Corwith, Charles D. Hamill, M. M. Rothschild, Eugene S. Pike, Robert W. Roloson, P. D. Armour, Clarence Buckingham, W. G. Hibbaru. Every great business associated with Chicago was represented in these six blocks—packing, railroads, wholesale merchandising, retail business, grain elevators, musical merchandise, real estate.

Incredible Chicago! Seventy years after the Fort Dearborn massacre, whose victims met death at what is now the corner of 18th street and Prairie ave nue, the brownstone palace of George M. Pullman rose, on al most the very spot where the tragedy of 1812 occurred.

Almost every one of the great houses built in the eighties had a ballroom, so that dances for the young people of the families were frequent. With spacious quarters in their own homes, they did not often go to hotels for dancing.

Johnny Hand played for most of the private balls – Johnny Hand, of whom it was said that when he passed through the pearly gates, if St. Peter invited him to conduct a heavenly orchestra he would inquire if the company was to be a first-class one. For Johnny Hand was ac customed to lift his baton for the great of Chicago, and he had no mind to play for lesser folk.

But though most private dances were held in these homes in the early days of Prairie avenue, there were many gatherings, too, at Bournique’s dancing academy on 23d street between Prairie and Calumet avenues. Here the socially elect of the west and north sides, as well as those of the immediate neighborhood, learned the steps of the waltz, the schottische, and the polka. The building still stands, though it has not been used for its original purpose for years.

Here the Pullman dancing class held its sessions, when Gen. Phil Sheridan waltzed the ladies ’round and ’round. He had never learned to “reverse,” and every fair one who danced with him had to be caught as the dance ended, for she was sure to be giddy with whirling in one direction. General Sheridan realized this and went to Mr. Bournique, the dancing master, one day, in great distress.

“Can you teach me to reverse?” he asked. “I have never learned.” So Mr. Bournique taught the hero who never reversed (either in war or in peace) to “unwhirl.” He did it well—until he waltzed with a lady, when, old custom being too much for him, he went ’round the room again as before, always in one direction, his partner grow. ing ever dizzier and dizzier with each round. However, dizzy or not, every woman wanted to dance with the hero of Five Forks, who was popular with men and women alike.

Col. Frederick Dent Grant, son of the President, was another member of the Pullman dancing class while he lived in Chicago, though his home was not on Prai rie avenue, but on Michigan avenue. This famous class, organized by Mrs. Pullman, continued for seventeen years, with the Prairie avenue set enjoying it as much as when it began in 1878. Robert T. Lincoln, son of President Lincoln, was another member. Byron L. Smith, banker, and Col. Huntington W. Jackson, the latter a handsome bachelor, tripped the measures of favorite dances with this Prairie avenue set.

Mr. and Mrs. Augustus E. Bournique, who founded the dancing school with which their names are associated and which has continued until the present time, lived to celebrate their sixty fourth wedding anniversary, proving, perhaps, that dancing prolongs life.

In January, 1886, there occurred in the Marshall Field home a ball which was the most expensive, as it was one of the most beautiful, ever given in a private heme in Chicago.

The Fields had two children—Marshall Jr. and Ethel—the former 17 years old at that time. He was a shy, rather delicate lad, while Ethel, three years his junior, was lively and full of energy. It had been the custom of Mrs. Field to give a Christmas party for her children, to which the youngsters of the neighborhood were invited, but, now that Marshall was almost grown up, the holiday festivity was to be a real ball, with everything that should accompany an adult party.

Gilbert and Sullivan’s ” Mikado” had come out the year before, and Mrs. Field decided on a “Mikado” ball, with guests in costume. Decorators were called in to transform the house into a miniature Japanese town. The front hall was decorated with a large copy of the stage set from the second act of “The Mikado,” presented at the Fifth Avenue theater, New York.

On one side of the hall was erected a miniature pagoda, in which Johnny Hand’s orchestra was seated. There was another orchestra playing, too, called Va-licia’s, the first mandolin band heard here. Later Tomaso, one of the mandolin players, was to have his own mandolin orchestra, to whose music many Chicagoans have danced.

Eugene A. Bournique, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Bournique, recalls vividly this famous party of the eighties. A young man at that time, he had been trained by his parents to teach the chil. dren’s classes, and for many years the voungsters of Prairie avenue had a children’s dancing class at the Field home. Thus it was that he managed the ” Mika-do” ball for Mrs. Field, leading the cotillion, outstanding feature of balls of the period.

“I should say that it was the handsomest ball ever given in a private house in Chicago,” says Mr. Bournique. “There were perhaps 500 guests present-parents and children. Marry of the favors for the cotillion were obtained by Mr. Field’s buyers in Paris and were the loveliest imaginable. Some of these must have cost as much as $15 apiece. The entire cost of the ball must have been between 50 and 75 thousand dollars.” Some of the favors were de. signed by Whistler, the American artist, then living in London.

