Full text of "Industrial Chicago"

UNIVERSITY OF 
LIBRARY 



ILUNOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY 



r 



INDUSTRIAL 




THE 

BUILDING 

INTERESTS 




ILLUSTRATED 




Tqe (Soodpoed Publishing onqpaqy 

1891 



COPYRIGHTED. 
All Rights Reserved. 



JOHN MORRIS COMPANY 

PRINTERS AND BINDERS 



UNIVERSITY OF IUJNM6 



"77.3) 







HE Publishers, with much satisfaction, herewith present to their patrons the first two 
volumes The Building Interests of their proposed series of works on Industrial 
Chicago. So well was our plan received before a line had been written, that success 
was assured from the beginning. It will be, then, but a short time until the entire series 
makes its appearance. Many citizens have ordered in advance the whole set of about fifteen 
volumes, and valuable contributions for all the proposed issues are being received daily. 

Great advances have already been made in the preparation of the volumes to be devoted 
to the Manufacturing Interests, the Commercial Interests, the Professional Interests, the 
Public and Official Interests, and our great work on the History of the World's Columbian 
Exposition. All these volumes will be issued as fast as a large staff of experienced writers 
can prepare them, the last the history of the World's Fair going to press immediately 
after the concluding ceremonies of the exposition. 

We acknowledge our great indebtedness to all the newspapers and trade periodicals of 
the city for valuable miscellaneous literature connected with the history of the building 
arts. It would be impossible, at this day, to prepare a great work of this character with- 
out access to the articles of contemporaneous history published in the local journals and 
serials during the last forty years, now in possession of the Chicago Historical Society. This 
source of information has proved invaluable. Contributions from many critical specialists 
will be found duly credited in the pages devoted to the Building Interests. 

The volumes now being prepared will be identical in style, size and binding with the first 
issue, each set will be complete in itself and all will be superbly illustrated. No expense will 
be spared to render the succeeding volumes superior, if possible, to the first in quality of mat- 
ter embraced, classification, mechanical execution, etc., and, as in the case of The Building 
Interests, local writers of exceptional fitness will assist in the task of preparation. The Pub- 
lishers, who are residents of Chicago, have had years of experience in the compilation of his- 
torical works, and herewith announce that the entire series will be the product of Chicago 
writers, artists and enterprise. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



I 088763 



ABLE OP OOTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

I-A<;K. TACK. 

Imitations of style 11 Byzantine architecture 34 

Growth of architecture 12 Byzantine architecture, schools of 36 

Egyptian architecture 12 Indian architecture 37 

Assyrian and Persian architecture 17 Gothic architecture 38 

Comparison of Asiatic and African styles 20 Gothic in general 38 

( ; redan architecture 20 Gothic, early 40 

Etruscan architecture 24 Gothic, decorated 41 

Homan architecture 24 Gothic, late 42 

Human architecture, distinguishing features of 27 Renaissance architecture 44 

Romanesque architecture 28 Florentine style 44 

Romanesque, early 29 Venetian style 45 

Romanesque, late 30 Roman style 46 

Romanesque, schools of 32 Rococo style 48 

Revival of the Komanesque 48 

CHAPTER I. 

CHICAGO ARCHITECTURAL STYLES. 

Li >g cabin 50 Early brick houses 52 

Beam and brace houses 50 The first resident architect 52 

Balloon frame houses 51 Carpenters' Gothic styles 54 

Historical and comparative review 54 

CHAPTER II. 

CHICAGO'S KAHLIEST r,\ II.DINGS. 

The mission house of 1071 75 The second United States fort, 1816 77 

Fort de la Durantaye 75 Cabins here in 1826 78 

Fort Guarie 75 Buildings of 1831-2 79 

Sable's cabin 76 The first brick .yard 80 

The first United States fort 7(i Chun-lies, taverns and public buildings. 1833-5 80 

Cabins of 1803-12 70 Statistics of houses here in 1837 s:; 

Review from Van Osdel's recollections.. 84 



vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

CLASSICAL ORDERS AND CARPENTERS' GOTHIC. 

I'AOE. TACK.. 

The buildings of 1843-4 86 Buildings of 1851-61 95 

The buildings of 1S46-50 88 Buildings erected during the war 106 

The great building year, 1849-50 92 Building operations in 1867 425 

CHAPTER IV. 

DESTRUCTION AND RESTORATION. 

Statistics of building, 1867-71 108 Buildings begun in October, November and 

Crosby's operahouse and other great buildings. 108 December, 1871 125 

Buildings destroyed October 7 to 10, 1871 116 Buildings begun in 1872 127 

Statistics of destruction 117 Descriptions of the leading streets before the 

Architects of 1871-2 121 tire and of the houses erected after the fire 126 

Building permits, October 10 to 26, 1871 123 Statistics of rebuilding, 1871-2 146 

First business house after the fire in burnt dis- Joseph MciliU's statistics of loss and gain by 

trict 123 the fire, compiled October 9, 1872 146 

An Austrian review of two years' progress in Chicago 147 

CHAPTER V. 

CJOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE. 

Statistics of building, 1872-8 149 Federal building 151 

County and city buildings 150 Description of principal buildings, 1872-8 152 

CHAPTER VI. 

COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE. 

Great buildings of 1881-5 168 House moving, 1833-91 233 

Town of Pullman 172 Great building syndicates 236 

Great building, 1885-91 186 Friends and enemies of the sky scraper 238 

CHAPTER VII. 

MODERN FLATS AND RESIDENCIES. 

What the modern fiat is 240 Descriptions of apartment houses 241 

List of pioneer apartment houses 241 Modern residences 257 

Descriptions of a few homes 260 

CHAPTER VIII. 

MODERN MISCELLANEOUS ARCHITECTURE. 

Modern church buildings 265 Convent buildings 274 

Schoolhouses 272 Medical college buildings 274 

New college buildings 273 Hospital buildings 275 

Charitable buildings 276 






TABLE OF CONTESTS. 



vii 



CHAPTER IX. 

I!K<:lNNIX<;s OF SritrRHAN 



PAOB. 

I Seasons for the existence ofthesuburbaiilioii.se 278 
Orowth of the suburbs and description of old 

and new houses . .878 



I'AGK. 

Statistics of building operations, 1877-91 290 

Comparative tables 291 

Permits for sky scrapers 292 



CHAPTER X. 



AI!< IIITKCTS AND liriLDEKS ASSOCIATIONS. 



Introduction to chapter 293 

Architects of Chicago, 1859-79.. 294 

American Institute of Architects 295 

The Chicago chapter of the American Institute 

of Architects 299 

Western Architects' association . . . 300 



The Illinois State Association of Architects . . . 304 
The Illinois chapter of the American Institute 

of Architects 305 

The Chicago Architectural Sketch club 306 

Art guild 308 

Permanent exhibit of building materials 309 



Polytechnic schools 323 

CHAPTER XI. 



CARPENTERS, 

Aboriginal carpentry 

Pioneer carpenters of Chicago 

Carpenters and builders of 1859 

r Building contractors, 1871-2 

Carpenters & Builders' association 

Boss Carpenters & Builders' association 

Pioneer Masons of Chicago 

Masons' association 

The Master Masons & Builders' association. . . . 
The Chicago Masons & Builders' association . . 



MASONS AND ROOFERS. 

325 The Builders & Traders' exchange 339 

325 The Central Council of building interests.. . 343-345 

330 The National association of builders 343-345 

331 Pioneer plasterers 345 

332 Contracting Plasterers' association 346 

337 A paper by James John 346 

337 Roofs and roofers 348 

339 Pioneer roofe- 350 

339 W. B. Lord's paper on slate 352 

339 Modern roofers... . 356 



CHAPTER XII. 



III! 1C K AND 

Ancient brickmaking 357 

Special paper on adoban houses 358 

Brick in the United States 359 

First brick buildings in United States 360 

First brick structures in Chicago 363 

Chicago manufacturers 363 

Brick machinery 370 

Reminiscences of brickmaking :!7'.' 

Pressedbrick 375 

Enameled brick 377 

National Brick Manufacturers' association .... 378 

Local associations 378 

Nomenclature in brickmaking 379 

Description of bricks ''#'> 



TERItA COTTA. 

History of manufacture 386 

Stiff clay process and other methods 387 

Fuel of the future 392 

Efflorescence in walls 395 

Terra cotta 400 

Terra cotta lumber 414 

Recent fireproof building 403 

Mineral wool 406 

Hollow tile 409 

Asbestus 415 

Magnesia covering 415 

( ; lass material 415 

Paper material 416 

Staff material . . . 417 




TABLE OF roXTK\Ts. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

.IOUHNAI.1SM, I.ITKHATrUE, ETC. 

I'AGK. I'Ar.K. 

List of local journals devoted to the building Report of Knnim.i ,/,,,, ml on building opera- 
trades 418 tions for 1867 425 

Hooks on architecture, etc., by local authors.. . 424 Broad art criticism 435 

The modern use of established architectural styles 437 

CHAPTER XIV. 

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL 8TOSK. 

Introduction to chapter 443 Special paper on stone 447 

Illinois building stone 445 Quarrymen and dealers, 1843-91 455 

Crushing and tensile strengths 446 Stone men's associations 460 

Naperville quarries 446 Artificial stone 461 

Sioux Falls jasper 447 Mortar and lime 463 

CHAPTER XV. 

1MKUS, FOUNDATIONS, WINTF.lt lini.DIXdS, KTC. 

Foundation work prior to 1886 466 A Chicago method applied in Kansas City 478 

Special paper 467 A new wall-supporting system 479 

I). Adler's paper on foundations 473 The arch and its relations 479 

Winter building in Chicago 480 

CHAPTER XVI. 

BUILDING OKDIXANCKS AM) LAWS. 

Municipal ordinances, 1833 481 Lien law, 1845 520 

M unicipal ordinances, 1835 481 Lien law, 1874 5'.':: 

.Municipal ordinances, 1849 481 Lien law, 188*7 52:! 

Municipal ordinances, 1851 ...' 481 Amendments, 1891 52:! 

Municipal ordinances, 1861 481 Decisions in r<- mechanics' liens 529 

Hi-vision of the ordinances, 1880 482 Alignment 53:! 

Present building ordinances 483 Special assessment 533 

Laws affecting architects 507 Statistics, 1862-90 534 

Relations between architect, builder and painter 508 New special assessment law 535 

Party walls 509 Special assessments levied in 1890 531 

New building contract 512 Report on system 537 



CHAPTER XVII. 

I.AISOK AND ITS OHGAXI/ATIOXS. 

I'ACK. I'AIIK. 

Introduction to chapter ..................... 54(1 Metal cornier workers ....................... ."U!l 

Eight-hour club ............................. 54(1 HcsumO ..................................... 55(1 

Trades unions of 1SG7 ......................... 541 Special paper on " Duties" of Employes" ...... 552 

The eight-hour day a law .................... 541 Strike of 1877 .............................. 555 

Labor riots, 1S(>7 ............................. 54L' Negotiations with employers ................. 55(> 

Tlie Carpenters' union .................. i ..... 544 I'urington on labor troubles ............ ..... 5S1 

t'liited Order of American Bricklayers ........ 545 Profit -sluirinjr system ........................ 5S!I 

Trade building .............................. 54li Pro)>osed labor temple ...................... 5H!I 

1'lasterei-s \- Lathers' union .................. 54S Trade it Labor assembly ..................... 5!l(l 

The Architectural Iron Workers' union ....... 54!l American federation of labor ................. 5!H 

Review of defeats and victories .................................................................. 5!ll 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

AKCHITKCTS AM) KX(!IXKEHS. 

Historical and biographical sketches .............................................................. 598 



CHAPTER XIX. 

liHICK MAM"KA( Tl'UKKS AM) DKAI.KHS AM) MAscIN ( 'oXTItACToUS. 
Historical and biographical sketches ............................................................. (i4:! 

CHAPTER XX. 

CAKl'KXTEHs AM) l!l Il.DKHS. 

Historical and biographical sketches ......................... '. ................................... 701 

CHAPTER XXI. 

DKAI.KIO IN STOXK. SAM). Fl HKl'lll II IKI N(i. I'l.AST KlilXO, CKMKNT, ASPHALT, I,IMK AM) 

KIXDIiKI) MATKISIAI.S. 

Historical and biographical sketches ............................................................... 751 



PACK. I'AOK 

I.ojr cabin facinjr 2<i Fireproof Cut fucinir :','.'; 

< Hd courthouse facinjr 42 Johnson, E. V facinjr l' 1 - 

Van Osdel. J. M facinjr 4!l Fireproof Cut facinjr 110 

Churches, Two facinjr 5S Fireproof Cut facinjr 42(i 

Jenney, W. I.. 15 facinjr !>! Sinjjer, II. M faciujr 448 

Ilijrh school buildinjr facinjr 75 Kimball, C. B facinjr 44.1 

Crosby's operahouse .faeinjr !IO Younjr. Iliijrh facinjr 450 

Catliedral of Holy Name facinjr 100 Hawle. John facinjr 7li(i 

Iron block facinjr 154 Moore, 15. J facinj;' 4I>5 

I, eland hotel facinjr 15!l I'urinjrton, I). V facinjr i>48 

Honore bnildinjr facinjr 170 Prussinjr. G. C facinjr (>li(i 

Art Institute facinj; lS(i McKenna. J. J facinjr C>47 

( 'hamber of Commerce facinjr 10S Courtney, T. E facinj;' W>2 

Stone's buiKlinjr faciujr 220 Downey, Joseph facinjr <><>!' 

Madison hall facinjr 227 Messersmith. Georjrc facinjr H7I 

Masoni<- temple facinjr 2:11 Sturtevant, K facinjr <i72 

(Jassetto, X. T facinj;' 2:i2 Gri filths, John facinjr i>si 

Leiter block facinj; 2(i(> Blair, C. II facinj; 70S 

Grannis, A facinjr :!25 Mavor. William facinjr 7 IS 

Clark, Thomas faciujr J531 C'amiibell, M unlock facinj;' 7,'4 

Mortimer, W. E faciujr ;i3S (lindele, John G facinjr 75 1 

Tapper, Georjre 1'ucinjr 845 Gindele. F. V facinjr 754 

Alsip, Frank facinj;' :ili:! (iiudele, C. W facinj;' 75(i 

Fireproof Cut facinj; 875 Harper. H. C facinj;' 774 




INDUSTRIAL 




THE 

BUILDING 

INTERESTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 




c 
I EFOBE entering upon an analysis and a description of local architecture, it seems 

appropriate to present the leading features of the styles generally, that the non- 
professional reader may know at a glance the origin of the chief architectural 
forms to be seen mingled in such confusion throughout Chicago. In this description it is 
the deliberate intention to credit each nation, or each people, with the principal members 
invented by it, or in use by it when the focal light of history first reveals its civilization, and 
to notice the principal improvements in special forms devised by the genius or art of subse- 
quent peoples. How well this is done in the following pages, must be left to the judgment of 
the reader. 

It is not possible to classify with precision architectural styles, the extremities of which 
dovetail or blend together. Those writers who have undertaken the task have encountered a 
most serious obstacle, which, if they succeeded in surmounting, has left their attempts in a more 
or less chaotic or confused state. The fact that every old nation borrowed its fundamental 
building principles and forms from many antecedent and contemporary peoples, and that all 
modern nations have copied extensively and invented sparingly, lends to imitations in the United 
States, and particularly in Chicago, a most bewildering or confused air. Sufficient time 
has not elapsed in this city to permit the evolution of an established style from a multi- 
plicity of forms; or, if it be insisted that time has been sufficient, then opportunity has been 
neglected, unless the last decade saw the advent in Chicago of a variation sufficiently pro- 
nounced to be entitled to the dignity of the title, 'commercial style." But even this style is 
largely teehnic. A gigantic skeleton or box structure of steel is ornamented with columns, 
pilasters, piers, capitals, band-courses, arches, panellings, gables, moldings, etc., gathered 
from every nation of the earth and from every chronological cycle. To this the term "Chicago 
construction," or "skeleton construction," or " box construction." or " commercial architect- 
ure" is applied (the latter suggesting a mneh better apprehension of correct and dignified 



12 INDUSTRIAL CII/r.\<;<> : 

system than either of the former). If the structure be covered with Roman building forms, 
there are architects in this city who call the tout ensemble " Roman style;" as many more call 
it "commercial architecture." In the residence portion of the city many buildings have a 
combination of the principal features of a half dozen styles. One architect calls the combi- 
nation Romanesque, another Norman, another Italian, another modern. The confusion is 
thus confounded. The first bases his judgment on the arches of a conspicuous story; another 
on the columns and entablatures of a different story; still another on the general style of the 
facade and the last on the united effect of the various members. Were all to form a society 
grounded upon a certain code of principles and upon definite lines of professional action, tin- 
time would not be far distant when out of the gloom of mixed types and styles the sun of a 
golden age for Chicago architecture would break. It is this want of system or united action 
that prevents a fusion of the views of architectural authorities and affords the critic or jester 
his prized and sublime opportunity. However, the leading forms used by Chicago architects 
are clearly defined and will be pointed out. No attempt will here be made to furnish a basis 
for the clear-cut classification of styles, the principal object of this introduction being simply 
to describe the leading features of each style for the edification or instruction of the non- 
professional reader. 

It is certain that making cloth and constructing shelters were the first complicated arts 
suggested to the ancients the barbarians of Asia and Africa and, for generations, the tribal 
chiefs counted their wealth and their strength from the possession of better ornamented goods 
or larger cabins than the plebeians. As years grew apace chiefs developed into kings, became 
powerful and ambitious, and, desiring to awe their subjects and draw social lines tighter, saw 
in palaces and temples and the dazzling splendor of structural adornment a means toward the 
end. Again, national ambition arose as individual ambition had formerly done, and China 
essayed to outrun Hindostan in the qiiality and number of buildings devoted to rulers and 
religion. The latter country erected structures which, in that day, were marvels. China 
accepted the challenge and built higher and broader; Egypt outdid her; Assyria and Persia 
put forth their gorgeous styles; distant Mexico, isolated from the other nations of antiquity, 
unable to imitate, built artistically; and finally the superb Greek orders blossomed with a 
color so rich, a feeling so tender and delicate, an artistic sense so simple and true, a form of 
such exquisite grace and proportion and a strength so vigorous, dignified and noble, that the 
world yet stands amazed in the shadow of her wondrous art. 

A critical study and comparison of the ancient architecture of Egypt and the Orient dis- 
close an important fact. It is certain that before the ancients had learned the lithic art. they 
had previously, for centuries, developed by slow degrees their skill and artistic sense in the 
construction of beautiful buildings of wood and brick. The age of wood in the Nile valley 
was prior to the fourth Egyptian dynasty, (3">()0 B. C.), when that marvelous people shook off 
their ancient lethargy and, at one bound, perfected the technic art of stone construction. 
Then the great pyramids lifted their heads above the Nubian hills and the valley of the Nile, 
and the oriental nations began to borrow styles and ideas. But the civilizations of India, 



THE RUILDINO INTERESTS. 13 

China and Assyria were as unbending then as now, and the innovation of stone walls, 
columns and piers was permitted only by degrees. Assyria, with a succession of fertile 
valleys and desert wastes, and with no stone within her borders, advanced little beyond the 
use of stone as revetments; but Persia, from extensive quarries within her domain, added to 
her profusion of decoration the more substantial grandeur of palaces and temples of stone. 
During the transition from wood to stone, the architects who were wanting in stone models and 
types, and were unable to invent suitable designs, undertook to reproduce in the lithic form 
their wooden columns, architraves, cornices, pilasters, piers, panels, lintels and even arches. 
It is this use of wooden models or forms which proves the previous existence of wooden 
structures, all vestiges of which disappeared thousands of years ago. No Egyptian residences 
of the fourth dynasty nor of the previous centuries of historic darkness have ever been found. 
All back of that is chaos and old night. The Asiatic nations afford no relief. Their archi- 
tectures, showy and perishable, continued wholly to disappear long after the pyramids were 
erected. 

The sturdy Egyptians, impressed with the awful solemnity of immortality, shaped all 
their affairs under the guidance of their despotic kings or their religious teachers. All was 
done for eternity. The pyramids were erected to withstand the convulsions of time. The 
bodies were embalmed to await the resurrection. Their language, in songs of praise for their 
king and peace for their nation, was chiseled into the enduring stone of the facades, columns 
and obelisks. The tombs, cut from the solid rock, were made eternal. Their steadfast and 
sublime belief in a future state, led them through great tribulations to the study of per- 
manent building forms. 

But previous to the great lithic age of the Egyptians, their architecture had advanced 
through unknown centuries to a high degree of perfection. The styles invented 6,000 years 
ago are imitated to this day. The sarcophagi of the kings and the facades of the rock-cut 
tombs, disclose perfect imitations of Egyptian wooden residences before the lithic era. There 
are the tall, narrow pilasters or piers running up from the ground to support the entablature; 
there is the rich, angled panelling of the facade; there are the doorways with their light 
jambs and architraves; there is the heavy cornice of ornamental sculpture and moldings; 
there are the bundle pillars made in imitation of wooden originals; there are the ends of the 
wooden beams carved into the entablatures ; there are the several stories united by easy stair- 
ways ; there is the abacus corresponding to the wooden cap, to distribute the vertical pressure ; 
there are the walls made of square posts, grooved and jointed together in perfect imitation of 
wooden models; and there are the light, rounded lintels. The lightness of the structures 
alone, is convincing evidence of the existence of wooden prototypes. 

From the ancient Egyptians (about 3500 B. C.) came some of the most interesting and 
useful constructive ideas employed by modern architects. Their technic ashlar work cannot 
be surpassed. They designed the column afterward called Doric, with its base, shaft and 
capital, and first gave to mankind that simple arrangement of two fluted columns supporting 
a plain lintel between two walls or piers, used by every nation since that date. Their titanic 



14 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

stone structures were often revetted with granite or syenite, polished as smooth and bright as 
glass, and conveyed from quarries 500 miles distant. This was the origin of the idea of 
wainscoting. They invented and used the arch, richly ornamented moldings, a cornice con- 
sisting of several enriched members, a strong, square abacus to disperse the superincumbent 
weight, the rectangular doorway with its jambs and lintel, walls of several pieces grooved and 
jointed together and a columnated portico and rectangular panelling of great intricacy and 
beauty. Their architecture is something more than a technic art. The gigantic size of the 
structures and of the materials employed, the marvelous constructive skill and the extraor- 
dinary and massive simplicity pervading the whole, express, in the highest degree, limitless 
power and eternal durability. 

Succeeding the age of the pyramids, the lagging centuries of the seventh, eighth, ninth 
and tenth dynasties ebbed away without leaving any trace, except a great black vacancy in 
the building activities of Egypt. During the eleventh and twelfth dynasties (2000 B. C.), 
the great obelisks were erected on the east bank of the Nile. The erection of these gigantic 
monoliths and the commencement of the temple at Karnac, may be said to date the beginning 
of the golden age of Egyptian building art. But art grew slowly. The Egyptians, allied in 
origin and civilization to the Chinese, had reached the culmination of their mental type. It 
was necessary to change their conditions, the influences bearing upon them, to stimulate the 
artistic sense which, through many centuries, had peacefully slept or slowly developed and 
strengthened. The change came in the invasion of the shepherd kings, who, for 500 years, 
trampled upon them, desecrated and profaned their sacred places, scorned the rugged grand- 
eur of their massive architecture, derided their deified kings and introduced and forced upon 
them the gaudy glory of Asiatic architectural dress, tinsel and show. But the trials were art 
schools to the patient, placid Egyptians, and when at last the invaders were expelled, the art 
of building rose to a height never since wholly surpassed. The artistic sensibilities of the 
Asiatics had been impressed iipon the rugged grandeur of the Egyptian character, just as 
afterward the Pelasgians impressed the Greeks, and the Etmscans the Romans. The mag- 
nificent temples erected during the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties (about 1850 B. C. 
to 1820 B. C.) are the admiration of all the centuries since. During a period of little more 
than 500 years, the Pharaohs redeemed the previous ages of lethargy by a restless activity, 
and hundreds of gorgeous temples, carved with triumphant battle scenes and imposing, idol 
atrous ceremonies, rose on the banks of the Nile. War, the great educator and civilizer, had 
wrought the change. A surprising profusion of new and better building forms took the 
place of the old, and scores of noble details sprang into existence to glorify this grandest age 
of the oldest civilization. From Egypt spread out a thousand ideas, and viewing her alone 
in her ancient glories, the spectator must confess that every other nation of antiquity was an 
imitator or a plagiarist. The glories of the temple of Karnac were never duplicated, and it 
is a question whether the noblest Corinthian column at Rome can compare with the central 
column supporting the roof of the nave in that famous temple. 

The great pyramidal pylons of the Egyptian temples were each often more than 100 



TUB BUILDING INTERESTS. 15 

feet long and twenty feet wide, and between them was a wide and stately entrance; back of 
them was an open court, surrounded on two or more sides by rows of columns, outside of 
which was the external wall. Over the columns and the wall was spread a roof, but the 
great central portion was left open to the sun and the storms. Back of the court were others, 
usually of smaller dimensions; but all with ranges of columns to support the roof, which cov- 
ered either a portion or the whole of the space between the high outer walls. Invariably, on 
the colonnaded sides of the courts, were porticoes on the second story, where openings let out 
the gaze and in the fresh air. In some of the hypostyle halls of these temples, there were 
oft(>n eight or ten ranges of columns and piers on each side, and a great flat roof covering the 
whole. Colossal figures in front of the piers and historic paintings and sculpture in great 
profusion and of wonderful richness and beauty, covered the walls and columns. 

Another Egyptian templar plan was a closed structure (cella), on two or more sides of 
which were ranges of columns or piers, and over all was spread a flat roof with a projecting 
cornice. This plan of temple became known as "peristylar," and furnished subsequent nations 
with the initial idea of their principal buildings. There are some remarkable features to be 
noticed in connection with these Egyptian temples. Both the Greeks and the Romans imitated 
the peristylar forms extensively. Nearly all the most beautiful structures of lx>th nations were 
built in this form a colonnade of extraordinary beauty surrounding a cella. But quite often 
a colonnade within the cella surrounded an open court. Thus both Egyptian styles were 
imitated by the Greeks and Romans in one building. 

At a later date the Gothic architects copied in a noticeable degree the principal features 
of these structures. By them the two great pylons of the temples were replaced witli two 
gigantic towers, crowned with spires, at the corners of the facade of their cathedrals; but the 
idea came from the Egyptians. By the Gothic architects the rows of columns were reduced 
to two in their typical structures, and used to support the clearstory as the Egyptians had 
formerly done. There is the rectangular plan; there is the central court, atrium or nave; 
there are the two rows of columns separating the nave from the side aisles; there are the 
interior porticoes; there are the outer Walls; there is the clearstory, through the side of 
which light and air were admitted; there are the private halls at the farther end, correspond- 
ing to the chancel or apse; there are the beautiful and historic sculptures and paintings, and 
there are the same uses of worship or idolatry or sacerdotal deification, all invented by the 
Egyptians and borrowed and changed by the Gothic builders. But the latter were not the 
only borrowers; all nations and ages since have robbed the golden age of Egypt of its glory 
and ascribed its persistent and enduring ideas to the architectural pirates of succeeding 
ej>ochs. The architects and builders of Chicago are borrowers in the same sense. Through- 
out the city are many buildings, ecclesiastical and otherwise, founded upon the general struct- 
ural principles invented by the Egyptians nearly 4,000 years ago. Many of the churches 
are conspicuous plagiarisms. The Chamber of Commerce, the Rookery and scores of 
others of similar designs are but modifications of the square or rectangular or box palace- 
temples of Egypt with their open courts. There is the same rectangular ground plan, the 



16 I2fHCsritl.il. 

same inner court, the same division into aisle and nave, into court and offices; but the pylons 
are now a beautiful facade, the rows of columns are columnated walls, and the " sky-scrapers " 
rise far above their prototypes on the banks of the Nile, as if endeavoring to awe them or 
overpower their grandeur. The inner colonnades of the Egyptians have been walled up and 
partitioned into offices by the Chicagoans. 

The borrowers here have the right, through usage and royal inheritance, to use the endur- 
ing ideas of the ancients. Great ideas are persistent and immortal, and are handed down as a 
jeweled legacy, from generation to generation, though wrung from the ancients in blood and 
tears. All nations and all people have been borrowers of building ideas of all classes of 
ideas. The character and talent of an individual are the resultant of a ceaseless stream of 
ideas, beating upon the impressionable tablet of his mind and memory. This endless rain 
makes little or no impression upon mediocre minds; but falling upon the soil of genius pro- 
duces a luxuriant verdure of fresh conclusions, new ideas. All great ideas are the fruit of 
genius. Genius is the great architect; talent the skillful builder. No one knows whence 
came his ideas; they rush in from a thousand sources, tumbling over each other in weak or 
ignorant minds, grouping or classifying in cultured or strong ones, ever uniting and combin- 
ing under the focal light of reason, when held up to mental view by the representative 
faculty. The power of their combinations, their artistic arrangement, their skillful classifica- 
tion from contrast or resemblance, their bearing upon life and happiness, justice or prejudice, 
are the parents of opinion or belief. 

A genius invents a pocket knife of one blade; another a button hook; another a scissors; 
another a corkscrew; another a file; another a tweezers all invented far apart and at differ- 
ent periods, from the necessities of alien peoples. Another, a philosopher, originates the idea 
of so shaping and sizing all these instruments as to unite them into a single one for the 
pocket. This compound instrument is the product of the combined genius of seven persons, 
each of whom represents the ripe intelligence of his people and his time. Each invention 
was the slow product of time wrung in trials and sorrows from necessity, the mother of inven- 
tion. The purchaser of this knife will find it very handy, will admire it; but he will not lose 
much sleep in dreaming of the years of toil required by his fathers to perfect it. But the 
ideas live and benefit mankind though he may sleep and not dream. Thus it is with the 
principles of architecture; but the local architect in planning a " sky-scraper " will lose no sleep 
over the ancient models of Thebes, Memphis or Persepolis, which furnish him his funda- 
mental ideas. 

The Egyptians, then, to recapitulate, preceding the year 1600 B. C., gave to mankind 
ideas of light, airy, wooden residences with walls of separate pieces, doors and windows 
capped with lintels or moldings, two or more stories one above the other united by staircases, 
strong upright posts serving the purpose of piers, awnings of light wood or cloth to shut out 
(lie sun and rain from the unglazed openings, cornices having the general features of those used 
to-day, carved panelling and wainscoting, rich paintings on the interior walls representing 
scenes of domestic life or war, the upper story a colonnaded gallery used as an observatory 



THE BUILDING INTEKESTS. 17 

and as a cool, airy apartment in hot weather, and ideas of temples with rectangular ground 
plan, an inner and an outer colonnade, a cella, aisles and nave, an open court, a richly paneled 
triforium, the clearstory plan of admitting light, sculptured real or fanciful beings, caryatic 
columns, the two pylons or towers of the facade, the imposing public entrance, the Doric 
column, the honeysuckle leaves and volutes of the capital, fluted shafts, the pointed arch of 
two slabs leaned together, the curvilinear arch and the pillared porch or portico found 
usually in the rock-cut tombs, the bell-shaped capital covered with a profusion of pond or 
marsh leaves and vines and containing the germ of the Corinthian order, great masses of 
battered masonry, etc., or, to be more explicit, they gave the world ideas of pillars, Doric 
columns, square piers, pilasters, capitals, cornices, curvilinear or pointed arches, colonnades, 
porticoes, galleries, porches, peristyles (adopted by both Greeks and Romans and by all sub- 
sequent peoples), distyle in antis, vestibules, pylons which become corner towers or bays, 
heavy battered walls of masonry, open and closed courts, moldings, wainscotings, revetments, 
mosaics, tilings, terra cotta, lintels, coping, abacus, flutiugs, pedestals, architraves, clear- 
story, attic-story, bas-reliefs, panels, caryatids, base, shaft, capital, ovolo, fillet, volutes, 
carved leaves, brick, ashlar work, nave, aisles, chancel or apse, stone polishing, sculpture, 
frescoing, obelisks, monoliths, monuments, immortality, engineering, architectural decorations, 
storied walls, temples, palaces, pyramids, tombs, etc. 

When the light of history first falls upon the lower valley of the Euphrates, about 2500 
B. C., it was the home of a light, wooden architecture of grand but gaudy beauty. The 
nations of Chaldea, Persia, Syria, Babylonia, Judea and India reveled in the same tawdry 
show, a wilderness of color and form, of fairy structures, the playthings of an hour, of decor 
ative effect so brilliant yet defective, so grand yet garish, that the barbaric glory of that mem- 
orable time has descended to the nineteenth century in the lore of the Jews and the mystic 
tales of the pre-Christian kings and caliphs. Art had run mad in its youth; it remained 
for the Egyptians to heal and the Greeks to cure. The flimsy nature of the Asiatic struct 
ures doomed them to swift destruction within a few centuries after their erection. The sun- 
dried brick, the cement, the stucco, the light wooden beams and other frame-work, the rich 
and elaborate decorations fell soon after the cities were razed by hostile invasions, and now 
only scraps of material and building outlines reward the historic investigator or the archae- 
ologist. The Asiatics, gifted by nature with the best artistic sense then known to the world, 
produced the first elaborate art decorations; but they went mud in the performance and gave 
to history a succession of the most gorgeous yet barbaric spectacles. From the florid archi- 
tecture of the Euphrates valley and Asia Minor came many of the most useful and beautiful 
building ideas or suggestions. The Assyrian and Persian sculpture and alabaster revetments 
made a powerful impression uj>oii the plastic sensibilities of the Dorians of Greece. There 
grew up on the lower Euphrates an artistic sense so delicate, pervasive and romantic, that it 
traveled eastward to India and China, southward to Egypt and westward far across the 
Mediterranean, and produced a permanent effect upon the civilization of mankind. They 
were enthusiastic, impulsive, heroic and warlike, delighting in conquest and in the gloriti- 



18 INDI'XTRIM. <'II 1C Ann. 

cation of their caliphs, and in their bloody invasions came in contact with many fragmental 
nations from whom they obtained, like a medley or crazy quilt, their gorgeous patchwork of 
architectural forms or details and their subtile yet incongruous building tastes. The Baby- 
lonians, having no stone, early brought their brick and wooden structures to a high degree of 
perfection. But the Persians had inexhaustible quarries of good building stone within their 
national borders, and, as a consequence, their structures have better withstood the withering 
touch of time and decay. After the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses (about 525 B. C.) the 
Persians began to imitate the lithic structures of that country; but their own previous archi- 
tecture and that of the Assyrians was too vital a part of their civilization, was too dear to 
their artistic natures to be wholly thrown aside, and so they began to copy in stone their 
chief building features. The conquest of Cambyses had given the Persians, as well as the 
Egyptians, a new architectural and artistic impulse. Beautiful palaces of fresh designs, 
decked with a profusion of sculptured animals, costly ornaments and imperial ceremonies, 
all in florid and barbaric splendor, sprang up in all quarters of the kingdom. The ruins of 
Nineveh and Persepolis reveal an architecture of great similarity; in fact all the western 
Asiatic people seem to have been so nearly allied in governmental forms and social 
and religious customs as to have had practically the same architecture, which differed only 
in minor details. The great temples of Chaldea, Assyria and Persia, have many notable 
features. The substructure was a broad platform approached by a staircase of extraordinary 
proportions, and carved and sculptured in the highest art known to these artistic people with 
ceremonial observances and heroic battle scenes. Upon this broad platform rose a huge 
square or rectangular brick wall, extending upward in some cases several stories, and inclos- 
ing usually a paved court. Unquestionably, within this inclosure were formerly either ranges 
of wooden columns, at a distance of ten to twenty feet from the outer wall, or a second wall 
which took the place of the wooden columns. In the latter case the space between the two 
walls was partitioned or filled with masonry, and roofed and surmounted with a second 
story, inclosed oiitwardly by the wall, but opening inwardly through a colonnade of great 
beauty and peculiarity. Sometimes a third or colonnaded story crowned this structure. The 
court was invariably the scene of the most costly and elaborate sculpture and decoration. A 
beautiful entrance, yet to be described, led past characteristic colossi to the great court. 
Other large temples and the wonderful palaces of the caliph or his dignitaries possessed no 
open court, but were divided by walls sufficiently close to permit the entire structure to be 
roofed. Within the gigantic palaces, which were more or less fortressed, were all the rooms 
necessary for the caliph and his household. Many of the Chaldean temples were six or seven 
stories high, square, or nearly so in outline, with each story smaller than the next one below, 
and all united by broad outer staircases, which led to the crowning structure of the whole, 
the holy of holies of the caliph. The massive superstructure of story above story of brick 
was supported by walls within walls. 

As in Egypt the architecture of the lower Euphrates valley. 'JOOO B. C., shows every evi- 
dence of having been borrowed from a wooden original, or of having been mainly of wood 



THE nc/I.I>l\<; f. \TKBESTS. 19 

itself. An imitation of wooden members may be seen in the details of all the ruins. The 
most notable features of practical value to Chicagoans in the Asiatic structures before the 
Greek orders arose are as follows : Massive battered walls of vitrified brick, the frequent use 
of strong, square buttresses or offsets to support the high brick walls, beautiful and intricate 
panellings in many respect unsurpassed to this day, artistic bas-reliefs representing court 
scenes and domestic life, rich paintings and frescoings, ornamental pavements of vitrified tile, 
the perfection of the cement and stucco work, the immense size and easy ascent of the won- 
derful staircases, the unexpected yet purely artistic harmony of both color and architectural 
proportion, the marvelous beauty of the alabaster wainscoting and revetments, the frequent 
use of large semicircular arches and archivolts of enameled bricks worked in richly colored 
and perfectly figured designs, finished masonry and carpentry, commodious balconies and 
galleries with fluted columns having triple capitals which contained the germ of the Ionic 
volutes, numerous and ornamentally carved balustrades, a carved cornice with rounded 
moldings, richly dressed frieze and pyramidal, battlemented crest, portal guards of gigantic 
winged bulls and grotesque giants strangling lions, a broad vamp along which chariots and 
horsemen reached the great courts, bronze and brass ornaments and casings, silver, ivory and 
gold settings and embellishments, broad roofs covered with earth which supported a luxuri- 
ant tropical vegetation of flowers and aromatic trees, hanging gardens which were one of the 
>e\ m wonders of the ancient world, towering astronomical observatories, surprising technic skill 
in the erection of permanent brick structures of seven stories, the method of vitrifying entire 
brick structures after they were erected, a very interesting system of ornamentation by reed- 
ings and multiple sinkings, a peculiar and elaborate mosaic of small cones in blent colors and 
unique patterns, the elaborate use of colors, particularly yellow, on a blue ground, in all buildings 
capacious vestibules and porticoes, dwarf pillars for the upper portion of walls, entire apart- 
ments lined with sculptured alabaster slabs, representing royal ceremonies and national prowess, 
vaulted or arched passages connecting the several courts, the admission of light by the plan of 
the clearstory, free-standing statues of bold, grotesque, but artistic designs, broad terraces dot- 
ted with clustered shrubs and intersected by serpentine walks, galleried bridges uniting adjacent 
porticoes, the geometrical perfection of all decorative designs, complete architectural orders of 
base, shaft, capital and entablature, the original of the familiar arrangement of two circular 
columns between two square piers known as " distyle in antis." the prototype of the Corinth- 
ian capital, colossal lions in front of piers or pillars, great awnings of wood or cloth to shut 
out the sun and rain, the characteristic architecture of the temples, the great bight and singu- 
lar beauty of the columns which supported the roofs of the halls, the loftiness of the halls 
themselves and the dazzling effects of light secured, the Egyptian plan of inclosing a beau- 
tiful colonnade within a high wall, recesses for statuary in the thick walls, a series of cells 
around the halls for the private use of dignitaries, etc. Among the special members used were 
the following: Sun-dried and kiln-dried brick, mortar, cement, stucco, vitrified and enameled 
brick, tile and terra cotta, buttresses, offsets, niches, sculpture, bas-reliefs, carved moldings, 
reeded pilasters, fluted columns, stvlnkiti's. sculptured jambs, semicircular arches, archivolts. 



20 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

compound panelling, frescoing, mosaics, wainscoting, revetments, the Ionic volute, the Cor- 
inthian capital, balustrades, architrave, abacus, ovolo, fillet, cornice, frieze, stairways, port- 
icoes, galleries, balconies, porches, bridges, correct vaulting, piers, pillars, roofs, pavements 
gabled roofs, pediments, pedestals, base moldings, rectangular doors and windows, dentils, 
window and door caps, beveled or chamfered edges, etc., etc. 

A comparison of the architecture of Egypt and the Euphrates valley reveals striking 
characteristics. The Egyptians brought the lithic art to a high degree of perfection; the 
Asiatics excelled in ornamentation. The structures of the former are famous for their massive- 
ness, colossal size, durability, structural beauty and grandeur; of the latter for their evanes- 
cence, gaudy beauty, wealth of adventitious adornment and splendor. The Egyptians knew 
the use of the arch, but, like the Indians, believed it endangered the stability of their build- 
ings; the Asiatics used it often over the portals of their palaces and the large gates of their 
city walls. The Nile valley gave to art the Doric order, the Corinthian bell, the honeysuckle 
leaves, the huge water-plant leaves, the clearstory, the two templar designs a covered cella 
surrounded by a colonnade and a walled colonnade either surrounding an open court or all 
roofed over. From the latter came the three-aisled structure and the clearstory. The 
Euphrates valley gave the Ionic order, the springing volutes of the Corinthian order, buttres- 
ses and offsets, wonderful staircases, tropical roofs, correct vaulting, etc. The perfection of 
the architectural details of the two valleys from '2000 B. C. to 3000 B. C. proves a long 
period of previous development and the remoteness of human origin. 

The earliest specimens of architecture in Greece show two distinct, clearly- defined forms 
one rich, ornamental, light, gaudy, resembling closely the styles of Asia, and the other 
strong, bold, massive, simple, with the leading Egyptian characteristics except special orna- 
mentation. Each style was typical of the people using it. The Pelasgians were full of 
sentiment, heroic conceits, were valiant to rashness, lovers of home, superstitious and emotional ; 
the Dorians were practical, inartistic, cold-blooded, adventurous, hard, grasping and dominant. 
The union of the two people, the fusion of their mental types, soon became a potent force in 
the development of civilization, and, in the end, gave to Greece her crown of undying glory. 
From the Trojan war, nearly 1200 B. C., until the erection of the Doric temples at Corinth, 
alxnit 670 B. C., the national character, mental cast and artistic instinct of the two antagon- 
istic elements struggled for union and refined expression. It was not until after the Persian 
War of about 480 B. C. that perfect fusion was accomplished, and the purest architect ural 
era of the world unfolded its splendors. The Greeks took the massive building forms of 
Egypt, embellished them with the refined details of the Asiatics and gave to the world the 
noblest architecture known to man worthy of that crowning age of superb philosophy and 
divine sculpture. But they were borrowers of ideas ideas of architecture and ornament, of 
color and proportion, from Africa and Asia, ideas of philosphy and religion from India, 
Judea and Egypt, ideas of sculpture from the brilliant paintings, gorgeous bas-reliefs and 
beautiful caryatids of Thebes, Nineveh and Persepolis; but the Greek mental genius was 
artistic and so they purified and perfected everything they touched. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 21 

About the year 070 B. C. there was erected at Corinth the first Doric temple in Greece 
a massive Egyptian structure with Dorian refinements the first of a series of improve- 
ments which culminated in the perfected Doric order. About fifty years later another was 
erected at .ZEgina, less massive and strong, showing the effect of Asiatic art upon the cumber- 
some Egyptian forms. At this time also a beautiful temple was built at Athens, and soon 
throughout all Greece the lofty structures rose, each more refined and pure than its prede- 
cessor, but all showing a marked and marvelous improvement, until the war with Persia 
doomed nearly all to dire destruction. Thus was lost to the world much of the infancy 
and youth of the truest art period of history a time full of meaning arid impulse, the 
generative era of simplicity and beauty in art, of the sublime artistic sense of the Greeks. 
After the war the aesthetic sentiment, at a bound, perfected itself and left to succeeding cent- 
uries scores of immortal works, a priceless legacy to purity and refinement and the joy of 
humanity. 

The architecture of the Greeks was characterized by charming simplicity and purity, 
great strength and durability, perfect proportion, harmony of color, form and outline, and by 
the perfection of permanent types. From the crude Egyptian column at Beni Hassan they 
evolved the famous Doric order, and from the scrolled capitals of the Euphrates basin the 
beautiful Ionic order. From Egypt came ideas of the base, the fluted shaft, the necking, the 
ovolo or echinus, the abacus, the architrave and the cornice; but these members were reor- 
ganized, were reunited in perfect harmony of form, color, outline and proportion. The base 
was omitted in the Doric order, the hight of the column fixed at from four to six and a half 
times its diameter, the abacus made plain and square, the ovolo very little curved but quirked 
at the top. Plain fillets and small channels were placed under the ovolo, and a small dis- 
tance below a deep, narrow channel was cut in the shaft; but the flutes of the shaft, twenty in 
number, were continued up to the fillets, were separated by a sharp edge and not a fillet, and 
were less than a semicircle in depth. Over the architrave was a plain fillet called tenia. 
The frieze was ornamented with flat projections, cut by three vertical glyphs, called tri- 
glyphs. Between these were the metopes. Guttse were placed under the tenia of the architrave, 
a broad fillet placed over the frieze, mutules cut on the soffit of the cornice and under these 
were carved several rows of guttre. These additions made by the Greeks were improvements 
in the line of harmony of proportion, but the essential principles came from Egyptian or 
Assyrian prototypes. It is certain that the architrave corresponds to the beam, the triglyphs 
to the ends of the joists, the columns to posts, the pilasters to brick piers, the abacus to the 
slab used to distribute the downward pressure and the members of the cornice to the molding 
of the ancient wooden buildings all imitations, but all improvements. 

