Pelouze Buildings

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Pelouze Buildings, Playboy Building (1958-1967)
Life Span: 1907-Present
Location: 232 E. Ohio (1907-Present), 405 Ohio (Pre-1909)
230 E. Ohio (1916-Present)
Architects: Hill and Woltersdorf (232 E Ohio)
Alfred S. Alschuler (230 E Ohio)

1898-1901—Pelouze Scale and Mnfg. Co., 133 to 139 Clinton
1901-1907—Pelouze Scale and Mnfg. Co., 118 to 132 W. Jackson blvd.

232 E. Ohio Street Building

Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1907

Pelouze Scale Company Buys Site for Factory in Ohio Street.
Willam Nelson Pelouze, president of the Pelouze Scale and Manufacturing company. now at 118-132 West Jackson boulevard, has bought 216 feet frontage on Ohio street, east of St. Clair street, and will improve it with a large manufacturing plant. From the New York Homeopathic Medical college 176×100 feet, 151 feet west of Fairbanks court, was bought for $12,820, and from the Arnot-Ogden Memorial hospital 66×100 feet was bought for $4,620. All is vacant.

Chicago Tribune, August 2, 1907

Buys Site for Factory.
William N. Pelouze of the Pelouze Scale and Manufacturing company has bought from the University of Chicago 81×132 feet at the Northwest corner of Fairbanks court and Ohio street for $10,872. This is in addition to the 240 feet frontage on Ohio street which Mr. Pelouze acquired earlier in the week. The whole will be improved with an extensive manufacturing plant.

Chicago Tribune, August 4, 1907

Ohio Street.-A new manufacturing plant on Ohio street, east of St. Clair street, is involved In extensive purchases closed by William Nelson Pelouze, president of the Pelouze Scale and Manufacturing company. From the University of Chicago Mr. Pelouze purchased 81×132 feet at the northwest corner of Fairbank court for $10,872; from the New York Homeopathic Medical college and hospital he acquired 176×100 feet, 151 feet west of Fairbank court, for $12,320, and from the Arnot-Ogden Memorial hospital there was secured 68×100 feet. 340 feet west of Falrbank court, for $4,820. It is the purpose of the purchasing company to improve in the near future.

Inland Architect and News Report, November, 1908

Architectural Record, February, 1910

Utilitarian Architecture at Chicago
Hill and Woltersdorf have designed a large number of manufacturing buildings as well as independent office buildings connected with factories. Among the former is the factory of the Pelouze Scale and Manufacturing Company on East Ohio street in a new manufacturing district near Lake Michigan and north of the main Chicago river, which is becoming famous for the good design shown in the improvements. This building stands free and is finished practically the same on all sides. This firm of architects not only employs paving brick but introduces a large amount of cast concrete on its exteriors, as shown on this and other buildings to be mentioned later. The natural Indiana limestone is used only for water tables and window sills. They have had considerable experience with isolated office buildings connected with factories.

A Half Century of Chicago Building, 1910

Pelouze Manufacturing Company remained in this building til 1948. The company was eventually purchased by Rubbermaid.

The Playboy Years (1958-1967)

Hugh Hefner moved the Playboy offices from his apartment to 11 E. Superior Street in River North in 1954. In 1958 he moved the offices to 232 E. Ohio Street. In 1965, Playboy took up a 25-year residence at 919 North Michigan Avenue also in Streeterville. His car was a 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster

SVN Brokers, July 30, 2021

SVN Brokers $5.9M Sale of Office Building in Chicago
SVN | Chicago Commercial has brokered the sale of a 29,500-square-foot office building in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood for $5.9 million. Located at 232 E. Ohio St., the four-story property served as the original home of the Playboy Organization. It is now home to CRC Recording Studio, which occupies more than half of the building. Wayne Caplan of SVN represented the undisclosed seller. An entity controlled by restauranteur Phil Chen was the buyer. SVN expects the new owner to renovate the property in the near term.

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230 E. Ohio Street Building

Chicago Tribune, May 18, 1916

Stanley Field appears as the purchaser In an important deal in the north central business district, which also involves the erection of a seven story semi-office. building to cost in the neighborhood of $175.000. Mr. Field purchased from William Nelson Pelouze a plot of 264×80 feet, south front, in Ohio street, 151 feet west of Fairbanks court, for a reported consideration of $130,000, cash. This is at the rate of approximately $6.15 a square foot, said to be a record figure for inside property on this street.