Every one was in costume, from wig to sandals, and the result was a riot of color. Sherry of New York furnished the supper, bringing all the supplies-linen, silver, and food-from the east in two private cars. They did things on a magnificent scale in those days.

Did Marshall Field, merchant prince, who could spend $75,000 on an evening’s entertainment for his children in 1886, recall his frst year in Chicago, as a clerk in Cooley-Wadsworth’s store, when his annual salary was $400, when he slept in the store and bought no new clothes except a pair of overalls? He saved $200 that year, by the way, which explains why he could spend lavishly thirty years later.

Prairie avenue on that night of the ball was illuminated by calcium lights all the way from 16th street to 22d street, and it must have been a gay sight–that of the skilful coachmen driving into the carriageway, the horses stepping proudly to the music of the jingling harness. The conveyances paused to de posit the gayly attired occupants at the north door, then sped on through the open doors of the stable to the alley and thence north or south, since there was no way of turning around in the driveway, and the next in line must not be kept waiting long.

All Prairie avenue was present that night. The popular Hibbard clan was out in force; so were the beautiful Otis girls, one of whom was photographed with Ethel Field and Alice Keith (now Mrs. A. A. Carpenter) as maids of old Japan; Ginevra Fuller (later Mrs. Charles Garfield King) was one of the pretty girls at the ball, although she was not Japanese in type; Lilian Drake (now Mrs. Henry W. Farnum) was another.

All the principal figures in the Field family_-the family as it was at the time of the great ball-are gone. Mr. Field’s first wife (who gave the ball and whose name before her marriage was Nannie Scott of Ironton, O.) died at a comparatively early age. He remained a widower for many years, but in 1905 married Mrs. Delia Spencer Caton, widow of Arthur J. Caton, son of a pioneer family of Chicago.

The next time you drive down Prairie avenue take with you the diagram printed here and see how many of these houses are standing and who lived in some of those still standing.

Chicago Tribune, January 24, 1954

Prairie av. is the real ghost street of Chicago despite the fact that many people live along it, more perhaps than ever before. The wraiths are its remainng great mansions, hollow shells emptied of the gay luxurious life they once sheltered—grotesque, disquieting memorials amid the tenements, small workshops, and bare fields of today.

People of modest means built and owned the first houses on the sparsely settled ground south of 16th and south and west of the tracks of the Illinois Central railway. Somewhere around 16th st. were the 20 acres of land which surrounded the house of the hardware merchant, Henry B. Clark. Later to be known as the Widow Clark’s house, this was the pride of the south side, and supposed to be equal to William B. Ogden’s mansion on Rush st.

Lined with Trees
This was the only preten tious residence in the neigh borhood when, shortly before 1880 this district became fash ionable. It now seems like irrational caprice which took the great magnates of the time there, when with their money they might as easily have turned toward Lake Shore dr.

Photografs of that period show Prairie av. lined with trees. This semi-rural atmosphere apart from the city, which then had over 500,000 population, may explain the vogue of Priairie av.

By 1885, the Armour, Field, and Pullman houses, three of the greatest that were to be on Prairie had been built The prestige of these names started a rush toward the street. At the time of the Columbian Exposition 1893, the contemporary writer, Everett Chamberlin, could name 77 millionaires who had houses there between 16th and 22d sts. alone.

Many Had Ballrooms
Evidently thinking he had to defend Chicago’s reputation for democratic simplicity, Chamberlin wrote that there were no palaces in the secluded and sedate precincts” of Prairie av. He added that practically every one of these houses had its own ballroom. Neither he nor other authorities were certain which was the most splendid residence.

Judgment varied with the years as each owner tried to outdo the other. At first the Marshall Field house was awarded the palm; then the Pullman mansion; then that of Daniel Thompson, and a little later, the residence of J. W. Doane was spoken of as “Chicago’s first palace.”

The consecration of Prairie av. was the grand ball which Marshall Field gave for son and daughter in January, 1886. It was said to have cost at least $75,000, the highest sum ever paid for a party in Chicago. It was called the Mikado ball, its theme having taken from a recently ‘produced, internationally famous musical comedy, The Mikado,” by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur S. Sullivan.

Imported Favors
For this affair, Marshall Field imported the favors for his women guests from Paris. He gave the catering contract to Sherry’s, which brought the servants, linen, silver, food, and drink for the Mikado ball to Chicago from New York.