The Ionic capital came from Asia, but was so transformed, beautified and ennobled that 
a pure and permanent type was evolved. The Asiatic originals of this column show a base 
consisting of a plinth, a carved and elongated cynia reversa, a torus, and a fillet, then a 
fluted shaft, a bell carved, ornamented and lengthened often to ten or fifteen feet and some- 
time separated into three portions usually two an inverted and necked cup, a series of 



22 INDUSTRIE CHICAGO: 

scrolls and lines resembling a harp, and a double-bull crown or cap. The Greeks reduced the 
Tolutes to four and established the ornamented ovolo or echinus as the principal molding, 
placing it under the spirals. Very often on a necking below the echinus vines, flowers and 
honeysuckle leaves were engraved. The shaft was lengthened from eight and a quarter to nine 
and a half times its diameter, and was either plain or fluted, in the latter case there being 
twenty-four flutes separated by fillets. Various bases were used usually the attic, but often 
the enriched Asiatic. The members of the entablature were either perfectly plain, or the bed- 
moldings of the cornice were beautifully carved or given a row of dentils. 

It is certain, also, that from Asia came the first idea of the Corinthian capital and its 
shaft and base. In the Asiatic orders the volutes were repeated under each other and had 
the upright springing form given them by the Greeks, but the acanthus leaves were missing 
and often the base was much like the capital inverted. It is not improbable, however, that 
the Asiatic original of the Corinthian volutes was only a modification of the Ionic volutes. 
In this order the Greeks showed greater originality, though less perfect art, than in the Doric 
or Ionic orders. Fertile in artistic resources, with a surprising facility for blending or unit- 
ing harmonies, proportions and beauties, masters of elemental art, throbbing with the blood 
of expanding genius, the Greeks boldly took the bell-shaped capital of the Egyptians, com- 
pared and combined it with a similar one from Persia, reshaped and beautified it, attached 
the enrichments of carved honeysuckle leaves and reduced Ionic volutes, adorned the whole 
with rosettes and sculptured moldings, and gave to art their great Corinthian order. This act 
was the expiring pulsation of Greek art. The order lacked harmony of form and proportion, 
but was perfected by the Romans. In the Greek type the capital was in hight more than the 
diameter of the shaft. At the top of the shaft were apophyges, a fillet and an astragal, 
which, in effect, figured as part of the capital. Above the astragal rose the bell set with two 
rows of acanthus leaves or caulicoles with eight in a row and a third row of leaves supporting 
eight small open volutes, four of which were under the four horns of the abacus arid the other 
four between them with a flower on the abacus above. The volutes sprang out of twisted 
husks placed between the leaves of the central row. The abacus consisted of an ovolo, fillet 
and cavetto. The base was half a diameter high and the entire column about ten diameters. 
The base was often attic, but usually consisted of two scotise between tori, which were sepa- 
rated by two astragals. The entire entablature was very rich with sculpture, paintings and 
moldings. The architrave was divided into two or more faciue. The lower part of the frieze 
ended in an apophyge and the cornice was ornamented with both modillions and dentils. 
This order though very beautiful lacked the true, expressive and pure art of the Greek Doric 
and Ionic orders. It was simply an attractive union of familiar architectural features, whicli 
lacked harmony of form and proportion. Even the decorative arrangement was defective. 
The principal ideas of the Doric and Ionic orders had been borrowed; but the Greeks so 
reshaped, readjusted and harmonized all the incongruous lines and angles, the cumbersome 
adjuncts and ungainly proportions, as to express in a degree never before seen a marvelous 
wealth of strength, beauty, simplicity, harmony and power. They had perfected a phonetic 



/.\77-:/.'AN7 T S. . 23 

art. It was different with the Grecian Corinthian order. Without inventing, without design- 
ing, they combined the perfected elements principally of the other two orders; but failed in 
true effect and left a form for the Romans to perfect. 

But the amazing genius of the Greeks is best shown in certain special constructive details 
designed to add to the general effect of the whole structure as a work of pure art. A. civiliza- 
tion that could produce the divine sculpture of Greece, could also produce architects able to 
grasp the harmony of details, their marvelous contributivo union to a symmetrical whole. 
Accordingly it is not surprising to learn that the outlines of a Grecian column were slightly 
convex the line being either hyperbolic or parabolic, and the columns themselves were 
slightly inclined inward to give an expression of greater security. The architrave was 
always slightly arched to correct the strong pedimental slope. All the parts were adjusted to 
each other in exact ratio, the columns were so many times their diameters apart, all measure- 
ments and distances were proportionate, oblique lines of distinct building members were 
parallel, the shafts of the columns tapered toward the top, the marble masonry was perfect, 
sculptured acrotina, metopes, pediments, moldings and rich colorings beautified the whole. 
An architect who could master all this possessed the power to give united expression to every 
feature of a structure. This was the genius of the Greeks a crowning attainment never 
since surpassed. Architecture for the first time became perfect in Greece. The Greeks were 
purifiers; they gathered the crude but valuable architecture of the world like so 'much gold, 
threw out all debasing elements and quickly evolved perfect forms like fresh coin from the 
mint. 

For the plans of their temples the Greeks used both forms found in Egypt and Asia 
a cella surrounded or partly surrounded by a colonnade, and a colonnaded court inclosed by 
a wall and roofed over. They frequently combined the two forms in one temple, and repro- 
duced the three aisles of the Egyptians. Sometimes the middle aisle became a cella, which 
was itself colonnaded. The Greeks perfected the low, broad gable, ideas of which they had 
obtained from Lycian or Pelasgian tombs, and made the sculptured pediments one of the 
most interesting and beautiful features of their architecture. Their usual method of light- 
ing their great temples was the clearstory internally, but so arranged outwardly as to deflect 
the rain without interfering with the outline of the roof. They used caryatic figures, but 
not often as columns, though sparingly as supports and often on pedestals in front of 
columns. They adopted the Asiatic facade of two columns between two square piers. Per- 
haps their most noticeable architectural member was a row of columns supporting an entabla- 
ture, which in turn carried a low gabled roof. This beautiful member is now generally used 
in large city, state or governmental buildings. 

It seems, then, that the mission of the Greeks was to perfect the forms of architecture 
handed down by the ancient nations of Europe, Asia and Africa. Their fundamental ideas 
of columns supporting an entablature came from both Asia and Africa, of gabled roofs from 
Lycian tombs, of their two templar designs from Egypt and Persia. Their Doric order was 
Egyptian, their Ionic, Persian, their Corinthian, the decorated Egyptian bell and the Persian 



24 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

volutes. From the older nations came their bas-relief, caryatid, column, base, pedestal, 
capital, fluted shaft, abacus, ovolo, fillet, colonnade, balcony, gallery, arch, cornice, frieze 
architrave, staircase, clearstory, cement, stucco, panelling, sculpture, pilaster, mosaic, fresco, 
pier, and scores of other special building members. 

To recapitulate, they perfected and ennobled the Doric and Ionic orders, devised the 
Corinthian order, improved the clearstory method of lighting, transformed the Egyptian 
halls into beautiful temples, increased the number of moldings, divided the entablature 
into three members by addition and elimination, greatly enriched the cornice, formed two or 
more divisions of the architrave, established the pediment as a fixture in architecture, made 
the art of masonry technically perfect, blended necessary and ornamental elements, attained 
a marvelous simplicity, secured tasteful decoration, reduced building details to mathematical 
accuracy, carried the harmony of form and proportion to the highest state ever reached by 
man, and gave to humanity the purest, simplest and truest architecture yet seen upon earth. 

Etruscan architecture furnished the foundation for the subsequent Roman style. Upon 
this at a later period, were grafted Grecian and Egyptian members. The Etruscan style 
was used in Italy from the founding of Rome until about the Christian era, when it became 
thoroughly fused with the Grecian and Asiatic forms. Its features are useful and important. 
The walls were of titanic blocks of stone, laid horizontally and often very skillfully ashlared. The 
segmental or semicircular arch was used often in sewers and conduits, but did not apparently 
reach a system. Sometimes they spanned a space of twenty feet, and were made of the usual 
wedge-shaped voussoirs and capped with a keystone. An Assyrian original of the Ionic 
capital was used by the Etruscans. In many cases rudimentary domes and vaults were 
employed, but without a clear perception of their importance. Etruscan temples were square 
or nearly so, while Grecian temples were rectangular. The Etruscans furnished the Romans 
with the Tuscan column or order, though under the latter it was changed and improved. The 
Etruscan tombs were cut out of the solid rock, and had flat or sloping roofs like gables. In 
all cases wooden originals were imitated. 

Roman building taste received its initial impulse from the art-loving Etruscans, but was 
greatly influenced by constructive designs from all the older nations. The spoils of the 
world and the aggregated artistic sense of many peoples of widely different type of mind were 
combined with too much haste and too little study to give true art a fitting recognition or 
observance. The jumbled architecture of the Romans represents their impatience, their indiffer- 
ence to study and care, their hollowness, their insane haste for change and wealth, their polit- 
ical ambition all done with a rush for power and glory, with a disregard for perfect details, but 
with a brilliance and a grandeur never exceeded. They were wholesale borrowers of types, 
styles, ideas, materials never stopping to realize their individual beauty, but uniting all into 
an incongruous whole, though on such a gigantic scale and with such a display of wealth and 
]K>wer as to stagger the succeeding centuries. But true art with them was as often missed as 
hit. Still their numerous inventions and combinations had a marked effect upon the archi- 
tecture of the earth. Instead of defining and simplifying the noble elements of constructive 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 25 

architecture they rushed with less art to an excess in adornment, mass and grandeur. Dis- 
similar building types, possessing few if any harmonies, were combined on a scale of such 
magnificence, with such a lavish display of adventitious adornment, as to produce bewildering 
results. They did not, like the Greeks, ennoble all they touched, neither did they impress 
upon the world many fresh types of pure art; but nevertheless there is much to excite wonder, 
kindle enthusiasm and enrich the treasures of architecture in the extraordinary ruins of Borne. 
They had no time amid their heroic pastimes and bloody conquests to invent fresh, pure 
ornamental types of structure, but with ruinous despatch seized the templar designs of Asia 
and Greece, and tirst placed one upon another, and then embellished them with a grand pro- 
fusion of beautiful details. The Greeks, with truer artistic sense, had first perfected their 
structural types from Doric designs and then had glorified them with a most enchanting sim- 
plicity of select adornment. 

Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of Roman architecture is the combination 
of simple and distinct members into a complex or compound whole. Many of these have 
been used by the architects of all the nations since, including the United States. These com- 
plex features may be seen throughout Chicago in thousands of buildings and will be recog- 
nized when indicated. The Roman architectural period was essentially one of development 
the infancy of a perfected complexity, if the statement may be allowed. The subsequent 
Christian orders carried complex forms and adornments to the limits of excess. The Roman 
combinations and multiplications of special ideas show the evolution of building designs from 
the simple Egyptian and Grecian types to the compound styles of Christian architecture and 
reveal the origin of the intricate plans of Chicago architects. It may be truthfully said in 
general of the styles used in Chicago, excepting ecclesiastical architecture, that the principal 
complex features came from the Romans. If this be borne in mind what follows will be more 
readily understood. 

The Romans devised the important decorative arrangement of the Grecian screen of 
two columns supporting an entablature before the Etruscan arch supported by square 
piers. This feature has been used extensively by all nations since, but has no structural 
importance. Among the Romans the column was used more as a decorative member; among 
the Greeks it was a structural necessity. Accordingly the former people used the plain 
Doric and Ionic orders sparingly, but brought the Corinthian order into greater prominence 
and perfection owing to its superior decorative effect. They increased the size of the column, 
did not always flute the shaft, enlarged the volutes and constructed the capital after an inva- 
riable model. The moldings of the Roman columnar construction were unlike those of the 
Greeks; they were stiff, studied and regular, and had no meaning except adornment. The 
columns wore placed on pedestals, while the Greeks placed them directly on the foundations. 
Half columns were often used by the Romans. They devised the Tuscan order from an 
Etruscan original, but gave it the triglyphs and other features of the Greek Doric order. 
The shaft was slender and the base had the plinth, torus, fillet and apophyge. Roman col- 
umnar construction was essentially the blending of the Grecian and Etruscan styles or orders. 



^ii INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

They replaced the Grecian expression of simplicity of style with a magnificent complexity of 
proportion and dimension. The composite arcade of the Grecian screen before the Etruscan 
arch met with many alterations late in the Roman period or early in the Romanesque. The 
piers and pedestals disappeared; the columns were placed under the arch ; over the arcade 
was extended the entablature; the members of the entablature were often separated; some 
were omitted; sometimes the entablature was curved to form the arch; sometimes the archi- 
trave was reduced to an impost upon which rested the arched frieze and cornice; sometimes 
the arch was concealed and placed above the entablature to sustain the superincumbent weight- 
All these were Roman or Romanesque devices, and show a daring, adventurous skill, a brave 
departure from fixed types and a transitional stage of such brilliance and promise that only 
wonderful results could be expected. The Roman period was the infancy of what may be 
called compound architecture, and the Romanesque was its youth and early manhood. 

They made a great advance in utility by enlarging the cella and diminishing the peristyle. 
This arrangement, by making it necessary to cover greater space with a roof, led them to the 
use of the vault in arching and the advance to the dome was then an easy accomplishment. 
They also devised the apse and the apse arch, for within this space the qusestor or magistrate 
sat to administer justice. This building was their famous basilica a three or five-aisled 
structure with an apse at one end and porticoes at the other or on the sides. In many cases, 
except on the portico, the columns were attached to the walls of the cella, thus bringing out 
prominently the importance of the latter member. This style was called peripteral. Some- 
times a rotunda or circular cella was entirely surrounded with a peristyle either free or 
attached, and sometimes the cella itself was made octagonal and the columns were replaced 
with pillars, pilasters and piers, with or without pedestals. 

The Romans took their temples of rectangular plan from Greece, though the idea came 
from the Egyptians. They adopted the Grecian gable or pediment, which was also a distin- 
guishing feature among the Pelasgians and Etruscans, who seem to have made the first great 
advance in those members, but the Romans increased the pitch of the roof. The Egyptians and 
the Greeks used the rectangular designs, while the Asiatics, of whom the Etruscans were a 
prominent branch, furnished square plans with a portico on but one side. The Romans united 
the principal ideas of the two plans the Grecian rectangle with the Etruscan portico, but this 
they afterward elaborated. They carried complexity still farther by attaching the Grecian or 
Etruscan portico to the circular ground plan or rotunda used by the latter people in the con- 
struction of tombs. Their amphitheatres and theatres were elliptical. 

The arch constituted the greatest expressive feature of Roman architecture; it was 
structural with them, while the column was decorative. The idea of curvature taken from 
the arch was extended to the vaulting of halls, to domes, to circular ground plans, to inter- 
secting vaults and applied to all kinds of structures temples, tombs, palaces, residences, 
theatres, amphitheatres, basilicas, baths, commemorative structures, bridges, gates, etc. 
Through all is seen the semicircular arch in every conceivable relation. The Romans must 
be given credit for this most important improvement; it was an advance which lias left a 




*W>r <"i' ^j==, 

TYPE OF PI0JSKE3 L06 



:;,V>-< 



LIBRARY 

OF THE 

OF ILLINOIS 



fHE BUILDING INTERESTS. 27 

markod effect upon the architecture of all periods since. It is this invention of complex 
relationship which enabled the Romans to erect buildings so wonderful in their variety and 
amazing in their grandeur. 

Another important advance of the Romans was the idea of the reduplication of parts, as 
arch over arch, column over column, etc. Perhaps the greatest defect of their architecture 
was the incongruous use of the perfect orders of the Greeks and the jumbled or heterogene- 
ous association of dissimilar building members. This is illustrated in their origination of the 
Composite order from the Ionic and Corinthian orders; the principal elements, the Ionic vo- 
lutes and the Corinthian bell with its acanthus leaves, were placed together without either 
harmony of outline or aesthetic expression. 

Both Greeks and Romans built numerous large and costly theatres, the general arrange- 
ment of which is imitated today. The Romans surpassed all others of the ancient nations, 
Egypt alone excepted, in the mass of their structures. Their amphitheatres were simply 
titanic, and here it was that the carpentry of Rome had free range upon the seats, domes, 
stairways and framework. This aggressive and warlike people, glowing with the ardor of 
conquest and victory, representing a savage, cruel civilization, took little interest in the mimic 
representations of civil or domestic life on the stage, when, in the amphitheatres, in the 
presence of thousands of inflamed and yelling people, actual and brutal butcheries and bar- 
barities could be witnessed. 

The distinguishing features, then, of Roman architecture may be summed up as follows: 
The extensive use of the semicircular arch to all kinds of structures and its elaboration into 
domes, vaults and circxilar designs; the application of the Greek screen as an ornamental 
member only; the juxtaposition of inharmonious members; the reduplication of special parts; 
the enlargement of the domed nave or atrium and the invention of the apse; reticulated 
masonry; wealth of adornment and structural massiveness; multiplicity of constructional 
designs; the debasement of the Greek, Doric and Ionic orders; the improvement of the Cor- 
inthian order and the invention of the Tuscan; the studied, regular form of the moldings; the 
frequent use of pedestals and half columns; the excessive ornamentation of the entablatures; 
the extensive use of the portico instead of the surrounding row of columns or peristyle; a row 
of half columns on the sides of the cellas instead of the Greek peripteral style; temples en- 
tirely surrounded by a colonnade or peristyle; the steep pitch of the pedimental angle; the 
evolution of the columnar arcade; the use of projecting pilasters with base, fluted shaft and 
capital, instead of the Grecian antae; the columnar construction of the attic story; arched 
windows and doors; love of the magnificent instead of the beautiful; elaborate band-courses 
which encircled huge buildings between stories; the collection of arch thrusts to a point, to 
be received by a buttress; the use of ornamental vaulting shafts; the fault of such an en- 
largement of special members as to dwarf the whole structure; the use of three or four-story 
piers and of battlemented walls; the variety of uses to which wood was applied; the immense 
quantity of brick and stucco used; the technical perfection of masonry and carpentry and 
the origin of the historic basilica. 

2 



_'s INDUSTRIAL riltCACO: 

There is no arbitrary line separating Roman architecture from its descendant Roman- 
esque, as the evolution was gradual after the time of the Christian era, and the first period 
of the new style complete about the time of Constantine. The term Romanesque is here 
applied to any deduction of the pure Roman styles by any people, which do not have an 
admixture from other types. It originated from the attempts of the Christians, to derive a 
suitable building for their wants from the classical orders and the special Roman members, 
and was continued in Western Europe until the thirteenth century, thoiigh not withoiit great 
improvement and variation, and the adoption of a few of the characteristic Gothic features, 
as early as three or four centuries before. In fact, innovative forms began to creep in as 
early as the middle of the sixth century. Under this classification Byzantine, Saxon, Lom- 
bardic, Norman, Pisan, Milanese, etc., must be considered variations of the Romanesque, for 
these styles certainly originated from an imitation of Roman types. Byzantine was tin- 
earliest to show its characteristics. Soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, lines 
of dernarkation from the Roman were drawn at Byzantine or Constantinople; but it was not 
until the reign of Constantine, that the style assumed its permanent form and garb. In the 
west the fragmental nations resulting from the destruction of the Roman empire, continued 
to imitate its arched construction until it was fully replaced by the Gothic in the thirteenth 
century. But there are two distinct periods of Romanesque in the west, the first of which 
ended about the year 575 A. D., when Alboin the Lombard mastered Italy, and the second 
continued through the dark ages until supplanted by the Gothic. 

Under the influence of Roman art, the western Christians, from the start, took the basilica 
and adopted it for their church. They spread over the central aisle, which they soon desig- 
nated the nave, a gabled roof; retained the Roman altar where offerings had so often been 
made to the gods of justice and war; dedicated the apse to the exclusive use of their bishops 
and holy ceremonies; separated the nave from the dais by cancelli or pillars; formed two 
aisles of the interior colonnades, one for men and one for women; set apart for special use the 
choir; devised the famous, historic crypt; spanned the intercolumniations either with a 
horizontal architrave or a series of circular arches; beautified the triforium, and introduced 
the primary transept, which shaped their ground plans like a Tan cross and gave to later 
Christian Churches their cruciform designs. The gabled roofs were made of wood, and con- 
sisted of beams, ties, rafters, braces and posts, all usually left uncovered and plain, but some- 
times feebly but tastefully ornamented. At the center of the transept, just in front of the 
apse, was established the choir, on the sides of which were located the pulpits. But the 
central idea was Roman, as the latter had been Grecian, Asiatic, Etruscan, or Egyptian. The 
form given the early Christian basilicas was dictated by necessity; the Christians were perse- 
cuted, impoverished, and, at the point of death, forced to take whatever they could get. In 
their earnest hands the Romanesque basilica became a germinating architectural seed, from 
which grew the great cathedral of medijeval times. Its expression was simple, plain, humble: 
but often the stately interiors were artistic and beautiful, under the influence of ennobling 
Christian ceremonies and sentiments. The walls were often covered with paintings, frescoes, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 29 

/ 
and sometimes mosaics, representing ideal scenes of Christian sacrifice, martyrdom, or history. 

Particularly was this the case in the decorations of the semi-dome of the apse, where, usually, 
the Savior was shown instructing his disciples, or triumphantly ascending to heaven from His 
tomb in Gethsemane. The columns were usually Corinthian, taken from some dismantled 
pagan temple; yet necessity often placed a Doric column beside an Ionic or a Corinthian. 
But the most striking characteristic of the early Romanesque basilica was a notable poverty 
of ornamental details, and a plainness of painful severity, which, doubtless, in those emotional 
times, greatly increased the reverential awe of the worshiper or the spectator. Brick and 
wood were the principal materials used; plain stone arches capped the doors and windows. 
These were the principal characteristics of the Romanesque style generally. 

The ancient Thermae gave early Christians the model for their baptisteries circular, 
octagonal, quadrangular, ete. ; but the same plain architecture and sober expression as seen in 
the basilicas were duplicated in these structures. They were placed near the basilicas, but 
after a time wholly disappeared and were replaced by the baptismal font. 

The Early Romanesque style in circular buildings avoided all external decorations. In 
the first churches, a small portico, a relic of the Roman peristyle, was used, but soon disap- 
peared. The architects rarely, if ever, tried to vault their rectangular structures, but some- 
times spread domes over their circular ones, in which case the outline of the roof did not 
conform to the curvature of the dome. In reality, it was not a dome; it was merely a vaulted 
ceiling of large dimensions, covered with a wooden roof. The Romans, a century or more 
before the time of Constantine, gave to their roofs the same form as to their domes. This 
style was promptly imitated, and rapidly developed into a perfect type by the Byzantines. 
Romanesque architects, on the contrary, used vaults internally, over which was spread the 
gabled roof, which important feature had as much influence on the Gothic styles as the vault- 
ing mania itself. Another distinguishing feature of the Romanesque was the multiplication 
of round arches and the introduction of arched buttresses. The architects of the basilicas 
soon adopted the cruciform plan, developed square piers, carrying groined arches, introduced 
altars at the foot of the aisles, placed half columns at the sides or beveled angles of the piers, 
built chapels off the choir or the narthex or vestibule, erected belfries or sanete bell cots and 
stone spires, and often transformed buttressess into pilasters. From the start, they employed 
interior columns to support the vaults or domes of their structures, while the classical or 
Byzantine designers used them only as ornamental features, and not at all in their circular 
buildings. In the Romanesque the use of the Grecian screen of two columns supporting an 
entablature was abandoned; but the semicircular arch was employed to span all openings, 
and was placed directly upon the imposts of the columns. No doubt the idea of the Roman 
atrium was the origin of the Romanesque narthex or vestibule. The name basilica, used by 
tlic Romans, was adopted by the Christians, who admired its beautiful meaning kingly hall. 
As time passed, the bema or sanctuary was merged into the transept, or lost much of its 
earlier importance. Generally, classical pillars, pilasters and entablatures were adopted in 
the Romanesque buildings. Other notable features were rectangular faces and square-edged 



SO INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

projections, small wall openings, massive architectural members, sculptured flat surfaces, the 
lack of multiplied component parts, a conspicuous predominance of horizontal lines and 
absence of vertical ones, flat, inconspicuous buttresses, short, one-storied pillars in the recesses 
and walls, terminated with strong horizontal bands, tablets or cornices. These were the 
principal characteristics of the Early Romanesque period in the west, until near the close of 
the sixth century, at which time the nations which had arisen began to dress their buildings 
with certain local forms, to which the terms Byzantine, Lombardic, Venetian, Tuscan, Norman, 
French, English, German, etc., have been very properly applied. 

Late Romanesque architecture, which, under this classification, began about the begin- 
ning of the seventh century, retained many of the earlier forms imtil new members or designs 
supplanted them or the appearance of Gothic styles drove all into disuse. The basilicas of 
the early Christians were used without material alterations by nations both of Italian and 
Teutonic origin in all western Europe until about the beginning of the tenth century, when 
important improvements in old forms were made, rather than the substitution of new ones. 
France was the leader of new architectural developments in the west. Tetitonic and neo- Celtic 
elements began to appear early in the tenth century, but the Romanesque did not yield with- 
out a struggle; in fact, it even enjoyed a brief renaissance late in the twelfth and early in the 
thirteenth century, after which it speedily gave way to Gothic forms. 

One of the first changes was the increase in size and importance of the transept and the 
prolongation of the nave. The altar was removed to the east side of the choir, and over the 
intersection of the transept and the nave a tower was erected. The transept wings were given 
the same width as the nave, which was itself double the width of the aisles; the apse was 
raised higher and often another was built on the west end of the church. Late in the elev- 
enth century the vaulted basilica succeeded the flat or gable-roofed basilica, but did not 
assume the form of the Byzantine dome. These changes led promptly to striking results. 
Molded piers as high as the nave walls took the place of pillars or columns to support the nave 
vaults or arches. This extension of vertical lines was a Gothic innovation. Cross vaults 
were soon in general use, and rib moldings soon gave a livelier aspect to the broad vault 
expanse. The projection of arches from the vault faces increased the vertical effect, The 
aisles were similarly vaulted, and a little later the tower over the junction of the nave and the 
transept assumed the form of a polygonal dome, a slight recognition of the conquest of 
Byzantine art. Perhaps the most striking general feature at this time was the clear and evi- 
dent system of the vaulting; it had become an expressive organic whole, an attractive trans- 
formation, a harmony of curved lines, rounded forms and dressed angles. The semicircular 
arch was extensively used and was often stilted. A little later the earl}- pointed or the foli- 
ated arch could occasionally be seen endeavoring to crowd out the semicircle. Another 
important change was the increase of intercolumniation the distance between pillars and piers 
having been placed at half the width of the nave. Soon piers and columns were used alter- 
nately with strong and beautiful effect. Piers were first plain, quadrangular or octagonal, 
but soon half columns were set in the recessed corners or on the sides, or double or triple 



THE liUILDING INTERESTS. 31 

half columns on both the angles and the sides gave a richly molded effect to the whole pier. 
This became one of the most distinguishing of the special members at this time. Moldings 
began to adorn the groins, ribs and even intrados. and, altogether, a richer dress lent increas- 
ing beauty to the great expanse of walls and vaults. Around all entrances moldings multi- 
plied rapidly, door and window jambs became doubly or triply recessed to receive rounded 
shafts, and over the arches ran a continuous architrave of fillets, grooves and rounds. Sculpt- 
ures, grotesques, symbols and coats of arms appeared on the cusps, spandrels and angles. 
The first rose window a circle foliated like a wheel became an important advance in the 
eleventh century. The towers were usually small, and square, octagonal or circular without 
a long spire. Groups of round-arched, narrow, stilted windows were soon used in all varia- 
tions of the Late Romanesque. Over the grouped windows, which were recessed, appeared 
multiple half-projecting arches on the walls. Later, this became such a distinguishing 
feature that it was elaborated and called pilaster strips. Sometimes two towers were built on 
the west end of the church, and over the nave and transept intersection a hexagonal or 
octagonal tower with low concave roof rose. 

Enrichments from the animal and the vegetable kingdoms masks, dragons, men, fabulous 
beasts, flowers, stalks, leaves were carved on capitals, spandrels, etc. This was undoubtedly 
an imitation of the Byzantine style, which reveled in this class of decorations. The cubiform 
capital so extensively and variously used in the Late Romanesque was borrowed from the 
Byzantine. It was not long till it took the bell shape in order to give full play to the won- 
derful profusion of carvings on the capital. The abacus became higher though less project- 
ing than in the Early Romanesque, and exhibited repeated alternate fillets and cavetti. The 
base of the column was invariably a modification of the old attic base with its quadrangular 
plinth, but the corners were rounded with carved foliage or animal heads. The shafts were 
given no entasis, but all had the astragal and very often 11 broad molding ran round the clus- 
tered shafts. The shaft flutings were of all shapes, sizes, angles and directions. The band 
courses, cornices, etc., used were in the main Roman, but the fillets and rounds were differ- 
ently combined. Colored glass began to be used in the windows in the eleventh century. 
Late in this style the special moldings or ornaments used were the tooth, billet, chessboard, 
scallop, cable, nail-head, lozenge, zigzag, grotesque, corbels, pilaster strips, blind arcades, 
arcade galleries, corbel -tables, masks, faces, foliage, etc. The general effect of Late 
Romanesque architecture was repose, beauty and solemnity. The interior was well propor- 
tioned and the expression lofty and grand. In Late Romanesque, when circular churches 
were used, a dome supported by a range of pillars rose over the choir. Cloisters with vaulted 
passages and castles with Roman battlements supported by corbels united by arcades were to 
be seen. These were the principal features of Late Romanesque in general, but special forms 
in the several countries remain to be noticed. 

The forms of Early Romanesque architecture in Italy did not yield so readily to Gothic 

innovations as in other nations. Its features were similar to Romanesque in general. The 

old basilicas were used until early in the thirteenth century without material alteration. The 



32 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

jt 

choir was raised above the nave, to which it was connected by a flight of steps, but the tran- 
sept did not appear till late. Pillars were alternated with piers to support the nave roof. 
Old Roman forms were closely imitated. 

In Tuscany very often the entire facade consisted of pilasters or half columns supporting 
arches or a horizontal entablature, rising story above story to the roof. Exterior and interior 
were richly dressed in layers of white, black and green marble. Even the facade, and the 
walls were inlaid^ with marble of various colors, producing a decorative effect of wonderful 
richness and beauty. Oval domes rose over the choir. The corbel-table did not appear. 
Columnar shafts were twisted and cabled and capitals were richly but fantastically carved. 
The entablatures were beautified with colored mosaics in figured patterns. This was late in 
the style. Tabernacles and canopies were built over altars in the twelfth century ; they con- 
sisted of columns holding an architrave and a frieze formed of a row of small shafts sup- 
porting a cornice. The ambos were dressed in costly mosaics. 

The Venetian Romanesque could not resist the invasion of Byzantine and Arabian forms 
and features. However, the Early Romanesque basilicas were retained, thougli the Greek 
cross was often used for a ground plan. Sometimes as many as five domes rose over the 
structures. This was strongly Byzantine. Galleries were built over the piers supporting the 
domes. Mosaics of wonderful beauty covered the floors, pillars and walls. Often the lower 
part of walls was cased with colored marble slabs and the upper part inlaid with colored 
marble mosaics on a gold ground. The effect was enchantment. Columns of the Greek 
order and marble slabs were taken from the old temples and used extensively. In the middle 
of the facades open spaces were frequently left, around which Byzantine pillars, in several 
stories, supported semicircular arches with straight or prolonged haunches. 

The Lombard Romanesque style abandoned the early Christian types and adopted the 
basilica. The facade exhibited the distinct feature of compactness, and terminated in a 
guble instead of a high center and low sides. Small, long arcade galleries ran round under 
the gabled roof, or round the dome and choirs, or decorated the facade above the porch or else- 
where. Tall outside pilasters marked the division into nave and aisles. These arcades 
became a characteristic feature. Sometimes the arcades were connected by pilaster strips. 
Often on the west front a large rose window appeared, a distinguishing feature of the Lom- 
bard style. Over the main and side portals were columns supporting baldachin arches and 
forming porches, above which were covered balconies; the columns rested upon the backs of 
lions crouching upon pedestals. The towers were separated from the basilicas, but stood near 
them. Octagonal baptisteries and towers were arcaded externally and internally. Upper 
Italy early showed Gothic innovations in its ornamentation of grotesque animals and in the 
perpendicular side-faces of its capitals. 

Norman Romanesque in Lower Italy and Sicily early showed a combination of Arabian, 
Roman, Byzantine and Norman members. In some basilicas the dome was erected over the 
choir, as in the Early Romanesque, but in others stood on four pillars at the center of the 



; nriLi>i.\<; 

ground plan of a Greek cross, as in the Byzantine. Arches were not molded, had no struct- 
ural connection with the pillars and were stilted by means of perpendicular haunches. The 
exterior was embellished with columns, half columns, pilasters, alternate layers of light and 
dark stone, intersecting arches and very beautiful mosaics in Arabian and geometrical pat- 
terns. On the interior there was a profusion of rich gilding, shafts, casings'of colored marble, 
real and fanciful figures in mosaics and Byzantine and Arabian details. At the west end 
were two towers, between which was the portico containing the main entrance. This was a 
Norman feature. 

The Late Romanesque of France had all the features of the Late Romanesque in general, 
together with a few important alterations. In the South, Roman ornamentation and pecul- 
iar moldings were closely followed. Finally, the ground plan of the Early Romanesque 
basilica was adopted with some modifications. The Roman barrel vault became a most prom- 
inent member in both nave and aisles in all the structures. The nave vaults and the trans- 
verse arches between them were set on piers. The cube-shaped capital was avoided, while 
figured Corinthian capitals prevailed. Cornices were set on corbels, external galleries were 
omitted and arcades were rarely used. The distinguishing features were the interior con- 
structional designs, "the rich dressings of the facades, the multiplied ornamentation of the 
doorways and the use of many designs of fantastic sculpture. 

The Norman Romanesque of France became, perhaps, the most important of the Late 
Romanesque special styles. Generally, Roman forms were imitated, but details were vastly 
increased. Piers and arches were extensively molded, ground plans took the shape of the 
Latin cross, apses became rectangular, aisles and naves were cross-vaulted and sustained by 
square piers upon the corners of which were cut half columns. Rich yet simple ornamenta- 
tion of billets and the various moldings zigzag, lozenge, nail-head, chessboard, etc., lent 
all an attractive appearance. Cubical capitals sloping underneath and cornices supported by 
corbels without arcades distinguished this style. Sculptured ornamentation was rough, mechan- 
ical and grotesque. On the west end two square towers with narrow windows and niches, 
and short octagonal spires with four smaller spires at the corners, rose over the facade. Rows 
of windows divided the facade into stories. In this particular the facade was much like that 
of the Lombard, though in the latter the towers were missing. 

Norman Romanesque in England was characterized by the richness, variety and happy 
effect of its moldings. One over another appeared on the arches to the number often of a 
dozen, but all came from the Late Romanesque style in general. The piers were heavy, and 
circular or octagonal, often alternating with columns, as in the Early Romanesque basilicas. 
The capitals were curiously molded, a very distinguishing feature. The naves were not 
vaulted but were roofed, and the ceilings were painted, gilded, etc. Over the aisles a gallery 
was built and sometimes the main arches inclosed minor arches. The entire design, particu- 
larly the choir, was made narrower and longer, and the apse terminated in right angles. The 
characteristic diamond and scale enrichments covered the walls. The arches were highh 



.34 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

ornamented with moldings, the most conspicuous being zigzag. The shafts were spirally 
fluted or carved with reticulated, lozenge or beaded zigzag molding, diagonal lines predom- 
inating. The style was heavy and massive and had less old Roman and more Saxon ele- 
ments than any other variety of Late Romanesque. Tapering buttresses separated the small 
round-arched windows. A quadrangular tower rose over the center of the structures. Nar- 
row, blind arcades, often interlacing, with one range above another, lent a cheerful aspect to the 
facades. 

Late Romanesque, in Germany, under Saxon influences, took on peculiar forms as early 
as the tenth century. The early Christian basilicas were used until the eleventh century 
before vaulted basilicas succeeded them. Large arches resting on piers and running up to 
the architrave, took the place of the mass of masonry above the piers, dividing the nave and 
the aisles. Columns arose between the massive piers, to support small arches, which in turn 
sustained the large pier arches. Round, octagonal or quadrangular towers were placed at 
the end, or ends, of the basilicas; this distinguished the German from the early Christian. 
Generally all imitations of special Roman members exhibited higher art than earlier speci- 
mens. In Saxony the choir was elevated, the nave and transept each prolonged, and a 
crypt placed underneath, and on the west a vestibule was built and surmounted with an 
arcade gallery. Piers divided the aisles from the nave, and the intercolumniation equaled 
the width of the nave. Cubical capitals were used almost exclusively, enriched with leaves. 
Along the Rhine the alternation of piers and columns rarely occurred, and wooden roofs 
abounded, but all the Rhenish basilicas were vaulted. Cross-vaulting occurred on aisles and 
nave, supported by four-angled piers. Archivolts rose from the half-columns attached to 
piers; the latter were simple or clustered. The walls were bare and ornamentation poor, but 
a rugged strength was strongly expressed. Externally, pilaster strips and half-columns 
abounded. The Rhenish basilicas had small arcades outside, supported by pillars running 
up to the eave moldings, similar to those in Tuscany and Lombardy. A little later vaulted 
basilicas appeared, and galleries were built over the arcades. The style was strong and 
picturesque, particularly in the cloisters and castles, where the facades were arcaded and the 
doors and windows often heavily molded. Occasionally the pointed arch was found, intro- 
ducing the Gothic style. 

It is now quite certain that the Byzantine style began to assume its characteristic feat- 
ures nearly as far back as the destruction of Jerusalen, by Titus; but it did not reach a strong 
expression until, in the reign of Constantino, the church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, was 
built. Later, this church was burned, but was immediately rebuilt by Justinian, with a 
degree of artistic expression and decorative splendor surpassed by but few structures ever 
erected by man. Unquestionably, the Byzantine style was the first to reach completion out 
of the cosmopolitan architecture of the Romans. The latter people, when their empire went 
down in ruin and desolation, were on the point of establishing the dome as the central idea of 
their architecture. They had perfected the arch, had introduced the vault and had even been 
permitted to build the dome of the Pantheon. But before this critical stage, their empire was 



THE BUILDIM: TyTKliKST*. ' 



rent asunder by the barbarians of Northern Europe. The Eastern Empire, with capital at 
Byzantium or Constantinople, took up the work left by the Romans, and enlarged, perfected 
and segregated it into a permanent and beautiful type, the chief feature of which was the 
vault or dome. Four huge piers, sustaining wide arches, over which rose the great dome, 
covering the central space and vaulted side-aisles or spaces, characterized the style. Columns 
were made subordinate; the construction of the vaults influenced the entire structure. Among 
the Byzantines, also, the principle of the collection of arch-thrusts to a point was fully per- 
fected. They carried it far beyond the Romans by buttresses and counterpoises. Projecting 
cornices were either abandoned or made flat and tame; in fact, the entire idea of Roman 
decoration was'given up. Columns and capitals lost their great significance. Curvature was 
seen everywhere. Ground plans often took the curvilinear form; in other instances they 
were octagonal or oblong, but always sustained a huge dome over the center. On the sides 
or ends of the domed central space were semi-domes, and to these were often attached smaller 
semi-domes, through the medium of barrel-vaults. The apse was retained, and the side aisles 
were given two stories. The walls, piers and floors were inlaid with stones of the richest 
colors, and the vaults or domes were enriched with intricate mosaics on a ground of gold. 
The columns were of costly marble, and the nave was lighted by windows in the domes, 
arranged with such skill and taste as to exhibit the marvelous colorings and forms of the 
interior with the most striking and impressive effect. The general result was the prominence 
of the central part of the church or the great dome space and its loftiness, while in the 
Roman basilicas, the comparative importance of all parts and the longitudinal effect were con- 
spicuous. The huge central dome was the leading feature, to which all others were subjected 
and made tributary. The domes, externally, were uncovered by roofs. The principal one sprang 
from a square support, and round it, externally, ran a gallery. Another ground plan which 
became common was shaped like a Greek cross, and the vault system was extended to five 
domes, neither one of which was so much larger than the others as to he called central. One 
dome rose over the center, and one over each of the four wings. The front had a narthex. 
Later, the domes of the Byzantine style assumed the hemispherical shape, instead of the flat- 
vaulted outline. 

The vault windows pierced both the external wall and the vault, giving the jambs an 
irregular surface and originating the drum. Domes, vaults and cross-vaults were left uncov- 
ered externally. Aside from the domes, the roofs were plain slopes at first, but were rounded 
later. The exterior was simple and grand; the interior rich, elaborate, and very beautiful. 
Arabesques, mosaics, and Arabian geometrical patterns of glass, marble or precious stones in 
harmonious colors beautified walls and piers. The use of mosaics led to the origin of a dis- 
tinct local style. The Romans associated the vaults and the Grecian columns; the Byzantines 
disassociated them, and perfected the vault or dome. The Grecian architrave could not be 
used by the Byzantines, who also abandoned the classical column. They often used a strong 
support between the abacus and the arch springer, which became a peculiarity of the style. 
Cubical capitals covered with incised or carved foliage prevailed. The apparent love of 



36 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

splendor and gaudy decoration recalls the lavish, florid architecture of the Euphrates valley 
long before the Christian era. All ornamentations were rougher, less artistic and pure than 
in Greek and Roman types. Byzantine architectural members found their way into the 
west Italy, Germany and elsewhere. The style had several variations Russian, Arabian, 
Saracenic, Spanish, Indian, etc. 

In Russia the style was much changed late in the fifteenth century by the adoption of 
the Tartar bulb-dome, and many fantastic, inartistic forms. The bulb-domes were invariably 
larger than the drums of the superstructure supporting them. Often they took a curve of 
inverse flexure at the top, terminating in a point. Many of such domes on tall drums rose 
over the structures in systematic designs, usually in groups around a larger central bulb and 
drum. The groups always decreased in size from the central one. Over all was spread a 
rich, gaudy coloring of yellow, red, and white, or, on the domes, blue with gold stars. Except- 
ing with pilasters, the exterior of walls were unornamented. The windows were small and 
arched with semicircles. Another important feature of Russian -Byzantine was the use of the 
hip roof to support a system of tall drums carrying bulb-domes. Lofty piers, either circular 
or angular, on the interior, supported the domes. Sculpture was not used. An iconostasis 
was used to separate the altar from the congregation. The churches had bell towers, usually 
square or octagonal at the base, but becoming round at the top. 

Arabian-Byzantine generally was stamped with its peculiarities. Its exterior was plain, 
while its interior was richly decorated. The arbitrary conjunction of building members 
injured the harmonious union of the whole and destroyed the effect of strength and system. 
The principal and almost the only ornamentation was that of flat surfaces, while the style in 
general was distinguished by the pointed arch used for decorative effect. Caprice, contrast 
and versatility, seemed to have been the handmaids of the Arabian architects, and arbitrary 
results their object. Arabesques, horseshoe arches, looped vaults, and varied colorings mark 
the style. 

The Saracens and Arabians based their architecture on the Byzantine basilicas, but made 
important variations during the seventh century. The mosque and minaret became notable 
architectural objects. The mosque took two forms one a large rectangle of walls without a 
roof, surrounded on the interior with arcades and planted with trees, enclosing a well covered 
by a cupola, and the other modeled after the Byzantine domed basilicas, having vaultings and 
arcades; minarets were added, often from two to six at each corner. In all this architecture 
mingled Byzantine plans and Indian details were clearly recognizable. Walls and minarets 
were battlemented and pierced with portals and embrasures. Interior decoration was rich 
and gaudy. Columns were sometimes short and heavy, at other times tall and slender. The 
arch for windows was early used by the Arabians. In Egypt and Sicily the style was low 
pointed, in Persia and India keel-shaped, and in Spain the horseshoe, but the use of pointed 
arches was arbitrary instead of systematic. The walls were covered with arabesques, which 
have been extensively imitated in Chicago for a number of years. They were low relief in 



THE liCll.llIM; ISTKllKXT*. 37 

stucco or rich painting. The roofs were either straight slopes or vaults, the latter possess- 
ing the marked feature of small recesses or diminutive domes rising one above another until 
terminated by a complete inner vault at the top. This feature was very striking and was the 
most noticeable special member of the style. They were of wood or plaster. The domes 
externally were flat and plain and semicircular or pointed. 