Mr. Pelouze has taken back a lease of the property for a term of ninety-nine w years. which has been divided into two fees. The east 99½ feet is at an annual rent of $2,500 and secured by a high grade four story and basement fireproof mercantile building. while the west 164½ feet, which is vacant, has been leased at an annual rent of $4,000.

Seven Story Building Planned.
It is announced that Mr. Pelouze is at once to begin the construction of a seven story reinforced concrete building of the office building type, with a maximum of glass and with a marble entrance, passenger and freight elevators. It will be so arranged as to make it possible to divide it into sections suitable for office purposes.

The building will be in charge of the Bowes Realty company, who, in connection with Winston & Co., negotiated the deal. Edward P. Gordon represented Mr. Pelouze in a legal way and William B. Melivaine, Mr. Field.

1928 Polk’s Chicago Numerical Street and Avenue Directory

Chicago Tribune, February 10, 1985

After leading a colorful life for 68 years, the first multi-use building in Streeterville soon will get a $1 million facelift and start life anew.

Through the years, the Pelouze Building at 230 E. Ohio St. has housed tenants ranging from the U.S. Army`s Central District to the renowned architect Mies Van Der Rohe, a 15-year resident.

The building is one of the few left for rehab in the Streeterville area that has undergone extensive development in recent years as a primary office site. Its new owners plan to bring it up to premium standards for finished office space.

The Pelouze Building was purchased Feb. 1 by First Columbia Corp., 1 E. Superior St., in a joint venture with Northwestern National Life Insurance of Minneapolis.

”This building offered an unusual opportunity for rehab,” said Daniel F. Miranda, president of First Columbia. ”In addition to a spectacular location, its exceptional quality of construction made it too good to be razed.”

Streeterville, which is bounded by Michigan Avenue, Lake Michigan, the Chicago River and East Lake Shore Drive, was occupied primarily by warehouses and manufacturing plants in 1916 when Col. William Nelson Pelouze, president of Pelouze Manufacturing Co., acquired the site next door to his factory and decided to gamble on an office building in what was then an unlikely location. Pelouze hedged his bets, however, and instructed architect Alfred F. Alschuler to design a structure that could be easily converted to manufacturing if the office venture failed.

The result was architecturally innovative for its time. Today the building has uncommonly high floor-load limits, an over-sized freight elevator and flat slab construction that permits 11-foot open ceilings. ”If the walls blow out of this building, it will still be standing,” the architect promised.

In another departure from tradition for that era, Alschuler used glass for one-half of the building`s outer skin. The generous window treatment on south and east walls later helped make this a favored address for architects and people in the creative arts.

Col. Pelouze was a prominent Chicagoan with large real estate holdings, and the 230 E. Ohio St. building was one of several he built in the vicinity of Ohio and Michigan.

Married to a sister of the late Mayor William Hale Thompson, he led the early campaign for the St. Lawrence Seaway, was a past president of the Illinois Manufacturers Association and served on the Chicago Plan Commission. He was active in a number of military organizations, including the Illinois National Guard, which he commanded for several years.

The eight-story, 100,000-square-foot building is scheduled for a full-scale renovation that includes:

A total 60,000 square feet, most in 11,000-square-foot full floors, is available at rents ranging from $12 to $18 per square foot, according to Miranda.

A Columbia Law School graduate who specialized in real estate and finance law, Miranda was project director for a $150 million adaptive re-use project before organizing his new real estate development and consulting firm.

Joining him in forming First Columbia last June was Kenneth B. Jensen, executive vice president, who holds an MBA degree in real estate and had worked as a field examiner for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, as senior analyst/appraiser for a realty appraisal research firm, as vice president-acquisitions for an investment partnership and as manager of acquisitions and development.

A recent addition to First Columbia`s executive team is William G. Albrecht, vice president-construction. For 20 years he had served as field engineer, assistant superintendent, head engineer, project coordinator and head project construction manager for various construction and development firms.

First Columbia is finalizing plans for a two-phase office development in the north suburbs and is negotiating for several other office and retail projects in Chicago and southeast Florida.

232 E. Ohio Street Building

The Playboy Years (1958-1967)

230 E. Ohio Street Building

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