By 1899, Prairie av. had passed its peak as the city’s first residential street. As a rival, Rush st. was in its full glory, and the rising star of Lake Shore dr. threatened to eclipse them both. Prairie av. began a slow decline, which was completed during World War I (1914-18). By 1920, only some stubborn diehards still were living in the old houses.

In 1929, a visitor to the street noted that not a trace was left of the Pullman residence, and recalled that it had stood in its own private park, with its own palm house, conservatory, and picture gallery. The wreckers were then about to start demolishing the J. W. Doane house, and boarders were living in the mansion which once had been owned by Mrs. O. W. Stone.

Split Into Flats
Other houses had been split into little flats or single rooms, and a certain number toward the north end of the street had been taken by the Chicago branches of national publishing firms.

The process then noted has continued inexorably. A good part of Prairie av. today is open and neglected fields, tenements, garages, or small workshops. It is cluttered with rubbish and overgrown with weeds. A few of the old houses are kept in reasonable condition by the publishing firms or by institutions. Along the stretch from 16th st. south to 31st st. you will find, at apparently capricious intervals, some of the great houses of the great days. They are now all tenements.

A visit to Prairie av. is worth while, however, if only for the two splendid mansions still standing at 18th st.

Reputed Cost $1,000,000
The one on the southeast corner is the veritable palace completed in 1892 for W. W. Kimball, the piano magnate. At one glance you will readily believe that it must have cost the $1,000,000 reputedly paid for it. The style has been called French chateau and was made fashionable by the millionaires who were then building palaces along New York’s Fifth av.

It is much too ornate and unfunctional for the taste of today, but the fact remains that the Kimball mansion probably is the most superb specimen of this style still in existence.

The house opposite, on the southwest corner of Prairie av. and 18th is one of the few structures in all Chicago which may be considered to have both historical and esthetic value. When completed in 1886 for the late J. J. Glessner, a director of the International Harvester company, it passed. for an oddity, in striking contrast to the surrounding fashionable architectural style, which was mainly an American version of French second empire.

The Glessner house was the last work of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, who died before it was finished; hence it shows his genius at its full development. The only other structure in Chicago designed entirely by him wa the Marshall Field Wholesale building, demolished in 1930.

With its solid granite blocks, narrow rounded arches, and its general aspect, both grim and noble, the Glessner house is the perfect example of Richardson’s Merovingian sometimes also called Copley Square style. It is the direct predecessor of a Chicago style of architecture, thru the decisive influence which Richardson exerted on the local architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Henry Sullivan.

If anyone wishes to see, without leaving the city, stages of this Boston-Chicago school of architecture, which gave mod ern American construction its fundamental revolutionary ideas, he should begin with the Glessner house, which is pure Richardson.

Then he should proceed to the Auditorium, which is Adler and Sullivan influenced by Richardson, and then go on to the Charnley house at 1365 Astor which is Sullivan in collaboration with Frank Lloyd Wright.

It is no wonder distinguished European architects arriving in Chicago, like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who now lives here, know beforehand what the Glessner house signifies and want to see it before any other local structure.

Before his death in 1936, Glessner attempted to deed the house to the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects, but the chapte was unable or unwilling to accept so princely a gift. A provision of the Glessner will limits use of the house for the future to educational purposes, and it is presumably so used today. Its opposite number, the Kimball house, now is occupied by Domestic Engineering Publications.

Both Sturdily Built
With some modest maintenance, both those mansions should be able to stand for several centuries. The destruction of other buildings in recent years has amply proved, however, that the community has neither the means, desire, nor will to preserve any structure because of its historic or ether worth.

This confer of 18th st and Prairie av. is a good place to take leave of the streets of Chicago, with those two noble houses against their background of weeds, rubbish, and squalor.

The spectacle is a melancholy one, and many evoke any platitudes one fancies about the passing of earthly glories and the vanity of human wishes.

Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1977

It’s for sure nothing is staying the same on Praire Avenue these days. Workmen are busy laying the groundwork for a unique indoor-outdoor museum of urban change, with plans calling for a spring opening.

The focal point of activity is the 1800 block of the South Side street that once was the city’s poshest area. Wealthy Chicagoans first settled there in the 1870s, and by the time the Columbian Exposition arrived in 1893, Prairie Av. was synonymous with Chicago swank. It began to sink in the 1920s and was called “the worst slum in the city” after World War II.

The men and women currently working on the museum project have chosen 1893 as the year they’re recreating. It was around that time Chicagoans referred to the avenue as “The sunny street that holds a sifted few …”

Among the “sifted” were the Fields, Armours, Pullmans, Hibbards, Black-stones, Gregorys, Glessners, Otises, and Joneses.

With the exception of the Glessner House, home of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, things haven’t been poppin’ much on Prairie Avenue for years. The foundation moved into the house around 11 years ago and almost has completely restored the main floor.