Spanish-Byzantine was a direct descendant of the Byzantine style, but came through 
the Arabians about 755 A. D., and had their distinguishing elements. As its form was 
richer and its varied beauty more attractive, the Roman forms were mainly driven out, though 
some of the simpler features were long retained. The horseshoe arch was used extrava- 
gantly was a characteristic member. Slightly pointed arches, recessed with smaller arches, 
were used early, but not with any apparent system until later. In the twelfth century the 
Moors conquered the country, and soon fresh innovations in former styles were to be seen. 
In a short time the various architectural elements were united or fused into a type of decided 
beauty and unique form. Spain was the wonder of the world in the fourteenth century. 
Its architecture was extremely rich and peculiar. The Alhambra, from many points of view, 
has never been surpassed. The people were romantic, full of emotional impulses, and their 
architecture, to correspond, assumed a garb of intricate fairy forms and harmonious colors. 
Decorations were exquisite and unique. The capitals were cubical with rounded lower cor- 
ners and decorations of leaves. The columns were long and slender. A rectangular slab on 
the capital held the stilted arch. Stucco decorations enriched the arch soffits. Interlaced 
and filigree work covered walls, shafts and arches. The lower part of walls was inlaid with 
a choice mosaic of richly glazed tiles. The domes were often multiple, composed of many 
small segmental domes, united into an arched symmetrical whole. Broad, beautiful friezes 
and panels ran round the walls. While the plans were intricate and multiple, the general 
effect was unity and harmony. The complexity was really systematic. 

In India the Arabian styles took on certain special forms and features in the mosques, 
palaces and mausoleums. At Agra, particularly, wonderful buildings were erected. The 
Tartar races exhibited great technic skill and peculiar artistic genius. In the sixteenth 
century a clear type was evolved. The walls were divided both horizontally and vertically, 
and the domes were often spherical, and battlemented bands of pointed, oval-shaped leaves 
were numerous. Simple-pointed and keel arches covered the openings. Bound or octagonal 
towers rose at the corners of the quadrangular structures. Square, heavy piers invariably 
carried the arches. Mosaics and arabesques abounded. 

Indian architecture, shown in their rock-cut tombs and erected edifices, reveals a few 
familiar and many interesting features. The cave temples of the Brahmins were open in 
front and consisted of a large space covered with a flat roof or ceiling supported by columns or 
piers, the front row forming the facade. Later temples had no open exterior. Globular and flat 
surfaces abounded, and large animals, particularly lions and elephants, were used as supports 
and guards, or engraved on a smaller scale on capitals and friezes. Colossi, used with telling 



38 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

effect, lined the walls. The piers or columns were peculiar, and, as they have begun to make 
their appearance in Chicago, should be fixed in the mind. Generally they were very massive, 
so much so as to appear too short or squatty. The base was usiially quadrangular, though often 
octagonal, and was higher than it was wide. Upon this rested a short, circular, bellied shaft at 
the top of which was a deep prolonged necking, graced with astragals above and below. Sur- 
mounting the shaft was a capital, shaped like a flattened or crushed sphere, around the center of 
which ran a strong astragal, and over which was a quadrangular abacus, usually carved at the 
corners. The entire shaft and capital were almost always fluted and in places engraved 
with stalky foliage and animals. Sometimes the capitals were cubes ornamented with rams' 
horns or scrolls. In the Buddhist temples the columns were slenderer and did not appear so 
squatty. The architecture as a whole was massive with gigantic carvings and symbolic repre- 
sentations. In the early Indian style there were many right-angled projections; but later a 
general design of rounded points and angles was manifest. This general rounding of archi- 
tectural members was also a characteristic of the Late Romanesque, and its application may be 
seen on the exterior of the Rookery. The Indian pagodas came down from the remotest 
antiquity. Often they were large and impressive structures. A large wall inclosing several 
courts, at the corners of which were towers, was the type. Often huge pyramids rose over the 
entrances. Colonnades, halls, shrines, walls, passages, fountains and temples appeared on the 
interior. The ornamentation was symbolic, excessive, tasteless and fantastic. Gigantic and 
hideous idols were to be seen in the temples. Curved roofs were common. In general, massive 
members, pyramidal designs, arbitrary outlines and details, rounded forms and squatty columns 
characterized the Indian style. 

The Gothic or Pointed style is generic, and embraces many variations and striking char- 
acteristics. It grew up in western Europe late in the dark ages, and was designed to sup- 
plant those styles which imitated the Roman forms or members. The term Gothic, referring 
to its origin among the barbarians, was given it by Palladio about the middle of the sixteenth 
century and was one of reproach, which has clung to it, in spite of all opposition, to the present 
day. The earliest changes were perceptible in the eleventh century. The pointed arch, so 
far as now known, was first used by the Assyrians in their aqueducts and elsewhere. It was 
also known to the Egyptians, to the Pelasgians and Etruscans, and later to the Greeks and 
Romans; but was used arbitrarily or without system, and infrequently. It is also true that 
the Arabs were the first to apply the pointed arch to structural uses; but they failed to give 
it system, though they improved it and used two styles the low pointed and the keel, and 
no doubt gave the Normans, who made the first great advances in the new style, their original 
impulse in the direction of Gothic peculiarities. The innovations of prolonged vertical mem- 
bers in the Romanesque, while perhaps foretelling the coming change, were not used with 
such system or with such frequency as to found a permanent departure in favor of the new 
style. They were simply arbitrary variations of the Romanesque. 

The general principles of Gothic will first be noticed, and then the peculiarities of differ- 
ent periods and nations. The pointed arch in all its many variations was one of the most dis- 



THE /ir//j>/.\<; I.\TK /; /;>-/>. 39 

tiugnishing features. The systematic proportion of interior spaces, instead of members as in 
the classical styles, was another. On the exterior, horizontal lines, bands and members were 
mainly avoided and in all cases made subordinate to vertical effects. Columns, piers, towers, 
buttresses, bays, and numerous slender inventions pushed upward like vegetable growths, until 
terminated by spires, pinnacles, tiuials, crockets and sharp gables. On the interior the inter- 
section of vaults led to the invention of molded ribs to support them. Soon the transverse 
and diagonal ribs were so multiplied as to become the most conspicuous object of the vaults. 
They were spread out from a point of union like a fan, and the intermediate vault spaces or 
ogives were often reduced to a minimum. On the richly molded ribs, cusps, bosses and other 
ornaments appeared. The ornamentation was peculiar and characteristic, and consisted of the 
two essential elements geometrical figures and vegetable forms, arranged to increase the rising 
effect. The moldings, also, were as characteristic as any other feature, and were known by their 
outlines. Generally they consisted of convex members alternated with deep bottoms, and showed 
sharp contrasts of light and shade. The narrow rectangle took the place of the four-square 
bay for all purposes of cross-vaulting, by which substitution the entire superincumbent 
weight was placed upon the transverse ribs, diagonal ribs and pier arches. This division of 
arch-thrusts and their distribution to many points led to the frequent use of heavy buttresses 
and to the invention of the flying buttress. The use of numerous heavy buttresses reduced 
to inconsequence the exterior intervening spaces, and brought out in strong relief all angular 
and projecting members. The frequency of rectangular, instead of square, interior spaces, 
gave a narrower and higher effect than in Romanesque churches. The detached piers were 
richly molded vertically, and clustered columns or piers abounded. The ornamentation of the 
capitals with leaves of the oak, ivy, hazel, beech, grape, marshmallow, whitethorn, thistle, 
etc., was made subordinate to the glory of the rib vaiilting. The abacus was light, sharply 
molded and angular. Later, diagonal ribs were groined and greatly increased in number and 
in rich molding, which led to an increase of cusps, bosses and heraldic ornaments. The but- 
tresses were divided into stages which were crowned with gablets or small pyramidal towers. 
The interior mural spaces between the buttresses were devoted to windows and other openings, 
and the intrados of the vaults to panelling. The tracery of the windows marks the styles of 
the Gothic. The decorations of gallery, triforium, parapet, gable, door or mural spaces 
assumed the lines of window tracery to harmonize ornamental effects. The doorways were 
recessed by stages deeply molded, and later a vertical shaft divided them, and the jambs and 
spandrels were ornamented with religious ceremonial scenes, and over the drip stone rose a 
narrow, pointed gable, richly dressed with lx>sses, buds and finials. Oriel windows made 
their appearance as an architectural member. Window frames were richly molded and often 
gabled. Rose windows became marvels of intricate tracery and harmonious colors. Through 
the maze of pointed windows, doorways, buttresses, pinnacles, turrets, gablets, ornamented 
and enriched with crockets, bosses and finials, rose the huge sharp roof of the main struct- 
ure, enveloped in a multitude of similar ornaments. Under the roof were heavy moldings, 
often interrupted to render predominant the vertical effect. The towers find facades became 



40 lM>rsTHIM. 

wonders of mazy ornamentation. Porches rose over the central doorways. The entire facade 
with its cloud-touching spires, its porches and richly molded windows and doorways, its but- 
tresses, canopies and gablets, its tracery and ornamentation, formed an organic whole of strik- 
ing beauty and grandeur. A small tower rose over the nave and transept intersection, graced 
with pinnacles and gables. The crypts were gone, the choir was lowered, the apse became 
polygonal, but the nave, aisles and transepts remained. A most striking effect of a Gothic 
cathedral was the lively, springing formation of the structure as a whole. The interior and 
exterior together, constituting a systematic unit, expressed in the highest degree picturesque- 
ness, stateliness, power and sublimity. But much was done that was not necessary. Fancy 
played with moldings, bosses and enrichments. Tesselated pavements, rich mosaics and sym- 
bolic paintings and frescoes gave character to the vast interior. The important Gothic prin- 
ciple of a unity of separate parts was usually, though not always, effected. Hight, upright 
features were eagerly sought. To secure loftiness, the horizontal entablature was thrown 
away, and from the capitals pointed arches were thrown. Human forms and faces appeared on 
the corbies, brackets, spandrels and moldings. Statues rose up in niches as if imbued with life. 
Gargoyles and grotesques were found in out-of-the-way gutters and angles. Battlements, 
parapets and oillets brought up visions of mediaeval castles and fortresses. These, in general, 
are the characteristics of the Gothic or Pointed style. 

The Early Gothic which sprang up in the twelfth century, has some distinct special feat- 
ures. The narrow lancet window, above which appeared the first style of tracery plate 
consisting of circular openings cut in the walls between the sharp arches of groups of win- 
dows, was a distinctive character. The gable was usually an equilateral triangle. A little later 
the equilateral arch, the drop arch and the segmental pointed arch appeared. The capitals 
resembled the Norman style, but were less varied and had few, if any, incisions or carvings. 
Upon them, however, were bold moldings, plainly and deeply undercut, with foliage on the 
bell, and toothed ornaments on the rounds. The moldings usually appeared in groups or suites. 
If foliage were used as an ornament between the abacus and necking, the moldings were omitted. 
The foliage consisted of leaves, with strong, stiff stems deeply undercut, and with the stalks and 
most prominent parts detached. Corbel-tables, taken from the Norman, were occasionally seen; 
but were ornamented with trefoil arches and carved blocks, or, if the arches were omitted, with 
suites of moldings. The deep hollows in the moldings held carvings and flowers. Crockets 
sparingly appeared for the first time. Long stalks and short curled leaves were seen late in the 
style. Cusps were here devised with a trefoil or leaf ornament on the point. They were first 
used on the soffits, but later on the moldings. Diapering was introduced in this style. The 
moldings consisted of alternate rounds and sharp hollows, often separated by fillets. Trefoil 
and cinquefoil arches were conspicuous. Doorways were often divided into two by a small shaft, 
and had quatrefoils above them. They were recessed with shafts on the jambs and moldings 
of the arches. The shafts themselves were usually encircled with bands of moldings. Late in 
this style featherings appeared. Windows were used singly or in groups of two, three, five and 
seven, were tall and narrow, and over the group was another large arch, between which and the 



THE BUILDING tlfTBBSSfB. 41 

smaller ones were circles, trefoils, quatrefoils, etc. This was the origin of tracery. It was 
geometrical. Groined ceilings were common, but consisted simply of transverse and cross 
springers and main diagonals with bosses at the intersections. The pillars consisted of small 
circular shafts around larger circular or octagonal piers. Buttresses were strong and promi- 
nent, usually ran to the roof without stages and ended in sharp gables above the parapets. 
Roofs were sharply pitched compared with classical pediments. The dog-tooth ornament was 
used in great profusion. In rich buildings coping courses were molded. Gargoyles first 
appeared. Mullions became such first in this style. Canopies were also used to hold statues. 
Circles, trefoils, quatrefoils, cinquefoils, etc., were employed in panelling, with backs of foliage, 
carvings or diaperings. Pinnacle shafts were given small pediments at the top of their faces 
late in Early Gothic. Porches were used. Dog-tooth moldings were used in the hollows 
of arches. Pillars were banded or cinctured. Columnar bases resembled the Norman, but 
were so deeply cut that they held water; they were enriched with leaves. Bell gables occurred. 
Buttress angles were chamfered. This style lasted about one hundred years, or from the 
middle of the twelfth century to the middle of the thirteenth. 

The Decorated or Perfected Gothic style employed and improved the principal features 
of the Early Gothic. The equilateral arch was used, and the ogee arch for the first time 
appeared. Plate tracery developed into bar tracery. The vertical principle was perfected 
in this style; all forms were made tributary to it. Buttresses became wider, were divided 
into many stages, and were embellished with niches, canopies and pinnacles. The cusps and 
bosses were large, rich clusters. The gable and the pediment maintained their sharp angles. 
Tht' abacus became circular, polygonal and octagonal. The moldings of the capital were 
plain, and on the bell was a rich and beautiful foliage, the ball-flower being prominent and 
characteristic. The rounds were ogees, between which hollows, not so deeply undercut as 
in the Early Gothic, and separated from the ogees by fillets, reposed. The foliage was 
broader, but less bold, oak, maple, ivy, vine, whitethorn leaves appearing. The cornice was 
usually a slope above and a hollow below, with an astragal under it. At regular intervals 
in the hollows were flowers or heads. Crockets, consisting of broad leaves, with attached 
edges, enriched the moldings. Cusps were multiplied. The most striking general character- 
istic of this style was that ornamentation became constructional, and not merely decorative. 
The window tracery appeared in wavy lines instead of geometrical figures, as in Early 
Gothic. Over doors, windows and niches were weather moldings or drip stones, which were 
distinguishing forms. The ends extended down to the base of the arch or the springer line, 
and rested on corbel heads or bosses of foliage. Often this molding was ogeed, crocketed 
and surmounted with an enriched tinial. In all rich buildings the pillars were clustered or 
molded: in others, circular or octagonal. The foliage of the capital was rich, well executed 
and more or less detached. 

Niches on buttresses or in mural ranges were often capped with crocketed canopies. In 
addition to the conspicuous ball-flower which alone distinguishes this style, appeared another 
having four leaves, the successor of the toothed ornament of the Early Gothic. Diapering 



42 tNDftSTltlAL I'll It' AGO: 

became very perfect and beautiful. Finials and crockets multiplied in great profusion. 
Gables were usually equilateral triangles. Lancet arches occurred sparingly, but drop, 
equilateral and plain and pointed segmental arches were often seen. Ogee arches were richly 
molded. The columnar bases had few moldings but numerous varieties, and all conformed 
to the shape of the shaft. Double plinths were sometimes seen. Over the plinth a common 
molding consisted of a large projecting torus crowned with several beads. Bosses took the 
form of animal and human faces, shields, foliage, armor, monograms, etc. Buttresses were 
always in stages and usually had niches often as wide as the buttress, with crocketed 
carvings, canopies and pinnacles. Pedestals were common and were either carried by corbels 
or by columns. The angle buttress was set diagonally for the first. Canopies became 
especially numerous, varied and beautiful, and were occupied by altars, fonts and statuary. 
Sometimes the canopies were ogee and sometimes triangular. The ribs of the vaults formed 
a net work. Fan vaulting had not yet made its appearance. Moldings were diversified, 
ovolos common and ogees frequent. Splays and fillets increased. The roll or scroll mold- 
ing identified this period, as did also a long molding, convex in the center and concave on 
each side. Bounds and hollows often ran together as in Early Gothic. The enrichments 
were leaves, flowers, figures, heads, etc. Panelling was enriched with tracery, foliage, shields, 
heraldry. Stone panelling was a feature and the back was dressed with tracery, squares, 
circles, featherings, shields and diapers. Battlements were often ornamented with panels 
and pierced with foils. This style prevailed from the latter part of the thirteenth century to 
the latter part of the fourteenth. 

The Perpendicular or Late Gothic style exhibited a decline of the characteristics of the 
Gothic in general. Innovations and debasements grew in number. Simple pointed arches, 
plain and pointed segmental arches, three, four and five-centered arches, ogee arches and 
depressed arches, generally, were seen mingled. They were profusely molded, but not so 
bold or deeply-cut as the Early or Decorated. The four-centered arch was introduced in this 
period for the first time. Buttresses were peculiarly ornamented and richly panelled and 
pinnacled. Horizontal divisions across the mullions formed transoms. The windows, which 
were very large, rendered the transoms necessary. Over many of the pointed windows 
appeared, for the first time, square-topped hoodings, and in the angles thus formed were 
quatrefoils. Hoofs were lower and sometimes flat. Fan tracery ran from the pillars up to 
the ceilings or vaults, over which it spread. Flat ceilings became divided into panels by 
richly ornamented moldings. Pendants multiplied in great number in this style for the first. 
Bands of beautiful panelling ran round the buildings. Plinths appeared octagonal, high, 
and often double. The principal base-molding was the reversed ogee, often doubled and 
projected well over the face of the plinth. Its angles were usually rounded off, producing a 
wavy appearance. Bay windows first appeared in this style. Many bosses with shields and 
armorial bearings decorated the vault intersections. The canopies were without high pointed 
arches, but appeared in great number and variety, and were richly dressed with pendants, 
pinnacles, etc. Octagonal capitals witli foliage to correspond were sometimes seen. Ogee 



LIBRARY 
OF THE 

OF ILLINOIS 



TIIK WILDING INTERESTS. 48 

hollows and beads prevailed. Tbe leaves became stiffer than in the Decorated. The cornice 
consisted of several small moldings divided by shallow hollows, and had flowers, figures and 
grotesque heads at regular intervals. Later a rich, ornamental frieze appeared in the cornice. 
A row of tudor flowers, characteristic of this period, was often seen. The important Gothic 
principles of vertical lines and unity of separate parts were violated and debased during this 
era. Capitals became smaller and sometimes were omitted. Stringcourses and bands were 
rarely seen. Arches became so depressed that they often appeared with square tops. Mil- 
lions ran straight up to the top of the windows, which upright appearance here and on 
panels, etc., gave rise to the term Perpendicular, applied to the style. A notable feature was 
the elaborate panelling of doors and mural surfaces with an ornamentation resembling win- 
dow tracery. The quantity of molding was smaller in this period than in the Early, or 
Decorated, but the ornamentation was more excessive. Tbe abacus was sometimes circular, 
but usually octagonal, even though the shaft was circular, and the moldings consisted of 
rounds and hollows, united without angles, and beaded underneath. Crockets ran in great 
profusion over ridges and moldings, and were iisually flat and without a projecting edge. 
Cusps multiplied. Late in the style panelling and parquettiug drove out diapering. Es- 
cutcheons appeared on the bosses, at the extremities of hood moldings and on panels and 
spandrels. Coping courses were built in a series of steps from the eaves to the ridges, or 
were sometimes built in a series of alternating convex curves and steps. This gave a very 
striking effect to the gables. Tbe form is used in some of the beautiful stone residences of 
recent date in Chicago. Large shallow hollows distinguished the molding; in short, all 
moldings had a flat profile when compared with the Early and Decorated. The ogee was 
commonest. The undulating molding of the abacus and hoodings was peculiar. Fillets 
were removed from the rounds. A common molding on jambs and arches was a wide hollow 
with a round on each side. Plain mullions were frequently seen. Horizontal lines, cutting 
the vertical members, appeared. Elliptical arches were occasionally seen. Tbe timber roofing 
was often fully exjwsed to view, and the intervening spaces were tilled with tracery, while the 
beams were molded, carved and ornamented with bosses, pendants, etc. The Perpendicular 
style commenced about the middle of the fourteenth century and ended near the middle 
of the sixteenth. 

The Early Gothic style has other names, such as First Pointed, Lancet, etc. The Decor- 
ated style has been termed Geometrical. Second Pointed. Perfect Gothic, etc., and at its close, 
Curvilinear, Flowing Decorated. Equilateral, Flamboyant (in France), etc. The Perpendicu- 
lar is also known as Continuous, Tudor, Rectilinear. Florid, etc. Many of these are merely 
local terms. The styles did not spring up at once, nor die at once, but overlapped each other. 
These periods of overlapping are called transitional, and by some authors are treated 
separately. In an attempt at classification, no good can be accomplished by giving separate 
treatment to transitional periods, where special forms and types of various styles are often 
grotesquely intermingled. Still, it is well to note the fact of the existence of periods of 
transition. 



44 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

In northern France, Gothic architecture was first developed into a system. This, no 
doubt, arose from the Normans having learned the use of the arch when they invaded Sicily 
some time before. When the arch finally made its appearance in Normandy, it was applied, not 
to new building designs, but to the old Romanesque basilicas. The apse, at first semicircular, 
soon became three, five and seven-sided, and the aisles were extended past the choir or entirely 
round it. In place of the Romanesque quadrangular piers, with their half columns, heavy cir- 
cular ones were adopted. This was an imitation of early Romanesque, except that they were 
heavier. Early, the rib-thrusts centered on the abacus, but later the ribs and piers were oon- 
tinuous, or practically so. In Belgium and Holland the nave became very wide, necessitat- 
ing the use of wood in vaulting. Double transepts sometimes appeared. The English Gothic 
was an imitation of the French. Over the main French doorway was a large, circular win- 
dow; over the English, a pointed one. The Germans took their early ideas of the Gothic 
style from France. All things considered, France attained a higher degree of perfection in 
Gothic architecture than any other nation. 

The Italian Gothic made its beginning in northern Italy by adopting the vaulted naves 
of the Romans. This was the first departure, there, from the Romanesque, and soon resulted 
in the invention of compound piers, or clustered pillars, pointed arches, elaborate buttresses, 
towers, spires, pinnacles, traceried windows and high-pitched roofs, and other special features 
of the Gothic style. Stone-vaulted naves were common, and led to most important results. 
The Goths, Lombards and other barbarians kept steadily at work evolving Gothic forms from 
the Romanesque. But the departure was more difficult and less completely accomplished 
than in countries removed from the influence of the beautiful and imposing remains of Roman 
architecture. In fact, it is probable that not a single building of pure Gothic forms and 
principles was erected in that country. Roman members crept into all the structures. And 
here it was, also, when the Renaissance was heralded, that the first heavy blows wen- dealt 
the Gothic, and the varied classical orders were again earliest imitated. The art-loving 
French soon took an active part in the revival, and gave it name Renaissance. 

The term Renaissance is applied to a revival of classical styles begun in the fifteenth 
century and continued, to a greater or less extent, up to the present time. Under it are 
chissed the 'Florentine. Venetian. Roman, Roccoco, etc., and the Modern or Heterogeneous. 

In the Florentine style, which is usually classed by writers as a member of the Renais 
sance, there was often an imitation of Romanesque, as well as Roman, forms. For this rea- 
son, strictly speaking, it should either not be considered a style of the Renaissance or the 
revival must be extended to several of the Romanesque members. The general characteristic 
of the Florentine was a simple massiveness used with great effect on large buildings, but 
showing an excess of rugged strength in small ones. Entire buildings were const ructed of 
large blocks of stone having broad joints. At first the joints and beds only were dressed, but 
later, though given flat faces, the body was left to project beyond the joints. This special 
method of ashlaring became known as rustic work or bossage. The ]>ower of the Florentine 
styl.> was best shown in buildings having rustic work for the substructure or lower story and 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 45 

plain work for the upper stories. Excellent examples of the style may be seen in Chicago. 
Very often, when the faces of the blocks were left undressed, they were allowed to project 
more than a foot beyond the line of the facade. Sometimes the entire facade was built of 
rustic work, at other times only the lower story. The style was too heavy for residences 
though used extensively in palaces; it was specially fitted for fortresses or large public build- 
ings. A variation of the style led to the limitation of the rustic work to the quoins of the 
facade or other angular members or extended it to the entire lower story. The windows had 
semicircular heads and deeply molded architraves, and often the voussoirs and the jamb 
quoins formed a continuous series, running up the sides and spanning the top of the opening. 
They were usually divided into two equal parts by vertical shafts, each part also having a 
semicircular head resting on the capital of the shaft, and the impost of the large arch enclos- 
ing all. Between the two smaller arches and the large arch a circle was usually cut in the 
wall, in which case the triangular spaces or spandrels thus formed were ornamented with 
tracery or foliage, or were left plain. The window jambs, the voussoirs, the quoins, the 
shafts and the intervening spaces were usually left plain, with great effect on the otherwise 
rugged facades. Small square windows were often placed on the lower story. As a general 
rule all the windows appeared small, owing to the stiff dignity and massiveness pervading the 
whole. In this style a massive cornice projected far over the line of the facade and was 
upheld by consoles or other bracketing. Sometimes the cornice projected so far as to appear 
insufficiently supported by the lengthened consoles. Sometimes the upper story, was an open 
arcade. The vestibules were either narrow vaulted passages or gateways; to them a small 
court was occasionally annexed. Often there was an utter absence of the Grecian columnar 
or pilnster screen over the window and the door arches, at other times it appeared over every 
opening, and above each row of columns was a complete entablature having an ornamental 
frieze. In case it was not used, the line between the stories was marked by an ornamental 
bandcourse. Often the columns of the screens stood on pedestals. Early in the style the 
gable-roofed basilica was used, but later Roman vaults and domes were invariably employed. 
Simple massiveness characterized the style. 

Venetian architecture, like Florentine, was principally employed in the construction of 
palaces. The facade was divided into groups of members corresponding to the interior spaces. 
The columns and arches took the Roman form. Richness and elegance seemed to be the 
principal effects sought. In the early period Romanesque imitations were common. The 
style was characterized by its striking decorative peculiarities, which consisted in beautiful 
panelling of red, green and other colored marbles or stones, arranged in many rich varieties 
of mosaics. This feature added greatly to the effect; the idea, no doubt, came from the 
Byzantines. The use of the semicircular gable was also adopted from the Byzantine style. 
The tasty and proportionate arrangement of the columns, entablatures, arches, balustrades 
and window and door caps lent a charming distinction to the facades. Sometimes the open- 
ings had half or three quarter columns supporting arches, the keystones of which assisted 
taller columns between the windows to support entablatures forming bandcourses. Across 



46 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

tlic springer line, spanning the space between columns, between the capitals and the arch 
liases, architraves often appeared. Spandrels took on a rich dress of sculpture and mosaics. 
The Doric screen extended occupied the first story, the Ionic the second, the Corinthian the 
third, etc. Palladio adorned all buildings with the portals of classical temples and carried 
them up several stories often as tall pilasters resting on pedestals. This method of uniting 
several stories has often been employed since. Windows were given plinths and square tops, 
and were crowned with segmental, semicircular or triangular pediments, which forms, were 
usually alternated in the same story. The lower story was often rusticated and occasionally 
pilastered, while the middle and upper stories were nearly always colonnaded. Small, 
square windows occupied the space under the crowning cornice. Perfect proportion charac- 
terized the designs of Palladio. Venetian churches assumed two forms Byzantine and 
Roman. Another distinct variation of Venetian structures exhibited brick used principally 
as a building material. Enrichments of burnt clay ornamented the door and window cases. 
Brick entered into the construction of huge piers and formed console- courses to support the 
cornices. Horizontal bandcourses of decorative burnt clay divided the stories. In the brick 
structures the arched Florentine window, divided by a vertical shaft and pierced alx>ve with a 
circle, appeared. This style ran from late in the fifteenth century to the end of the sixteenth. 
Roman Renaissance, unlike- the Florentine and Venetian, which remained confined to cir- 
ciimscribed limits, soon became diffused throughout the world. This style of the Renais- 
sance was comparatively pure, having had less to do with Romanesque forms than either the 
Florentine or Venetian. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature was to secure on the 
facades the Roman columnar effect, not by the use of columns and arches, but by the artistic 
arrangement of architraves, cornices, plinths, bandcourses, proportion and rusticated corners. 
The windows were given right-angled tops and faced with perfect Grecian screens two 
classical columns on pedestals supporting a complete entablature, above which rose a trian 
gular pediment or the columns took the form of simple shafts carrying a tall impost which 
supported a horizontal architrave. Profuse richness, simplicity, solidity and dignity charac- 
terized the Roman Renaissance generally. Pro]x>rtion and dimension, particularly in the 
designs of Michel Angelo, followed definite rules and attained perfection. Classical moldings 
greatly predominated, but projected less than in the Florentine style. Later, however, they 
began to depart from classical forms and took on baroque outlines and peculiarities. Hori- 
zontal lines prevailed, but under the adventurous or independent tendencies of Angelo. 
windows were given semicircular, instead of right-angled, heads. This arrangement carried 
the window arch so high that either the entire entablature had to be abandoned or had to be 
interrupted so that the arch could rise above it. Often, also, the entablature was reduced to 
the width of the capital or limited to an architrave. Frequently the arched pediment and its 
cornice were cut or interrupted to receive a statue or other enriched figure. Balustrades, 
marked with pedestals supporting statuary, ran round the top of the cornice. Sculptured 
accessories were few. The lack of adventitious adornment was a distinction of the style. 
Another important structural form showed rustic work around the arched front entrances, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 47 

quadrangular windows supporting a horizontal architrave, Grecian or Koman screens facing 
the arched entrances, above which extended an entablature, crowned witli a balustrade, and 
stories separated by tasty stringcourses. In this style appeared the entresol or mezanine 
story a low one between the lower and second stories with small square windows. The 
vestibules of Genoa had steps leading up to them and a straight entrance through to the in- 
ternal hall. In the Roman style the interior was either vaulted or furnished with horizontal 
ceilings, and all were painted, panelled and arabesqued. A varied Composite capital appeared 
often in this style. 

It may be said, generally, of the Renaissance that, as it lacked variety of structural 
forms, it was forced to apply ancient members to decorate the creations of modern times. 
Sculpture and painting, as iu antiquity, were freely employed on interiors by architects of the 
Renaissance. A colored decoration of animal forms, men, masks, shields, vessels, leaves, vines, 
sphinxes of wonderful variety and freshness covered all interior panels and mural spaces. 
Even on the exterior the flat surfaces around doors and windows and the rounds and hollows 
of moldings were enriched with sculpture and paintings. Statuary rose here and there on 
the facade, imparting animation or life to the expression. A peculiar painting Sgraffito 
attained great prominence and favor. 

In France the Renaissance was preceded by a period of blended Gothic and Roman 
forms that produced a distinct style. The Gothic features were shown in the recessed door- 
ways, clustered columns, buttresses, ground plans, pinnacles, etc., while the ornamentation 
was strongly Roman. The French thus evolved a style very rich in sculpture. Over windows 
and doors, along friezes and bandcourses, on pedestals and pediments, sculptured figures 
appeared almost in excess. Here and there double caryatids sprang up to sustain entablatures. 
Perhaps the courthouse is the best example of French Renaissance in Chicago. An excess 
of external forms and members is here seen, but distance lends enchantment to the view, as 
it is only from afar that the really noble style of the architecture is shown. Distance 
kindly conceals the multiplicity of angles and forms, and presents in strong relief the pro- 
portionate framework of the building. But many principles of utility were set at naught by 
the designers. In France the style was particularly rich in historic groups of sculpture on or 
over circular and triangular pediments. Even the chimneys which rose through a mansard 
roof were thus embellished. A distinct form in France employed dressed stone like quoins 
to face windows and doors, and connected the stonework vertically from story to story. 
High, steep roofs, numerous dormer windows and tall chimneys were marked forms. Mirrors, 
for the first, were used to decorate the interior. 

In Spain, the Renaissance united Gothic and Arabian forms with those of the classical 
styles. The style was characterized by lightness, boldness and magnificence. Probably the 
decorative splendor was never surpassed, but organic or structural harmony was lost. 

In Germany the Renaissance assumed heavy forms and lacked in gracefulness of <lct;iils. 
Tudor gables, double windows with plinths and right-angled tops, columns on pedestals 



48 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

around openings, semicircular or elliptical entrances, triangular pediments and statuary weiv 
characteristics. 

The Renaissance in England is called Elizabethan. Caprice distinguished the style. 
There were Tudor gables, quoined, banded or cinctured columns, grotesque faces and debased 
forms and figured quoins at jambs and angles. There was a want of grace and dignity; a 
cumbersome use of members prevailed. Windows were wide and quadrangular. Stairways 
led up to balustraded entrances. Garlands, clustered fruits, grotesques, festoons, ete., appeared 
with little taste. However, the architecture of Inigo Jones, during this period, was nearly a 
pure imitation of classical styles. 

The Roccoco or debased style of the Renaissance, sometimes known as Baroque, first 
showed a departure from simplicity and purity to excess, luxuriance and magnificence. The 
style began in France about the middle of the sixteenth century, and thence spread rapidly until 
it reached all quarters of the civilized world. The form of construction was trifling a play 
with structural effects and principles a whimsical union of forms, figures and proportions. 
Picturesqueness was perhaps the most redeeming feature. Bold independence of details re- 
sulted in a notable display of bad taste. Curved lines in members and ground plans sup- 
planted straight ones. Details became more prominent than essentials. A profusion of 
decorative forms concealed constructive designs. Volutes, shells, scrolls, clusters of fruit or 
vegetables, garlands, festoons, draped curtains, angelic figures, columns, pilasters, pediments 
and moldings were intermingled without artistic meaning. Cornices were interrupted; rustic 
work desecrated the ancient sanctity of classical columns and pilasters. The Tudor gables 
were arbitrarily scrolled, angled or rounded along the copingcourse in the most fantastic 
fashion a characteristic of the style. It was on vestibules and courts that this style had free 
sweep to its picturesqueness. Internal statues were associated with frescoes. Often columnar 
orders were so recessed back of each other as to form several cornice profiles. Notwithstand- 
ing all these defects, the style was used widely for two hundred years. 

Near the end of the eighteenth century the Roccoco style, though its features continued 
to appear, was forced to submit to a revival of the pure forms of the classical orders. Early 
in the present century the Romanesque style, generally, enjoyed a distinct revival. The 
Queen Anne style of domestic architecture a profusion of gables, gablets, transepts, angles, 
recesses, balconets, towers and peculiarities has met with great favor from the barbaric 
tastes of modern Chicagoans. The application of the balloon frame to its forms has afforded 
much amusement to builders, and furnished the pioneers of the West with a home, such as 
it was. It may be considered a pioneer in styles, that will one day pass away with the other 
pioneers. Modern styles are usually mixed copies of those of former eras. But the schools 
of Richardson and of Root show a systematic application of ideas, an emergence of certain clear 
ornate principles from heterogeneous elements, that may, in the end, lend superb grandeur to 
the Chicago Commercial style and afford unalloyed satisfaction to the people. 



LIBRARY 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 




/'///; BUILDING INTKKKXTX. 49 



CHICAGO ARCHITECTURAL STYLES. 

x rr ; 

(3 I HE building arts traveled through every civilization for over 5,000 years before they 
^ I came to tame the prairies of the Illinois, and, for a little longer, before they touched 
the wilderness of the Chicago with wall and roof. ' A long night followed, illumined 
at tlic close of the eighteenth century by another cabin, and later by a third, the only one 
found here when the pioneers of trade came. It was the very shadow of a shelter, but pleas- 
ant to look upon in the dreary waste. It was the beacon speaking, like the prophets, in par- 
able. Standing on the line between the lake and the unmeasured prairies, it called out to 
enterprise and courage to come forward and possess a land that grew greater daily. It was 
a call, uttered in the wilderness, which echoed through the settlements of the East for forty 
years before the response came. Fifty-nine years ago the beginnings of a city were made 
here, and, amid these crude, humble attempts, commercial ambitions and commercial hopes as 
high as mountains were built up. 

There are several distinct building periods remembered by old settlers of this city, and 
each one is well defined. The first or wigwam period was succeeded by the cabin period, of 
which the fort of 1808-04 was the principal exponent. Then the old-style frame house was 
itshered in, followed in 1833 by the balloon frame, a style that rendered it possible to cover 
the western prairie with cottage homes. The brick period was also introduced in 1833, yet 
its influence was scarcely felt for ten years. In 1843 brick came into general use and con- 
tested with the scantling and clapboard for supremacy. Stone for foundation work and for 
facings and copings was introduced early in the forties, but not until 1856 did Lemont stone 
come into favor for fronts. The closing years of civil war marked the solidity of the Repub- 
lic, and gave to citizens, young and old, new men and new deeds of whom to speak. In 
architecture a new style was dreamed of; men dropped the worship of European forms and 
sought conveniences or luxuries unheard of before the war. The whole country entered on 
an era of improvement New York, which claimed a population of 125,000 before Chicago 
was mentioned in the Census office, began to appreciate paved streets; Philadelphia made 
some advances, and, in 1871. the political capital of the Union began to grow out of its prim- 
itive condition. The young city of the West kept pace with them and even led the way in 
some thino-s. 



50 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

Who among Americans is unacquainted with the log cabin that house of logs, wherein 
was bred the strong intellects and indomitable wills that made the Union and now protect 
it, and which was the beginning of the cities of the land? Here it stands in all its rusticity, 
conscious of its accordance a thing of logs! The buffalo house of the wilderness! The pio- 
neer and his wife may have given weeks to its construction, or a collection of pioneers may 
have raised it and roofed it in a day. It matters not, it is yet the log cabin, unchanged and 
unchangeable. In size it is 10x10 feet, again 16x12 feet, and again a double-log house merg- 
ing, sometimes, into a blockhouse. The architect was the owner. He knew the rules of the 
profession and of the mechanic, so far as they applied to his building. No foot measure, 
square, plane, chisel or nail was found in his tool chest. The sharp ax, the exact eye and the 
. strong arm were the prime builders' appliances, and he used them industriously. The punch- 
eon floor, the matched notches to form the strong corners, the window and door openings, the 
wooden pins, were all formed by the ax in the hands of this resolute, fearless pioneer or 
adventurer or homeseeker. When the nomad merged into the settler, the log cabin was con- 
ceived, and in every country, outside the torrid zone, Nature herself was its architect and 
every age its time. 

To the Aryans, or people of Northeastern Europe, must be credited the beginnings of 
wooden domestic architecture as distinguished from log huts. The forests of Norway, Swe- 
den and Eussia and their human habitants were prime factors in the evolution of the log 
cabin. As the Scandinavians and Russians advanced beyond the barbaric state, they craved 
for buildings which could mark this advance, and the frame house was brought into existence. 
It was a heavy building, carried on immense sills, above which rose an array of posts and 
beams and rafters. Timber a foot square was not considered too heavy where 2x4-inch 
scantling is now sufficient, and for their upright weatherboarding, two and three inch planks 
were considered light enough. The Swiss of the mountains reduced the proportions of ma- 
terial and housebuilding, made them lighter and better, while the Germans of Saxony made 
them ornamental. 

The styles of the Old World were engrafted on the New, and the frame house found a 
home here. Its development was slow, indeed, in the United States. It appears to have 
only emerged from the cabin stage early in the eighteenth century, and for a Imndred years 
after, accounts of " getting out timber " and of " houseraising bees " are common. When the 
first balloon frame building was erected at Chicago, this system of using only heavy sills. 
posts, beams, girts and rafters was in vogue; so that the early frame houses of the city varied 
considerably in construction from the houses which soon after took their places. 

From two days to a week was the time required to build a low, two-story frame house. 
The girts, beams and braces being once in position, the boards were placed perpendicularly 
by one set of men and secured by the batteners or the second set. The Temple building, 
completed, near the corner of Franklin and South Water streets, in August, 1833, was a two- 
story gabled structure, designed by Dr. Temple. Each floor was lighted by sixteen windows, 
five on each side and three on each end, except the lower floor, where the door in the center 



THE m'ii.iHM; /.\ 77-; /; /;>/>. ~*>\ 

of the gable corresponded with the center window above it. The siding was placed hori- 
zontally, and, all in all, it was a great building for time and place, and the last of the large, 
old-style frame or beam -and- brace structures. It was the evolution of the log cabin, begin- 
ning in Norway and perfected in America. Temple found hundreds of houses like it in the 
East . and here were not wanting houses to suggest plans; but the wily Doctor made a gable end 
the front, and showed how a greater number of buildings, equal in size to the larger of the 
older houses, could be crowded into a block. Temple's idea of frontage won many followers, 
and even to-day it is a common practice to make the gable end the facade. 

During the spring and summer of 1833, no less than 1(50 frame houses were erected, in 
and around the business center. Such houses! An improvement on the log cabin, undoubt- 
edly, they conveyed but a poor idea of the balloon frames, which were to follow them. 

In September, 1833, the great Indian council assembled here, and the wigwams became 
characteristic of the village. Those wigwams were the only pieces of true architecture here. 
Perfect in form, natural as the aborigines could construct them, suited exactly to the life of 
the prairie nomads, they contrasted strangely with the tarantula-looking cabins of the 
pioneers or the box-like homes of the latter-day immigrants. Without them the eye of the 
visiting architect would lose its luster and grow dim; even the style of the quasi-military 
post could not ease the heartache caused by a survey of this conglomerate of habitations. 
The building beginnings of the second epoch were rude indeed, but faith in the city of the 
prairies held men here, who, in after years, made amends for their non- recognition of art 
and civilization in 1833. 

The balloon frame is the joint idea of George W. Snow and necessity. The multiplication 
of sawmills helped out the notion of lightness, and in July, 1833, a number of men are 
found erecting a church on Lake street, near State street, of scantling and siding. The 
ancient builders prophesied its destruction in the first gale, but it withstood the winds and 
proved the theory of its master workman correct. The rubble stone or great bowlder piers, 
supporting the heavy sills of the old frame, gave way in this to light cedar posts, carrying a 
sill 6x6 or 10x10. The sill of the balloon frame was mortised to receive the tenons of the 
joists, twelve inches apart, and again mortised on the surface at corresponding distances, to 
receive the tenons of the upright scantling, now commonly called "two by four," but then 
measuring 3x4 inches. Below the ceiling level each scantling was again mortised to receive 
the band board, on the upper edge of which the joists of the second floor rested. Such joists 
were also nailed to the uprights, the flooring placed on the joists, and the siding nailed 
to the uprights, thus giving a secure box, not too pliable or too rigid, and leaving the first 
story or floor ready for the 'lather and plasterer. Sometimes the scantling was carried from 
the sills the whole height of the building, leaving a 12x4-inch open space between lathing 
and siding. In the matter of weather-boarding there was a distinction, one party being in 
favor of the vertical battened l>oards and the other favoring the horizontal claplward. In 
later years a third party adopted the dropsiding, and within, the last decade the shingle 
siding was introduced. The proportions of the old time frame house varied. Sometimes a 



52 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

high gable and steep roof appeared among the great number of low-gabled structures, and 
at intervals a verandah could be seen. As the style developed, the gable or pediment of the 
larger frame buildings of the period partook, in a certain degree, of the Grecian pediment; but 
features were introduced of which the Greeks never slept to dream; such were the ventilators 
or attic windows in the frieze, rectangular openings, sometimes tilled with glass, sometimes 
with lattice work. The cornice, however, was the grand stroke of the artist, and he made it 
heavy enough so that it would be seen. 

During the four years, ending in 1837, brick entered into competition with wood as a 
building .material, but did not make appreciable progress. The Doric columns in the court- 
house portico and the pinnacles of St. James' church were wrought out of native lumber, as 
artisans of that period would not venture to give details in brick. The county authorities 
were determined to have something Grecian almost sixty years ago, and the Doric responded 
in its wildest form. It was the period of Renaissance in the United States, when the news 
papers of Boston, New York and Philadelphia tilled the country with praises of Strickland and 
Latrobe and the public mind with ideas of the columns and capitals of Greece or Borne. 
The English church authorities labored to counteract the growth of the national Renaissance, 
and built after the forms which obtained in England in the seventeenth century, so that in 
1837 the villagers had a grotesque Doric house on one side of the river, and a grim, perpen- 
dicular Gothic house on the other, telling in wood and brick that architectural ideas were 
alive and would some day grow and flourish here. 

All architecture is the development of previous work or the adaptation of previous work 
in all generations, just as history, by a partial writer, is an adaptation of recorded facts in 
a form to suit the requirements and sympathies of his readers. When J. M. Van Osdel 
arrived here, in 1837, he realized that builders were here before him, but he could not lind 
trace of an architect. There was no discrimination, no style, except that outlined in the very 
early Doric portico of the courthouse or the colonial house of W. H. Brown. He could not 
reform what was done, but his professional knowledge could direct that which remained to be 
done. In the rebuilding of the fallen block, spoken of in the history of city houses, a great in- 
fluence was exercised, and in the new Ogden house, built that year, he proved the beneficial 
uses of an architect. With all this, the citizens took an interest in building to the exclusion of 
architecture and remained in this rut for seven years longer, until it dawned upon them that 
building after plans is cheaper, in the long run, than building without plans. There was no 
thought of art. It was a realization of the material. The idea that the Swede or Italian 
can sweep the street cheaper and better than the owner of the abutting frontage, was the 
actuating one in the employment of an architect; for he could build better and cheaper than 
the owner. In 1843 or 1844 the carpenters and masons got this idea, and, henceforth, impor- 
tant work was carried out after plans by and under the supervision of architects. 

This was a necessity. The year 18434 witnessed the erection of (UK) houses, includ- 
ing a brick block of four four-story commercial buildings on Lake street, the Cathedral build- 
ing and the Dearborn street schoolhouse. The stone of Lemout and Joliet promised a new 



THE nriu>i.\<: /.\ 77-;/,'/->7x 53 

material, and the time was ripe for architecture to take a foothold in Chicago and provide at 
least for straight, strong and useful houses. The Cathedral led the way, a pure Doric struct- 
ure with pediment and clock tower, well proportioned and large, showing the development 
of taste during the years which elapsed since the building of the first courthouse. In 1844 
the schoolhouse on Madison street was completed, and a building style instituted which 
was observed religiously and became known as the School building style. Look around 
you! The majority of city buildings for the uses of public education partake of the same 
character veritable barracks, massive brick houses, minus every point which would lead 
the pupils to a conception of architecture. So it was with the brick commercial block 
on Lake street. It was built to shelter commercial workers and goods, rather than to memo- 
rialize the advance of the building arts. The religious societies aimed higher and succeeded, 
at least, in planting the orders here with poor settings. They brought the Doric form before 
the people with just sufficient clearness to show the plinth, shaft, fillet, ovolo and abacus, and 
in their representation of the Ionic capital they gave volutes which would impress the plebian 
while making angels weep. 

It is quite evident that sentiment had no place outside the very small minority who con- 
trolled the designs for church buildings here, and when representatives of this little minority 
saw their buildings completed in this western town, and contrasted them with European 
models, they realized that a new, and particularly a prairie country, could never become the 
home of Greek or Roman temples. The sense of immensity was too powerful to master by 
any building which Chicago of forty years ago could raise up. There was the prairie stretch- 
ing to the horizon, beyond this was the Father of Waters, still farther, the mountains, and 
then the Pacific the ocean. Go back forty years and stand on a sand dune near the mouth 
of Chicago river! You forget the village at your feet, you dream of the terra incognita 
beyond. You looked upon a collection of straggling houses and a few churches as transitory 
things expedients, and knew in your heart of hearts that the pre-Byzantine architecture was 
out of place where the mind could contemplate millions of square miles uutenanted by, and 
almost unknown to, civilization. This idea, bred in fancy, grew, for as necessity or fire 
removed the Doric and the Ionic temples erected here in the forties, they were not duplicated. 
They made way for the Romanesque-Byzantine and for that Gothic which could lose itself 
in the air or merge into immensity rather than crawl on the old marsh. 

Chicago architects long ago looked to the Italians and to the French for their models, 
and hence building arts of these nations ruled here. Their great art schools and their ceu- 
turied refinement left no choice, for they improved every type and gave a place to the orders 
and the Romanesque, to the Renaissance and the Gothic. The Classic Renaissance was, of 
course, their pet form, and hence it must have been the most beautiful to the eye of the 
French connoisseur and the most profitable to that of the French utilitarian. It is the result 
of centuries of study and experience. Chicago realized this in the fifties, and when her early 
architects were asked to revel in beauty, they selected one or other of the styles peculiar to 
the Italian or French schools, but adapted them to a climate of extremes and an age of high- 



:>4 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

priced labor. Thus the sculptured orders, and even the astylar appeared here, shorn of their 
grandeurs to be sure, yet fairly well observed by the adaptors. Carpenters' Gothic, the name 
given to the local architecture of less than forty years ago, was built up here on illustrations 
of English homes and ancient English monasteries, while the American classic style was 
founded on Stewart's Athens. 

The builders in brick and stone adhered generally to the Italian or French style in the 
simplest forms, while the carpenter builders adhered to the Snow-Temple ideals of 1833. At 
intervals the bricklayer was compelled to deal with gables, but whenever the architect con- 
trolled the sentiment of the owner, the gable was discarded, and the cornice or the segmental, 
semicirciilar or straight arch of the Latins adopted. 

It is true that the balloon frame did not improve much at first under the new lights. 
The Bull's Head tavern, with its gables and verandahs, could not compare with the Saloon 
building of an earlier date, and contractors, as well as architects, confessed that wooden archi- 
tecture had reached the limit of perfection in that year when the sun of the Whig party went 
down forever. Before the year 1854 was closed, a new timber structure pointed to the errors 
of their conclusion. The Myrick Castle, with its tower and its cujwla, its loggia and its veran- 
dah shed a new light on the possibilities of the balloon frame. There it stood, away to the 
south, telling how Myrick's cabin-saloon on 1 the lake shore grew into a castle. The main build 
ing was a low-gabled structure, with two high windows on the first floor, opening on the 
verandah, and two windows in the second story. Between this building and the tower was an 
annex, flat-roofed, with door opening on a Doric portico and windows above opening on a 
Roman balcony. The tower, with its Norman windows, completed the ensemble. 

Such a building was injurious in its influence on the times. Citizens of that day could 
not, of course, see the ridiculous side of a wooden building attached to a keep or campanile 
with embattled parapet, and hence its novelty and size, if not its picturesqueness, won their 
approval and led to the construction of similar houses. The three divisions of the city wel- 
comed such buildings, and, as there was plenty of space, the square dwelling-house with tower 
and portico multiplied exceedingly fast. The Carpenters' Gothic grew up like prairie weeds, 
covering the city and drowning out, as it were, the faint gleams of Thirteenth Century Gothic. 
One of its gables was still the facade, as in earlier years, but the verandah and stoop, cork- 
screw moldings, scroll-work, level brackets, chamfered or sash doors, and other attempts at 
exterior decoration were now presented, and it began to rise from a one-story cottage to a 
three-story-and-attic house. In some places the spirit of the Renaissance was living, and 
manifested itself in the pediment and portico a minority returned, in fact, to the orders, 
established here in 1843. To-day a few specimens of such classic houses may be seen. They 
are always associated with a surviving pioneer. 

The north and west divisions were given up to homes, some pretentious, the greater num- 
ber frame buildings with two and three-story, brick, stone-faced structures and green Vene- 
tian blinds thrown in. The lack of appreciation for, or means to indulge in. the ornamental, 
was evident in those rectangular or square houses, so much so that it would not require a 












THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 55 

philosopher to discern their Dutch, Quaker or Puritan origin. They were rude without and 
inconvenient within, but sheltered a people who made merriness out of very little and 
enjoyed life with Jeffersoniaii simplicity. Solidarity of interests made them all one. The 
millionaire was not yet present to outbuild his fellow-citizens, and the French flat was an 
unknown quantity to 995* per thousand of the population. They were content with their 
surroundings, and he who complained of the " wild and woolly " conditions of life was at 
liberty to return to a higher civilization, if he were not actually requested to do so by some 
irate native. Among all this humility in architecture, there were a few classical buildings. 
The iron front block on the north side of Lake street introduced the Corinthian columns in 
the first story and the windows and pilasters of the Venetian Renaissance in the four stories 
above. The Palladian style was shown in another iron building on the same street, and the 
astylar in the marble block east of Clark street. 

During the sixteen years, from 1849 to the summer of 1865, comparative advances in the 
building arts were evident. Prospective builders talked with architects and were shown illus- 
trations of facades by every originator of style from Palladio to Richardson. An idea of 
architecture was inculcated in the owners, and the architects themselves, driven to study the 
authors, imbibed some salutary ideas. It was a memorable period. Enterprise battling under 
the disappointments of panic, or the dark shadows of civil war, fought with desperation and 
advanced against great odds. Chicago Commercial architecture aimed at greater ends than 
that of any other American city. Prior to the year 1805 there were not wanting evidences of 
a desire to forge ahead in the building arts; but amid the sea of tenanted, well- paying cabins, 
which covered the old city, it required more than ordinary courage to attain this desire. The 
iron buildings on Lake street, just referred to, the old Board of Trade, the Gothic church on 
Twelfth street, west of Blue Island avenue, the county courthouse, the Tremont House, and all 
those buildings described in the history of the period, were erected. Brick was fast displac- 
ing wood; house-moving became a distinct trade; frame dwellings were moved to the out- 
skirts of the city, and in their places rose up solid blocks of brick business houses. It was an 
extraordinary building epoch, when the time and place are considered; but architecture 
scarcely entered into the calculations of owners, except in the case of the few buildings named 
iilwve. It was the astylar age of Chicago, materialistic in a degree, severely plain if not 
actually primitive. 

The erection of the Crosby Opera house, in 1865, opened up an architectural Held, 
hitherto untried. The Italian-Byzantine, French-Venetian structure, built for the Board of 
Trade in 1864. was a pigmy compared with this product of the architect and artisan. Boy- 
ington introduced the Norman windows and doorways, and capped all with a graceful 
Mansard. The stilted arch was everywhere except in the attic, and even there, in the central 
pavilion, he introduced a double Norman window deeply recessed under a heavy frontal which 
was parried on caryatic figures. Statuary above the jx>rtico found a place here and. all in all. 
it was difficult for the citizen of 1865 to conceive a future that would give to Chicago a 
grander building than this opera house. They were soon undeceived. Old Chicago was, in 



r )6 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

a measure, a city of surprises like the New Chicago, and wonders crowded into it year. The 
age of columns' and pilasters and spandrels dawned; the Tudor gable was introduced, the 
second pointed style of the French type appeared, and all the lesser forms of the Romanesque 
began to take shape. Plans for great hotel buildings were explained; outlines of Thirteenth 
Century Gothic churches were made for use here, and a determination to build well and truly 
was manifest on all sides. The architectural circle widened, and in response, as it were, the 
ideas of owners were enlarged, and the city resolved itself into a great building committee. 
It was the reign of thought directed toward the building arts and the ornamentation of the 
city, and the establishment of beautiful suburbs, where the landscape architect could vie with 
the architect in bringing forth novel and pleasing designs. The Swiss style was introduced 
at Riverside in 1871, in the erection of the hotel; the Swiss-Gothic style in the construction 
of the water tower and the Gothic in the structure known as " The Chapel " in that suburb. 

A rude interruption was to come. All that was accomplished must be swept away. The 
Grand Pacific, Sherman and Tremont were completed, the Palmer House, the Nixon build- 
ing and many other houses of that class were almost ready to receive the roof; new church 
buildings were in the same condition when the terrible night of October 8-9, 1871, brought 
destruction with it. The fire-god looked over the Garden City, and, as if regarding art in 
the highest, determined to destroy the libels on art which the people tolerated. There 
were many houses, indeed, on business and residence streets, which showed the large expendi- 
ture of money. They were comfortable homes or substantial business blocks, showing 
architecture appreciated, but its principles broken to pieces in almost every line. Nature 
swept away what she could not tolerate, but did not provide, at once, a safeguard 
against the repetition of the building designs she despised. The necessity for a prompt 
rebuilding militated against art in a wonderful degree. The architect himself was as 
hurried as the owner and contractor; and the masons, bricklayer and carpenter were often at 
work before the draughtsman began the design. Thus, for some little time, after the great 
fire, Art suffered from haste and necessity. Men, sane in other affairs, tolerated the construc- 
tion of wooden buildings to resemble stone and stone buildings to resemble wood. A wild 
mixture resulted. What the Apache is to civilized man, those buildings were to architecture. 

A glance at the history of building operations from 1871 to 1881 reveals an extraor- 
dinary activity, a phenomenal metamorphosis of ruin into stone and brick life or forms, 
typical of western courage and western faith. It was not the conservative courage and faith 
displayed in 18(M(-71 which conceived elegant houses for favored corners; but that dashing 
attribute of enterprise, which, like love, laughs at locks and bars. Several very pretentious 
buildings were completed and great ones were begun during the three years, ending October 
!), 1874. Fire cleared a wide swath or road for progress, and thousands of inflammable 
structures were reduced to ashes, as in the Rome of Nero. A new Chicago sprung from the 
ruins of the old, and buildings, founded on the architectural principles of the time, were 
hurried to completion. Within a few years whole streets north of Van Buren street to the 
river and from Michigan avenue to the South Branch, showed continued and symmetrical 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 57 

frontage. The jealous god of progress commended the young city, and imperial governments 
were awe striken at the energy which this western community displayed and the more than 
human vitality of which it demonstrated to be in possession. Within a year to a day after 
the old Chamber of Commerce was destroyed, a greater building was completed in the clas- 
sical style. Plans for other great buildings, the construction of which was in progress at the 
time of the tire, were extended, and ornamental details, unt bought of in 1871, were added. 
Men looked on the fire as a blessing in disguise. 

The present Palmer House, the Tremont, the Honore, the Howland, the Field, the Williams 
<& Ferry, the Rawson, the Oriental, the National Life Insurance Company's and many other 
houses, partaking in style of the Italian Renaissance; the Boyce, Superior, Lakeside and oth- 
ers outlining commercial Gothic, shed a luster on local architecture and local enterprise. 
Richardson contributed the front of the American Express office as his ideal of American 
style; another architect introduced that uncomfortable fiction known as Modern English 
Gothic, as in the Church of the Messiah, on Michigan avenue and Twenty-third street; plans 
for the City Hall outlined the greater Renaissance of France. The Grand Pacific, Sherman, 
Matteson, Leland and a few other houses betrayed French origin minus French ornamentation, 
and thence downward to the old Rookery the architectural scale descended. That inachia- 
veliau structure suggested a line of thought, which has since proved correct, that the author- 
ities of Chicago city were never capable of contemplating the possibilities of their city, while 
Individuals, almost crushed under the losses occasioned by fire, rose superior to the commu- 
nity and gave the first grand houses to the city. 

The fire ordinance of 1871 was not without its influence on the building arts. The law 
was clearly laid down that wooden walls could not find a place within the burnt district; 
hence the builders were compelled to employ stone, brick or iron. The estimates were far 
heavier than those for frame buildings, but they had to be tolerated, and with this sense of 
toleration came a heart -broadening which was not content with the higher estimate, but 
sought superiority at any cost. Again, money was easily obtained on inside property, and 
owners, taking advantage of this, built high and large though not always architecturally. 
The Lemont marble slab and the Ohio sandstone, with brick from Milwaukee and Philadel- 
phia, were called in to assist in this upbuilding. Bricklayers from Philadelphia came to 
Icacli the occidental tradesman how to work on the outside of buildings; the fireproofer was 
present with a hundred specifics against fire; the cornice manufacturer was in the zenith of 
his power and the architect was everywhere. 

In presence of such an army of designers, artisans and material, a cosmopolitan style 
sprang up. The American idea, or the French, combated with the Teutonic, or German and 
Dutch, so that it was not uncommon to see a gabled, or a severely plain square, facade acting 
neighbor to the Renaissance, or between a French and an Italian elevation. This form has 
come down to the present. True, much of all that was baroque has been removed or improved ; 
but the observer can not fail to notice the varied forms given to city houses during the decade 
ending in 1N7U or to distinguish between the classic and barbaric. 



58 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

As order is placed above order, so style is found above style. There is the Norman - 
Romanesque first story, the Italian second story, the Gothic third story and the Mansard 
attic. Like the people, the architecture is cosmopolitan, sometimes running riot as the 
Anarchist; sometimes wild as the deer, again tame, and in all things confused, so that it 
is indeed a study in architecture to look upon one of those buildings, erected here between 
1871 and 1881. The Boyce building, on the northeast corner of State and Madison streets, 
and the Superior building on Clark street opposite the courthouse, are called Gothic struct- 
ures by architects, simply and mainly because the windows of the third and fourth stories 
have pointed headings - all the other windows being decidedly Norman. The stilted Norman 
straight arches of the second-story windows of the Boyce building are very decisive, 
even as are the Italian-Renaissance windows of the fifth story, yet the building is called 
Gothic. This can only be explained from the architect's point of view. The third and 
fourth stories are, undoubtedly, ornamental, and take the eye first. Their tendency is Gothic, 
or rather a blending of the Romanesque and Gothic, and hence the feature most, observable 
decrees the name of the style. 

Building enterprise was not confined to commerce. Religion entered into the spirit of 
building with the twelfth and thirteenth century energy and contributed many of the finest 
Gothic houses in the West, The Cathedral of the Holy Name was the truest expression of 
Gothic, while the church of St. James told of its later perpendicular forms, and other 
buildings of its modern English expression or of the second pointed style of the French 
period. Of the four hundred churches in the city, many of the greater ones must be credited 
to this period. 

The North Side led in the erection of brick or stone slab dwelling houses. Whole blocks 
were covered with those attached, two or three-story-and-basement houses. The bay window 
and high stoop were characteristic of the time, yet several plain, common-brick fronts came 
down from that period. Dearborn avenue and Cass street, on the north side, and Michigan 
avenue and Wabash avenue, within the burnt district, are living examples of this style of citv 
house. 

Outside the tire limits the wooden house reigned. It assumed lower gables, heavier 
moldings and brackets and much more ornate verandahs and stoops than were tolerated 
before the fire. The square house, with square cupola and sometimes with campanile, still 
represented the higher idea of timber architecture, as it prevailed before the tire: but the 
two- story gabled house, with side projection or transept, was the most popular, as it was the 
true application of architecture to timber construction. The marble palace of W. F. Story, on 
Grand boulevard, is a milestone of the period, marking the tendency of Chicago's men of wealth 
to elevate the character of Chicago's buildings. 

Extraordinary and phenomenal as was the rebuilding of the city during the decade end- 
ing in 1881, it was overshadowed by that ending December 31, 1891. There were 61,000 
buildings in the old city at the time of the tire. Of that number 20.000 were destroyed, 
including all the great buildings in the business center and the principal dwelling houses in 



CflURCfl, 1S44. 

CHICAGO DESIGN 




EGTI'TIAN DORIC. 



I, 1S4S. 

RYAN'S DESIGN. 



LIBRARY 

OF THE 

MMWF.RSITY OF ILLINOIS 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 59 

the north and south divisions, thus leaving 41,000 small commercial and large and small 
dwelling houses outside the burnt district on October 10, 1871. At the beginning of 1880 
oven the business center presented many vacant lots; but a new building era was at hand, 
and during that year 1,788 permits were issued. The eight succeeding years brought this 
number up to 89,708 houses (erected in nine years within the old city limits), which added to 
the 11,008 buildings erected in 1890 within the new limits, give a total of 51,371 commercial 
and dwelling houses constructed since January 1, 1881. Even this total gives but a poor idea 
of the advance; for both commercial and residence houses were built on a much larger scale 
than those of the former decade; large structures of the rebuilding period were increased 
in bight; remodeled elevator systems and interior decorations introduced, and a tendency to 
massiveness, rather than to exterior ornament, was manifested on all sides. The Roman- 
esque idea had taken possession of the people in that year, and dreams of great arches, batter 
walls, massive substructures and other magnificences were entertained. The suburbs presented 
a scene of unusual activity. Square miles of dwelling houses and improved grounds, rising as 
it were out of the prairie, appeared north and south and, even westward, the drama of settle- 
ment and house building was enacted. 

To illustrate the character of buildings erected here prior to 1880, let a few of the lead- 
ing houses be described. The Courthouse and City hall may be termed one building. The 
original design contemplated an open court between the rotunda and the streets north and 
south, on the principle shown in the fronts of the Pullman building and Woman's Temple, and 
in the eastern and western facades of the Rialto. The architect followed a definite style and, 
t hi-ivfore, insured the exterior against the machinations of the boodlers, so far as it was in 
his power to do. This building is the leading exponent of the French Renaissance, based on 
the Romanesque, in the West. The first and second stories are Romanesque; above, all 
is French, influenced of course by the Italian or Palladian forms and latter-day ideals. The 
ashlar work, piers, arches and keystones of the second story; the principal north and south 
entrances with attic columns, arches and sagitta; and the portico of the east front, tell at once 
of Romanesque influence of the Florentine species. Then comes the entablature with its 
frieze and cornice, defining the limits of the Romanesque and introducing the Renaissance 
in a series of colonnades. Two stories are now merged into one architectural story, defined by 
the grand entablature, and, above this is the attic story, the whole being an adaptation of the 
facade of the Tuileries, the Louvre and the church of St. Paul and St. Louis at Paris. 
Resting on the first entablature and corresponding with the ashlar piers below are heavy 
pi'ili^tals, carrying Corinthian columns of polished granite, thus giving two projections or 
pavilions each side of the central colonnade on the east front, and one each side of the center 
of the north and south fronts. Between each set of pedestals is a balustrade, carried out in 
extenso, forming balconettes in the side pavilions, and balconies in the colonnades. The win- 
dows of this section are Palladian, a style carried into the attic story. This attic story, rising 
above the second grand entablature or cornice, shows the figures of commerce, cornucopia, art 
and science insulated or as caryatides, with other columns and pilasters. The rock for the 

4 



(50 INDUSTRIAL CHICACO: 

city section was brought from Ohio. The stone for the county building Was quarried in the 
valley of the Dosplaines, and is known as Lemont stone. Unfitted for the exterior of such a 
magnificent building, the jx>wers that were had it used in the heavy cornices, and hence the 
disintegration of later days. The vandals responsible for its introduction knew nothing of 
architecture; the architect must be held guiltless. Their work of life was to prey upon the 
tax-payor. What citizen does not remember the days when the cornice came down in sec- 
tions, destroying the steps below and threatening human life? Who fails to remember the 
paint job, where oceans of paint were paid for under the pretense of saving the Illinois rock 
from the ravages of the very climate where it was formed and grew ? Architecture and econ- 
omy were foreign to the thoughts of the vampires, and Cook county has to undo their work. 
In building anew let it be remembered that giving sunlight to a county building is as much 
the duty of the architect as giving beauty. This point remembered, the grand lower stories, 
the magnificent colonnade and the attic of the French Renaissance will oppose all criticism. 
The Palmer House, to which reference is made in the notice of Iraildings commenced 
before the (ire, was erected in 1871-4, at an expenditure of about 12,000,000. In 1884 the 
sub-story or upper attic was added, thus giving a building of 815 rooms, 281 feet west front 
on State street, 253 north front on Monroe street, with L, 131 feet in width, fronting on 
Wabash avenue. As a building it belongs to the French Renaissance style, and, with the 
exception of the city and county buildings, is the finest specimen of that style in the city. 
There are five full stories, with entresol, two attic stories and basement. The first cornice 
corresponds with the entablature of the porticoes, and projects over the windows of the entre- 
sol or intermediate story. Above this first cornice are two stories, forced into one by columns 
attached and otherwise; then appears the second cornice, above which are two stories treated 
similarly, and then the great entablature, above which are the two attic stories, with Wyat 
dormers in the first and Mansard dormers in the second. The windows, generally double, are 
heavily laMed. Balconettes are common. The center of the State street facade and the 
corner tower are the prime parts of the whole exterior. For almost twenty years they have 
claimed the worship of sight-seers and are still interesting. The annulated clustered shafts 
of the portico carry a heavy entablature and heavier statuary. Above the portico, large 
clustered fluted columns correspond with the attached columns referred to above, and sup- 
port the great cornice and projection of the one attic story. From this to the entablature is 
richly decorated work. The brackets, frieze, modillions and soffit, show such design and 
good workmanship that the plain pediment and its cornice escape criticism. The corner 
tower partakes of the character of the central facade, single annulated columns take the 
place of the clustered shafts of the portico, and support a balustrade. Above this tinted 
columns carry a balconette outside the windows of the fifth story, and a cornice above the 
base of the sixth story. Four Caryatic columns extend from this cornice to the balcony 
above the seventh story, and brackets support the cornice of the tower, attic and the gallery 
of the lantern or curb roof. In this roof are six round dormers, and above all is the crest or 
finial. The exterior ensemble is perfect. The interior work is admirable, though heavier than 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 61 

modern buildings tolerate. In the wainscotting of the hall, from the State street portico to 
the rotunda, there are thirty- four distinct marbles, and in other respects the interior presents 
profuseness of material hidden away by French taste. The whole house tells of a dream of 
luxury before the tire, carried out in detail after the fire, and coming down the years to chal- 
lenge criticism. The Studebaker building of 1880 shows the French idea governing the style 
in another form, the Palmer House or Tremont House in a third form, the Major block, the 
Grand Pacific, the Sherman and other houses of that period in a fourth form, and so on to the 
end of adaptations. 

The American Express building was designed by Richardson to show the possibilities of 
ashlar treatment as well as those of a style with which he tried to inoculate American archi- 
tecture before he realized the adaptability of the Byzantine-Romanesque forms to this coun- 
( ry. The low, dark basement with ceiling on a level with the sidewalk is its poorest char- 
acteristic. Giving a window space to the office entrance in the west pavilion and one to the main 
entrance in the eastern section of the recessed center, appears patched. The first and second 
stories are forced into one by a billet-molding taking the place of a light band at the third 
lioor level. The third story is distinct, and is marked for architectural effect by balconettes 
alx>ve on the level of fourth floor in the pavilions and a carved molding in the recessed 
center. A light molding on the level of the fifth floor gives the fifth story full play with its 
peculiar arcade of treble-shouldered windows. There are three ashlar stone windows in the 
attic, small in each of the pavilions and large in the center with stone bull-dog and vault in 
alto-relievo in the architrave or spandrel of the center and a monogram in that of each side 
dormer. The central and side windows of the first floor show a petty Norman capped col- 
umn stronger than the two side columns. A Palladian architrave and general vertical design, 
particularly on the pavilions, remove this building far away from the Romanesque toward the 
cold Guelph-Gothic and render it Richardsonian if anything. The Ayers' block is by far a 
better illustration of tho Guelph-Gothic than the Express Company's office. Neither of them 
should have a place in this city. 

In changing from the French to the Italian a great wrong was perpetrated here on the 
Romanesque. An ill-proportioned building, poorly designed, poorly constructed and poorly 
arranged, was brought into existence in 1871). Plans for this Florentine- Romanesque, 
Venetian-Gothic, iron-and-stone United States building on the " Bigelow block," were com- 
pleted in August. 1!S7'2; but the cornerstone was placed June 24, that year. A. B. Mullett, 
a native of the South of England, was the architect, and James C. Rankin, a native of Scot- 
laud, assistant supervising architect. They, with John McArthur, a native of Scotland, then 
postmaster here, were the leading characters in placing the corner stone, though Harvey 
D. Colvin. a native of New Jersey, then mayor of the city, and other citizens were per- 
mitted to participate. Tho site was purchased in February, 1872, for $1,667,112.50, and the 
work of constructing the grand old ruin commenced. Eight years and about $6,000,000 were 
given to cover over 342Jx210 feet of the square described above, with a three-story, attic- 
and- basement house. The first story is treated with segrnental arches and bold transoms. 



02 INDUSTRIAL 

A court, 83x108 feet, receives a glass roof at the level of the second floor and is open above 
that level. This forms the great room of the postoffice. The windows of the second and 
third stories have semicircular heads, with pointed Italian arch moldings. The corners are 
heavily qnoined, but the walls are relieved by ornamental pilasters with richly carved cap- 
itals, and the sky line by Gothic chimneys and pavilion roofs. 

In 1870 the Portland block was designed for the purposes of a great office building. 
To the surprise of architects and builders, pressed brick was used for the front in preference 
to stone, and this being its first introduction to Chicago as a facade material for a massive 
building, the innovation was coldly received. Within four years this very material had won 
first place, and stone was exchided from the great majority of the modern office buildings. 

The Gothic of this period essayed to outrun local conception, and in more than one 
instance succeeded among the commercial as well as the ecclesiastical houses. The Lakeside 
building, long celebrated among the old office blocks of the city, appears to be designed after 
the style of the Richardsonian or Boston school, for the lancet of Richardson's conception of 
the Gothic has full play. The building is a five-story, attic-and-basement one, with the ver- 
tical piers and horizontal moldings or bands well balanced. The lancet and flat hood- 
molded, triple windows hold equal prominence. The central pavilion of the east facade is 
characterized by a Gothic portico, carried on detached pillars, standing out from the stone 
ashlar piers. Recessed in the gable is a Gothic window, behind a gallery or balcony, and on 
the exterior of the gable are acroteria carrying figures under canopies. The roof is a man- 
sard, with Gothic dormers, grouped under a triple pediment on the end pavilions, while the 
frontal of the central pavilion shows a trefoil arch projecting over a flat surface, which is 
pierced by a triple cathedral window, outside of which is a gallery or balustrade. Above the 
roof, and resting on it, is an ornamental balustrade, pierced for an oval window in the center 
above the end pavilions. The Lakeside is a fair example of the better class of old-time build- 
ings. It shows little appreciation of space in interior arrangement, for the large lobbies and 
wide stairways occupy much more room than would now be tolerated. With all it is a sturdy 
monument to 1872-3, and a popular office building. 

The cathedral on the northwest corner of State and Superior streets belongs to the period 
under notice. It is one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture in the United States, 
and, in itself, points out the change of the basilica of Pagan Rome into the Christian temple. 
Of course, it is not massive like the great old cathedrals of the world. Built in 1874-5. 
while yet Chicago was struggling with ruin, it forms an extraordinary testimonial to the rapid 
work of the time. It does more than that. In every line it shows a strict adherence to 
thirteenth-century Gothic, and proves that were the finances of the time equal to the concep- 
tions of its projectors and architects, Chicago could now l>oast of one Gothic church as large 
anil ornamental as any of which Europe boasts. As it stands to-day it presents the principal 
characteristics of the English Gothic so minutely described in the introduction to this volume. 

The Church of the Messiah, on Michigan avenue and Twenty-third street, built in 1873, 
is simply modern English Gothic, with a peculiar tower at one corner. The method of build- 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 63 

ing and the building material are fully exhibited within and without. Architecturally, it is 
irregular, wanting only in a little more ornament to bring it down to the level of modern 
Scotch building ideas, and wanting in hight to bring it up to the thirteenth-century Nor- 
man-Gothic of England. It compares with a true Gothic house in about the same measure 
that a Queen Anne frame cottage does with the Calumet club house. 

The Lakeside building, the Cathedral and the Church of the Messiah are described here 
as examples of Gothic Chicago; but there are hundreds of forms, brought down from the 
seventies, to which the name Gothic is applied. Of them a good deal is written in the 
following chapters. 

Looking back to 1880, when citizens read of the plans for the proposed high, pressed- 
brick buildings with pleasure, and later, regarded their erection with pride, what changes 
have there been ? A veritable revolution in the building arts has taken place, and men wonder 
why they so much admired the Montauk, the Calumet, the First National Bank, the C. B. & Q. 
office and other buildings of that class which rose above the ruins of the old city. A little 
later the Western Indiana Railroad building and the Donohue & Henneberry block lifted them- 
selves above the hovels in the vicinity of Dearborn and Polk streets, and again the buildings 
were admired. The Chicago Opera house, the open Board of Trade, the Adams Express, the 
Commercial Bank, the Pullman, the Chicago & Alton Railroad depot, and other piles of pressed 
brick loaned increased charms and symbolized the progress of the city. The Chicagoan was 
pleased with the massive, high buildings, and the visitor was lost in wonder. To this moving 
panorama there came an end, and that which created admiration and wonder yesterday was 
overshadowed by the buildings of to-day. The Rookery, the Tacoma are marvels in brick 
and terra cotta. The Auditorium, the Board of Trade and the Studebaker, in stone, are beau- 
tiful to-day. Chicago of to-morrow will only remember them as the lower steps in the ladder 
of American art in building. 

So much cannot be said for the progress of -ecclesiastical architecture as for that of 
the commercial and domestic. Looking north, south and west from the tower of the 
Auditorium, the beholder sees spread out before him a thousand pinnacles, spires and 
steepleless towers, telling him that Christianity has found an abiding place here. A 
closer examination shows many pretentious towers with temporary coverings, awaiting the 
time when religious enterprise will complete them with spire or dome or lantern or battle- 
ment; while a visit to the greater church buildings will reveal the truth that Chicago cannot 
boast of one ecclesiastical edifice which can compare with many in South America, Mexico, 
Canada, New Orleans or even New York City. Yet considering the youth of the city, its de- 
struction by fire in 1871, and its never-ending rush of trade and commerce, he finds religious 
edifices here, superior far to those which any other city in the world, of double her age, has 
raised, and in number equal to the older cities. In many of them, as in the old church of 
the Holy Family, brick was used in construction, wherein, notwithstanding the antipathy of 
architecture to this material, many excellent points were brought forth. In the old building 
named, the architect did wonders with brick, and from the water table to the finial of 



ti4 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

the great tower, gave a temple to the city in years long past which battles with the modern 
stone church buildings for precedence. 

Chicago has no Sainte Chapelle to dazzle the beholder with its glories; little of that magni- 
ficent gloom which breathes awe and veneration; less of poetry in stone and glass and statuary 
and mosaics to defy the painter, and scarcely an atom of that imagination which would lend 
words to describe a single window in that solitary wonder of thirteenth century architecture. 
The ambition is here, but the value of time and the extraordinary expense of labor do not 
give ambition room to play as in ancient days. Chicago has no great church when com- 
pared with European cities. Even New York's Cathedral, erected in 1879, equals in capacity 
two of the largest churches here. The seating capacity of some of the great cathedrals of 
Europe, Canada and Mexico confirms this fact. St. Peter's Church, Rome, 54,900; Milan 
Cathedral, 37,000; St. Paul's, Rome, 32,000; St. Paul's, London, 35,600; St. Patrick's, 
New York, 23,000; Cathedral, Mexico, 27,000; St. Petrionio, Bologna, 24,400; Florence 
Cathedral, 24,300; Antwerp Cathedral, 24,000; St. Sophia's, Constantinople, 23,000; St. 
John's, Lateran, 22,900; Notre Dame, Paris, 21,000; St. Peter's, Montreal, 15,000; Pisa 
Cathedral, 13,000; St. Stephen's, Vienna, 12,400; St. Dominic's, Bologna, 12,000; St. Peter's, 
Bologna, 11,400; Cathedral of Vienna, 11,000; St. Mark's, Venice, 7,000. 

The list might be extended to 200 houses of worship in Europe and a few on this conti- 
nent. However, many of the 400 churches of this city show an architectural freshness, a cozi- 
ness, a simplicity, an inviting aspect, a freedom from gloomy suggestions of the grave, a 
warmth and richness of sunshine and color, and an overpowering sense of Christian duty and 
the sublimity of heavenly recognition and forbearance not surpassed in the grander architect- 
ure of older cities. 

Almost a half century has passed away since the erection of a large public schoolhouse 
excited the pride of a few and the anger of the greater number of citizens. What appeared 
great in 1844 looked diminutive in 1855, and so on by decades the school buildings of ante 
helium days could not compare in extent with those of the post helium period. During the 
panicky years 1873-8 school building was carried on as a doucer to the trades. In 1879 
the large brick house on Oakley avenue and Ohio street was erected, but not until 1882-3 did 
the extraordinary rage for massive schoolhouses take complete possession of district school 
authorities. Within the old limits there were no less than eleven new buildings begun in 
1883, the seating capacity of which averaged 900 each. The Buttan furnace was introduced 
in four of the number and live windows were given to each room instead of four, as in the 
older buildings. In the best of the old buildings the glass-lighting surface of the windows, 
in the inside rooms, was only 10.71 per cent of the floor space; in the new buildings the 
additional window increased the lighting surface to 13.39 per cent of the floor space. The 
South Division High School building, erected in 1883-4. may be said to be the largest pressed - 
brick structure erected up to that time south of Van Buren street, not excluding the Normal 
School building proper. 

Talbort, who gave evidence of the Gothic Renaissance among the English-speaking 



THE BUILDING ISTKUKHTS. 65 

peoples, and Eastlake, who gave voice to thoughts of the Italians and French, expressed by 
Pugin or Kuskin, were copied here extensively, but poorly. The Pseudo-Japanese, neo- 
Jacobean, and that incongruous hydra-headed Queen Anne hugged one another in a wild 
architectural embrace. The fantastic forms, now so common, were tolerated in the hurry of 
Chicago life. Gables, pediments, turrets and even towers were insisted upon, and attempts 
made to build castles of boards and stained shingles. That large class of Chicago citizens who 
own their homes and cannot indulge in strange fancies, built better and stronger without 
departing in a marked degree from the more sensible forms of earlier years, except in thi> 
interior arrangement, which was improved in accordance with sanitary principles. 

The origin of the title, Queen Anne style, dates back to 1808, when some changes in an 
old house of the Queen Anne period, in Surrey, England, known as Cranbrook Hall, were 
made by Norman Shaw, the architect. He found a square, box- like house, with two win- 
dows each side of a central doorway on the ground floor, and five windows on the second 
floor. He added a bay window on each side of the hall door, evidently between the windows 
already there, and constructed a lantern, so that when Architect Butterfield visited the place 
later he expressed his pleasure at the easy appearance of the house. Relating his experi- 
ence to another architect, W. 11. Nestield, the latter joked Norman Shaw on his Queen Anne 
style, and from this old house in Surrey, as well as from the joke perpetrated by Nesfield at 
the expense of Shaw, the phrase came into use. In 1871 the Red House, Bayswater Hill, 
London, was erected by Stevenson, a Scotch architect, on this style, and henceforward the 
name attached to many odd pieces of architecture. A recent writer offers a few reflections on 
the caprices developed by the mania for Queen Anne houses. He says: " The thing is all 
wrong, and on wrong principles. The Queen Anne architects indulged in no such freaks as 
we see now exhibited, and simply because such was entirely opposed to the nature and char- 
acter of brick. Brick is a simple, honest, plain material, with a good color and hard, smooth 
surface that is all. Whatever style can display these qualities best is the Queen Anne 
style, and no other. The result of the modern caprices will be seen ten or twenty years 
hence, when certainly decay will have disintegrated or destroyed the whole, or when the 
owner's heart will have sickened of the frequent repairs and restorations. The old Queen 
Anne houses produced effect by the beautiful color and surface, the bricks being laid almost 
touching, the thinnest wash of mortar between. The result is that no rain or damp ever gets 
between. The modern system of building is opposed to this, thick layers of mortar being in- 
terposed, with the certain result that all the elaborate gables, etc., soon begin to separate." 
The style was introduced to Chicago in 1880 or 1882, at the very moment that citizens of 
New York cast it out, and by some mysterious, if not machinvelian agency, it dominated the 
building arts for a few years until architects fled from its influence to embrace truer forms. 
The gabled, two-story rectangular box-house was a Grecian palace compared with the new 
weird form to which the name "Queen Anne style" was attached. The word "style" was out- 
raged in the connection, for there were as little use and beauty in this by-play of 1880-85 as 
there were in the little pug dog and the dude which appeared alxmt the same time. 



66 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Another class of house-owners built small and humbly, economizing space, regardless of 
sanitary science. The cottage homes of the bread-winners varied in form and color. They 
point out. the cosmopolitan character of the people. The German, Swede or Hollander has 
built himself a cottage-dream of the Fatherlands, sometimes erecting a little barn for tempo- 
rary habitation, then adding a second floor, later moving to the covered basement of his 
proposed residence, and building gradually above until he has a two or three-story house. 
Wherever land is cheap this process of Aryan construction is as visible as its humble oddities 
are. Notwithstanding the process of consolidation carried on here, those people adhere to 
their customs, manners and languages, and as they are generally of the peasant or laboring 
classes, inhabit or build humble homes. They are modern immigrants, unlike the lazy 
gentlemen of " old Virginny," or the French or Spanish semi-military colonists. They come 
to hunt for work and bread rather than for pleasure and excitement, and as labor conquers 
all things, they forge ahead like the plodding, hard-working Puritans of old, and out-distance 
the sons of those who are too proud to labor or too lazy to think. The economist may praise 
this penchant, but the artist weeps over it. Let him halt to think ! The plodder of to-day 
will be the millionaire of to-morrow. The sons of the toilers who landed on Plymouth Rock 
'271 years ago, builded better than the sons of the Cavaliers, who brought titles to this virgin 
land. Their beginnings are poor, indeed. In occupations, dress, manners, food, shelter and 
even aspirations, they want but little; yet industry is driving them forward at a rapid pace, 
and they will be the art connoisseurs of to-morrow. 

Unfortunately for Chicago the dwelling builders of 1872-88 allowed all kinds of liberties 
to be taken with art, and, as a result, thousands of well-dressed residences are as much out of 
fashion as a silk hat of 1840. This fact points out architecture akin to dress; but Sullivan, 
Jenney, et al. cannot take a house and modernize it as Dunlap can take last fall's hat and 
batter it into the shape in vogue this fall. The expense is too great, and hence the dwelling 
stands, a reminder of the vagaries of the period and a teacher. It tells that variation from a 
definite school of architecture is a dangerous proceeding. Dwellings erected on architectural 
principles never go out of fashion, and to-day, take the eye of the traveler, who, as he passes 
by, greets them with peculiar glee and is at home among them. In other words there is noth- 
ing funny about a building when its style is founded on architecture, and even its roost of 
eminence, or its old-time cupola, may escape criticism. Thus the rough-aud-tumble Colonial 
style is venerated, while that miserable medley of all the bad points in building, called the 
"Queen Anne," is decried. The line between legitimate and illegitimate architecture is 
clearly shown in the difference between "Colonial" and "Queen Anne" the first is the excess 
of simplicity and solidity the second the excess of tinsel and bric-a-brac, useful only in pros- 
pectus, for it promises new work to the mechanic in a short time. 

The four years ending in May, 1888, contributed several important buildings. The pop- 
ulation in June, 1884, when this remarkable building era was ushered in, was ($29,5)85 or 
12(>.SOO more than in June, 1880. Enterprising men looked forward six years to a city of 
1,000,000 the limit of their estimates, and began providing business houses, which would 



THE BUILDING ISTKllKSTH. 67 

not only meet the true demand; but also go far to provide for their estimate of 1,000,000. 
The members of the Chicago Board of Trade were the first prophets, and on April 28, 1885, a 
concourse of 12,000 people witnessed the dedication of their temple a modern Italian-Gothic 
pile of Fox Island granite, 175x225 feet, with tower, 303 feet in height. Within the four 
years were completed the Couuselman, ten-story building, 46x60 feet; the Gaff, ten-story 
building, the Mailer building, the Open Board building, the nine-story Insurance Exchange, 
the Home Insurance building (since increased in hight), McCoy's Hotel, the Exchange 
building, the Rialto, the Brother Jonathan, the Parker, the Kent, the Chicago Opera house, 
the Pullman building, the C. B. & Q. R. B. Company's office, the Donohue & Heimeberry 
building, the Studebaker building, the Commerce building, the Commercial Bank building, 
the Hansen building, the Rookery and other monuments to imperial growth. 

A beginning was made, and only a beginning. By gradual stages architecture here 
became imposing and refined, and the question of architectural design and ornamentation 
entered largely into all matters relating to the building arts. An effort was made by the 
leading architects to accomplish much of all that the new system of " Chicago Construction'' 
was capable of, and it only remained for them to decide whether the Romanesque style, as 
exemplified in the Church of Ste. Croix, at Bordeaux, or the Richardsonian style, in Trinity 
church, Boston, should be accepted as a definite basis. The fact that almost the whole sys- 
tem of Richardson and Hunt had been built up in the Ecole des Beaux Arts on. Italian and 
Spanish inspiration led to a decision and the Romanesque became the favored style. The 
late John W. Root, looking at it in its American dress, dwelt on its tendency toward catholic- 
ity, g rav it v j grace, unity and splendor, and as a result, he made it the predominating char- 
acteristic of the great buildings he designed prior to 1888, and of his greater subsequent 
designs, such as the Woman's Temple and the Masonic Temple. 

In January, 1891, Henry Van Brunt contributed to the columns of the Inland Architect, 
ii paper on the works of one firm of architects in Chicago. He wrote: "The important build- 
ings executed by Burnham & Root, from 1880 to 1891, from the Calumet Club to the Temple 
of the Woman's Christian Union at Chicago, show a succession of experiments in form, 
mainly resting on a consistent Romanesque basis. It is easy to see which of these experi- 
ments were thrown aside in subsequent buildings as contributing no desirable element to the 
progressive power of the style, and which of them were retained and amalgamated, so that 
their accretions were gradually leading the style out of its condition of mere archaeological 
correctness into one elastic to all the new and strange conditions of structure, material and 
occupation. By reason of the very intelligent and spirited manner in which Root improved 
his vast opportunities, by reason of the serious way in which he attacked these more nioiiu 
mental problems, thoroughly realizing his responsibilities to art, it was his fortune to contrib- 
ute to the development of this great Americo-Romanesque experiment nearly, or quite as 
much, as Richardson did. The latter introduced the revival, and, through the unexampled 
vigor of his personality, had already led it on to an interesting point of development, when 
his career WHS interrupted by death; the former carried it still further toward the point of its 



68 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

establishment as the characteristic architectural expression of American civilization. The 
latter conferred upon it power, the former, variety; and both, with their trained coadjutors in 
the profession, have already proved that the experiment is not merely a revival, barren of 
results, like the neo-Gothic, the Free Classic or Queen Anne, and other numerous English 
trials, but the introduction and probable acclimatization of a basis of design, established 
upon Romanesque round-arched elements, which elements had never been carried to perfection 
here, and were, consequently, capable of progression. It seems to have been nearly proved 
that, in the hands of such men as Root, upon this basis can be built an elastic system, capable 
of expressing any degree of strength or lightness, simplicity or complexity, force or refine- 
ment. It has also been proved, largely by his efforts, that the maintenance of the essential 
principles of the style does not depend upon the preservation of its peculiar original archaic 
character in structure or ornament; but that it can amalgamate elements from Classic, Gothic, 
Saracenic, or even Indian sources without being diverted .from its strong natural growth, and 
that it is capable of a variety of expression and application which makes it adjustable to the 
most exacting requirements of that civilization which it is our duty to express." 