The foundation, the Prairie Avenue District Committee, and the City of Chicago are spearheading the effort to establish the urban change museum. Although plans aren’t completely firm, Edward Sullivan, foundation director, has an idea of what guests will see.

Visitors will tour the interiors of Glessner House and the restored Henry B. Clarke House, which is scheduled to be moved from Wabash Avenue to the 1800 block of Indiana Avenue on the western edge of the historic district. The Clarke House is said to be the city’s oldest home.

The outdoor portion of the tour will consist of the site of the Fort Dearborn Massacre, alcoves with drawings and information about the homes that once stood on the avenue, and an architectural garden.

Under the direction of Jerome Butler Jr., city architect, the city is restoring the street with a paving material that looks like dirt. The city also is landscaping, putting in cobblestone gutters, and erecting light poles of the era, which will be electrically hit, but look like gaslights. It is uncertain whether or not the block will be shut off to traffic.

Also on the walking tour will be the exteriors of the William W. Kimball home, which is a copy of a Brittany chateau, and the Joseph Coleman home, both now owned by R. R. Donnelly & Sons Co., and used as offices.

Kimball, the founder of a piano and organ manufacturing company that became one of Chicago’s top industries, is rumored to have spent $1 million on the home designed by S. S. Beman, a leading architect of that era. Coleman, a hardware manufacturer, had his home designed by the firm of Henry Ives Cobb and Charles Sumner Frost.

Guests will see the exterior of the Marshall Field Jr. house (Field died in 1905), which has been added onto through the years. The house was a nursing home until a few years ago and recently received a cleanup by the foundation and volunteers. The other remaining mansion on Prairie Av. belonged to Elbridge Keith, a hat wholesaler and banker. It’s now offices, and one is occupied by Wilbert R. Hasbrouck, owner and architect.

Hasbrouk currently has no plans to restore Keith House, but the city has retained him to do Clarke House. The architect, who redid Glessner House, says a separate group will refurnish the Clarke home in 1836 style.

“The Clarkes once had a farm around 16th Street and Michigan Avenue,” said Ruth Moore Garbe. “We’re fairly certain the new site for the home was once a part of the farm. It’s like the house is coming home.”

Mrs. Garbe is chairman of the district committee, a writer, and a member of the board of the architecture foundation and the Chicago Commission on Historical and Architectural Landmarks. Sullivan credits her with giving impetus to the whole Prairie Avenue movement.

“In December of 1973, we went to Mayor Daley and impressed upon him the importance of the avenue,” Mrs. Garbe recalled. “We could show him we had secured the six houses. Glessner House is a marvelous example of what can be done. We argued a streetscape tying the whole area together would be a good lesson for the city.”

Mrs. Garbe won Daley’s support, and the district project received money from city, state, federal, and private sources. She points to the architectural garden as one of the most unique portions of the tour visitors will take.

The garden will display stone ornamentation and other architectural examples that can withstand the weather. One of the larger items is the south porch from the old Shedd mansion at 4515 S. Drexel Av. Mrs. Garbe foresees the porch used as both a pavillion for concerts and a meeting place.

Sullivan explained the garden will be located on the west side of the avenue between 1800 and 1900 and behind the commemorative alcoves. In these alcoves will be metal plaques with line drawings of the houses that once stood there.

At 1812 lived George Henry Wheeler, grain dealer, one-time president of the Washington Park Club, and an incorporator of the Chicago Club, now Chicago’s most prominent men’s club. Next door was Charles M. Henderson, wealthy boot and shoe wholesaler.

At 1824 was Charles Schwartz, a senior member of the Board of Trade. Arthur Meeker, the author, describes his great-uncle as “a great swell in his day; drove the first four-in-hand in the city.” Next to the Schwartz house lived Daniel B. Shipman, owner of the Shipman White Lead Works.

Sullivan said the overall district project is only in the first phase. There’s a possibility of additional alcoves, the junior Field’s house may be leased or sold as long as the facade is kept intact, there’s speculation about area restaurants or snack shops.

“One of the most exciting things about the district is it secures the future of Glessner House,” said Sullivan. “The house, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, one of America’s greatest architects, is considered to be one of the first examples of urban architecture.”

Of Glessner House, Mrs. Garbe predicted it will be the most completely restored Victorian house in the country and will represent an important part of Chicago’s history.

“The thrilling thing is everything is beginning to happen,” said Sullivan. “After all the talking, we’re working. This. will be a unique area for all to see.”

Artist’s rendering shows what’s in the offing for the new Prairie Avenue Historic District. View is from the corner of 18th Street looking south down Prairie Avenue. Glessner House is the building at the right.