Adler & Sullivan went farther, giving the Romanesque, in congenial stone, its most 
massive American forms, as in the Auditorium. Holabird & Roche dressed their great 
Tacoma building in the .Romanesque and, on every side, in many of the great office buildings, 
the apartment houses and the modern residences, its round arch, carried on columns or on 
piers of heavy masonry, may be seen. 

The Field building on Adams street, is Romanesque after the Florentine school. The 
batter walls of the substructure, the plain rocked-faced piers above, carrying heavy arches in 
the fourth and sixth stories, and the rectangular windows in sets of four, separated by smaller 
piers, give to this structure an appearance of strength and endurance akin to that displayed 
in the Auditorium, but more decisive. Without ornament save the boultel running up each of 
the great corner piers, it shows the possibilities of the style, when prostituted to commercial 
uses. It is immense, like the Auditorium, but is wanting in those Doric columns and 
molded arches, which lend relief to the massiveness of that structure. The owner desired a 
plain and substantial building, and the architect yielded to his wish in the matter, giving a 
Riccardi or a Strozzi palace. 

The Walker building, west of the Field, is Romanesque of Romanesque. There is no 
mistaking the great arches, springing from the capped piers. Above the lirst story it 
resembles the middle section of the Auditorium (i. e. from the fourth to seventh story, inclu- 
sive), but it is even more decidedly Romanesque. Other extremes of this style might be 
noticed here, but as they are considered in the history of buildings, the two examples on 
Adams street will suffice. 

The Romanesque is now sharing its enviable position in public favor with the Renais- 
sance. The former will always take first place in the great houses of the central business 
district, and extend more or less to modern churches: but it will be the Romanesque of the 
seventeenth century in France, or the American Renaissance. The forces of this new Reuais- 



LIBRARY 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



THE BUILDING / .\Th'I!KSTS. 9 

sance are vitalizing iudeed; but beyond their application to some piece of church architect- 
ure or large commercial building, their influence did not extend to Chicago for at least 
a decade after the tire. Then it found itself opposed by a hundred varied forms; but its 
victory was decisive where wealth and sestheticism controlled. For great apartment houses 
and educational buildings, the Italian Gothic, French Renaissance or Romanesque-Byzan- 
tine now rules. The influence of each is salutary, for it gives a chance to the architect and 
builder to make a pretentious showing in the shortest time and for the least money. It is a 
definite school which will never become old-fashioned, one that will permit license in a meas- 
ure and hide the sins of constructors, for it takes labor and design to destroy it. True, 
Chicago has sometimes succeeded in hiding art amid a mass of detail, but the tendency of 
the apartment-house architects is to treat it fairly within the means placed at their disposal 
by owners. The requirements of the interior, its finish and equipment, are the prime objects 
of the American owner, and they must not be sacrificed, says the utilitarian, to the beauty of 
the exterior. 

The age of massive buildings is not confined to the Romanesque. It runs into designs 
where light and space are preferred to any definite style, and hence are found houses designed 
by Mr. Jennoy, varying in outline from his ideas of 1884, as expressed in the Home Insurance 
block. The Leiter building in iron and granite, the Manhattan in iron and burnt clay and 
the Fair, in iron and terra cotta are extreme examples of the transition. The Leiter 
and Fair buildings present fronts of glass and pilasters with ornamentation subordinated to 
use, and an intention manifested to give airy, lightsome show rooms at the expense of such 
ornamental detail as he formerly used in the Portland block, Grace church, and even the 
Home Insurance building. In the case of the Manhattan, 198 feet in hight, he provides 
against opposing buildings on the narrow streets by the introduction of great bays, which 
serve to focus the light, a feature unnecessary in his State street designs, but one which 
necessity alone urged him to adopt in preference to the corner tower of the Union League 
Club, one of the earliest of his modern works. 

Mr. Van Osdel, in the Brother Jonathan and Hotel Grace, did not make such a revolutionary 
departure from his earlier work, nor did Boyington in his Board of Trade and Royal Insur- 
ance buildings, cast away in foto the ideas which gave to Chicago a few of the finer buildings 
erected after the fire. Treat & Foltz, Beinau, Burling <fe Whitehouse, Clay, Cleaveland, Irving 
Pond, were among the earliest modernizers of architecture in Chicago. Each one designed some 
thing new and combated the ''Queen Ann style" at a time when it had the same noxious hold 
on the people as the skating-rink craze. Nor should the architect of the Owings building, the 
Union Club-house and the new Baptist University be forgotten. The Owings is at once the most 
unique of the great office buildings in the country, showing a merging of several styles into 
one and leaving little subject for the fault tinder. From end to end of the city the influence 
of thought in architecture is now felt and seen, but there is room for the development of the 
beautiful. Massiveness, light, ventilation, safety and convenience for occupants, all have 
been attained, but exterior beauty has been generally overlooked. Massiveness is not niagnif- 



70 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

icence. It is not beauty. It is only the ground work, out of which and on which the beautiful 
may be wrought by talent aided by wealth. It may be perceived how the modern buildings 
dwarf the great structures of a few years ago; but, the attention once diverted from massive- 
ness, beauty returns to the stone fronts with their Corinthian pillars and heavy cornices. In 
other words, the Honore and Rowland, the Palmer and Tremont, the City and County build- 
ing are less to the utilitarian than the great modern bricks along Dearborn street; but they are 
more to the artist who looks here for a symmetrical column and for a beautiful capital. 

Commercial architecture is the just title to be applied to the great, airy buildings of the 
present. They are truly American architecture in conception and utility. The style is a momi- 
ment to the advance of Chicago in commerce and commercial greatness and to the prevailing 
penchant of casting out art when it interferes with the useful. It is a commanding style with- 
out being venerable, and after straining necks and eyes to catch a glimpse of the cornice and 
count the number of floors, the hight, proportion and capacity are all that afford delight. Later 
the feeling of delight merges into one of novelty, and patriotism coming to the rescue, lets the 
new style down easily, by instilling into the mind the gigantic quantities of material used in 
one of those monuments, its great capacity, its magnificent systems of lighting and heating 
and transportation, its great strength, and men learn to look upon it with the same wonder 
and admiration which the big elephant in Lincoln park wins from children. This style began 
with the Western Union building, New York, in 1873, was extended to Chicago in 1876 in 
the Portland, reached its- childhood in 1882 in the Montauk and its boyhood with the 
Manhattan and Fair and Masonic Temple in 1890-91. The commercial style, if structurally 
ornamental, becomes architectural. An architectural structure must show ornamental forms 
and designs in clay or stone or iron or wood, necessary as part of such structure. It must 
also show proportion in length, breadth and hight. A non-architectural structure is such an 
one as shows the plain wall of colonial days with rectangular holes for doors and square holes 
for windows, with perhaps a Venetian door or Wyatt window, all without proportion. Thus 
there is a distinction between the Woman's Temple and the Monadnock building. The first 
is an architectural house, the second an engineer's. The distinctions might be continued 
ad injinitum ; but the one given shows where architects draw the line between architecture 
and civil engineering. 

Who would now think of viewing the Honore, the Howland, the Palmer, the Field, and 
the grand old stone fronts of 1872-4. except the antiquarian. The visitor is brought to see 
the Rookery, the Tacoma, the Auditorium, the Pullman, the remodeled Chamber of Com- 
merce, and other prodigies of architecture and engineering. The new dwelling houses rising 
up on the principal streets of each of the three divisions of the city; the new church build 
ings, railroad depots and warehouses all take the eye of the visitor, while the stone and marble 
fronts of eighteen years ago are treated with contempt, neglected, lost sight of in the presence 
of the new. Chicago has no old church towers with bells which tolled generations to the 
grave. Ever since its foundation, the decay of the old and the advent of the new, were 
hailed with satisfaction, and at no time was this spirit more manifest than now. 



THE BUILDING INTEREST*. ?1 

Every advance in the building arts, since the conception of the Tower of Babel, met with 
objections. When the suggestion was made to creep above the four-story regulation building 
of old, the suggestor was laughed at. When the Montauk was designed, and people learned 
that it would be four stories higher than the Honore building, they shrugged their shoulders, 
and later, when eighteen and twenty-story buildings were spoken of, they brought forward 
objection after objection, until the question of regulating the hight of buildings was pre- 
sented for discussion before associations of builders and architects, and carried into city coun- 
cils and state legislatures. All this can not be wondered at. The relation of high buildings 
to municipal well-being is not so well understood as their relation to architecture; for, in the 
latter case, the line between civil engineering and architecture is well defined. In the eyes 
of the investor, a " sky-scraper " appears to possess a thousand recommendations, while in those 
of men, unacquainted with large capital and its eccentricities, the high building presents a 
thousand objections; yet the builders follow their desires, and the objectors adopt resolutions. 
At the meeting of the joint committee on building ordinances, held in New York City, at which 
were present delegates from the American Institute of Architects, National Association of 
Builders, National Board of Underwriters and the National Association of Fire Engineers, 
Chicago being represented by Fire Superintendent D. J. Swenie, the following resolutions 
were adopted: 

The committee advises that the legislatures of the various states should establish state building 
laws, for the general control of the construction of buildings throughout the state, and that in all incor- 
porated cities there should be a separate and distinct department for the inspection of buildings, whose 
officers should be appointed for long terms by the chief executive of the city, and should be removed only 
for inefficiency or maladministration, and that reasonable opportunity should be provided for appeal from 
the decisions of the department. All buildings over seventy feet in hight shall be constructed through- 
out of incombustible material, protected in the most improved manner for resisting fire. Interior struct- 
ural iron-work in all buildings shall be covered and protected by fireproof material. All buildings over 
fifty feet in hight shall be furnished with permanent stand-pipes and ladders for the assistance of the 
lire department. The hight of buildings to be erected should not be more than two and a half times the 
width of the principal street on which they are located, and that no building or portion of a building, 
except church spires, should be more than 125 feet high in any case, except under a special permit. 

That there exists a wide difference of opinion on this subject is evident, but that A can 
l>e prevented from erecting a safe, sanitary and respectable building for legitimate use and of 
any hight, on ground which he owns, is out of the question. Among the friends of the 
" Elevator Building," and they are numerous, it is credited with everything that is good and 
useful. A writer in one of the city newspapers photographs such friends in words, stating 
that the " advocates of tall buildings claim that instead of casting somber shadows upon the 
streets those "sky-scrapers" actually serve as lighthouses, so to speak, the many windows seizing 
the sunbeams and reflecting them upon the pavement. Agitation of this matter has resulted 
in making converts to the theory. One enthusiast declares that the higher houses are built, 
provided they are studded with windows after the prevailing mode, the lighter will the streets 
be when the sun is shining. Those champions of tower edifices do not stop with this com- 
mendation, but insist that they tend to make the air warmer in winter by imposing barriers to 
the chilling winds, and cooler in summer by causing gentle currents to pass between their 



?2 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

fronts. These enthusiasts smile pityingly at those who suggest that if the sun's light is 
reflected by the windows some of its heat might also follow and alight about the persons of 
pedestrians. Yet another blessing pronounced upon these structures is that, although their 
occupants are so near to the madding crowd, to the whirr of wheels, the piercing cries of the 
newsboys and the sharp clang of the grip-car bell, yet, in fact, those above the fifth floor hear 
not these sonorous sounds. Peace, they say, is within those walls and quiet reigns in their 
apartments. And these same advocates laugh at the fears of nervous people as to the safety 
of these edifices. ' Why,' said a tenant who affects much knowledge of architecture and 
engineering, ' a cyclone would have about as much effect upon one of these steel structures as 
it would upon an iron mountain. At the very worst, it could only tear out a bit of terra cotta 
or brick. The columns, brace and beams are as enduring as the everlasting hills, and abso- 
lutely proof against attacks of fire, water and wind. They are provided with every comfort, 
are blessed with copious light, and the ventilation can not be improved upon.' " 

Greater care is bestowed upon foundations and construction than at any period since the 
great fire. Expensive experience has brought about this result, The questions which Horace 
addressed to the moralists of his time are equally applicable to architects of the times: Quid 
Kit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non f What is appropriate, what is low, what is useful, 
and what is not useful, are questions affecting the architect of the present, and entering into all 
details of the builder's art; for any part which is allowed to exceed its due bounds is in a 
state of instability an eyesore until it is remodeled or removed. The want of assiduity 
in architects, the ignorance of details and the willful oversight of defects in the work of 
artisans have, in our own times, led to heavy financial losses and sore disappointments. 
There is no cause to-day why a dome should fall or a building settle, for the science of build- 
ing has been carried down the centuries to be studied by architects. A may build a com- 
mercial palace on lots 1, 2 and 3, but neighbor B should not be permitted to weigh down its 
south wall by a heavier building on lots 4, 5 and 0, for then A's architect, though relieved 
from the odium by law, is not exempt from the fury of gossip and hence is injured by B's 
architect, whose thoughts and plans did not turn to a contemplation of the effect his heavy 
structure would have on adjoining property. 

The years of 1881-91 will be memorable for ever in the life of this city. The high Mon- 
tiiuk building was completed, and the once pretentious stone building, known successively <is 
the Post-office md Haverly's Theatre, was removed to make way for the First National Bank 
building. The improvement of the southern suburbs was begun in 1882, and a few modern 
cottages were erected on the platted prairie between State and School streets and between 
Sixty-fifth and Sixty-eighth streets. East of Cottage Grove avenue and north of Fifty-fifth 
street many dwelling-houses were erected, and old subdivisions, all round the city, began to 
assume a now life. Within the old limits the work of remodeling was commenced. The 
removal of small window sash to give place to larger sash and single panes of heavy plate glass, 
the substitution of inside for oiitside blinds, and the introduction of marble or tile veneer 
work, must be credited to this period. Ten years witnessed the conversion of pigmy struct- 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 73 

's into giant houses and the erection of several buildings undreamed of in 1880. While 
this process of placing from two to eight stories above the great buildings of 187280 was in 
progress, the work of interior decoration was not forgotten. Hard- wood floors surrendered to 
the magnificent mosaic, and plastered walls to the marble or tile wainscot. The most ingen- 
ious ideas of engineers were brought into play in the remodeling of these old structures with 
the result of rejuvenating them or rather rendering them modern in appearance and conven- 
iences. The introduction of freight and passenger elevators completed the development of the 
old brick or Lemont flag-fronted house of the past, and it came out of the mill a modern "sky- 
scraper," scarcely recognizable by its old tenants. The competition of the new buildings, the 
value of ground, the high taxation, and, above all, the desire of the capitalist to reap rich div- 
idends, were the causes which led to these improvements. 

The improvement of old buildings has also taken another form. Instead of growing up- 
ward they are made to expand outward from the building line. This system was, doubtless, 
suggested by the Gimther building on State street, the grand bay of which was extended over 
the step reserve. South of Van Buren street a front, much in the same style, was completed 
a few years ago, and shortly after the grand copper bays, with concave French-plate glass 
windows, sprang up on State and Madison streets. The climax was reached in 1890, when 
the ground floor front of the Field building on State street was removed to make way for the 
lightsome Parisian copper bays which now give a charm to that monument of post-flammam 
architecture. Nothing is more beautiful than the bronze pilasters, bands and rounded glass 
of the Grand Pacific. Nothing was taken from the city in these instances, but much was given; 
as the step reserve, or elevated platform of prismatic lights, was removed and only a fraction 
of its breadth given to the bays at regular distances. How far this salutary system of lighting 
the lower floors of the old buildings will be carried in the future is unknown. That it was 
overlooked in the remodeling of the Gossage corner in 1890-1 is regretable; for the grand 
elliptical or semicircular pane of French glass is the only sine qua nun to render the interior 
the most beautiful of all rooms devoted to commerce in Chicago. 

Modern architects have many points to consider unknown to their predecessors. Steam, 
gas and electricity, the furnace, hot-water heater and ventilators, drains, catch-basins and 
traps, iron, slate, tile and wooden roofs, patent sheathing and lathing and wire lathing; iron, 
glass, staff and terra cotta constructive materials, in brief light, heat, beauty and durability, 
must be given by free, well-paid labor, at a price not exceeding that, which the rough food 
and primitive clothing and housing cost the feudal lords of old for the labor extracted from 
their serfs. A thousand details have now to be studied where one was sufficient in past ages, 
even in designing feudal palaces. Only a few decades ago the conveniences now in use were 
unknown, and the world of that period compared with this of the present, in this particular 
at least, as does the rural hamlet of Illinois with the cities of the State. Every day intro- 
duces something modern to the builder, the utility of which must claim the attention of the 
architect. Iron workers appear to be creating an age of iron, clay workers an age of clay. 
The age of glass, paper and aluminum is almost present here. Everywhere there is activity, 



74 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

and the youth, who but yesterday became a benedict, is looking around for a home, new like 
his life and beautiful as the girl he selected to share his little palace. He calls the architect 
to his aid, and for the first time the variety and intricacies of the science and art of building 
are presented to him. The professional man is no less amused at the ideas of his client than 
confused at the means to reconcile them with art, and he too realizes the fact that the modern 
architect must be at once a man of science, a man of art, a man of business and a man of 
diplomacy. He must rebel successfully against a babel of ideas. American travelers in 
Europe and European immigrants in America have to be fought, and that peculiar deviltry in 
architecture, which in a short time covered the northern cities with pointed oddities, has to be 
abolished. 

A few years of skirmishing for ways and means, impetuous building and rakish archi- 
tectural ideas ensued after the great fire. Then the panic! When the clouds of financial 
depression separated, an era of reconstruction was introduced; much that was crude in the 
buildings of 1872-3 was removed, and architecture took possession of a field which is destined 
to be a model for the United States, if not for the whole modern world. Look around you 
and see the transformation! What twenty years have accomplished! What changes in tho 
old, what magnificence in the new! Commerce and art are now banded together to place this 
marvelous city among the first in the wide, wide world! Men with the will to expend 
wealth on architecture, artists with the brain to design, and contractors with the honesty to 
build true, are here. They have made only the beginnings as yet, but the precociousness of 
such beginnings challenges the admiration and leaves even the citizen to wonder when this 
phenomenal advance is to be checked or where it will end. The Marquette-stone age, the 
pressed-brick and terra-cotta age, the age of iron and burnt clay buildings, and with all, the 
age of the hydraulic elevator, form one epoch, great at present, greater in possibilities. 




IS 

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LIBRARY 
OF THE 

HNIVFRSITY OF ILLINOIS 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 75 



II. 




CHICAGO'S EARLIEST BUILDINGS. 

HE first permanent buildings erected at Chicago were those forming Ft. de la Duran- 
taye, constructed in 1684 or early in 1085, near the mouth of the river, north of the 
temporary buildings erected by Pere Marquette on the Calumet, some years before. A few 
years later a large dwelling house was erected by the missionaries of Kaskaskia on the 
eastern shore of Mud lake and in the vicinity were 150 cabins of the Miamis. A league 
down the river was an equally large Indian village, and within a day's travel south, north or 
west, smaller towns existed. 

To the cabins of the Indians, the fort of Durantaye and the dwelling house, church and 
schoolhouses of the missionaries the beginnings of civil, military and ecclesiastical architec- 
ture here must be credited. The style varied but little from that observed in Illinois at the 
time of the Black Hawk war or in Nebraska, when the Sioux threatened the settlements. 
The transient log cabin and log church or schoolhouse, which may be seen to-day in 
almost every State in the Union, was introduced at Chicago between 1671 and 1685, and 
followed until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Though ancient, the cabin is well 
known; all were log buildings, small for the Indians, large for the missionaries and fortesque 
for the troops, built solely to meet the exigencies of that time. For use rather than for 
ornament, the first log houses on the city's site were constructed, and those modest architec- 
tural beginnings disappeared only after their tenants had surrendered to Father Time. 
Almost a century passed away after the building of Ft. Durantaye, before Chicago deserved 
more than a notice from some passing traveler. It was abandoned very early in the eight- 
eenth century by the missionaries, who found healthier locations in the interior and induced 
the Indians to follow them. 

Some time before the Revolution, a French trader, named Guarie, located at the foot of 
Fulton street, opposite what was known as Wolf Point, and there erected a log house and 
stockade. In 1818 the remains of Ft. Guarie were pointed out to the late Gurdon Hubbard 
by Antoine des Champs and Antoine Besom, whose memories gave the years 1775-8 as 
the time when it was built. The North Branch was then called La Riviere Guarie, in honor 
of the pioneer trader. 

The octoroon of St. Domingo, Jean Baptiste Point de Sable, moved from Peoria to 

5 



76 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Chicago in 1 779, and constructed a log cabin near the present intersection of North Water 
and Rush streets. At that time, as for many years thereafter, the river flowed south through 
the present terminals of the Illinois Central Railroad, and entered the lake at the foot of 
what is now known as Madison street. Sable's cabin could not have been an improvement on 
those of 1084-1775. In front was a door the hight of six logs or about fifty-four inches, and 
a window the hight of two logs. In the west gable was a window of similar dimensions. 
The front wall was nine logs and the gable seventeen logs in hight, while a roof of swamp- 
grass thatch, laid on in combed sheaves and held down by strips of bark, kept out the rain 
and snow. In such a cabin the second trader made his home until 1796, when he returned 
to Peoria, leaving the cabin to Jean Baptiste le Mai. 

In 177(5 Mai had established himself in Sable's cabin as a fur trader, and the same 
year Antoine Ouilmette built close-by on the north; while the resident trader Pettell dwelt 
in that neighborhood. There were four cabins standing in 1803 when the troops arrived: but 
whether the fourth belonged to Dave Burnett or to Guarie will never be known. John Kinzie 
bought Mai's cabin in 1804, and, soon after, entered on that process of cabin enlargement, 
which overwhelmed, as it were, the historic logs and hid them away under various coverings. 
So soon as the civilization of 1833 touched it, it withered, and after its occupation for a time 
by the Noble family, fire partially destroyed it and the logs were carried away to be used as 
firewood. 

Fort Dearlx>rn was built in 1803-4 under direction of Capt. John Whistler, the first com- 
mandant, an Irish soldier, civil engineer and architect. He selected the point of land at the 
big bend of the river and surveying a quadrangular piece of ground, had a blockhouse 
erected on the northwest corner and a second one on the southeast corner. Quarters for the 
troops, a tunnel or secret passage connecting with the river and a strongly-built palisade- 
were also provided. Just west of the fort, the two- story log house, known as "The Agency" 
was built, while south of it was constructed the " U. S. Factory." All the buildings were 
whitewashed and presented a scene of cleanliness appreciated by settlers and Indians. 
Charles Lee located at " Hardscrabble," now Bridgeport, in 18034 built a house on the 
west side of the portage or South Branch, and opened his farm in 1804. Here in later years 
was "the Crafts store." Lee also built a cabin on the lake shore, near Madison street, 
which was purchased by J. B. Beaubien in 1812, in 1817 converted into a stable or barn and 
in 1832 used as fuel for the vessel "Sheldon Thompson." 

The destruction of old Ft. Dearlwrn was effected Augiist 10, 1812, by the Indians after 
its evacuation. The massacre took place about one mile and a half south of the south gate 
of the fort on August 10, that year. The savages did not burn the buildings outside the fort, 
so that when Beaubien arrived in 1812, he selected the Lee cabin for his home; in 1814, 
Alex. Robinson found an untenanted cabin; the Indian agent, Charles Jouett, came in 181"), 
and also found a sheltering cabin, while the trader Du Pin, who married the widow of Charles 
Lee, took possession of the Kinzie cabin. 

In 1815 Contractor Dean built a cabin at the northeast corner of what is now known as 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 77 

Michigan avenue and South Water street, This Dean was the first tradesman who settled 
here; being a carpenter and builder he had much to do in the building of the second fort. 

In July, 1816, two companies of United States troops arrived to rebuild the fort; the Kin- 
zies returned shortly after to reoccupy their old home; John Crafts came as the agent of Con- 
ant & Mack, of Detroit, and purchased the first cabin of Charles Lee, on the South Branch, 
where Liberty White and another man were killed in 1812; and Daniel Bourassa located 
his trading house east of the south river, between Lake and Water streets, in 1816 or 
1817. 

The second Ft. Dearborn was constructed in 1816, on the site of the old fort. Capt. 
Bradley, who arrived that year with two companies of infantry, must be considered the archi- 
tect of that collection of buildings. He retained the lines of the old quadrangle, and erected 
a strong palisade on such lines. Within was the blockhouse, occupying the southwest cor- 
ner; the officers quarters, a two-story, rectangular building with two chimneys, in the center 
of the west line, the barracks, a two-story house, with spacious verandahs, on the east line; 
a house on the south line, with outside stairway, a large stable, a hall and a few smaller 
buildings. Two lunettes, in addition to the blockhouse, gave to the place that military air, 
which distinguished it from a southern plantation home. In 1880 the daiighter of the old 
lighthouse superintendent, Meacham, writing to K. J. Bennett, gives the following descrip- 
tion of the United States buildings here: 

"The lighthouse was a stone structure, kept white by lime wash. The dwelling house 
stood perhaps seventy-five feet east and north of the lighthouse. The old fort was east and 
just across a rather narrow street (Eiver street) or road from it. It was west of Michigan 
avenue; at that time, the avenue did not come to the river, but came to an end just south of 
the fort. The fort stood on a sand mound, some twenty feet above the river, and occupied a 
tract bounded by a line running along about River street to near the center of the river as it 
now is, and east, say 150 feet east of Michigan avenue, to the lake beach, thence south, say a 
liko distance south of the present intersection of Michigan avenue and River street, thence 
\\vst to the place of beginning. The inclosure was a stockade, formed by setting logs upright 
and close together, the lower end bedded in the earth and the upper sharpened like pickets or 
pikes. Within this inclosure and near the stockade were arrayed the barracks and the officers' 
quarters: they were built of hewn logs. Within these and to the south side of the inclosure, was 
the parade ground. In 1857 A. J. Cross, now connected with the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad, but then in the employ of the city, tore down the fort and lighthouse and 
leveled the mound by carting the sand to fill Randolph street to grade. One of the buildings 
was moved, but still kept within the site of the fort, to alxnit the center of the Hoyt store. 
That building stood till the tire of 1871 destroyed it, and thus vanished the last of Ft. Dear- 
Ixmi. A few weeks before that fire I visited that building with my father, and he, laying his 
hands on one of its corners, said, 'This is one of the buildings of the old fort as I saw it in 
1830.'" 

On a portion of the site of old Ft. Dearlwn stands to-day the large brick building of 



IS INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

W. M. Hoyt & Co. Opposite Bush street bridge a white marble tablet is attached to this 
structure, bearing the following inscription: 

This building occupies the site of old Fort Dearborn, which extended a little 
across Michigan avenue and somewhat into the river as it now is. The 
Fort was built in 1803-4, forming our outmost defense. By 
order of Gen. Hull it was evacuated Aiig. 15, 1812, after 
its stores and provisions had been distrib- 
uted among the Indians. 

Very soon after, the Indians attacked and massacred about fifty 

of the troops and a number of citizens, including women and children, 

and next day burned the fort. In 1816 it was rebuilt, but after the Black 

Hawk War, it went into gradual disuse, and in May, 1837, was abandoned by 

the army, but was occupied by various government officers till 1857, when it 

was torn down, excepting a single building, which stood upon the site 

until the great fire of Oct. 9, 1871. At the suggestion of 

the Chicago Historical Society this tablet was erected, 

November, 1880, by W. M. Hoyt. 

The stockade of 1816 was built on a larger and more substantial scale than that of 1804. 
The palisades were heavier and longer. Inside the western line of palisades were the build- 
ings devoted to officers' quarters; inside the eastern line, the barracks; inside the north line, 
near the gateway, the brick structure used as a magazine; inside the south line, east of the 
gate, was the guard-room and west of the gate the storehouse. The blockhouse occupied 
the southwest corner until April, 1857, when it was removed. West of the fort were the 
stables and cellars. In 1856 the quarters of officers and soldiers were torn down. 

Jonas Clybourne, his wife, two sons and John K. Clark, arrived in 1823 and going up 
the North Branch to the grotmds now occupied by the Chicago Boiling Mills, erected two 
cabins there and established a butchering house. In 1826 there were fourteen cabins includ- 
ing Dr. Wolcott's "cobweb castle," on the north bank of the river, opposite the fort or on the 
southwest corner of State and North Water streets, and the McKee & Portier blacksmith shop 
in the immediate vicinity. The cabins of John Crafts, J. B. Beaubien, Antoine Ouilmette, 
Alex. Wolcott, Alex. Robinson, Peter Piche, Claude and Joseph Lafrainboise, John Kinzie, 
Louis Coutraux, Jeremy Clermont, D. McKee, Jonas Clybourne, John K. Clark and W. H. 
Wallace constituted the civil village of Chicago in 1826. 

At Heacock's Point, five miles up the South Branch or jxjrtage, a trader named Heacock 
opened a store in 1831. Two miles nearer the present courthouse, Bernard H. LaugMon 
carried on a store early in the thirties. In 1832 this trader had his cabin at Biverside, south- 
west of the original town; James Kinzie had a cabin on Wolf's Point; Elijah Wentworth, a 
tavern, west of the river, near the forks; Bobert A. Kinzie, a general store near Went/worth's 
tavern; John Miller, a log tavern at Wolf Point; Samuel Miller, a log tavern on the west 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 79 

bank of the North Branch, just above the forks; George W. Dole, a store building on the 
southeast corner of Water and Dearborn, and P. F. W. Peck, one on the southeast corner of 
Water and La Salle streets. 

In 1831 Mark Beaubien built the two-story and attic Saugauash (English) Hotel, on the 
south side of Lake street and the corner of Market street. He always claimed that this was the 
first frame house in Chicago, and it was known as such when destroyed by tire in 1851. The 
frame was an addition to the old log house. Its Venetian entrance, low-gabled roof, end 
chimneys and high windows gave to it a colonial style. 

The first public structure erected here was the " estray pen," by Samuel Miller, in 
1832, on the southwest corner of the square. The actual contract price was $20; but as 
Miller, then a county commissioner, did not complete it according to " plans and specifica- 
tions," he received only $12. Whether Miller or his associate commissioners, Kercheval and 
Walker, designed this "pen" is not recorded; but the fact of the dissatisfaction of the people 
with the structure is established. Miller did not consider a roof necessary for the "pen;" 
and his ideas of an enclosure were so crude that the sum of $12 was considered an exorbitant 
price because objections were made at the time to the payment of that amount. 

The second public structure was the blockhouse erected in 1832 on the southeast corner 
of La Salle and Randolph streets, for the purpose of a prison. Immigrants flocked to the 
Chicago settlement in numbers, and the villagers prepared to entertain the more refractory 
spirits in that primitive bastile. The building of unhewn logs, was perfectly square, and 
about twenty logs high; while adjoining it was a log cabin, with its front gable extending 
beyond the high picket fence which enclosed the jail. To-day, in the whole extent of the 
United States, there can not be found such an exceedingly modest public building as that old 
jail was. True its surroundings were not such as to create jealousy; for there was no extra- 
ordinary ambition in the village of sixty years ago. 

When Mrs. Ann M. Barnes arrived here, early in the thirties, elder bushes grew along 
the line of the present Lake street, and the river water was clear and deep and "good enough 
for drinking purposes." Now the merchant princes of those days came and seeking locations 
near the river, built their storerooms on the line of Water street. Like Simonides of Anti- 
och, they looked upon the stream and pictured their ships coming in with the luxuries of the 
East and going out with the product of the prairies. Their ambition was laudable. While 
gathering the shekels of trade they followed the example of Astor I., of New York, overlooked 
the disadvantages of the marsh, contented themselves with cabins and gave all their jwwers 
of mind and body to money-making. It was the cabin age of Chicago; wonderful only in the 
fact that the greater number of pioneers survived it to behold the dawn of a higher civiliza- 
tion and a few of them to behold its noon. 

The second building epoch opened in 1831. In July of that year Gen. Scott's command 
arrived at Chicago. The Asiatic cholera arriving with this command, drove the villagers to 
adopt sanitary measures hitherto undreamed of, and hurried the siirviving troops away. The 
campaign against the Indians having ended, the several companies returned to the East, and. 



80 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

reporting all they had seen, caused that exodus which assumed large proportions in the fall 
of 1832. The soldiers and the newspapers used the name Chicago so extensively that the 
emigrants soon knew more of that name than any other, and set out from their eastern homes 
with the one object of reaching Chicago first and then determining the location of their future 
dwellings. The immigrants of that period beheld the- first frame building on the southeast 
corner of Water and Dearborn streets, bought bread in Mark Beaubien's frame bakehouse or 
supplies at Bob. Kinzie's frame trading-store. They also saw Peck's frame building receiv- 
ing the finishing touches, and learned that, only a few months before, one of the ancient log 
cabins had been torn down to be used as fuel for the steamer, "Sheldon Thompson." Fortu- 
nate immigrants! They came at the close of the log cabin age, and were here at the begin- 
ning of the old frame and clapboard age of the village. 

So soon as the rays of the spring sun of 1833 melted the ice and opened the waters for 
navigation, the exodus was resumed in the East. The great majority of the travelers brought 
with them their household goods, a little money and a great quantity of determination to carve 
out a home, as well as physical strength to maintain it. The new comers were not the indi- 
gent of the eastern land. Each one had learned the lessons of industry and self-support 
there, so that the New West profited much from their coming. 

The first attempt at frame house construction was made by Mark Beaubien in 1831. It 
was a large addition to his log house, so considerable indeed that it was recognizable as a 
frame building older than the others by visitors of 1833. Lampman, the brickmaker who 
came in 1833, stated that Dole's store building of 1832, on the southeast corner of Water and 
Dearborn streets, was the first frame structure (moved southward in April, 1855); that Rob- 
ert Kinzie's, on the east side of the South Branch, was the second frame, and that Mark Beau- 
bien's frame bakehouse, east of Blodgett's brickyard, built in 1833, was the third. Lamp- 
man, who could tell every brick manufactured in Blodgett's yard, does not seem to be a good 
authority on frame work; for Beaubien's attempt must be considered the first. Charles But- 
ler, who arrived August 2, 1833, remembers the new frame hostelry, or the Green Tree Tav- 
ern, of James Kinzie near the river south of West Randolph street, and the Blockhouse on 
the North side (the only house then there, as the old Kinzie house was partially burned before 
his arrival, and the logs which were not destroyed in the fire were carried away to be used as 
firewood). The Temple building, erected in 1833 by Dr. Temple for miscellaneous purposes, 
is described in another page. It was the most important of the first beam-and-brace houses 
and the last of its race in Chicago. 

The first piece of ecclesiastical architecture, within the historic period of the city, was 
designed and built by Augustine D. Taylor in June and August, 1833, at a cost of $400. This 
was a frame gabled structure, with five four-pane windows and a door on each side, solid 
gables and a baptistery. Before the close of the year a cu{K>la was erected to receive the lirs: 
boll brought to the town. This church fronted north on Lake street, where is now the house 
of Cameron, Amberg & Co. Later the building was moved to the southwest corner of Mad- 
ison street and Michigan avenue, thence west to the southwest corner of Wabash avenue and 









THE BUILDING IXTKUKXTS. 81 

Madison street, where it stood until moved a point west in 1843 to make way for the preten- 
tious cathedral building. 

The First Presbyterian church on lot 1, block 24, Original Town the southwest corner 
of Clark and Lake streets was completed January 4, 1834, by carpenter and builder 
Meeker at a cost of $600. This was. a very primitive old style frame house 30x40 feet. 
About 1838 the building was moved south of Washington street on Clark street and doubled 
in length. Two years later the width was extended to sixty feet, and the house was used for 
worship until 1849, when a large brick church was erected. 

The Green Tree Tavern, which stood on the northeast corner of Lake and Canal streets, 
was erected in 1833. It was a very low, two-story frame structure, yet destined to outlive 
all its contemporaries. In 1880 it was moved to Nos. 33, 35 and 37 Milwaukee avenue, 
where it now stands, a mute historian of the past and present. Fourteen windows on each 
side, with four windows and a door in each gable, lighted this quaint structure, while the 
annex showed one large window and a dormer. The cornice of the front gable and the swing- 
ing sign and post at the street corners were the only evidences of taste. 

The Western Hotel, built in 1835, by W. H. Stow, on the southeast corner of Canal and 
Randolph stroets, almost came down to the present time. A few years ago it occupied its 
old site, and appeared in much better condition than its senior, the Green Tree. On the 
northwest corner of Randolph and Canal streets is another old frame building, resembling in 
size and style the Frink & Walker stage office, with rectangular windows placed horizontally 
below the cornice. 

The Exchange Coffee House, which occupied the northwest corner of Fifth avenue and 
Lake street, was erected in 1834, by Mark Beaubien, who employed the balloon frame sys- 
tem. The Venetian doorway, which he introduced with so much effect in the older Sauganash, 
reappeared in the new building. 

The Rialto, so named by Dr. Egaii, was erected late in the winter of 1833-4, on the site 
of Nos. 8 and 10 Dearborn street, south of Water street. It was " put up " in a hurry, so that 
its restoration in 1838 was a necessity. With' its restoration, the name "Chicago Theatre" was 
given, and the rickety building of 1833, daubed with most glaring colors, was considered one 
of the tine structures of the town. 

Dr. W. B. Egan purchased the corner occupied iu later years by the old Tremont House, 
from J. B. Beaubien, after the Black Hivwk war, and built thereon five houses. The villagers 
named this block of pretentious buildings " Egan's Row." In 1833 one Luther Nichols refused 
to give General Beaubien forty cords of wood for the ground; but Dr. Egan was more liberal 
and profited by this liberality, for the two-story frame houses which he erected proved a pay- 
ing investment. They were suggested by expediency, as their balloon frames and architect- 
ural outline told at a glance. 

The first courthouse was to Chicago of its day what the Parthenon was to Athens or the 
Pantheon to Rome. Indeed the builders realized that it would be so and, casting away the 
innovations of the Italians and French, adopted a Doric plan and produced a Grecian build 



82 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

ing, while confining its architectural lines to the colonnade. Four fluted columns, with Doric 
capitals supported the pediment. Eight large windows of eighteen panes each lighted the 
courtroom, and a flight of broad steps led to the colonnade, on which opened a rectangular 
hole in the brick wall, called a door. The basement was lighted by seven square windows, 
and was entered from the north side. Two chimneys, one on each side, raised above the 
heavy cornice, disfigured the classic structure a little, but, all in all, it was a creditable house, 
years in advance of the local time. 

The " Saloon building," on the southeast corner of Lake and Clark streets, was erected 
in 1836-7. It was undoubtedly the finest building in the whole western country of that 
day, and the principal object of the sightseer. In 1842 it was enlarged to a three-story, 
square, balloon frame, with semi-Mansard roof, and held its site for years, a connecting link 
between two building epochs in the city's history. The front on Lake street showed four 
sections, each containing a store front for the ground floor, three windows for the second, and 
three for the third floor. Beyond the widening of the wall between each section, to double 
the width of the three piers between the three windows and the corners, there was nothing in 
the exterior to point out the aim of the owners, J. B. F. Russell and G. W. Doan, to divide 
the building into four distinct parts should such a course be profitable. Near the south 
corner of the building, fronting on Clark street, a square bay window was developed before 
1843, and in this house the chimney was given a hight above the roof and a superior finish 
unknown in contemporary buildings. Within, of course, it was a fire trap, which nothing 
less than the caution of the time saved from destruction. The brick buildings adjoining on 
Lake street also afforded a certain protection which permitted the pioneer Saloon block 
to come down uninjured by fire to days of greater building ideals. 

The first Methodist Episcopal building at Chicago was erected in July, 1834, by the 
builders, Henry Whitehead and John Stewart, on the corner of North Clark and Water 
streets, at a cost of about $000. It was a balloon frame 26x38 feet, standing high on posts. 
The contractors of that period used posts twelve feet long, four feet of which they placed 
beneath the surface, leaving the remaining eight feet to meet emergencies, such as sinking 
under the weight. The primitive character of that building was quite in keeping with 
that of the people who worshiped therein for the four succeeding years. The house was 
placed on scows in July, 1838, carried across the river and moved to the corner of Clark 
and Washington streets. 

St. James English Protestant Episcopal or the Kinzie church society, built their first 
house of worship on the southwest corner of Cass and Illinois streets, with front on Cass 
street, in 1837; where John H. Kinzie donated two lots. Brick was used in its construction 
and the Elizabethan style observed. It was 44x64 feet, with entrance in the square tower in 
front. The two corner buttresses, capped with nide pinnacles to correspond with the four 
points of the superstructure of the tower, the four buttresses in front, the pointed windows 
and transoms, the two storm doors at the side entrances, the pulpit, the bell, the organ and 
the letters I. H. S., painted over the pulpit, introduced an uncommon and hitherto unknown 



TlIK BL'LU>1.\<; I. \TKltKsrs. 83 

style of house here. Of the total cost, $15,500, over one-third was realized from church 
fairs. The great tiro .swept it away in 1871. 

In 1836 W. H. Brown had constructed a dwelling on the northwest corner of Illinois and 
Pine streets, which cost 10,000. It was the wonder of the time and the peer of the Ogden 
dwelling begun a year later. Though a mixture of the Venetian, Colonial and Mexican styles 
of architecture it presented better points than a $30,000 dwelling he had erected on Michigan 
avenue, twenty-one years after. 

In 1837, when J. M. Van Osdel came, there were not more than 1,000 buildings of all 
kinds in Chicago; about twenty of these were brick structures, the great majority being of 
woodwork, nearly half the whole number being one-story cottages, and none more than two 
stories high. The roofs without exception, were shingled. Among the very few buildings 
that made any pretensions to architectural adornment were the dwelling houses of W. H. 
Brown and John H. Kinzie, in the north division and of Dr. John T. Temple and George W. 
Snow in the south division. The latter was the inventor of the balloon frame method of con- 
structing wooden buildings, which, in this city, superseded completely the old style of fram- 
ing with posts, girts, beams and braces. The great rapidity in construction, and large saving 
of cost, compared with the old-fashioned frame, brought the balloon frame into general use. 
As an evidence of its power to resist lateral force, it may be stated that the Bull's Head Hotel, 
built in 1848 by Mathew Laflin, on the site of the present Washingtonian Home (Ogden ave- 
nue and Madison street), was a three-story balloon frame of large dimensions. Standing 
upon the open prairie with hardly a building within a mile, it remained unshaken by prairie 
winds, until taken down to give place to the present Home. 

The fire of 1871 showed the reprehensible character of the balloon frame and led to the 
ordinance prohibiting its future erection within the fire limits. That great tire obliterated 
nearly every building constructed prior to 1838, except those removed to the suburbs prior to 
OctolxT, 1871, such as ''Rotten Row," at 546-560 State street, moved from Lake street, 
opposite the Commercial Hotel. Its east end, which formed a front on Dearborn street, 
showed the corniced pediment, the broad entablature under the front eaves with frieze, 
enriched by oblong quadrangular openings, resembling portholes, utilized to light and venti- 
late the attic. This old block, about 100x30 feet, had to be cut into three sections to facilitate 
its removal. The Green Tree Tavern moved to 33-37 Milwaukee avenue, now standing 
there, and the stage-office moved to the corner of State and Twelfth streets, which was 
demolished in 1886, must also be included. 

The first brick building (other than the United States magazine), one and a half story, 
twenty feet square, was built in 1833 on the south bank of the river opposite the brickyard 
of Tyler Blodgett. This was built high from the ground, and roofed with lapped boards. 
The bricks were generally red: but the presence of a white or a yellow brick was common. 
This brick house, erected in 1833, was looked upon as far superior to the Kinzie cabin. The 
Lake House, built in 1835-0, was the largest tavern in the city up to 1S44. It occupied the 
west half of the block fronting on Rush. Michigan and Kinzie streets, and was the first large 
brick house in Chicago. 



84 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The brick buildings in the city at this period (1837) were the Lake House, on the south- 
east corner of Rush and Michigan streets, 80x100 feet, four stories high; the St. James En- 
glish Protestant Episcopal church, an Elizabethan-Gothic structure with a square tower, 
located on Cass street, between Michigan and Illinois streets; Steele's four-story brick block 
on Lake street, built in 1836; William Norton's two-story dwelling on Indiana, near Dear- 
born; Harmon & Loomis' brick block of four stories, on Water street, completed in 1837, 
and the frost-torn three-story building on North Water street at the foot of Cass street referred 
to later. There were two brick buildings in the west division the two-story dwelling of 
Chief Lu Framboise at the corner of Jackson and Canal streets, and that of the butcher, 
Archibald Clybourne, in the extreme northwestern quarter of the town. In the southwest 
division was the courthouse, built in 1835, on the northeast corner of the public square, hav- 
ing a basement and principal story 30x60 feet, with a four-column Doric portico of wood. The 
City Hotel, a three-story building, 80x100 feet, built and owned by F. C. Sherman, stood on 
the northwest corner of Clark and Randolph, where is now the Sherman House. In this 
building the town council met; Peter Pruyn's two-story house stood north of Sherman's house, 
and fronted on Clark street. This was subsequently the Chicago postoffice. The Saloon build- 
ing, eighty feet square and four stories in hight, occupied the southeast corner of Lake and 
Clark streets. It was built without chimneys; but this omission was discovered after the 
roof was on and chimney stacks were built inside. The three-story house of the State 
Bank of Illinois occupied the southwest corner of Soiith Water and La Salle streets; Charles 
Chapman's three-story dwelling, the southwest corner of Fifth avenue and Randolph street, 
and the two-story dwelling of P. F. W. Peck, the southeast corner of La Salle and Wash- 
ington streets. The principal builders at that time were A. D. Taylor, Azel Peck, Alex. 
Loyd, Peter L. Updike, Charles Lowber, Asbel Steele, F. C. Sherman, Alson S. Sherman 
and William Worthingham, all of whom died prior to 1883 except Augustine D. Taylor 
and A. S. Sherman. The former djed in 1891, leaving only one of the pioneer builders 
among the citizens. 

In 1836 the large two-story brick building of the Clybournes was erected on Elston 
avenue, outside the city limits, with front to the south. F. C. Sherman manufactured the 
brick in the vicinity, and was the mason and contractor for this two-room house. A double 
colonnade marked the front. Four square columns with Tuscan capitals, corresponding with 
four pilasters, supported the roof of the lirst colonnade, and the same system was carried out 
in supporting the roof of the second colonnade. Above the roof was the observatory and in 
front and rear a brick parapet with coping. 

The Steele brick block completed that year on Lake street, the Harmon and Loomis bride 
block completed in 1837 on Water street, the church buildings, and a number of two and 
three-story frame houses, lent an appearance of importance to the village, which the fifty 
business houses, eight taverns, twenty-five shops, the steam sawmill, the brewery and the 
furnace failed to convey in 1835. 

The recollections of John M. Van Osdel, published in The Inland Architect, have, of 



THE BUILDIM; ixrKitK*rs. 85 

necessity, a direct bearing on the history of architecture in Chicago. In the fall of 1836 he 
became acquainted with William B. Ogden, then visiting New York City. This enterprising 
pioneer asked the architect to prepare plans for his proposed dwelling house in the town of 
Chicago, and to move thither to superintend its building. Both offers were accepted, and 
early in 1837 (June) Mr. Van Osdel arrived here. The sashes for the proposed house were 
made and glazed at New York, as were also the turned posts and balusters, carved woods, 
hand-rails for stairs, newels, and other necessary material, which; it was known, Chicago 
could not then supply. A quantity of hewn lumber was purchased at Chicago from A. D. 
Taylor, out of which the joists and scantlings were whipsawed for use in the house. On his 
arrival and while passing from the boat landing to Ogden's office on Kinzie street, he received 
new professional impressions nothing less than a block of three buildings on North Water 
street, at the foot of Cass street, three stories in bight, with the entire front lying prone upon 
the street, met his gaze. On making inquiry he learned that the frosts of the preceding win- 
ter had penetrated to a great depth below the foundations, and the buildings having a south 
front, the sun acted upon the frozen quicksand under the south half of the block, rendering 
it incapable of sustaining the weight of the building. At the same time the rear or northern 
part of the block, being in shadow, the frozen ground thawed gradually, and continued to 
support the weight resting upon it. This resulted in the careening of the block, the front 
settling fourteen inches more than the rear, making all the floors fourteen inches out of level 
from front to rear. This pressing outward the upper part of the front wall beyond its 
centre of gravity, caused it to fall, while it carried the rear wall inward twelve inches, as far 
as the partition walls would permit it to incline. Mr. Van Osdel's first work in Chicago was 
the adjustment of the floors in this block, in fact its rebuilding as a tenement house, convert- 
ing the former store rooms on the ground floor into dwelling rooms. 

The panic of 1837-8, resulting from speculation and swollen values during the preced- 
ing prosperous period, placed a quietus on building operations and drowned the hopes of the 
most sanguine citizens. The city charter was received, the spring sun shed its rays on a 
prosperous people; but the shadow of panic soon darkened the atmosphere, and a little later 
the reality of panic was experienced. The sales of the Canal Company's land fell from 
570,000 acres in 1835 to 1(5,000 in 1837, and the decadence spread to every industry and 
threatened every home. Values of all kinds fell prostrate to the basis of actual worth. 
For a period of fifteen months depression was strongly marked even the features of the cit- 
izens betrayed their fears for the future; but, fortunately, brighter times waited on those 
days of terror, and by the close of 1838 the reality as well as the shadow of the panic disap- 
peared, and house building was resumed. Indeed many of the citizens who fled in 1837 had 
their faith restored by the close of the following year, and, returning, took a full share in the 
revival of trade and industry and in the development of the young city. The building arts 
began to receive some attention also, and traders, as well as professional men, becoming dis- 
satisfied with their home surroundings, began to look forward to the time when the neat cot- 
tage or the great square house would take the place of the first humble homestead. 



86 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 



III. 



CLASSICAL ORDERS AND CARPENTERS' GOTHIC. 

\V*yi) /HILE it is true that a professional architect came here in 1837 and designed build- 

VS\/ ings, as well as superintended their construction, his usefulness was not fully 

recognized for some years after. Augustine D. Taylor and Pere St. Cyr designed 

the Catholic church, built in June, 1833, on or near the southwest corner of State and Lake 

streets, and Rev. J. Porter built the First Presbyterian church, completed in January, 

1834, on the southwest corner of Lake and Clark streets; but their designs were as simple 

as their labors were of an eleemosynary, rather than of a financial character. The Temple 

building, erected in 1833, was designed by Dr. Temple. 

In the winter of 1844 the leading builders asked Mr. Van Osdel to open an architect's 
office, and pledged themselves not to erect a structure without plans. On this pledge he 
opened an office on Clark street, between the City Hotel and Postoffice. During the ensu- 
ing year a block of four brick, four-story store buildings, 130 feet deep, was erected on the 
north side of Lake street, between Clark and Dearborn, from plans, for which the architect's 
fee was $100 a high sum, indeed, for that period in the life of Chicago, even in face of the 
fact that COO new buildings were erected within the year 1844. 

The first public school building was erected this year (1844), on the north side of Madi- 
son, east of Dearborn. It .was such a large and expensive structure, so out of all proportion 
to the ambition and hopes of the people, that in 184.") Mayor Garrett suggested its conversion 
into an insane asylum, and insinuated that those who urged an appropriation for the building 
should be the first inmates. 

The excavation of the Illinois and Michigan Canal exposed the valuable stone deposits 
between Lemont and Joliet, and even before the canal was opened for navigation, stone was 
hauled hither from the new quarries for building purposes; the brickmakers improved their 
methods, and furnished a fair building material; the sash and door factories and planing- 
mills multiplied, and even the iron cornice man came on the scene to aid in ornamenting 
buildings. In 1840 the clouds of panic scattered, and citizens of this western town were the 
first to take heart and begin the improvement of their surroundings. 

In the Chicago Morning Democrat of February '21, 1840, an editorial glances at progress 
in building, under the heading, "City Improvements." "As an indication of the certain im- 



THE Bl'lUHXG INTERESTS. 87 

provement of our city, another summer, we are authorized to state that ten brick stores of the 
largest size are now under contract, and will be commenced as soon as the ground settles. 
One of them is to be erected by Thomas Church, Esq., where his store now stands, connect- 
ing the Saloon and the Exchange buildings, thus making a continuous line of three-story 
brick stores through nearly the whole extent of the block fronting on Lake street." Of 
course the buildings of 1840-1, while much superior to their predecessors, were far removed 
from structures which an architect would countenance. They were simply intended for use, 
without regard to art. 

The first Unitarian church building was erected in 1840-1, on Washington street, east 
of Clark street, on a lot 80x180 feet, purchased for $500. A house was constructed by Alex. 
Loyd that year, at a cost of $3,758.45. At the time, the builder was pleased to call this 
style Doric, and for some years this gabled box, 42x60 feet, with pepper-box tower, sur- 
mounted by a spire, was considered pure Doric by the non- architectural portion of the com- 
munity. The steeple was not added until 1845, when the second church bell in Chicago was 
introduced therein. In May, 1862, fire destroyed this house. 

The Cathedral of St. Mary was erected by Peter Page and A. D. Taylor, in 1843. This 
brick building resting on a heavy batter-stone foundation, was 55x112 feet, with side walls 
thirty-four feet high. Six Doric columns supported the projection of the roof, which, in 
turn supported the steeple or clock tower and belfry, and formed a beautiful portico, while 
square columns or pilasters of the same order took the place of buttresses at the corners of 
the main building and between the windows along the sides. The pediment showed the 
cross radiating light. This house, the bishop's residence and the Sisters of Mercy convent 
were destroyed October 9, 1871. 

The Small-pox Hospital was erected on the lake shore at the foot of North avenue, in 
1843. It was burned in 1845, and a new hospital building erected on the same site. 

The Tabernacle Baptist church was erected in 1843, on a lot between Randolph and 
Washington streets on La Salle, where the Merchants National Bank of later days stands. 
This was 40x72 feet, cost $2,200, and was built on the same plan as the first Baptist church, 
except that the spire was forgotten, and six square Colonial pillars took the places of the six 
Doric columns in the first church, in forming the facade. It was destroyed by fire in 1851. 

Trinity English Protestant Episcopal church completed a building in 1844, on Madison 
street, west of Clark street. It was a small building with a little exterior ornamentation. 

The Bethel society erected a little cabin for worship, in 1844, at the corner of Kinzie 
and Franklin streets. In 1851 it was hauled to the corner of North Water and Wells 
streets, and again to the corner of Michigan and Wells streets. 

The first Baptist church building erected expressly for Baptist worship, was that of 
1S4 k on the site of the present Chamber of Commerce. It was built of brick, somewhat on 
the style of the Doric Cathedral of 1843, described previously, but was only 55x80 feet. Six 
pediment or roof -support ing columns formed the facade, and from the point of the roof above 
rose a symmetrical clock tower and spire, the hight from the ground being 112 feet. The 



88 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

total cost was only $4,500, cheap beyond comprehension for that day, for in the tower was a 
live-dial clock. Brick was costly, and if labor were low priced, it was slow and therefore 
expensive. During its construction, the great storm of November 4 blew out a side wall. 
The building was destroyed by fire October 20, 1852. 

The first Universalist's building, erected in 1844, near Clark street on Washington 
street, at a cost of $2,000, was a frame one, 30x45 feet, with four fluted pilasters and two 
Ionic columns in front, a pretentious flight of steps and pepper-box tower, springing from 
an acroterium above the front center of the low gable. It was a much neater building than 
that spread-eagle house of the Tabernacle Baptists, while of the same nondescript order. 
The foundation or basement, six feet in hight, was constructed of rock-faced Lemont stone. 

The Methodist Episcopal society, through Rev. W. M. D. Ryan, commenced the erec- 
tion of a large brick house on Clark and Washington in 1845, and completed it that year. 
The basement, eight feet in hight, was stone, and, through it, entrance was obtained to the 
auditorium. The brick walls, resting on the stone work, thirty feet high, supported a low 
gabled roof, and from the front center of this roof rose the belfry, clock tower and steeple 
105 feet or 148 feet from the ground. Between each window and forming each corner, the 
brick work showed a pilaster with Doric capital, and, all in all, the architecture of Messrs. 
Van Osdel, Sullivan and Ryan was creditable to the Methodist Church architecture of the 
period, and a model in the opinion of its designer and builders. 

The University of St. Mary's of the Lake, the first high educational institution of Chi- 
cago, was established in 1844, and on July 4, 1845, the college buildings were completed on 
the blocks bounded by State, Rush and Superior streets and Chicago avenue, at a cost of 
$12,000. It was a sightly building, its location was beautiful, and the landscape gardening 
was beyond compare with anything in the West of that period. In 1862 the erection of a 
great university building was begun on plans made by Architect G. P. Randal; but only one 
section was ever completed, and this small section cost $35,000. In 1868 the project was 
abandoned and the buildings given over to the uses of St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum. 

St. Xavier's Academy, established in 1846, is the oldest institution devoted to the higher 
education of young ladies in the city. The buildings on the northwest corner of Wabash 
avenue and Twenty-ninth (with grounds extending west to State street) may be said to sig- 
nalize the advance of the great South Division. Designed with care, and substantially con- 
structed in 1872-3, these buildings stand to-day a testimony to the architecture and higher 
taste of the period. The attic story, with its great dormers and stylish roof cannot be sur- 
passed. 

The pioneer building of Rush Medical College occupied the southwest corner of Dear- 
born and Indiana streets. In accordance with the design of J. M. Van Osdol. it was a Ro- 
manesque-Byzantine brick building, with stone facings, resembling, in some respects, the 
private mosque of a wealthy Mussulman, the low dome being peculiarly Turkish. The 
building was begun and completed in 1844, but within the following decade necessity urged 
its enlargement, and in 1X54-5 the sum of SI 5. 000 was expended thereon, the style remain- 
ing the same. 



THE WILDING TNTE RESTS. 89 

St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran society built their first house on Ohio and La 
Salle streets in 1840-7. It was as plain as the uncertain character of the organization would 
permit, and in 1848, when doctrinal points divided the society, the new United Evangelicals 
held the property and the primitive building. The original church purchased a lot on 
Indiana street, west of Wells, and erected thereon a frame house, 25x55 feet, with a spire 
as high as the building was long. 

The first theatre building, as distinguished from the old dance and music halls, was that 
erected by John B. Eice, on the site of the present Unity block, in 1846. It was a " wild and 
woolly" affair, within and without; no better, and only a little worse than the times and actors 
and audience. Subsequently it was transformed into an office building, and disappeared in the 
great fire. 

. St. Patrick's church, of 1840, was -erected on Desplaines street, between Randolph and 
Washington, by A. D. Taylor, at a cost of about $750. It was, of course, frame; but as 
the price represents only the material, the reader must not be surprised to learn that old St. 
Patrick's was a large building, and possessed many good architectural as well as decorative 
points. In 1854 the present building on Desplaines and Adams streets was begun. Had 
stone been used instead of brick, it would to-day be one of the great Norman Romanesque houses 
of the city. The two towers, the entrance, windows, aisles and transepts of the Romanesque 
style, are all found in this old parish church. It was built without a basement; but in 1871 
the house was raised, and a high stone basement constructed at a cost of $20,000. In 1873 a 
gallery was constructed, three new altars erected, and the interior frescoed; in 1875 the boys' 
schoolhouse was built, at a cost of $24,000, and in 1870 the girls' schoolhouse was completed, 
at a cost of about $25,000. 

St. Joseph's church (German) was built in 1846, at the northeast corner of Cass street 
and Chicago avenue, when a frame building, 30x05 feet, was erected, similar in style to old 
St. Peter's on Fifth avenue. During the first year of the war a new house was erected on 
the same site, which cost $60,000. In November, 1862, the gallery collapsed; but beyond 
this fault of the carpenter, the building was a substantial one, presented some excellent archi- 
tectural features, and in 1871 gave battle to the fire. Immediately after the fire St. Joseph's 
Catholic congregation had a temporary frame building erected on the site, at a cost of $0.000. 
In 1876 the great brick church building on Market and Hill streets was erected, at a cost of 
(40,000, and since the fire the neighborhood has been covered with large buildings devoted 
to educational and religious purposes. 

St. Peter's church (German), begun in March, 1846, on Washington and Fifth avenue, 
was a one-story frame house. 40x60 feet. Alx>ve it rose the conventional steeple and belfrv. 
and round it clustered the schoolhouses and rectory. The buildings were moved to the south- 
west corner of Clark and Polk streets, in 1853. 

In July, 1847, the Third Presbyterian society purchased the little house on Union street, 
between Washington and Randolph, and dedicated it to church purposes. In 1S5S their 
S.'iO.OOO Lemont stone building was erected, on the northwest comer of Carpenter and Wash- 



90 INDUSTRIAL C11K'.\<;<>. 

ington streets. The tower, steeple and spire of this house were symmetrical. In 1884 it was 
destroyed by fire, but restored in 1885, at a cost of $60,000. 

The Methodist Episcopal chapel fronting north on Indiana street, east of Clark, was 
built in 1847, at a cost of $1,300. It was, of course, a frame building, 35x45 feet, with low 
roof, a furnace in summer and a refrigerator in winter. For a decade the pioneer Methodists 
of this section burned up or shivered down in season, and ultimately lost building and ground, 
the humane mortgage holder being unwilling to behold such physical suffering. 

St. Louis church (French) was commenced in 1848 on the east side of Clark street, between 
Adams and Jackson, where the Federal building now stands. It was a one-story frame build- 
ing, 25x75 feet. Of the total cost, $3,000, P. F. Rofinot subscribed $2,000. Within a few 
years the interior of this building became a picture; Frenchmen decorated it, and citizens and 
visitors alike had, at last, found a place in the prairie country where they could feast their eyes 
on true decorative art and true taste. Through the asperity of Bishop O'Regan, this build- 
ing was moved to the corner of Polk and Sherman streets in May, 1858, where the tire of 
1871 found it and left it in ruins. 

The first Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran building was raised up in August, 1848, out 
of the ruin of a storm-tossed semi-finished building, which stood on Superior street west of 
La Salle; as reconstructed it was a primitive Norwegian house, 50x60 feet, and built like a 
thermometer to show changes of temperature. 

The Market building, designed by J. M. Van Osdel, was erected in 1848, at a cost of 
about $11,000. It fronted forty feet on Randolph and extended north, from the center of 
State street, 180 feet. It was a brick two-story building, with stone facings, and though 
built for market, library and council uses, showed a few fair architectural points, and robbed 
the older Saloon building of its glories. On the ground floor were thirty-two market stalls, 
and on the second floor a chamber, 20x40 feet, for library purposes; one of similar dimen- 
sions at the south end, for city official purposes, and in the center two great halls, 40x70 feet, 
connected by folding doors, for council meetings and theatrical purj>oses. 

The first church house of the Holy Name parish was completed in 1849, a temporary 
structure for use until the English-speaking congregation could build a largo house on the 
North Side. 

The first synagogue building was that erected in 1849 on Clark street, south of Adams 
street. It was the first symbol of Judiasm here, and as meek and humble as its commercial 
beginning. It is believed that this primitive cabin stood on Capt. Bigelow's lots, and as the 
Captain would lease but not sell then, the conservative Hebrews moved to the northeast 
corner of Adams and Fifth avenue, in 1855, where a lot was acquired. The building on the 
new site was little superior to the old house and Gentiles were pleased to learn that the con- 
gregation was growing, since this growth would necessitate the removal of the cabin. 

The Methodist Protestant church erected a building on the northwest corner of Wash- 
ington and Desplaiiifs streets, in 184U! It was very small, and disjwsed to follow every 
wind, but it held its place long after the builders disbanded their organization. 




NOKMAN-KOMANESQUE-BTZANTINE STTLE. 



6PKK/I flOUJSE, ]S65. 

ITALIAN ORNAMENT. MANSARD ROOF. BYZANTINE DOME. 



LIBRARY 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



TUB ' BUILDING INTERESTS. 91 

The first building of the Reformed Presbyterians was that at the corner of Clinton and 
Fulton streets, completed in December, 1849, at a cost of $1,600. It was a 36x60-foot 
frame building and dubbed Gothic by the exuberant newspaper men of that day. Ten years 
later it was destroyed by fire. 

The Second Presbyterian society built their bituminous limestone meetinghouse in 
1S49-50, on Wabash and Washington streets, 73x130 feet, fronting on Dearborn Park and 
the streets named. The walls were fifty feet high and the main spire or tower 164 feet. 
This building, as designed by J. Renwick, Jr., of New York City, and built by George W. 
Snow and A. Carter, cost $30,000. J. M. Van Osdel had charge of its construction, and so 
thorough was his work, that the building showed no sign of age in 1871, before the fire swept 
over it. Owing to the varied color of the stone, the building was known as "the Holy Zebra." 

The Mercy Hospital building, on Calumet avenue and Twenty-sixth street, dates back 
to 1848-9. It is a three-story, basement and attic structure, with gabled roof and orna- 
mental stacks. It is one of the largest of the older buildings in the south division, and in 
sanitary arrangement and equipment equal in every respect to the most modern of hospital 
buildings. 

"Miltimore's folly" schoolhouse, afterward known as the Dearborn school, was erected 
in 1844, on the site of the old Inter- Ocean building, opposite McVicker's theatre. This was 
the largest schoolhouse in the whole West, cost $7,523.42 and drew down upon Alderman 
Miltimore, J. Y. Scammon, Alderman Goodhue, et al., who were foremost in urging its 
erection, the wrath of the tax-payers. The idea of selling this large house was seriously 
entertained, as the proceeds of such sale could be appropriated toward building several small 
schoolhouses, but the idea was not put in practice. 

The year 1844 brought the Jones school into existence near the corner of Clark and Harri- 
son; the year 1845 the Kinzie school, near La Salle street on Ohio street, 45x70 feet, cost 
$4,000; the year 1847, the Scammon school, near Halsted street on Madison, cost $6,795; 
the year 1851, the Franklin school on Division and Sedgwick streets, cost $4,000; the same 
year, the Washington (later, the Sangamon), on Indiana and Saugamon streets, cost $4,000; 
the year 1&53-4, the Brown school on Warren avenue, between Page and Wood streets; 
(lie same year, the Mosely school near the American Car Company's shops; the year 1854-5, 
the Foster school building, and in 1855-6 the Ogden school. The question of estab- 
lishing a high school, on West Monroe street, was considered in 1855, and the building of 
a house for high-school purposes recommended. The trustees ventured to lend the enchant- 
ment of architectural design to the buildings, but they ventured beyond their depth, and the 
common sense of the contractors relieved them by giving to the people common-sense build- 
ings in accord with, if not superior to the surrounding houses. The Scammon school building, 
erected in 1847, on West Madison street near Halsted street, had its caps, sills and water- 
table cut at Joliet, and transported by wagon to Chicago. 

The churches of the period, with the few exceptions noted, were primitive affairs, many of 
them the initial attempts of religious denominations in the West. Much could not be expected 



92 ISNJBTStAL CHIC AW): 

from religious Chicago of that day, yet, when the conditions of life in the old city are con- 
sidered, the thinking man must confess that much was given. 

There were no buildings constructed purposely for the storage of grain prior to 1848; 
but several frame warehouses on each side of the river were devoted to such storage. In 
1842-3 machinery was placed in six or seven of those buildings for elevating and distribut- 
ing grain, one horse, walking on an endless revolving platform, being sufficient to ran each 
machine. The grain was received from farm wagons driven close to the building, as is now 
the case in many sections of the West, where the bags were emptied into a receiving hopper, 
whence it was passed to the weighing hopper, and thence to the elevator buckets. It was 
necessary to form a pit several feet below ground to allow the grain to descend to the 
elevator. Such pits were circular, water-tight tubs from seven to nine feet in diameter and 
from seven to eight feet in depth. In 1843 Newberry & Dole erected a large grain ware- 
house on the northwest corner of Clark and South Water streets, where the horse and end- 
less platform were used for power. George Steele built the first frame elevator on the north- 
west corner of Wells and South Water streets in 1848 and introduced steam machinery. E. 
H. Haddock and M. O. Walker built one on the southwest corner of River and Dock street, 
in 1849. 

Prior to 1849 a few architects and dnvughtsmen settled here, for in the city directory 
of that year the following names are given: A. Carter. 75 Clark; John N. Turphen, Washing- 
ton street; Mr. Clock, draughtsman, 153 Dearborn; William Clogher, draughtsman. 113 
Wells; W. S. Denton, architect, 117 Franklin; L. J. Germain, B. F. Hays, architect, Monroe 
and Desplaines; John Van Horn, Desplaines; Francis Murphy, St. Mary's college; Charles 
Penny, draughtsman, 101 Lake. J. M. Van Osdel. of course, was here then as now, and to 
him the new comers looked for such information and professional aid as strangers in a new 
western town require to have. Such information and aid were freely given, and the recipients 
became part and parcel of a progressive community. 

During the year 1849 a large number of commercial and religious houses were designed 
and the work of construction entered upon in many cases; but not until 1850 did the dreams 
of the architects take definite shape. The old Tremont house (completed in 1 850 at a cost of 
$75,000, for Ira Couch, from plans by J. M. Van Osdel), was one of the wonders of (lie period. 
This five-and-a half-story brick building showed a frontage of IfiO feet on Lake and ISO feet 
on Dearborn. C. & W. Price were the masons and Updike & Sollett the builders. The new 
house was looked upon as the finest hotel building in the Union, and, a few years later. 
when it was proposed to lift it bodily upward to the new grade, the oppositionists quoted the 
expense of moving or tearing down such a building as enough to warrant the defeat of the 
measure. The streets were graded and the structure raised as related in other pages. The 
attempts at ornamentation were all that the brick of that time would permit; but the com- 
pleted building, great amid its surroundings, could not compare with any one of the build- 
ings in that section of the present city. It was furnished witli cutstone from Lockport, N. 
Y., and to it the sanitary arrangements of old Chicago were tirst applied, the sewage being 



THE in'TLDlNG TNTSlOaSPS. 93 

conducted by a plank drain to the Anson Sweet main sewer. The following buildings had no 
notable architectural features; they were simply square or large rectangular structures, built 
solely for utility, with the windows, cornices or gables sometimes dressed with molding or 
other ornament: 

The T. Wadsworth four-story semi -fireproof block, eighty feet on South Water and 133 
feet on Franklin, cost $16,(HX). J. M. Van Osdel was the architect; Peter Page, mason, and 
Updike & Sollett, builders. The McCord, Peacock & Thatcher and S. B. Cobb four-story 
brick block on Lake street, between Wells and Franklin streets, 00x105 feet, cost $9,000. 
McDearmon, Loyd, Dunlap, Campbell and Butler were the builders. The George Smith four- 
story brick block, eighty feet on Lake and eighty feet on Wells (Fifth avenue), was designed 
by J. M. Van Osdel, and built by Charles O'Connor, and Campbell & Butler, at a cost of 
$1(5,000. It was the finest mercantile block erected here up to the beginning of 1851. The 
I. & J. Dike $9,000 four-story brick block on West Water street, between Washington and 
Madison, was designed by Van Osdel, and built by A. H. Heald. A. Gale's four-story brick 
addition, 40x60 feet, to his building on Randolph, between Wells and Franklin, cost $5,000. 
The J. B. Rice theatre on Dearborn, between Randolph and Washington, 80x100 feet, cost 
$11,000. The roof and cornices were formed of galvanized iron. Architect and builders 
were the same as employed in the erection of the Tremont house. The Freer, Dyer, Van 
Osdel & Carlos Haven four-story brick block, on State and Randolph, cost $10,000. J. M. 
Van Osdel designed, and Malcom, Page & Robinson erected this house. The Andrews & 
Myrick three-story brick stable on Randolph street, between State and Dearborn, cost 15,000. 
S. P. Warren's four-story brick block on Randolph, between Clark and Dearborn, 50x60 
feet, cost $7,000. It was designed by Van Osdel; C. & W. Price were the masons, and 
Boggs & Smith the builders. Peter Shuttler's wagon factory on Franklin, between Randolph 
and Washington streets, was a four-story brick, 40x60 feet, erected at a cost of $5,500. Dr. 
Braimird's three-story brick on Clark, between Lake and Randolph, 20x62 feet, cost $4,000. 
Joseph Berg's three-story brick on La Salle, between Lake and Randolph, cost $2,000. W. 
Hilderbrand's four-story brick store on Lake street, between Franklin and Market, was designed 
by E. Burling, and built by A. C. Wood for $3,800. The Sylvester Marsh three-story brick 
packing-house, on the corner of North Water and Wolcott streets, cost $3.000. The first 
stone building was the Armstrong, three-story warehouse on West Water street, between 
Washington and Madison streets, built by A. S. Sherman, mason, for $3,000, as a shipping 
]ious(>. In 1850 Horace Norton and Joel C. Walter erected a stone building, 40x80 feet, three 
stories high, on the northeast corner of Dock and River streets. Slips were cut in the base- 
ments of the two last named buildings, to admit canal boats from the river. The large eleva- 
tors of Flint & Wheeler, Munger & Armour, Gibbs, Griffin & Co., all frame; the Galena, 
brick; the Illinois Central elevators of 1855-6. brick, and the Northwestern, on the river 
at Indiana street, in 1857, constructed of 2x6 inch scantling, laid in horizontal courses, and 
nailed after the idea of Alex. Miller, were all erected. This latter idea was found very prac- 
tical ami came into general use. 



94 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

The Bull's Head at the old stockyards, stood at the corner of West Madison street and Og- 
den avenue, from 1851 to its demolition. It was built for Matthew Laftiii, Geo. H. Lattin, Allen 
Loomis and William R. Loomis, by Henry McAuley, a celebrated carpenter and builder of that 
day. Matthew Laflin was his own architect, and managed to have this three-story, box-like 
frame structure, erected at a cost of $(>,000. Apart from the little stockyards adjoining, and 
the farmhouse, near Harrison and Laflin streets, there were no buildings on the prairie. 
West of Philo Carpenter's house there were only a few cabins; yet this prairie land cost the 
Lariius $210 per acre, in 1849, the total, $21,000, for 100 acres to be paid within twenty 
years. 

The stockyard buildings were crude, indeed, being a collection of a few sheds, a large 
barn, and a number of pens. With the exception of Jackson's pens, on State street, near 
Twelfth street, the yards extending from Madison street to Union park, formed the central 
cuttle and meat market, and continued to hold that position until 1858, when they were moved 
to a point below Carville, now known as Cottage Grove avenue and Twenty-ninth street. 

Grace Church Protestant Episcopal society erected a house on the site of the present 
Inter-Ocean Biiilding, in 1851, which was moved to the corner of Wabash avenue and Peck 
court in 1856, where it was enlarged and remodeled. After using this remodeled building 
eleven years the ground and building were sold. 

George Steel's warehouse, on the north branch of the river, between Wells and Franklin 
streets, and G. S. Hubbard's warehouse, on the north branch, above the old Galena depot, 
were evidences of advancement toward permanent warehouse buildings. 

The large brick building on Wabash, known as the Catholic Orphan asylum, was 
designed by J. M. Van Osdel and built by Augustine D. Taylor, with Peter Page, as mason. 
Joseph Matteson erected a five-story brick building, eighty feet on Randolph and ninety 
feet on Doarborn, designed by J. B. Van Osdel, for hotel purposes. Each front was sur- 
mounted by a galvanized iron pediment and cornice, while the roof was also of this iron. 
Robert Malcom was the mason and Shepherd & Johnson builders. 

A synagogue was erected at the corner of Clark and Adams streets, at an outlay of 
S'J.OOO. The Scandinavian meetinghouse on the west side was designed by T. Knudson, and 
completed in 1850 Jenny Lind donated the funds to finish the building. St. James' Church, 
on the north side, was remodeled in 1850, after plans by T. Knudson, at a cost of $4.00(1. 
Rev. S. P. Skinnor had a brick dwelling erected on Wabash avenue, at a cost of $'2,500; S. 
Lind, a brick dwelling on West Washington street, at a cost of f4,(X)0; L. P. Hilliard one on 
Wabash avenue, same cost; George Grubb, a similar building on this avenue; Nelson Tuttle, one 
on Michigan avenue, which cost 3,500; B. W. Raymond, one on Wabash between Adams 
;md Monroe, and T. B. Carter, one between Adams and Jackson, each costing about 4.000. 
H. Magie and W. Newberry had cheap brick dwelling houses erected on the north side, from 
plans by H. Burling. 

Building enterprise was not confined to the individuals or associations named, for every- 
where frame buildings or small brick structures were "going up," until Chicago was known 



TUB BUIIJtlNO INTERESTS. 95 

a.s the city to which a young western town wfts added every day. Generally the architecture 
was simple, often rude, and without noteworthy features, except perhaps the moldings. 

The Courthouse and City hall, built in the center of the public square in 1851-3, after 
plans by J. M. Van Osdell, had the stone for the entire exterior walls brought from Lockport. 
N. Y. At this time quarries at Athens or Lemont, twenty-six miles distant, had been opened; 
but were not sufficiently developed to furnish all the stone required for such a large building. 
The corner stone was placed in September, 1851. and the building was completed in 1853 at 
a cost of $1 1 1,000. This Romanesque-Byzantine structure was three stories and basement in 
hight, with north and south projections from the central square, 50x60 feet, and east and 
west projections 32x00 feet, thus giving a length east and west of 104 feet, and a breadth 
north and south of 130 feet. Tuscan pilasters extended from the band to the first cornice, 
while piers marked the attic or third story, and carried inodillions bearing the entablature. 
A pediment capped each of the four projections, and above all was a well-proportioned 
cupola, the exterior gallery of which was supported by fluted columns. Two low domes 
marked the east and west fronts; while the entrance on each of the same fronts showed a 
stilted arched doorway extending from the level of the first floor to the spandrel below the 
third Hoor. Wyat and single-arched windows in the attic story and Venetian windows in the 
recesses, iis the projections or corners of the interior square may be called, contributed to archi- 
tectural detail. In 1857 a story was added to the east half of the building; in 1870-71 
further additions were made, and the City hall was completed, the style of the original 
building being observed, except in the entrances and pediments- heavy porticoes and Vene- 
tian parapets being substituted. This was one of the best specimens of architecture in the 
city at that time. 

The brick buildings erected prior to 1851 were only remarkable for their severe plain- 
ness. There were but few capitalists, and the cheapest building was the one searched for by 
owners. Again the nearest developed quarry was forty miles away, at Joliet, which was not 
placed in- communication with Chicago, by water, until 1848. The courthouse opened anew 
era in the building life of the city. 

The North Presbyterian church house on Clark and Michigan streets was a frame build- 
ing in Gothic form with a nondescript tower or steeple. It cost $2,000, and was used until 
1852, when the society erected a larger house of the same pattern, at a cost of $3,000, on 
the southwest corner of State and Illinois streets. 

The Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Episcopal church built in 1852, on Desplaines street 
north of Randolph street, was the regulation little frame shanty of the period, 30x40 feet, 
and cost almost 800. 

The Waterworks erected in 1852-3, presented architectural forms in the rough. The 
early Nonnan-Gothic style was observed. There were the gabled roof, the arched window and 
door openings, the central tower and the louver boards. The main brick building was 40x50 
feet, with north and south wings. 3<Ux4(>i feet each. The square tower was carried upward, 
in three diminishing stories, 136 feet, from a 14-foot square base to an 1 1-foot square copiir*. 



96 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Half of this tower was devoted to the stand' pipe and half to the smoke stack; so that 
Engineer McAlpiue gave a building to the city at once useful and ornamentiil. 

In August. 1853, the corner stone of the brick church building of the Holy Name congiv 
gation was placed. As completed in the fall of 1834 a fine Gothic structure, 84xl ( JO feet in 
area, composed of Milwaukee brick, with heavy stone facings, a tower and steeple 245 feet in 
height, heavy stained-glass windows and elaborate interior decorations, was presented- the 
congregation paying therefor, $100,000. The irascibility of Bishop O'Regan made itself 
felt during the erection of that beautiful structure as it did in the case of the removal of 
the St. Louis building. The tire of 1871 destroyed this monument to the highest architect- 
ural work of the Chicago of that day, together with the great educational buildings which 
clustered round it. 

The English Protestant Episcopal church of St. Ansgarius, of the Swedes and Norwe- 
gians, built a Scandinavian frame structure (35x50 feet), in 1851, at the corner of Franklin 
and Indiana streets. The communion set, presented by Jenny Lind, was the only thing of 
art connected with this building. In 1858 the two divisions contended for possession of this set; 
in 1859 it became a free church, and in 1864 the Swedes became owners of the only Swedish 
Protestant Episcopal house in the United States. This building was burned in 1871. 

The Maxwell Street German Methodist Episcopal society purchased a small, rough-look- 
ing structure in 1852 on Washington and Jefferson streets, which they moved in 1853 or 
1854 to Harrison and Aberdeen streets. The total cost of removal and repairs was $200. so 
that the price, taken as an index, indicates the ideas of art which then obtained. In 1SU4 
the building was sold and a frame house, 45x05 feet, resting on a brick basement, was erected 
at a cost of $7,000. The so-called tower of this structure was a low. unsightly affair, some- 
thing like what the soldiers, then in the field, would raise for amusement. 

The Van Buren Street German Methodist Episcopal society purchased two lots on Gris- 
wold and Van Buren streets in 1852 for $1,400, on which they erected a barbarous little 
shanty for worship. Two years later it was removed and the building of a large frame house 
on stone basement with tower and steeple was almost completed, when the Chicago & Kock 
Island Railroad Company offered $15,000 for the property. This was a wind-fall indeed, but 
the shrewd Germans did not put all the little dollars in their pockets, for two fifty-foot lots on 
Van Buren and Fourth avenue were purchased, and thither their new building was moved. 
It was swept away in 1871. 

St. Michael's Church (German) was built on the northwest corner of North avenue and 
Church street in the summer of 1852 at. a cost of $750, exclusive of the belfry and bell. It 
was a plain frame structure, but beautiful in its interior decoration. When in 1870 the groat 
brick church building was completed on the southeast corner of Hurlbut and Eugene streets, 
the old house was moved close by. where the fire of 1871 found it. The building destroyed 
was NOx2(MI feet, with heavy tower surmounted by a pointed roof rather than a steeple. It 
cost S200,00<). and so thoroughly were the walls constructed that when the fire of 1871 rose 
within and round them, they stood the severe test and were ready to receive the roof and stee- 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 97 

pie so soon as cooled. Since that time over 1 150,000 have been judiciously expended on 
buildings and decorations connected with this church, rendering it one of the wonders of Chi- 
cago, and in many respects the peer of many of the more modest of foreign religious struct- 
ures. 

The Rock Island and Michigan Southern Railroad depot, of days before the fire, was the 
original of the building erected on Van Buren street after the fire. The same rock-faced Illi- 
nois stone, in rectangular blocks, the heavy quoin stones for the eleven corners of the three 
front and two rear pavilions, the shapely pavilion roofs with Wyat dormer windows, the pre- 
tentious entrance with annulated shafts, the archivolts of windows carried out in quoin stone, 
and. the shed extending south from the main building, merited preservation rather than 
destruction. It was begun in 1854 and destroyed by fire in 1871. 

The Illinois Central depot, designed by Otto Matz, was a larger and finer building than 
the Van Buren street depot of that day, but the fire of October 0, 1871, lapped it up, and the 
directors were satisfied with its ruins for depot purposes up to 1891. They made the punish- 
ment fit the crime, for in their determination to save the dollars art was ignored by them, as 
the ruin of twenty years' standing explains. 

Quinn Chapel Methodist Episcopal society built a house in 1853, on Jackson street and 
Fourth avenue, at a cost of 5,000. Old settlers remember that house, the troubles with the 
lot and subsequently with the building, organ and congregation. How $5,000 could be 
expended on such a structure interested the inquirer more than the house itself. 

The First Baptist society having lost their old house, a new building took its place 
before the close of 1853 at a cost of about $30,(H)0. Who the architect was is not known to 
the writer, but it is not material, for he gave to the society a building (rectangular and flat- 
roofed) with a spire set upon the front center of the roof, which a boy might design and any 
sot of common laborers construct. At that time a few trees and shrubs grew in front and 
rear of the new building; while on the other side of La Salle street a line of healthy maples 
offered shade and ornament 

In 1850 the trustees of the Tabernacle (Baptist) desired to establish their house on the 
West Side, and on June 26, 1851, fire destroy eil the first Tabernacle, thus saving the cost of 
moving and affording means for the erection of a better building. A site was selected on the 
east side of Desplaines, between Washington and Madison streets, and there a Gothic st ruct 
ure. 44x72 feet, surmounted by a short quadrangular tower, was completed in February. 
1853, at a cost of 5,N40. In 1SU4 the Second Baptist church took in the Tabernacle and 
became the owners of the First Baptist building on La Salle and Washington. This they 
moved to the southwest corner of Monroe and Morgan streets. During the pastorate of Dr. 
E. J. Goodspeed many improvements were effected in the building and equipment. 

The Owen Street Methodist Episcopal society erected a low frame house. 25x35 feet, on 
the corner of Sangamon and Owen streets (changed to Indiana street in ISfiO). in 1N52 and 
moved to Ada street in 1865. where it was taken down to make way for a building of some 
pretensions, and sold to the Norwegian Methodist Episcopal society. 



!)8 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The Zoar Baptist church was built about 1853 at the corner of Fourth avenue and Tay- 
lor. Its style of architecture was not equal to the regulation southern negro church of a 
rural district. There was no trouble in moving it to the corner of Harrison and Griswold 
streets, where, in 1865, it was surrendered to profane uses. 

The original church building, known as St. Francis d'Assisium was erected in 1853, at 
the corner of Clinton and Mather streets at a cost of $2,000. It was a substantial frame 
structure, showing some ornamentation, and was used until 1867, when it was donated to St. 
Paul's congregation. 

The old Masonic Temple, 83 and 85 Dearborn street, was commenced May ]8, 1854, and 
dedicated June 24, 1856. This was a four-story-and-basement building with pretentious 
Norman entrance carried from level of sidewalk to the first band and with well arranged 
interior. Two single windows, eacli side of a central double window, marked each story 
alwve. Each window was separated from the other by pilasters with Tuscan capitals at the 
second band, Corinthian capitals at the third band and Roman-Doric capitals above. 

Odd Fellows Hall, 98 and 100 Randolph street, was begun in 1852, and dedicated Feb- 
ruary 22, 1853. It was a plain building, erected for use rather than ornament. 

Myrick's castle, built in 1854, at a point 100 feet north and east of the intersection of 
Thirtieth street and Vernon avenue, was the first brick dwelling house erected in that neigh- 
borhood or within a mile of its site. Hollis Newton's two-story frame tavern (known a.s 
the Empire house) on the lake shore, near the foot of Twenty-ninth street, was then a land- 
mark, as it had been for years before, and in 1837 that building, with all the land between 
Twenty -sixth and Thirty-first streets and the lake and South Park avenue was purchased 
from him for $500 by Willard F. Myrick. The nearest dwelling, even in 1839, was Henry B. 
Clark's cabin on Michigan avenue, between Sixteenth and Eighteenth streets. This and one 
other cabin, south of Van Buren street, west of Vernon avenue with a few cabins then stand- 
ing at Bridgeport showed life on the prairie. So bleak was the place that it was selected 
for the hanging of John Stone, the first murderer sentenced to death in Cook county at a spot 
on Soiith Park avenue just north of Thirtieth street. After the erection of Myrick's castle, 
Lauren and Henry Groves opened a tavern and stock pens, and up to 1861, when the bar 
racks were erected on Grove's land, there were no buildings between Thirtieth street and the 
tavern. John Smith's Ten Mile house was far away south on Vincennes road. About INK' 
the old Empire house was moved from the lake shore to Cottage Grove avenue and Twenty- 
eighth street, where part of the building was standing in 1886. In 1844 Myrick established 
a race track between Twenty-sixth and Thirty-first streets and Vincennes and Indiana avenues, 
which brought him trade, while the accretionary action of the lake added fifteen acres to the 
property between 1837 and 1851. 

The Plymouth Congregational church, completed in January. 1S53, on the southwest 
corner of Madison and Dearborn streets, was a similar structure to that raised by the Swedes 
and Norwegians on North Franklin street; but owing to its comfortable interior, cost 2.500, 
or three times as much as the little church building just referred to. 



THE BUILDING /.\ //;/,' /-:s7 T S. 99 

The South Congregational society, of Carville, (Twenty-sixth street aiid lake shore) in 
1858-4 erected a frame building on the northeast corner of Twenty-sixth street and Calumet 
avenue, at a cost of $2,500, exclusive of the lot. It was 36x60 in area, well finished interiorily, 
with an exterior lavish in plainness. 

The New England Congregational society erected a frame house, 40x55 feet, at the cor- 
ner of Indiana and North State streets in 18534. It was similar in style to the three 
older buildings of this denomination, and won from the building wits of that day the title 
" Congregational style." 

The First Swedish Baptist church purchased a little schoolhouse at the corner of La 
Salle and Erie streets in 1854, and worshiped in that cabin until 1858, when they moved it 
to Bremer street, where it was burned in 1861. In 1864 the organization destroyed itself and 
its architecture. 

The first Swedish Methodist Episcopal building was that on Illinois near North Market, 
erected in 1854. It cost about $300 and was one of the pieces of architecture which the great 
fire went out of its way to destroy. 

St. Paul's Evangelical United church building of 1846-7 is referred to in the sketch of 
St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran buildings on the southwest corner of La Salle and Ohio 
streets. In 1854 an architect named August Baver was called upon to plan a new brick 
house, and August Wallbann to build according to such plans. It was completed early in 
1855, in accordance with the "highest ideas of art" held by the immigrants, substantiality 
being the main object; but it may be said that it was infinitely superior as a worship house 
to any which the pioneers of Connecticut or Massachusetts erected within 150 years of their 
immigration. The fire of 1871 destroyed that building, but it was at once duplicated, the 
new house being completed February 16, 1873. 

In 1848-9 the Second Presbyterian society's brick house, which occupied the south- 
east corner of Wabash avenue and Washington street, was constructed at a cost of 128,000, 
after designs of Renwick of New York, by Asa Carter, constructional architect. In 1855 the 
lot and building were sold, and a Norman structure, south of Van Buren street on Wabash 
avenue, was erected. The exterior was Lemont stone, then called "Athens marble," the 
front showed some excellent sawing in stone, and the interior, 63x97x50 feet, some fairly good 
decorative work in wood and plaster. The building was opened in October, 1857, though not 
completed until 1868, at a cost of $115,000 exclusive of the $16,000 paid for the ground, and 
stood until October, 1871. The two towers were tastefully built and fully in accord with 
the ideas of Chicago architects in 1868. 

The First Congregational church was constructed in 1852 on Washington street near 
Union street. It was burned in June, 1853, and architecture did not mourn the loss. A sec- 
ond house, much cheaper than the first, was built on Green street near Washington, and in 
1 Vit ,"> a large stone-and-brick building was erected on the corner, north of the little frame 
house, at a cost of $40,000. 

In 1856 the First Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran house on Superior street was sold to 



100 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

the Swedish Lutheran society for $'2,000. With this large sum of ready cash they erected a 
brick house on Franklin and Erie streets at a cost of $18,000. It was warmer in winter than 
their former building, and was used for worship up to a few hours before the fire of 1871 
embraced it. 

The Union Park Baptist chapel of 1855 stood on Lake street between Sheldon street and 
Bryan place. It was a little frame building with the characteristics of the Zoar society's 
building. Just before the war this box-like structure was moved to the northeast corner of 
Lake and Sheldon streets, and subsequently to the corner of Superior and Noble streets. In 
1874 this society was consolidated with the Ashland avenue society under the title, Fourth 
Baptist church. Their house of worship on Paulina and Washington streets was erected 
during the war. 

The Berean Baptist house, built in 1857, stood on Jackson street between Desplaines and 
Halsted until 1858, when the cadaverous frame structure was moved to a point on Do Koven 
street west of Desplainos. 

The years 18536 were golden days of enterprise. The houses of 1850 were improved, 
and a better class of business and residence structures appeared. In 1855-0 the adoption of 
a grade for the city and the great system of public works then inaugurated necessitated 
changes in the old system of building, and in several cases old buildings were removed to give 
place to new ones. 

The project of building a home for the University of Chicago took shape in 1850. This 
building stood on ten acres of ground (donated by Stephen A. Douglas in 1855), bounded by 
Cottage Grove and Rhodes avenues and College and University places. The work of con- 
struction was begun July 4, 1857, and the house was completed in 1805. The plans were 
made by Boyington & Wheelock. Rock-faced Lernont stone was the material used, and 
within two years a marvelous pile of masonry rose above the prairie, looking oni upon the 
lake. The location loaned a beauty to that eccentric castellated collection of rock, and for a 
little while chance gave the college prosperity; but returning shadows grew thicker and in 
1889-90 the grounds and buildings passed out of the hands of the trustees. In the latter 
year the building itself was taken down and the material sold. 

The First Desplaines Street Methodist Episcopal church was the building on Polk 
and Clinton streets, erected in 1851, and moved in 1854 to the southeast corner of Harrison 
and Foster streets. In 1857 the primitive building and the two lots were sold for $3,5<HI. 
and in turn the building was sold for $150. In July of that year their new frame house. 
45x70 feet, at 241 and 243 South Desplahu's street, was completed at a cost of $5,200, the 
spire or steeple being its only architectural feature. In 1805 the building was moved to Max 
well street and sold to the Evangelical Lutherans. 

The Westminster Presbyterian Church Association erected a sniiill frame structure on 
their ground, Dearborn and Ontario streets, in 1857, where the stone foundations of their 
proposed house already stood. Before the war this frame house was converted into a parson- 
age, and a larger frame house was erected on the corner of the lot. 



THE BUILDING INTEHKST*. 101 

The old Taylor Street Sunday-school house, between Third avenue and Fourth avenue, 
then Buffalo street, was the first home of the Olivet Presbyterian church, in 1856. In tht> 
fall of that year this society purchased the Uiiiversalist chapel on Washington street for 
(2,750, and moved it to Wabash avenue, 100 feet north of Twelfth street, \vhere it had an 
east front. At the close of the war a two-story brick house was erected on the corner of 
Wabash and Fourteenth street at a cost of $85,000, the same which was sold in later years 
to the Wabash Avenue Methodist Episcopal Association. The old Universalist building was 
sold on the completion of that brick house, and removed to Wabash avenue and Sixteenth 
street, where it was converted into a business house. 

In 1855 the first German Emanuel church of the Evangelical Association was erected on 
Polk street and Third avenue. After its destruction in the fire of July 14, 1874, the society 
purchased a site on Dearborn and Thirty-fifth streets, to which an old frame structure was 
moved. 

In 1856-7 the Dorman building (ninety-one feet on the river and Market street, and 
eighty feet on Randolph street) was erected. It was scarcely touched by the fire of 1871. 

In 18567 the old Baltic or Colby hotel, at the southwest corner of Dearborn arid Ran 
dolph, gave place to Howgate's Metropolitan hotel. The owner, Howgate, was an employe 
of Isaac Speer, the jeweler, at 77 Lake street. His stealings from Speer were extensive, so 
much so, that the proceeds of his thefts were sufficient to build the Metropolitan house. 
When that building was approaching completion Howgate's thievery was unearthed and the 
criminal arrested; but the prosecution was hushed when the thief transferred his title and 
interests in the building to the employer he had been robbing for years. 

St John's church (English Protestant Episcopal) erected a little frame building, 
:!0x65 feet, in 1856, and in 1857 it was enlarged and a parsonage erected. The building of 
1856 was so severely primitive that the improvements effected the year after and in later 
years, made little impression on its plainness. 

In 1856 the Edina Place Baptists changed their name to the Third Baptist church, and 
erected a building for worship at the corner of Edina Place (Third avenue and Harrison 
street). The building was painfully plain, even for Third avenue of that period, and the 
people in the vicinity were pleased to see the house moved to the northwest corner of Wabash 
avenue and Eighteenth street. The members were equally well pleased, for with change of 
location they changed the name to Wabash Avenue Baptist church. 

In 1856-7 a Gothic building, on the southwest corner of Wabash avenue and Van 
Buren streets, was erected for the First Universalist society, after plans by W. W. Boyington. 
It fronted 70 feet on Wabash and extended back 108 feet; the tower and spire rose from the 
center of the front to a height of 175 feet; two Hanking or corner towers, capped by min- 
arets, also marked the front, and in each of them, as well as in the main tower, was a gate 1 
way or door. The rock-faced Lemont stone building cost about $60.000, and was the first 
true Anglo-Gothic structure erected in Chicago. The fire of 1871 swept away the wood work, 
leaving the walls, the central tower and the two Hanking fowers, standing. 



102 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The second building, erected by St. James Protestant Episcopal society, on the southeast 
corner of Cass and Huron streets, was commenced in 1857, and completed in 1870, at a cost 
of $80,000. This stone building was designed by an architect, and therefore showed some 
attention to detail, and presented some artistic features. During the ensuing fourteen years 
many improvements were effected, the tower finished and rich decorations introduced; but 
the fire lapped the edifice up, as if it were a tinder-box, the tower alone not surrendering. 

The George Steel building, of 18567, on Water street, at the foot of La Salle, WHS one 
of the early large brick structures. On the third floor a room 50x80 feet was fitted up for 
board-of-trade purposes. The Newhouse building, just west of Steel's, was completed in 
1858, and in it a largo room was arranged for the Board of Trade. 

The five-story iron block on the north side of Lake street, east of State, was com- 
pleted and occupied in 1857, the merchant tenants being Buell, Hill & Granger, Wadsworth 
& Wells, and Williams, Case & Rhodes. The first floor was devoted to storerooms. Thirty - 
three fluted Corinthian columns, and two square piers or pilasters, one at each end, supported 
the first band-course, while the door and window frames were square and well recessed. The 
second band, a mimic balustrade, was supported by thirty-three pilasters and two heavy 
corner piers. Between each set of pilasters was a double-arched window with archivolt 
formed upon a large arch springing from small Corinthian columns, the keystone of which 
extended to the soffit of the balustrade. The front of the third floor varied from that of the 
first or the second, in the fact that it was a series of archivolts. the arches of which supi>ortd 
the third band, except in the center of the front, where a heavy pilaster was used. The fourth 
floor front, smaller and lower in detail than the second, showed precisely the same architect 
ural form as the second, while the fifth floor front was the same as the third, the arches 
supporting the upper cornice. It was a noble building, arid the suggestor, in fact, of the 
more ornamental buildings of post -helium days. The general character of the facade was 
Venetian Renaissance. 

A second iron building, opposite Wadsworth & Wells, or on the south side of Lake 
street, east of State street (Nos. 53 and 55), showed twenty-one iron columns, with twenty arches 
springing from Doric capitals supporting the superstructure. Above this the pilasters 
reigned, carrying story after story to the top of the fifth, where each received a heavy 
bracket to support the cornice. The round arch of the Romanesque was overmastered, 
except in the lower story, by the rich pilasters, heavy capitals and ornamental architraves of 
the Roman style. It was the center of the millinery goods trade Benedict, Hillary & Farn 
ham; Savage, Keith & Co.; Snow & Co.; Harmon, Aitkin & Gale; B. W. Raymond & Son, 
and Fisk & Ripley being the principal tenants in 1857. 

Other iron buildings of the same class, referred to in the chapter on structural iron 
works, were designed by J. M. Van Osdel, in 185fi-7, and iron fronts became common in 
Chicago. 

The Marble block occupied the north side of Lake street, west of Clark. It has its 
counterpart to day on every street. The heavy iron store front, common even now in the 



THE BUILDING IXTKliK.<T*. 10S 



West. was introduced iu that building, and four stories of stonework carried above the iron 
to an ornamental cornice, showing the windows neatly capped or labeled with cut and 
moulded stone. D. B. Cook & Co.. the booksellers, J. B. Shay and J. A. Smith & Co. 
occupied the lower or store floor, while the upper floors were rented for various trade pur- 
poses. West of this building was Gartield's hardware store, a three-story house; next west 
Burley's four-story building with labeled window heads, and adjoining Burley's a Greek- 
Roman-Colonial structure of three low stories. The masonry was ashlar, and the general 
features Florentine-astylar. 

The heavy Gothic church building on Twelfth and May streets is remarkable in many 
respects. In the spring of 1857 a temporary house for worship was erected on Eleventh street, 
and on its completion, in July, the foundations of the present great building were begun, 
under the superintendence of Dellenberg & Zucker and J. M. Van Osdel. Within three 
years it was completed, and there stood out upon the prairie as a mirage, an architectural 
pile, large and stately, 123x286 feet, with nave 61 feet high. The principal tower or belfry 
is to-day without a peer in the West, and for the $130,000 expended on the building, a house 
was given to Chicago, which, for all time, will stand as the sole monument to the truer 
ante-bellum architecture here. The stained-glass windows, frescoes, paintings and altars of 
this church must be seen to be appreciated. Each transept shows a great English Gothic 
window of stained glass; the clearstory is supported by massive columns, and the roof 
is vaulted or ribbed and decorated with rich frescoes. Parpeyned buttresses, two heavy 
towers, one crowned with a Byzantine dome, and a medivseal entrance point out the fact 
that where there existed a will for architectural adornment in 1857, there was a way. 
The traveler of continental Europe will find here one church, at least, which may remind 
him, in a small measure, of the great cathedrals he has seen during his journeyings, and, 
further, may learn that all this work was accomplished during the dark days of the panic of 
1857. The seating capacity of the church is about 4,000; the membership is about 14,000. 
In the neighborhood of the church are a number of buildings, each one important. The 
St. Ignatius college building, just east, is a well-designed brick-and-stone structure, erected 
at a cost of over $200,000. Within it is a hall, with a seating capacity of 1,500, a gallery 
of 400 seats; thirty class-rooms, museum, library, dormitories, chapel and living rooms for 
the faculty and Ixmrders. Reid & Sherwin were the mason contractors, and M. Donohue the 
carpenter contractor for the church building. 

The State Street Methodist Episcopal building was in fact a portion of the frame 
house of the Second Presbyterian society, moved in 1851 to the northwest corner of State and 
Harrison streets. In Is57 W. M. D. Ryan came to remove this miserable piece of archi- 
tecture. and in 1857 the house on the northwest corner of Wabash avenue and Harrison 
street was brought into existence, at a cost of $63,(HX). It escaped the fire, was used as tin- 
United States postoffice until 1874, when it fell in the second great fire. The United States 
paid $75,(HM) rent for the whole term, and the insurance companies paid 180,000. 

The Christian church was erected on Monroe street, east of Center avenue, in 



104 

Of course it was a petty frame building, 36x58, with a little acroterialess cujxjlu stuck on 
the point of the front gable and a chimney on the point of the rear gable. In 1858 the 
Christians may have considered this frame house a thing of beauty, but the aspiring West 
Siders did not look upon it in that light. 

In 1857 McVicker's new theatre was completed; but this humble structure was so out of 
date seven years later, that the sum of $25,000 had to be expended on its reconstruction. 

The South Presbyterian building on the corner of Congress street and Wabash avenue, 
was a one-story frame, with a smaller building of the same character adjoining it on the 
west. Even in 1856 it was considered unworthy of notice as a building, and in March, 
1859, it was moved to the corner of Jackson street and Third avenue, where it was remod- 
eled for mercantile, tenement and church purposes. The tire destroyed it. 

The Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church " Our Savior's" was erected in 1858 on 
the corner of Erie and May streets, and in 1859 a schoolhouse was built. Nothing less than 
the mercy of the dedicatee could have preserved these terrible pieces of architecture from 
destruction at the hands of an outraged profession. They withstood the gibes and sneers of 
passers-by, and were sold in 1871 to make way for better buildings. 

The old Railroad chapel which stood just south of Van Buren street on Griswold was 
erected in 1858, and galleries introduced in 1863. After the close of the war a brick house 
was erected opposite the chapel, at a cost of $21,000, which was used until swept away by 
tire in 1871. 

The First German Methodist Episcopal society built on Clybourne avenue in 1857 a frame 
house 30x50 feet, at a cost of $2,000. Their old cabin of 1848, on Indiana street was too 
insignificant to be noticed. Their new house was not much better, so that in 1863 a spirit 
of decency urged the members to move it back, and build on its site the two-story brick, 
40x70 feet, at a cost of $10.000. The monstrosity destroyer of October, 1871, swept the 
whole collection away. 

The New Jerusalem or Swedenborginn society purchased a school building at 69 Adams 
street in 1855, which was destroyed by fire in December, 1857. In 1858 the Second Presbv 
terian house was purchased and moved east of State street to Harrison street. In 1862 
the Swedenborgian temple on Wabash avenue and Adams street was completed at a cost of 
$18,000. It was a stone-and-brick structure in Gothic form, 50x70 feet, with tower and spire 
175 feet in hight. From 1862 to October, 1871, it was used by the society and then reduced 
to ashes. 

The Union Park Congregational church erected a small frame building on Washington, 
near Wood street late in 1858, which was moved to the northwest corner of Ashland avenue 
;ind Washington street in 1859, and in 1865 to the southwest corner. 

In 1859 the congregation of the Immaculate Conception parish (Catholic) erected a 
$17,000 building near the corner of Franklin and Schiller streets. In July, 1871, a steeple 
was placed above the tower, and in October the fire wiped out one of the first pretentious 
buildings in that section of the city, leaving the stone basement. 



THE BUILDING /.A 7 7-: /,/> T.v. 105 

Unity church, or the North Unitarian church, built a frame house for worship on 
Chicago and Dearborn avenues in 1850, at a cost of ??4,<MM>. 

The Church of the Holy Communion (Protestant Episcopal) erected a small frame house 
with Gothic pretensions, on the southeast corner of Wabash avenue and Randolph street, in 
1859. In 1868 that building was moved to Burnside street, south of Twenty-ninth, where a 
basement was erected. 

In 1858-9 the third building of the First Methodist Episcopal society was erected at a 
cost of $70,000. It was destroyed in the great fire, and necessitated the erection of a frame 
house on Clark and Harrison streets, pending the erection of the Methodist church block. 
Immediately after the tire, the four-story stone-front building on Clark and Washington 
streets was erected, at a cost of $130,000. Together with being a large commercial block, it 
contains a large auditorium for worship, with pastoral and official quarters. 

In 1860 a lot on the south side of Jackson street, east of Wabash avenue, was acquired, 
and thereon a stone-front building (71x150 feet) was erected, for Trinity Protestant Epis- 
copal society, after designs by J. V. Wadskier. Like the front, the lower walls of the towers 
were constructed of Lemont stone, but the upper sections were of brick, like the side walls 
and rear. Side windows were not provided for, as the light for the auditorium was supplied 
from the glass roof. In some respects it resembled the present St. Mary's church, on Wabash 
avenue and Eldridge court, but the towers, lanterns and tinials, were wild adaptations of all 
that was bad in the early English or Norman, and in the Elizabethan styles, so that the fire 
of 1871 lapped it up greedily. 

The Republican wigwam, of 1860, was erected by the Lincoln & Hamlin club, on a lot 
at the corner of Lake and South Water streets, at the head of Market street. This wooden 
building, 80x150 feet, two stories high, with flanking towers stood as a memory of the times 
and manners up to October 9, 1871, when tire swept it away. 

The Desplaines and Van Buren street Congregational church was a shanty erected in 
less than seven days, and opened for worship May 18, 1854. The building was enlarged in 
1862, and converted into a Presbyterian meetinghouse, as the majority of the members be- 
came members of the Edwards Presbyterian society. 

The building known as SS. Peter and Paul's church, the first cathedral of the English 
Protestant Episcopal church, on this continent outside of Canada, dates back to 1861, when 
the Church of the Atonement was transferred to the bishop, who named it the Cathedral. 
The building was enlarged, remodeled and decorated, during the years of the Civil war. 

In February. 1861, the second house of the North Presbyterian church was abandoned, 
and possession taken of the pretentious Romanesque brick house on Cass and Indiana streets. 
This building was 71 xW feet, with walls 38 feet and apex of roof 52 feet. The tower was 
24 feet square, 104 feet in hight, with octagonal spire, 90 feet above. The second tower, 
16 feet square and 100 feet high, appeared unfinished until the great fire removed it. 

The New School Calvary Presbyterians built a small frame house on Indiana avenue, 
south of llinggold place, in I860, which they moved, in 1862, to Indiana avenue and Twenty- 
second street. 



106 INDUSTltfAL <'1IK'AGO: 

The Edwards, or Seventh Presbyterian society, erected a little building on Halsted and 
Harrison streets, in 1862, which was exchanged, in 18(57, for the Free- Will Baptist house, on 
Peoria and Jackson streets. 

St. Peter's church (Catholic) erected a large brick building, in 1863, on Clark and Polk 
streets, in which the architecture and decorative art of the church at Asti, Italy, are apparent. 
The style, though Iwrrowed from Asti, is not Italian. The cost was 45,1 KM). In 1S64 the 
school building was erected at a cost of $7,000, and the residence in 1865, at a cost of $5,000. 
The fire appreciated art and did not touch this property. 

The German United Evangelical (Zion's) society moved the old St. Paul's building to 
the corner of Wilson and Clinton streets; but in 1863 a new house was erected on Union 
street near Fourteenth street, and five years later a brick schoolhouse was built. A branch 
house was erected on Union and Twelfth streets in 1864. 

The beginnings of a new house were made in April, 1863, on Wabash avenue north of 
Hubbard court for the First Unitarian society. This escaped the fire of 1871 and that year 
was purchased by the Wilmarths and converted into a plumbers' supply store. Ill 1872-3 
the house known as the Church of the Messiah, on Michigan avenue and Twenty-third 
street, was erected at a cost of $90,000. This is a very neat building and presents several 
architectual features, then almost unknown in the West. 

At the beginning of the war the northwest corner of Chicago avenue and La Salle street 
was purchased, and in 18634 a small building was erected thereon in which to worship, the 
successor of the Methodist Episcopal chapel of 1847, which stood on Indiana street east of 
Clark street. 

Early in 1864 work on the church of Notre Dame de Chicago, the successor of St. Louis 
church, was commenced, and the large building at the northwest corner of Halsted and Con- 
gress streets was completed early in 1865. This house presented a plain exterior, but within 
the artist and decorator showed decided taste. 

The Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal society erected a small house on Eobey street 
and Park avenue in 1861-2, but in 1864-5 a 110,000 building was erected on the southeast 
corner of the streets named, where a lot was leased for ninety-nine years. 

In 1864 a brick house, 52x101 feet, with tower and spire 161 feet in height, gave evi- 
dence of progress on the part of St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran society. This was 
located at the corner of Superior and Franklin streets and cost, with ground, about $90,000. 
The fire of 1871 swept it away. 

Christ church (Reformed Episcopal) built a chapel, in 1859, on Monterey street east of 
Michigan avenue. In 1863 a larger house was erected on Twenty-fourth street; but this was 
burned in February, 1864, and in 1865 a third building was raised on Michigan avenue, 
which was damaged by lightning in 1866. 

The Chamber of Commerce (old building) was begun in 1864 and completed in August, 
1865, at a cost of $4(X),000, after plans by E. Burling. For six years and two months that 
building reigned over all others of its class in the United States and was considered the 




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T1TK BUILDING INTERESTS. 107 

largest and best constructed board of trade building on the continent. The fire of October 9, 
1871, reduced it to ashes. The area was 93x181 feet and height 100 feet. From the main 
door a flight of steps led to the main hall, off which were business rooms. The portico was a 
composite affair. From this hall a double stairway led to the vestibule of the principal room. 
This room, 143x89 feet and forty- four feet in hight, was lighted by eighteen large windows 
and frescoed in the best designs known to the Chicago artists of twenty-six years ago. 
Exteriorly, the original building varied from its successor of 1872. Heavy cut quoin stones 
wore used in pilaster form for the corner and each sido of the central window above the first 
band-course. Norman windows marked the first and hall floors, while in the basement the 
windows were square. The French roof showed two round windows each side of its clock, 
and nine on each side, corresponding with the windows in the great hall. The general style 
was Italian-Byzantine with French roof and Venetian windows. 

During the closing four years of the fifth decade, buildings of all descriptions were con- 
structed, and when the tocsin of war sounded that April morning in 1861, Chicago was really 
a city in extent of territory, in number of buildings and in trade. 

During the first three summers of the Civil war, the citizens not only sent forth a great 
number of men to the field, but also built homes, stores, warehouses, workshops and factories 
as fast as tradesmen could construct them. In 1804 no less than 0,000 houses were erected 
within the city limits, at an average cost of $784 each. A few large houses, of course, were 
built, including the Board of Trade and nine churches. In 1865 there were 0,370 houses 
built, at an average cost of $1,099, including nine church buildings, and in 1866, no less than 
6.700 houses, including twenty-four church buildings, were erected, the average cost being 
about $1,642 each. 



108 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 



IU. 




DESTRUCTION AND RESTORATION. 

kEACE to the Union brought peace to Chicago, and made way for the spirit of prog- 
ress which took jx>ssession of the citizens. No sooner was the fall of the Confed- 
eracy heralded through the streets of the city than men, hitherto cautious, rushed 
into the arms of enterprise to follow the example of the Board of Trade in 1864, and none 
were in advance of the members of that body in the realization of what wealth owed to art, to 
the municipality and to the individual. This led to the construction of a few large and 
elegant mercantile houses, several large tenement houses, many fine residences, and drew into 
the line of improvement religious congregations, school and municipal bodies, and even the 
Federal government. The " honest public building," the walls of which buttled so heroically 
with the fire of October 9, 1871, and won in the battle, was brought forth, and the movement 
for general improvement was voluntary, methodical, and decisive. 

In 1867 there were 5,000 buildings, including seven churches, erected at a cost of 
$8,500,000, and in 1869 there were 7,000, including nineteen church buildings, at a cost of 
$14,000,000. At the beginning of the summer of 1868 there were 39,366 buildings within 
the city limits, of which 35,654 were balloon frames or other forms of wooden buildings. Of 
this total 3,980 were store buildings, 1,696 saloon buildings, and 1,307 manufacturing shops. 
The estimated number of buildings in 1869 was 43,920; in 1870, 52,690, and in 1871, 61,000. 
In 1869 the designs for the Palmer house, the Grand Pacific, the Nixon block, and a few 
similar structures were completed and the work of construction entered upon. The era of 
Corinthian columns, colonnades, heavy cornices, attic stories, grand porticoes and other archi- 
tectural decorations was adumbrative, and men who gathered wealth here were dreaming of 
building commercial temples equal in beauty to those they had seen at Paris, and religious 
temples as great as those they had seen at Rome. The city was massive and great already in 
her dreams of greatness, but her advances were generally too precocious to go unchecked, and 
the check came. 

Crosby's Opera house, as completed in 1865, was the finest building erected in Chicago 
up to that time, and held its pre-eminent position up to 1871, when it was destroyed. As 
designed by W. W. Boyington, it was a Norman-Romanesque-Byzantine, four-story basement 
and French-attic building, with a south front of 140 feet on Washington street, east of State 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 109 

street. The entrance, twenty-three feet wide, was between great pilasters with Italian capitals. 
A Norman arch, with heavy sagitta and elaborate spandrels supported the lower part of the 
entablature, and rich modillions the upper or heavy projecting part, extending to level of 
third story. Above this were four pedestals carrying large statues, by L. W. Volk, repre- 
senting Painting, Sculpture, Music and Commerce, and between the pedestals was the extended 
and handsome balustrade. The central projection was carried through the third and fourth 
stories to the cornice, which was supported by modillions. Above the cornice rose the 
central pavilion, with its noble dormer and caryatic pilasters. Two elaborate store fronts on 
each side of the main entrance, six Norman windows on each side of the central projection of 
the second and third floors, and eleven smaller windows, resembling an arcade on each side 
of the central projection of the fourth floor, with the four single dormers on each side of the 
center of the attic, told at once that the architect and owner were lavish in ornament. Each 
window had its archivolt or label of rich moulding. The auditorium was 86x95 feet in area, 
and the height from floor to dome sixty-five feet. This dome, twenty-eight feet in diameter, 
showed the portraits of the great composers. The art gallery on the second floor of the main 
building was 30x60 feet, with eighteen feet ceilings. The frescoer of that day exhausted his 
art on the walls of this house, and Chicago was proud of it. 

The Second Baptist church purchased the building of the First Baptist church, and 
moved it from the southeast corner of La Salle and Washington streets, to the southwest 
corner of Monroe and Morgan streets in 1864, where it was painted and otherwise restored. 

The Third United Evangelical society built a very modest house on Twenty-first street 
and Archer avenue, in 1862, the same which was moved in 1868 to Wentworth avenue and 
Twenty-fourth street. In 1884 the society acquired by exchange the Baptists' brick house 
on Twenty-fifth street, west of Wentworth avenue. 

The First Baptist society, after selling the lots where stands now the Chamber of Com- 
merce, for $6o,(XKl, purchased the property on Wabash avenue and Hubbard court in 1865, 
and thereon a house, which cost about $150,000, was erected within two years. It was an 
elegant building that escaped the great tire, only to be consumed by the fire of July, 1874. 

The' State Savings institution and Garden City Insurance Company's building, 80 and 82 
La Salle street, completed in 1866, was a four-story-and- basement house 45x70 feet. It was 
designed by E. Burling, to cost $73,000. Lemont stone or Athens marble was used in the 
front and Milwaukee brick in the side and rear walls. Three sets of double- arched, keystoned 
windows (the arches joining and resting on a paneled pilaster in the center) were in keeping 
with the one large set of such windows, each side of the entrance. Cut-stone piers were 
carried from basement to cornice at the corners and at each side of the central set of windows. 
The portico, perfect in its parts, showing pedestals, Corinthian columns, arch, spandrel and 
entablature, was too light and small for such a building, while the heavy balustrade above 
a heavy cornice was as unnecessary as it was ill-fitting such a house. The iron shutters on 
sides and in rear scarcely warranted the owners in calling their building fireproof. 

The Magic building, then on the southwest corner of Randolph and La Salle streets, 



110 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

was a Milwaukee brick, four stories, basement-and-attic structure. The arched and labeled 
windows, dormers of the same form in the mansard roof and chaste chimneys, extending from 
tlie walls in front of the roof, gave to it an architectural appearance wanting in better houses. 

The Metropolitan hall stood on the northwest corner of the same streets. The windows on 
the ground floor and on the third floor were high, arched openings, while on the second floor 
they were square. A heavy cornice, with nine chimneys on the La Salle-street front and 
nine on the Randolph-street front rendered its exterior showy. 

The Atlantic Fire Insurance Company's building, soi;th of the old States Savings bank, 
showed four clear stories, a great mansard attic and basement. The ground floor front 
showed a series of arches, resting 011 Corinthian columns, with carved spandrels. A heavy 
cornice capped this first section. Heavy labeled windows, in a solid stone front, marked the 
three next stories, and clustered windows, deeply recessed, appeared as dormers. The cor- 
nice, roof and parapet presented exceedingly fine work. 

At the northeast corner of La Salle and Randolph streets were the large printing offices 
and binderies of the period. The building was a five-story-and-basement one, with square 
door and window openings, capped by deep cornice carried on modillions. 

On the southeast corner of Clark and Randolph streets was one of the finest stone busi- 
ness blocks in the old city. The corded molding for window frames was introduced here 
extensively, and carried round every door and window and even attached to the Corinthian 
columns and pilasters supporting the roof of the balcony. The portico was marked by two 
Corinthian columns, with corresponding pilasters, supporting a heavy entablature. The 
quoin stones, cornice, portico and balcony of this block attracted the attention of visitors from 
Wood's Museum across the street, which was in itself an important, building. 

The Merchants' hotel, formerly the Stewart house, occupied the northwest corner of 
State and Washington, and Crosby's building stood next north. The latter, a brick building, 
was connected with the Opera house, and in architectural design conveyed an idea of the 
grand building on Washington street. The hotel was a five-story-and-basement brick house. 
Four Corinthian columns with corresponding pilasters carried a square-balustered balcony. 
The rectangular windows of the second, third and fourth stories were all heavily labeled, but 
the fifth or attic story, marked by an abbreviated cornice, showed twelve Norman windows. 
Between the arches of these windows rested the base of the heavy modillions which carried a 
heavy cornice. The houses north to the bridge were three and four-story bricks, witli the 
exception of a three-story frame gabled house just north of the Crosby building. 

Volk's monument yard and studio, the great pilastored front of Tobey's furniture store 
and the street railroad company's offices occupied the southeast corner of State and Washing- 
ton streets. The Volk dwelling, with its Colonial dormer and chimneys, and the ornamental 
glass addition in front, left the Tobey building in possession of all the architectural beauties 
of that quarter. 

St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal church purchased an old house, in 1805, which was 
moved to Forquer street near Blue Island avenue. 



TIIE BUILDING INTERESTS. Ill 

The Eighth Presbyterian society erected a house on the northwest corner of Robey and 
Washington streets in 18(55. Early in 1866 it was moved and the beginnings of u $32,000 
building made. In 1885 the second building was refitted and restored. 

Grace Methodist Episcopal society built a house on La Salle avenue and Chicago avenue 
in 18634 at a cost of $25,000. In 18668 a larger house was erected of rock-faced stone 
in the Anglo-Gothic style, with square tower in center and heavy buttresses running to 
minarets at corners. The tire destroyed the side walls, but left the rear walls and tower 
comparatively uninjured. 

The Olivet Baptist church erected a large house on the east side of Fourth avenue, be- 
tween Polk and Taylor streets, in 1865-6, at a cost of $18,000, but it was burned up in the 
fire of July, 1 874. It j>ossessed a few architectural points. 

In 1865 the Jefferson street building and lot of the Canal Street Methodist Episcopal 
society, were sold for $16,000 and in 1866 W. W. Boyington's plans for the Centenary 
Methodist Episcopal church ou West Monroe street near Morgan were accepted. This $80,000 
building was completed in 1868. 

The St. Boniface German Catholic congregation erected a small building on Cornell and 
Noble streets in 1865 at a cost of $2,500. 

The Fourth society erected a church and school building on Noble street and Chicago 
avenue in 1864. In 1866 a larger church house was built on this site. 

In 1865 the First Synagogue sold lot and building, and purchasing a church building 
(Grace Church Protestant Episcopal) at the corner of Wabash avenue and Peck court, used it 
as a synagogue until the great fire swept it away. 

In 1865-6 the heavy rock-faced stone Celtic building on Dearborn avenue and White 
street was erected for the New England Congregational society. The tire of 1871 appears to 
have approved this attempt at "true exterior decoration, and so spared the walls while de- 
stroying the roof, floors and interior decorations. In 1874 the work of restoration was begun 
and in December, 1875, completed. 

The Free-Will Baptists erected a frame house on Peoria and Jackson streets in 1864, and 
in 1865 a larger building was erected there. It was burned December 7, 1865, the night of 
its dedication. In 1866 a third house was erected; but the primitive appearance of that 
frame barn could not be tolerated very long, and hence a new building was erected on Looinis 
and Jackson streets in 1869-70 at a cost of about $25,000. 

In 1866 the North Unitarian church society merged into the Liberal Christian League, 
and in 1868-9 the double-tower stone house, on Dearborn avenue and Walton place was 
brought into existence and the old frame building sold to the North Baptist society. The 
new building cost about $210,000. The great fire left the heavy walls and towers uninjured; 
but swept away the steeples, roof, floors and windows. In 1872-3 the work of restoration 
was carried on, and over $90,000 were expended. 

St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal church on Cottage Grove avenue and Thirty-sixth street 
was built in 1867, at a cost of 8,000. Fire damaged the house in 1880, but it was at 
once restored and a few years after enlarged. 



112 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The North Baptist society erected a house on Dearborn and Ohio streets in 1858. This 
was moved in 1864 to Dearborn and Superior streets. In October, 18(57, the society took pos- 
session of the Unity church on Dearborn avenue and Chicago avenue, which fell in the tire 
of 1871. 

Potter Palmer's building, occupied by Field & Co. before the fire, was one of the mile 
stones of architecture, and Booksellers' Row, the leading book mart of the Northwest, if not 
of the United States, one of the ornamental buildings of the city. They were constructed 
of Lemont stone. They were undoubtedly elegant buildings for the Chicago of 1856-71; 
but to-day their plain ashlar .work and attempts at decoration would not win the admiration 
of a hodman. The fire lapped them up. 

The five-story stone-front (Athens marble) building, which stood at 15-29 Randolph 
street, up to October 9, 1871, was erected in 1866, at a cost of $400.000, for the Bowen Bros. 
Three years before this, each of the brothers erected a stone- front dwelling on Michigan 
avenue^Nos. 124, 125 and 126 thus giving a few of the first important biiildings to the city. 
The house on Randolph street was five stories in height, but, like the dwellings on Michigan 
avenue, it was destroyed in the great fire. The style was Italian, but of a mixed character. 

The large church building on the southeast corner of Twelfth street and Newberry avenue, 
erected in 1867 for the congregation of St. Francis d' Assisium, was a substantial brick struct- 
ure 66x160, Gothic in style, with buttressed walls rising 45 feet. "In 1875 the steeple, 90 feet 
high, springing from the square tower, was constructed. 

In 1867 the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Episcopal church sold their cabin of cold and 
heat for $8,400, and purchased the lot, 75x95 feet, and house thereon, on the northeast corner 
of Sangamon and Monroe streets, from the American Reformed church, and in January, 
1868, moved into their house. 

In 1856 the second German. Emanuel church society erected a house on Chicago avenue 
and Wells street, which, after the schism of 1867, was sold and a new house erected on Wis- 
consin and Sedgwick streets, at a cost of $7,000 or $8,000. That house was destroyed in 
1871, but soon after a $9,000 structure stood on the old foundations. 

In 1866 the Christians purchased the old St. James Protestant Episcopal building on 
the north side and moved thither. Their own building of 1858 was sold to the new St. 
Stephen's Protestant Episcopal society, who moved it to a point on Canal street, south of 
Harrison. The Christians, in 1868, abandoned the north division, and purchasing another 
old building, known as St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal mission house, on Wabash avenue 
and Sixteenth street, (this building was, originally, the Universalist church, and subsequently 
the Olivet Presbyterian house) moved thither. 

In 1867 the Plymouth Congregational society completed a building on the southeast 
corner of Wabash avenue and Eldridge court, at a cost of over $100,000. This building and 
grounds were sold in 1872 to the Catholic bishop for $80,000. As a Catholic building it is 
the successor of the first church ever erected here, and bears the name, St. Mary's. 
The style of architecture is a peculiar Norman-Gothic. The front and sides present an 



THE BUILDING IXTKHKST*. 113 

adaptation of the east end of Ely (England) Cathedral and of the front of Zaniora Cathedral, 
hut the adaptation is seldom introduced in Catholic buildings and its presence in this instance 
is due to the original owners. It is a rock-faced stone building of buttresses and pinnacles, 
with shallow transepts. Corresponding with what should be a clearstory, are two light 
towers with ornamental spires, abat-vents or fiuials and pendentives or hanging buttresses. 
From the cornice of the towers springs the front gable. Corresponding with the comers of 
the aisles are heavy angle-butt ressess each carrying an enriched pinnacle, and on the point 
or apex of each gable is an acroteria, which originally formed the base of an ornament, but 
now supports the Roman cross. The entrance is early English or Norman, with heavy quoin 
stone piers and stilted arch, set in projecting masonry with gabled cap, a miniature of the 
great gable. Between each of the towers and the heavy angle buttresses, a smaller entrance 
is found, the arch of which is not so stilted. The windows in the lower story are all 
labeled; above they show the arch stones and heavy keystone, and may be termed Norman 
lancet or Early Gothic windows. 

The Fifth Presbyterians erected a house on Twenty-eighth street, east of Wabash avenue, 
in 1867-8, at a cost of $5,000. The style was nondescript. 

The Indiana Avenue Methodist Episcopal church building, south of Thirty-second street, 
was erected in 1807. In 1871 this frame house was sold and a lot on Michigan avenue 
acquired, whereon a new house was erected in 1871-2, now known as the Michigan Avenue 
Methodist Episcopal church a red brick house with the slightest pretensions to Norman 
architecture. 

The First Scotch Presbyterian house was erected in 1868 on the corner of Adams and 
Sangamon streets. It was as plain a building as it was cheap. The Thirty-first street Pres- 
byterian church built a small frame house at the corner of Wabash avenue in 1808. It was 
well designed and constructed. The Western Avenue Baptist church house was erected on 
the avenue whence it takes the name, and Warren street, in 1868. In later years the little 
house was improved. Bethany Congregational clmrch, on Paulina and Second or Huron 
streets, erected a $3,000 house for worship in 1868. In 1869 a large brick house was erected 
on Ada street north of Lake street by the Owen Street Methodist Episcopal church. 

In 1860-71 the present beautiful house of the Congregational society, fronting Union 
Park, was erected at a cost of 1125,000. Lake Superior sandstone forms the exterior of the 
walls. Improvements brought the total cost up to $200,(XX1 and gave to this central district 
of the great west division a piece of architecture far in advance of the times. 

In 1869 a large building was erected on Indiana avenue and Twenty-sixth street, at a 
cost of $26,800, for the South Congregational society. In 1872 this society was merged into 
the Plymouth church and the same year the combined churches erected the large building 
on Michigan avenue south of Twenty-fifth street. 

The United Presbyterian Memorial Church house on Monroe and Paulina streets was 
erected in 1869 at a cost of $30, (XX). It is a brick rock- faced structure with high basement. 
The style is semi-Gothic and Aryan throughout, the three front entrances and the ornamental 
windows in the gables relieving its simplicity. 



114 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

In 1869 a building for school and church purposes was erected by the First Baptist 
society on Division and Sedgwick streets at a cost of $30,000. That went down in the great 
fire. A brick house for the Reformed Presbyterian church was erected at a cost of $15,000, 
was sold in 1809 and a $12,0(X) frame house erected on May and Fulton streets. This latter 
building was a substantial structure and architecturally in consonance with the west division 
of that day. 

A stone church erected on Wabash avenue, north of Fifteenth street, for Grace Prot- 
estant Episcopal church society, was completed early in 1869 at a cost of $100,000. 
This new stone Gothic church, now 66x130 feet, with its tower and spire, is an attractive 
building. The tornado of May, 1876, swept away the spire and otherwise damaged the 
structure. 

In 1869-70 the large brick building, 65x125 feet, on the corner of Sangamon and Harri- 
son streets, was erected for the Berean Baptist church at a cost of $45,000. This was the 
first true attempt at ecclesiastical architecture in Chicago by the Baptist denomination. The 
front, including the two flanking towers, was seventy -five feet in width and became known as 
the Fifth, and subsequently as the Temple Baptist church. 

In 1868-9 a new building was erected for the Bethel society on Michigan street east of 
Market street at a cost of $25,000, which was destroyed in October, 1871. 

In 1 869-70 the new house of the First Congregational society, on Washington and Ann 
streets, was erected at a cost of $180,000. The audience room had a seating capacity of 
2,000 together with a gallery capacity of 700. Seven entrances formed one of the features of 
this building. Fire destroyed the house in January, 1873, but the work of rebuilding was at 
once commenced, and after the expenditure of $105,000 on house and equipment it was com- 
pleted in February, 1874. 

Trinity Methodist Episcopal church on Indiana avenue and Twenty-first street was built 
in 1863, but seven years later sold to the Presbyterians, and a lot on Indiana avenue and 
Twenty-fourth street purchased. On this lot a house of worship was erected in 1870-2. 

In 1870 the ground whereon the Wabash Avenue Baptist church of 1856 stood sold for 
$3S,000, and the work of building a larger house on Michigan avenue south of Twenty-third 
was entered upon. The house was destroyed in 1879, but soon after was restored at a cost of 
$85,1 X)0, and the name Immanuel church betowed upon it. As Dr. Lorimer's church it 
had the greatest seating capacity of the Baptist houses in this city. It was partially burned 
May 24, 1891. 

St. Anne's original church building was the Jewish synagogue moved from Third avenue 
and Harrison street to the southeast corner of Wontworth avenue and Fifty-fifth street in 
1869 for the use of the Catholic congregation. That building was blown down in the storm 
of 1870, but re-erected at once. 

The Insurance Building, 155-161 Washington street, was completed in July, 1870, after 
plans by J. M. Van Osdel, at a cost of $100,000. Amher.st stone was used in its construe 
tion. It was a four-story and high-basement house, with Corinthian attached columns, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 115 

square, heavily labeled windows, two entrances with f rentals, galleries, corona and pedi- 
ments above. 

The Holland Presbyterian church, erected a small house on Noble and Erie streets in 
1870. The Langley Avenue and Thirty-ninth Street Methodist Episcopal house was erected 
in 1870, at a cost of $12,000. 

In 1870 the work of building a house for St. John's English Protestant Episcopal 
society, in keeping with the times, was entered upon. This native stone building was com- 
menced on the northwest corner of Ashland and Ogden avenues, to cost about f 100,(HX). The 
Third Presbyterian society completed it, but it was burned in 1887. 

The Chicago Medical college building on Prairie avenue and Twenty-sixth street, 
erected in 1870, at a cost of $30,000, is noted for its two amphitheatres and modern lalxjra- 
tories. Hahnemann Medical college building was erected in 1870, without much regard to 
the letter or spirit of architecture. It is a large three-story-and-basement brick house, minus 
exterior ornamentation. 

In 1858 St. Columbkill's congregation raised a small frame house on the corner of 
Indiana street and Paulina street. This house was used until the completion of the 
present Romanesque structure, which was begun in 1871, and completed in 1877. The 
building cost about $150,000. The first United Presbyterian church house was built in 1871, 
on the corner of Monroe and Paulina streets. The University Place Baptists built a brick 
house on Thirty- fifth street, at the head of Rhodes avenue in 1871. It was an outrageously 
common-place affair. 

In 1871 the construction of the present large house of the Norwegian Evangelical 
Lutheran society, Our Savior, was commenced and completed at a cost of $40,000. That 
it is large and has a seating capacity of 1,200, is all that may be said of it. It presents a few 
architectural points, however, and is very much superior to many of the buildings erected 
in those days of great houses. 

The fires of October, 1871, came to blot out forever the works of forty years, in the south 
and north divisions of the city, to destroy the little that was beautiful as well as the mass 
that was odious in the eye of art. 

Those fires were fortunate events for the Garden City, as a whole, and none profited 
directly by them, so much as art and architects, for the flames swept away forever the greater 
number of monstrous libels on artistic house-building, while only destroying the few noble 
buildings, of which Old Chicago could boast. The doings of the fire-god here in 1871, were 
quick and sure, as Whittier expressed it: 

" On three score spires had sunset shone, 
Where ghastly sunrise looked on none; 
.Men clasped each other's hands and said: 
The City of the West is dead." 

The great tire was foreshadowed twenty-four hours by the destructive blaze on the west 
side. The tire of October 7, 1871, originated in Lull & Holmes' planing-mill, 205) Canal street, 



116 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

near Van Buren street, a brick building, and burned an area of about twenty acres, or three- 
fourths of the area between Clinton and Canal, south toward Van Buren; nine-tenths of that 
between Canal street and the river in the same direction; all the area bounded by Canal street 
and the river and Adams and Jackson streets; seven-eighths of the area between Canal and 
Clinton and Adams and Jackson streets, where eighty feet on Adams and 128 feet on Clinton 
only were left; while on the east side of Canal street, north of Adams street, the 100 feet of 
the Express Company's sheds were destroyed. The mill where the fire originated; a row of 
frame dwellings ten in number, belonging to A. Watson, on Jackson street, between Canal 
and Clinton; Nos. 176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 180 Clinton; Haltslander & Randall's sash, 
blind and box factory, adjoining the city track-house, with many small buildings in the rear, 
were swept away, and the body of a dead woman cremated. On Canal street were destroyed 
Nos. 189, 191, known as Weigle's vinegar works, the Lull & Holmes mill, Foster's box fac- 
tory in rear; the Racine Hotel, No. 210; the Union wagon works, 190; Chapin & Foss' shingle 
and lath mill, Nos. 220-228; Sheriffs & Son's lumber yard, 21(5-218; the tenement houses at 
214 and 212; Holbrook's coal yard, No. 176; Lamon & Cornish's yard, just north of the rail- 
road blacksmith shops; the Wilmington Coal Company's yards. Houses Nos. 38, 42-44, 
tinder-boxes on the south side of Adams street, and 1(K) feet of the flooring of the viaduct 
just completed were burned, with several smaller buildings. 

The great fire of October 8-9, 1871, originated in a barn on De Koven street, and resulted 
in the destruction of property valued at about $190,000,000. The stormy character of that 
Sunday night, the inflammable character of the buildings, and the utter failure of the fire 
department contributed to almost the total destruction of the two principal divisions of a great 
city, of which Bret Harte wrote: 

" Like her own prairies by some chance seed sown, 
Like her own prairies in one brief day grown, 
Like her own prairies in one fierce night mown." 

The fire was first observed at 9 o'clock on the evening of October 8, 1871, and within six 
hours had seized hold of the business center and north division. To point out more clearly 
the inflammable character of Old Chicago, the following table, showing the hour at which 
the principal houses were seized upon by fire, will be only necessary. The first given was 
destroyed on October 8; the next fifty-seven on October 9, and the last named on October 10: 

Point of origin, 237 De Koven street 9:00 r. M. Miller's jewelry store 3:30 A. M. 

Wood's Museum 3:00 A. M. Bryan block 3:30 " 

Heed's Temple of Music 3:00 " Oriental building 3:30 " 

Matteson house 3:00 " I). B. Fisk's Millinery house 3:30 " 

Waterworks, three miles northeast of \\Vtlierell Milliner}' house 3:30 

origin of lire 3:00 " State street bridge 3:30 " 

Courthouse 3:30 " Lill's brewery 3:30 " 

Chamber of Commerce 3:30 Galena elevator 3:30 " 

Tremont house 3:30 " North Presbyterian church 3:30 " 

Evening Journal office 3:30 " Sherman house 4:00 " 

American Express and Western I'nion Hooley's Opera house 4:00 " 

Telegraph offices 3:30 Brig.irs house - 4:00 " 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 



117 



Field, Leiter & Co.'s store 5:30 A. M . 

Historical Society's building and books. .6:00 " 

Bigelow hotel 6:30 " 

Morse, Loomis ifc C'o.'s building 6:30 " 

Lombard block 7:00 " 

McVicker's theatre 7:00 " 

St. James hotel 7:00 " 

Turner hall 8:00 " 

Great Union depot 8:00 " 

Book Sellers Row .' 8:00 " 

Tribune building 8:30 " 

Drake block (Drake & Farwell) 9:00 " 

Orient house 9:00 " 

Palmer house 9:00 " 

Academy of Design 9 :30 " 

Robert Collyer's church 10:00 " 

Terrace Row 11:50 " 

Dr. Foster's house, 4}^ miles from origin..5:00 " 



Metropolitan block 4:00 .\. M. 

Farwell hall 4:00 " 

Pacific hotel 4:00 " 

Belding block 4:00 " 

McCarthy's block 4:00 " 

McCormick block 4:00 " 

Clark street bridge 4:00 " 

Hock Island depot 4:00 " 

State Savings Institution 4:30 " 

Otis block 4:30 " 

Doty's Billiard hall 4:30 " 

Rush street bridge 4:30 " 

McCormick's Reaperworks 4:30 " 

Garrett block : 5:00 " 

Crosby's Opera house 5:00 " 

First National Bank 5:00 " 

llouore blocks (2) 5:00 " 

Rush Medical college '. 5 KX) " 

Giles Bros, jewelry store 5:30 " 

The principal business blocks destroyed, not named in the foregoing list, were the 
Arcade, on Clark and Madison, $75,000; Keep's block, close by, on Clark street, $65,000; 
Pope's two blocks on Madison, near Clark, $160,000; Raymond's, on Madison, corner of State 
street, $100,000; Reynold's, on Madison and Dearborn, $150,000; Stone's, on Madison, near 
La Salle, $30,000; Berlin's, on State and Monroe, $15,000; Palmer's, on State and Wash- 
ington, $175,000; Turner's, on State and Kinzie, $50,000; Wright's, opposite last named 
block, $30,000; Wicker's, State and South Water street, $60,000; Boone's, on La Salle, near 
Washington, $15,000; the Commercial, on La Salle and Lake, $50,000; Link's, on opposite 
corner, $60,000; Marine bank, on opposite corner, $75,000; Magie's, southwest corner La 
Salle and Randolph, $50,000; Major's, on La Salle and Madison, $150,000; the Mercantile, 
on La Salle, near Washington, $100,000; the Phoenix, on La SaUe, near Randolph, $40,000; 
Republic Life Insurance building, on La Salle and Arcade court, $350,000; Steele's, on La 
Salle and South Water streets, $60,000; Tyler's, near Steele's, $55,000; the Union, on La 
Salle and Washington, $120,000; Bowen's, on Randolph, near Michigan avenue, $200,000; 
the Depository, on Randolph, near La Salle; McCormick's, Randolph and Dearborn, $100,000; 
Scammon's, on Randolph and Michigan avenue, $130,000; Lloyd's, Randolph and Wells, 
$100,000; Burch's, on Lake, near Wabash, $120,000; Cobb's. Lake and Michigan, $180,000; 
Exchange bank, Lake and Clark, $80,(MX); the Lincoln, on Lake and Franklin, $30,000; 
Calhoun's, on Clark, near Madison, $30,000; Dole's, on South Water and Clark, $30,000; 
Ewing's, on Clark, near Kinzie, $75,000; Larmon's. on Clark and Washington, $25,000; 
Loomis', on Clark and South Water, $30,000: Monroe's, on Clark and Monroe, $60,000; 
Morrison's, close by, $100,000; Morrison's, on Clark, near Washington, $40,000; Smith & 
Nixons', on Clark and Washington, $200,000; Purple's, on Clark and Ontario streets, 
$100,000; Uhlich's hall, on North Clark, $55,(MH); Chicago Mutual Life Insurance building, on 
Fifth avenue, near Washington, $30,000; Commercial Insurance Company's building, on Wash- 
ington, near La Salle, $40,000; Fullerton's, on Washington and Dearborn, $60,000; King's, 



118 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

opposite, $30,000; Mechanics', on Washington, near La Salle, $50,000; Portland, southeast 
corner Washington and Dearborn, $100,000; Volk's, on Washington, near Franklin, $15,000: 
Merchants Insurance Company's building, Washington and La Salle, $200,000; De Haven's, 
Dearborn, near Quincy, $35,000; Dickey's, Dearborn and Lake, $50,000; Masonic, on Dear 
born, near Washington, $50,000; Rice's, Dearborn, near Randolph, $100,000; Shepard's, on 
Dearborn, near Monroe, $80,000; Speed's, on Dearborn, near Madison, $50,000; Walker's, 
on Dearborn, near Couch place, $00,000; Kent's building, on Monroe, near La Salle; 
$55,000; Newberry's, on Wells and Kinzie, $50,000; Norton's, South Water street, near 
Fifth avenue, $25;()00; Newhouse's, on South 'Water street, near Fifth avenue, $(50,000 ; Pom- 
eroy's, on South Water, near La Sallo, $30,000; Sand's brewery, $100,000, and the City 
National bank, $50,000. 

One of the two large Illinois Central grain elevators was saved from the tire fiend. When 
the flames wore licking up the other a tire engine, intended for the fire department of Beloit. 
Wis., was seen standing on a flat car. An employe of the eastern manufacturer volunteered 
to assist in unloading it, and subsequently got it in readiness for work. The Chicago fire 
men attached the hose, and by taking suction from the lake, supplied the uninvited but wel 
come guest with enough water to drown the flames which had already attacked the belling 
inside the door. This groat elevator building was saved and the engine, which was the means 
of saving it, was purchased by the lessees J. and E. Buckingham, the people of Beloit assent- 
ing. The municipal losses in the tiro of 1871 were as follows: 

City hall and furniture $470,000 Damage to street pavements 211,350 

Machine shops and machinery (water-works) 25,500 Damage to sidewalks 94 1 ,.'!si ) 

Engine-house and machinery " 75,000 Damage to river tunnels (i,000 

Reservoirs 20,000 Damage to lamp posts 8;>,000 

Stopping leaks 15,000 Damage to public docks (i,000 

Repairing fire hydrants 10,000 Removing hulls from river 7,800 

Repairing meters 6,000 Loss on records, maps, etc 5ii.Hl ill 

Loss in pumping waste water 97,410 Loss on city offices 4(Hl,(iO(i 

Damage to sewerage 42,000 

Loss on bridges and viaducts 204,310 Total estimated city loss ,f 2,080,s:><; 

The county lost courthouse and all the public buildings; but the heaviest loss was that 
of the records, a calamity which has cost the people of city and county large annual expen- 
ditures. 

One of the heaviest losers by the tire was the Catholic diocese of Chicago. Many elegant 
church and school buildings, valued at over $2,000,000, went down in the conflagration. 
The Church of the Holy Name, northeast corner State and Superior streets, I ( ,)(>x75 feet, 
which cost $300,000; the residence, No. 148 Cass street, which cost over (5,000; the 
two school buildings cost $24,000; St. Mary's, corner of Madison and Wabash, 1 10x50 feet, 
cost $40,000; the church of the Immaculate Conception, North Franklin street, near Schiller. 
110x50 feet, with residence cost $25,000; and the school building $12,000; St. Michael's 
church, Linden and Hurlbut streets, 200x80, cost $200,000; St. Rose of Lima; St. Joseph's 
church, Cass and Chicago avenue, l:{0.\55 feet, cost $100,000; St. Louis church, Sherman 



THE m r ILIUM: ISTEUKXT*. 119 

in-ill- Polk street, 110x41) feet, cost $10,000, and the school buildings, $5,000; St. Paul's 
church, Clinton and Mather streets, 100x40 feet, with residence cost $'20,000, and the school 
buildings, $5,000; the Christian Brothers' academy, corner of Van Buren street and Fourth 
avenue, cost $80,000; St. Francis Xavier's academy of the Sisters of Mercy, on Wabash, 
south of St. Mary's church, with House of Pro vidence)\ cost $120,000; Convent of Notre 
Dame, adjoining St. Michael's church; the Redemptorist convent, 190 Church street, with 
large parish school, cost $32,(XK); the Benedictine monastery and the Benedictine convent and 
schools, Cass and Chicago avenue, cost $51,000; the Alexian Brothers' hospital, 540 North 
Franklin street, cost S40,(W)0; the Orphan asylum, Superior and State streets, cost $30,000; 
the House of the Good Shepherd, North Market near Division street, cost $80,000; the House 
of Providence, 301 Huron street, under the Sisters of Charity, $4,000; the Bishop's palace 
on Michigan avenue and Madison street, cost $40, OCX). 

The church buildings of Protestant congregations destroyed were: North Baptist, north- 
east corner of Chicago and Dearborn avenues; Olivet Baptist, colored, Fourth avenue, south 
of Polk, now part of Dearborn depot; Swedish Baptist, 10 and 12 Oak street; North Star 
Baptist, corner of Division and Sedgwick streets; Mariners' Bethel, Michigan street, near 
Market; New England Congregational, corner White and Dearborn; Lincoln Park Congrega- 
tional, corner Center avenue and Church street; Church of Our Savior, English Episcopal, 
corner Lincoln and Belmont avenues; Church of the Ascension, English Episcopal, corner 
La Salle and Elm streets; St. Ansgarius, Swedish Episcopal, corner of Indiana and North 
Franklin; St. James, English Episcopal, corner Cass and Huron streets; Trinity, English 
Episcopal, Jackson, between Wabash and Michigan avenues; Trinity mission, English Epis- 
copal; Second Evangelical church; Cooper's Independent church; Free Evangelical; 
English Lutheran church, Ontario street; First German Evangelical Lutheran; St. Paul's 
German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity; First German United Evangelical Lutheran; Paul's 
Illinois Street Independent mission; Jewish church of the north side; Kehilath Benai, 
Wabash avenue and Peck court; Bnag-Sholon (Jewish), corner Harrison and Fourth avenue; 
Sinai congregation, corner Van Buren and Third avenue; First Methodist, 008 North La 
Salle street; Wabash Avenue Methodist (scorched), corner of Harrison street; Grace Method- 
ist, northeast corner of Chicago avenue and La Salle street; Grant Place Methodist, corner 
of Larrabee street; Dixon Street Methodist, near North avenue; Van Buren Street German 
Mt-thodist, near Clark street; Clybourne Avenue German Methodist, 51 Clybourne avenue; 
First Scandinavian Methodist, 33 Illinois street; Grace Scandinavian Methodist; Huron Street 
Bethel : Bethel African Methodist and Quinn's African Methodist. Among others were the 
lirst Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran, corner of Erie and Franklin streets; Swedish Evan 
gelical Lutheran; First Presbyterian, corner of Wabash avenue between Congress and Van 
Buren streets: Second Presbyterian, corner of Wabash avenue and Washington street; 
Fourth Presbyterian, corner of Cass and Indiana streets; Westminster Presbyterian; Fuller- 
ton Avenue Presbyterian, near North Clark street; North Presbyterian; Orchard Street Pres- 
byterian; Presbyterian mission; Erie Street Presbyterian; Burr Presbyterian; Tammany 



120 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Hall mission; Bremer Street Independent mission; Newsboys' Independent mission and home; 
Swedeuborgiaii Temple of the New Jerusalem, Adams street between Wabash and Michigan 
avenues; North Swedenborgiau mission, junction of La Salle and North Clark streets; Unita- 
rian Church of the Messiah (R. L. Collier's), corner of Wabash avenue and Hubbard court; 
Unity church (Robert Collyer's), corner of North Dearborn and Whitney streets; St. Paul's 
Universalist, corner of Wabash avenue and Van Buren street; First Scandinavian Congrega- 
tional church, corner of Indiana and Michigan streets. 

The school buildings destroyed were: Dearborn, on Madison west of State street; Jones, 
on the corner of Harrison and Clark streets; Kinzie, on corner of Ohio and La Salle; Franklin, 
on corner of Division and Sedgwick; Ogden, on Chestnut street west of North State street; 
Newberry (scorched), on corner of Orchard and Willow streets; Pearson Street Primary, on 
corner Pearson and Market; Elm Street Primary, on corner of Elm and Rush; North Branch 
Primary; La Salle Street Primary, north of North avenue between La Salle and Clark streets; 
Third Avenue Primary, between Third and Fourth avenues, near Twelfth street; First 
Lutheran school, First United German Lutheran school, St. Paul's Second and Third school, 
Italian school, German and English school. 

The hospitals destroyed were the Women and Children's Protestant Deaconess' hospital, 

United States Marine hospital, Jewish hospital, Newsboys and Bootblacks' home; Nursery 

and Half Orphan asylum, corner Wisconsin and Franklin streets; St. Paul's Presbyterian 

Orphan asylum; Charitable Eye and Ear infirmary, 10 East Pearson street; Small-pox hos- 

' pital, North avenue on lake shore and the hospitals and orphanages of the Catholic diocese. 

The Wabash Avenue Methodist church, erected in 1857, was the only building left 
standing, October 9, 1871, on the west side of the avenue, north of Harrison street. Therein 
the Chicago postoffice was established December 9, 1871. As if regretting its neglect to 
destroy this building, the fire-tiend returned in July, 1874, and burned it up. 

The O'Leary cottage escaped destruction and remained for some years, until torn down 
to give place to the stone front building of Anton Kolar. In 1881 a marble slab was placed 
in this stone front with the following inscription: 

The Great Fire of 1871 

Originated here and extended to Lincoln Park. 
Chicago Historical Society, 1881. 

Mahlon D. Ogden's frame dwelling on the square, bounded by Oak street, I)carlx)rn 
avenue, Clark street and Washington square, was saved through the efforts of neighbors. 
The little frame house of Policeman Bellinger, between Sophia street and Webster avenue, 
on Lincoln place, was saved by the owner. The walls of the new Nixon block on Monroe 
and La Salle, and those of the Lind block on Market street, withstood the tire. The former, 
owing to its stone and brick walls, protected joists, and the latter, owing to its isolated position. 
The walls of a few other buildings, such as the First National bank and the postoffice. on 
the northwest corner of Dearborn and Monroe, while damaged, were not rendered useless. In 
the case of the jstotKce, they had to be taken down in lofo. to make way for the First 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 121 

National bank building in 1882. The Illinois Central elevator, hitherto noticed, was saved, 
owing to the presence of a tire engine and the location of the building near the water. 

The Engineering and Mining Journal published in October, 1871, drew attention to the 
dangers of frame or non-tireproof buildings, while the American Railway Times suggested 
the application of the French system of fireproofing. The first named journal pointed out 
the fact that occasional fireproof buildings cannot protect even their own occupants, where 
dangerous accumulations of combustible materials are permitted in the neighborhood; that 
people cannot shut themselves up in their massive palaces and safely ignore the frame tene- 
ment houses in the next block. In closing a well written editorial the Journal says: " Chi- 
cago will rise again. She cannot surpass in her second youth the glory of her first. We 
look to see not greater splendor in her chief buildings, but greater solidity and security in her 
meanest ones." When the above was written no man conceived Chicago of the present. True, 
the great west division of the city was comparatively unscorched, and came into use and notice 
October 9, 1871. The writer in the Journal considered only the south and north divisions 
in his editorial, and, as shown, he seemed pleased with the form and arrangement of the 
houses, while displeased only with the material used in their construction. Even he never slept 
to dream of the changes in material and architecture which a few years would introduce, and 
could not look forward twenty years to see fireproofing methods applied to the homes of the 
people as well as to the large business blocks and noble public buildings. 

The fire of October 8-9, 1871, destroyed 20,000 buildings. It spread over an area of 
2,100 acres, deprived 100,000 people of their homes, entailed a loss of over $19(),0(X),000, 
and blasted the foundations on which thousands had built hopes for a competence in 
their old age. It was disastrous to thousands it was beneficial to other thousands and of 
incalculable benefit to the community as a whole. Like the Revolution, the injury to a few 
resulted in freedom to over 62,()(Kt,000, and wrought changes, the material worth of which 
can never be measured, can never be estimated. 

A city went down in flames to give place to a greater city, and to introduce, as it were, 
a new race of workers, of builders, of architects. Among the members of the architects' 
circle who shared in designing this city after the fire, were W. L. B. Jenney, G. P. Ran- 
dolph & Co., S. M. Randolph, J. W. Ackerman, Armstrong & Egan, Wheelock & Thomas, 
John M. Van Osdel & Co., Otto H. Matz, E. S. Jennison, Cochrane & Miller, W. W. Boying- 
ton, Burling, Adler & Co., Cleveland & French, Carter, Drake & Wight, G. H. Edbrooke, 
Dixon & Hamilton, De Forest & Fisher, A. J. Kinney, R. Rose, S. V. Shipman & Co., Smith 
& Boynton, Cyrus Thomas, Austin & Llandon, Barton & Treadwell, G. Zucker, York & Ross, 
Tilley & Longhurst, Treat & Foltz, Henry L. Moore, Henry L. Gay, George O. Garnscy, 
VV. A. Furber, J. Clifford, Robert Schmid, T. V. Wadskier, William Arend, J. R. Willott, 
Payne & Gray, L. G. Laureau, Merriam & Street, Falkner, Floyd & Clark, William W. 
Brand, Chaplin & Sage, Bolton & Sickel, S. F. Steward, S. P. Russell, John Tully, C. A. Al.-x 
ander, F. & E. Baunian, Bauer & Loebnitz, Fred. W. Wolf. L. C. Welch, James Berrian, J. 
K. Winchell, George H. Johnson, W. H. Phelps, J. R. Neff, O. G. Smith, Richard C. Blum, 



\ 



122 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Victor Roy, Stillburg <& Dennis, Tully & Osborne, J. H. Bigelow, Cass Chapman, C. O. 
Hanson, Horsey & Sheard, Theo. Karls, H. S. Jaffray, Cudell & Blumenthal, B. & W. C. 
Corlies, John Wierbienisc, J. S. Johnson, Hodson & Brown, C. H. Gottig, W. G. Olive, G. 
W. Osborue, L. D. Cleavelaud, A. L. Robb, H. Van Lagen, Copeland & Weary, Geast, John- 
son & Co., Dillenburg, C. W. Laing, H. Meissner, Myer Goldsmith, G. M. Howks, William 
Thomas, Roger & Lyon, C. M. Palmer, O. H. Placey, H. Rehwoldt, and a host of younger 
men acting independently or under the direction of the older architects. The old architects 
vied with the new in designing truly and, within a year or two, gave to the south division, 
north of Van Buren street, many pieces of architecture, in stone and brick, worthy of the 
oldest and most prosperous American community of the time. 

The tire of October 8-9, 1871, while originating in the west division, damaged only a 
part of that poorly built portion east of Jefferson street, lying between De Koven and Adams. 
Before a year had passed over, eighty-eight substantial brick or stone-front buildings and 
107 frame houses occupied the places of the rickety structures of the past on the west side. 

On Clinton street, No. 261, Collins & Burgie's stove factory, a four-story brick, was erected 
at a cost of $80,000; LowenthaPs store, on the southwest corner of Canal and Van Buren 
streets, $15,000; the Townsend building, 41 to 67 Van Buren, was built at a cost of $00,000 
to a height of two stories, the material used being Milwaukee pressed brick; the three- 
story brick house at 400 and 402 Canal street cost $20,000; the buildings of Soper & 
Brainard, on Taylor and Beach streets, cost $137,500. The Chicago & Alton Railroad 
Company's offices at the viaduct, on Van Buren, cost $50,000, and their freight house, 
$80,000; the Union Star Line freight house, on Van Buren and Canal, cost $25,000; 
Muller's coal office, on Van Buren and Charles streets, $20,000; Aultman's warehouse, 
on Mather and Beach streets, $15,000; buildings on the southeast corner of Canal and 
Polk streets, $12,300; Burkhardt's excelsior machine shop, on the opposite corner, $10,- 
000; Keeley's building, 209 to 301 Canal street, $15,000; the Frank Douglass block, on 
Canal near Van Buren, $20,000; the W. A. Jones block, 273 and 275 Canal street, $10,IHH>; 
the N. W. Horse Nail Company's building, Van Buren- and Clinton Streets, $15,000; 
Armour's meat market, on Jackson from Canal to Clinton streets, $60,000; O'Malley's build- 
ing, on the southeast corner of Jackson and Clinton streets, $20,000; L. H. Hunt's furniture 
factory, $15,000, and Mayer & Co.'s, on Clinton near Harrison street, $18,000. A few smaller 
brick houses were erected during the year and a number of large frame stores and dwellings. 

From October 10 to November 24, 1871, there were 318 permanent stone and brick 
buildings erected in the south division, showing a frontage of 3^ miles, or 17,715 feet. Of 
this total, buildings were erected on the several streets equal to the number set opposite the 
street names in the following list: 

River street 7 Monroe street 26 Polk street 1 La Salle street 4 

South Water street 12 Adams street 2 Michigan avenue .... 8 Fifth avenue 6 

Lake street 10 Quincy street 1 Wabash avenue 17 Franklin street 9 

Kaudolph street (i Jackson street 1 State street 24 Market street 3 

\\asliiiiirtonstreet 6 Van Buren street.. .. 1 Dearborn street Miscellaneous 21 

Madison street 29 Harrison street 2 Clark street l(i Total . . 318 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 123 

The Tribune of October 25, 1871, in its notes on progress, refers to the architectural 
difference between the Old and the New Chicago. "A condition of enforced economy and a 
determination to secure massive permanency at the expense of elegant ornamentation, 
brought about an almost uniform plainness main walls of the imcertain-colored brick, com- 
mon to the Chicago of 1871, fronts of red or white pressed brick, or of the painted and 
pointed style, the trimmings of stone or iron and the cornices chiefly of brick. This excess- 
ively plain style, however, only obtains in the buildings now under way. The leading 
architects are perfectly swamped with plans for more elaborate structures, to be commenced 
early in the spring, so that the present is hardly the time to speculate on the appearance of 
Chicago, when rebuilt." 

The first office or business house erected after the fire, in the burnt district, was that 
built by W. D. Kerfoot outside the curb line of No. 89 Washington street, between Clark 
and Dearborn, in the forenoon of October 10, 1871. By October 19, the site of the old 
office-building was cool enough to permit the order for the removal of the temporary house to 
a i>oint behind the building line, to be carried out This was a board shed with two twelve- 
pane windows and a door of the usual size. 

The building permits issued from October 10 to October 26, 1871, for the erection of 
permanent brick and stone houses in the burnt district, form an historical list which 
the present as well as the future must value. The builders must be considered the pioneers 
of modern Chicago: 

I). Knowlton, Carroll street, lots 20, 21, 22, block 59, original town. 

James Ahern, Wells street, lot 3, block 101, school section. 

E. K. Rogers, Hiver street, sub-lots 1 and 3 and lot 3, block 1, Ft. Dearborn addition. 

J. C. Walter, Hiver street, lot 1, block 2, Ft. Dearborn addition. 

James C'lark. Market street, Nn. s.'i. 

K. S. Fowler, C'lark street, No. 77. 

J. C. Walter, Clark street, No. 79. 

Matt. Laflin, State street, Nos. 40, 42, 44, 46, 45, 47, 49. 

Matt. Latlin. Wabash avenue, Nos. 21,23, 25, 27, 29, 81, 33, 35. 

Matt. Latlin. Hiver street. No. 87. 

J. W. Morton, Hubbard court, adjoining 381 State street. 

Thomas Mac-kin, lots 15, 16, 17, block 42, school section, Dearborn street. 

Matt. LaHin, Washington street, Nos. 1, 2, 3. 

E. Inglis, Clinton street, lots 10 and 7, block 78, original town. 
I!. <;. Koodell. Clark street, No. 77. 

Freil Tuttle, Michigan avenue, Nos. 143 and 155. 

J. II. Hees it Whitney, Michigan avenue, lot 4, block 4, fractional section 15. 

Charles F. Berg. Lake street, lot 16, block 23, Carpenter's addition. 

C. <;. Smith. South Water street, lot 20, original town. 

A. C. Wood. Franklin street, lot 1, block 31, original town. 

<;. C. trussing. State street. Nos. 337, 339, 341, block 11, fractional section 15. 

A. (jr. Wright. Monroe street, No. 100. 

A. E. Bishop. Washington street, sub-lots 4, 5, 6, 7 of lots 7 and 10, block 46, original town. 

Edward Hunt, Michigan avenue, lot 4, block 4, fractional section 15. 

F. Tuttle. State street, Nos. :>8, 60 and 62. 
F. Tuttle, Lake street. No. 43. 

<;. S. Bullock. Wabash avenue, lot 10. block 17. Smith's addition. 
K. Blanchard. Clark street. No. 132. 



124 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 



W. Hansburgh, La Salle street, lots 5 and 6, block 56, original town. 

E. N. Blake, Clinton street, sub-lots 8 and 9, lots 2 and 3, block 28, original town. 

J. S. Kirk, N. Water street, Nos. 358, 360 and 362. 

S. B. Howes, Michigan avenue, lot 10, block 26, section 27. 

S. B. Howes, Twenty-second street, lot 1, block 4, section 27. 

E. S. Pike, Monroe street, lots 3 and 4, block 141, school section. 

.1. B. Rice, Dearborn street, Nos. 75, 77, 81. 

Andrew Boltou, Will street, lot 1, block 99, school section. 

M. Greenebanm, N. Union street, lots 34 and 35, block 65, original town. 

A. H. Gannon, Clinton street, sub-lot 7, lot 2, block 28, original town. 
Z. Morrison, Clark street, lot 3, block 57, original town. 

C. Jevne, Halsted street, sub-lots 4 and 5, lots 19, 20 and 25, block (iS, original town. 

P. Schuttler, C'linton street, lot 1, block 49, school section. 

C. II. Quinlan, Clark street, Nos. 81 and 83. 

C. H. Quinlan, Washington street, Nos. 218 and 220. 

.1. F. Lemoyne, Clinton street, sub-lots 1 and 2, lots 1 and 4, block 27, original town. 

Mrs. A. Young, Wells street, lot 1, block 90, school section. 

Henry S. Chase, South Water street, No. 139. 

C. Growl, Jefferson street, lot 1, block 45, school section. 

W. Gunning, Wabash avenue, Nos. 666 and 668. 

M. Heath, Randolph street, Nos. 170 and 172. 

Bowen Bros., Michigan avenue, Nos. 124, 125 and 126. 

George H. Itapp, Van Bureu street, No. 166. 

T. S. Fitch, Dearborn street, Nos. 163 and 165. 

Henry Kiss, Monroe street, Nos. 205 and 207. 

Alex. Bishop, Wabash avenue, No. 458. 

Henry Greenebaum, Lake street, lot 1, block 31, original town. 

C. G. Wicker, South Water street, Nos. 82, 84, 86 and 88. 

E. W. Morrison, Clark street, Nos. 113, 115 and 117. 

E. W. Morrison, Madison street, Nos. 131, 133, 151 and 153. 

R. Lancaster, Van Bureu street, lots 2 and 5, block 138. school section. 

Henry Greenebaum, Fifth avenue, Nos. 7(i, 78, 80 and 82. 

W. Norton, Washington street, No. 31. 

J. B. Bodell, Calumet avenue, block 64, section 27. 

R. S. Feldkamp, Clark street, Nos. 392 and 394. 

W. H. Carter, Van Buren street, sub-lots 5 and 6, lot 1, block 10, fractional section 15. 

W. Wisendolf, Michigan street, No. 111. 

Anton Arado, Illinois street, Nos. 68, 72, 74 and 76. 

B. F. Walker, Madison street, lot 3, block 81, school section addition. 

J. Marsh, trustee Sherman estate, Randolph and Clark, lots 7 and 8, block M, original town. 
A. C. Lewis, Fifth avenue, Nos. Ill and 115. 

E. M. Phelps, Wabash avenue, Nos. 48 and 50. 

J. H. Dunham, State and South Water streets, Nos. 81 and S3. 

J. K. Botsford, Lake and Dearborn, Nos. !)> and '.14. 

Barker, Pike <fc Brown, 100 feet on Van Huron and 100 feet on Franklin. 

H. O. Stone, State street, lot 2, block 16, assessor's addition. 

L. J. McCormick, South Water street, Nos. 01, 63 and 65. 

J. Jones, .Michigan avenue, Nos. 243 and L'4."i. 

S. J. McCormick, Lake and Wabash, No. 150. 

J. H. Reid, Lake street, Nos. 30 and 32. 

J. C 1 . McCormick, Dearborn street, No. 180. 

J. C. McCormick, Lake street, Nos. 19 and 21. 

J. C. McCormick, Clark and Washington. 

C. McCormick, Lake street, Nos. 4, 6 and 8. 

F. A. Jensch, Wells street, Nos. 121 to 124. 

Ki.-l.l Jc Leiter, Market street, sub-lots 3 and 4, lot 2, block 53, original town. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 125 

G. L. Zella, Clark street, No. 215. 

L. Wunderle, Wells street, No. 126. 

G. F. Bissell, La Salle street, No. 49. 

M. Keeley, Canal street, Nos. 2!KI and 301. 

C'. Esenderf, Wells street, No. 00. 

George Smith, Market street, north half of lots 5 and G, block 31, original town. 

L. G. Stockton, Market street, lots 11 and 12, block 84, school section. 

('. B. Brown, King.sbury street. 

Thomas Louigan, Clark street, Nos. 14 and 16. 

W. E. Richardson, Monroe street, Nos. 151 and 153. 

I). Rosseter, Randolph street, lots 1, 2, 7 and 8, block 37, original town. 

S. Sawyer, Washington street, north half of lot 1, block 30, original town. 

J. E. Otis, State street, Nos. 132 and 134. 

1). Buttner, Clark street, No. 198. 

John Fettle. Michigan street, Nos. 00 and 62. 

Charles Hallenberg, Michigan street, No. 64. 

W. J. Morton, Franklin street, sub-lots G and 7, lot 1, block 53, original town. 

J. W. Stotz, Illinois street, lots 20 and 21, block 5, B. W. & W. addition. 

F. A. Waldin, River street, lot 22, block 4, Ft. Dearborn addition. 

Mrs. A. George, W. Indiana street, lots 27 and 28, block 17, section 7. 

John Steuson, State street, No. 164. 

Peter White, N. State street, lot 7, block 5, H. O. Stone's addition. 

The Henry Fuller building, 9 to 13 River street, was commenced in October, 1871, 
before the bricks of the old building were cold, and was the first permanent constructive work 
of the new city. It was a three-story brick business block, erected at a cost of $ 18,(XM). 
The J. B. Drake block, on Wabash avenue and Washington street, on the site of the old one, 
five-story, 120x80, cost $150,000; C. H. McCormick's, 40x180, five stories, on Michigan ave- 
nue south of Madison street, where the Burch block stood; C. H. McCormick's, northwest 
corner of Lake street and Michigan avenue, 64^x120, five stories, cost 1100,000; also his two 
stores, 30x180, five stories, at 19 and 21 Lake street, cost $60,000; also his building on soiith- 
east corner of Randolph and (Nos. 55 to 73) Dearborn streets, 80x102, five stories, cost 
$150,000, and a similar building, Reaper block, Clark and Washington streets, 100x80 feet, 
Mansard roof, $200,000. The Couch heirs authorized the construction of a five-story build- 
ing, 71 and 73 Lake street, to cost $50,000; a five- story house, 80x100 feet, on South Water 
and (2 to' 14) La Salle streets, cost $50,000, and one 80x150 at 153 to 159 South Water 
between Clark and La Salle streets, cost $50,000. The Tremont, 160 feet front (Nos. 23 to 
:')'.() mi Dearborn street and 180 (Nos. 79 to 93) on Lake street, five stories, on the site of the 
old hotel, was also commenced; Hall & Ayres' block, on Lake street and Michigan avenue, 
wa.s ordered to be built on the plan of the old house; G. E. Walker issued similar orders in 
relation to the Oriental four-story house, Nos. 120 to 124 La Salle street, cost $120,000; the 
Insurance Exchange, four-story, between La Salle and Clark streets, on the Arcade, was 
rebuilt by the Republic Life Insurance Company without the mansard roof at a cost of 
$173,000. On the northeast corner of State and Lake streets the Fred Tattle building 
was commenced. The building of the Palmer house (163 to 185) State and Monroe streets, 
254x248 feet, was resumed at once, as the plans were saved by J. M. Van Osdel; the estimated 
cost was #'2.5(M).IMM). Architect Wadskier designed the Philo It. King building at 155 to 



126 INDUSTRIAL CHICAOO: 



159 Clark street, to be built four stories, with Kankakee stone front, for $35,000; Dr. L. S. 
Major rebuilt the Major block on the plan of the old house at a cost of 9150,000; Bueiia Vista 
stone was used for the front on 137 to 151 La Salle street. The Andrews block, four sto- 
ries, adjoining the Major block, 151 and 153 La Salle street, was commenced soon after 
by Martin Andrews to cost $45,000, followed by the three-story Cleaver building on Wabash 
avenue south of Van Buren street, the Bowen marble block on Michigan avenue and Madison 
street, the J. H. Reed building on the northeast corner of Wabash avenue and Lake street, 
the Chamber of Commerce on Washington and La Salle streets, and the great hotels. 

The site of Bryan hall or Hooley's theatre was piirchased after the tire of J871 by John 
A. Hamlin, and he erected thereon the Grand Opera house. This building was then looked 
upon as one of the masterpieces of Chicago architecture. 

The second building, erected for the Board of Trade, was begun immediately after the 
fire and completed October 9, 1872. It now forms the lower floors of the great modern office 
building known as the Chamber of Commerce. It bore the same relation to the Chicago of 
1872-80 that the former building did to the Chicago of 1865-71, and a far higher relation 
than its thirteen -story successor does to the Chicago of to-day. 

Prior to October 24 the temporary frame business buildings on the lake shore (extend- 
ing one mile along the Lake Front park) were verging on completion, and on the 23d J. W. 
Doane & Co. opened their store in one of them. The erection of wooden buildings through- 
out the west division was carried on indefatigably against the protest of ordinance observers. 
On October 20, 1871, the owners of property on Washington street between Dearborn and Clark 
streets resolved to rebuild in first-class style, to use stone fronts, and build on sound architect- 
ural principles. This resolution was carried in the face of the fact that workmen who 
received $1.50 per day before the fire struck that morning for $2.50 per day. 

The Michigan avenue of 1871, south of Madison street, bore to Chicago of that day a 
much higher plane than the beautiful boulevard of the present does to the city of the present. 
It had no competitor. There the greater number of those, to whom old Chicago offered the 
opportunity of picking up the dollars from trade, medicine, law, journalism or town lots, 
entrenched themselves, and some gave liberally of their new fortunes to improve the street. 
The tire of 1871 swept away the entrenchments; but before the smoke ceased curling from 
the ruins, the rebuilding was commenced. The Gardner house, a six-story building with 
Philadelphia pressed brick front and iron roof, was completed within twelve months after the 
fire, the Hale & Ayer, and Hall & Kimbark, five story stone buildings, Nos. 74 to 84, cost 
$150,000; the Illinois Central Railroad Company's four-story brick, No. 58, cost $45,000; 
the George Armour block, a five story pressed brick, Nos. 94 to 100, cost $80,000; A. B. 
Smith's four-story brick, Nos. 40 to 50, cost $40,000, and a similar building, Nos. 30 to 34, 
cost $30,000. William M. Hoyt erected his $70,000 five story brick on the site of Fort Dear 
born, Nos. 3, 5, 7 and 9. Howe & Kerfoot built their $35,000 block, Nos. 31 to 35 ; the Matteson 
six-storv brick building, Nos. 45 and 47, cost $30,000; Sprague, Warner & Co.'s Milwaukee 
brick block, Nos. 49 to 55, cost $50,000, the A. C. Honore, five-story brick, corner of Adams 



TUB BUILDING INTERESTS. 127 

street, cost $60,000; a four-story brick close by, cost $35,000, while other buildings ranged 
from $5,000 to $18,000; such as those at No. 189, which cost $5,000; Nos. 13 and 15, and 
No. 208, $18,000 each; Nos. 144 and 146, cost $8,000. 

Up to 1867 Wabash avenue, south of Madison, was a residence street. North of Mad- 
ison large business houses were the rule. In 1868 the tendency of commerce to creep south- 
ward" was evident, and dwelling after dwelling gave place to mercantile buildings within 
the period of twelve months from the date of the fire. 

The leading building of all erected on this street in 1872, was the five-story stone, 
151x148 feet, Nos. 85 to 107, built for Peter Page, at a cost of $300,000. It was occupied 
in January, 1873, by the millinery firm of D. B. Fisk & Co. The Matteson house, a five- 
story cut-stone building, Nos. '236 to 242, was erected in 1872, at a cost of $200,000; the J. 
B. Drake five-story stone, Nos. 96 to 104, cost $150,000; Aiken's three-story mansard roofed 
theatre, 150x80, cost $150,000; the Doane five story building, Nos. 29 to 43, known as "the 
Grocer's block," constructed of pressed brick, cost $160,0* X). Begun in February, 1872, it 
must be considered the pioneer of the massive buildings on Wabash. Burdick & Mead's five- 
story stone, Nos. 200 and 202, 80x172 feet, cost $125,(H)0; the five -story stone buildings, Nos. 
79 to 85, cost $130,000; the five-story marble building, Nos. Ill to 115, cost $1(X),000; the 
four-story stone, Nos. 244 to 252, cost >> 100,000; Peck Brothers' five-story stone, Nos. 72 and 
74, cost $100,000; the Milwaukee brick front five-story building, Nos. 56 to 62, cost $100,- 
000; the four-story brick, Nos. 2 to 12, $90,000; the Ballard block, Nos. 163 and 165, a five- 
story iron front, cost $100,000; the five-story stone, Nos. 196 and 198, cost $75,(K)0; the High 
five-story brick and brown stone, Nos. 80 to 82, cost $75,000; the Raw & Eowe building, 
Nos. 140 to 146, a five-story stone, cost $75,000; the Thatcher, Nos. 114 and 116, a five-story 
stone, cost $70,000; the Marquette five-story stone building, Nos. 48 and 50, cost $70,000; the 
Durand Brothers' building adjoining on the north, cost $65,000; the. four-story building, Nos. 
280 to 288, cost $75,000; the Averill block, four-story brick, Nos. 274 to 278, cost $75,000; 
Steine's Milwaukee brick five-story building, Nos. 64 and 66, cost $60,000; while the four-story 
brick of Ira P. Bowen, Nos. 258 to 264, the four-story stone of Giles Brothers, 266 to 268, 
the four-story stone building of O. S. Hough, Nos. 358 to 360, the five-story stone. Nos. 75 
and 77, and the Ryder four-story stone, Nos. 267 and 269, cost $60,(XX) each, as also the 
Inter Oceanic block, a five-story Milwaukee brick building, erected by J. Y. Scammon, Nos. 
310 to 316. The $50,000 buildings erected in 1871-2, are the Couch five-story stone, Nos. 
68 and 70, the McGinnis four-story stone, corner of Adams street; the four-story stone, Nos. 
220 to 224; the Hanford five-story pressed-brick house, Nos. 1 to 11; the Homer marble 
(Crestline) building, No. 235; the Walsh four-story brick, Nos. 251 and 253, and the Pierc.- 
four-story iron front, No. 335 and 337. Four buildings, ranging in value from 35,0110 to 
$45,000 were constructed within the year Lord & Smith's six-story iron front. No. 86; the 
five-story stone, Nos. 349 and 351 : the Scammon four-story brick, Nos. 263 and 205: the four 
story stone and iron front, Nos. 259 and 261; the four-story stone, Nos. 227 and 229, and 
Jaeger's live story Marquette stone building. No. <3. 



128 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

At No. 213, a four-story stone, costing $25,000 was constructed; Wizard's four-story 
brick, Nos. 318 and 320, cost a like amount; Judge Fuller's six-story Joliet stone building, 
No. 84, and the five-story stone, Nos. 254 and 256, cost each $30,000. The three-story brick 
Lewis house, and a few smaller buildings were in progress at the close of 1872. 

The buildings Nos. 320 to 358, Wabash avenue, were not hurried. The Wright building, 
on the site of the Second Presbyterian church, Nos. 86 to 94, was not begun in 1872. 

The State street of ante-flammam days, while open through the prairie south of Twenty- 
second, was only known as a business street north of Monroe. For a few years before the 
fire State street contested with Lake street for supremacy, and the battle was still carried on 
when the great fire came to destroy all distinctions and make way for new beginnings. 

The work on the stone and iron hotel building, of Potter Palmer, on Monroe and State, 
begun before the fire, was resumed, and this $2,500,000 house was among the first to be com- 
pleted. The Singer Machine Co.'s building, Nos. 85 to 97, a seven-story stone house, was 
completed at a cost of 1500,000, to be rented to Field, Leiter & Co.; the Hale, Fisher & 
Emerson building, Nos. 99 to 107, cost $155,000, and the Hale & Fisher, five-story stone 
building, Nos. 75 to 79, cost $70,000 the three being designed by E. S. Jennison. Dr. 
Judson's five-story, iron-front building, No. Ill, and Keep Bros.' four-story stone front, 
Nos. 51 to 57 cost, each, $60,000. The Williams & Ferry building, Nos. 113 and 115, 
and the Peter Page building, Nos. 117 and 119, five-story, Berea stone fronts, cost 
$100,000 each; the Sturgis block of white stone, Nos. 121 and 123, a like sum; the Gothic 
five-story Marquette brown stone front, Nos. 125 and 127 on State and Madison, erected for 
the Boyce estate, $150,000; the Tobey five-story stone front, Nos. 239 to 241, cost $100,000; 
Barckley & Wilk's building, four-story, iron and stone front, cost $30,000; the Joel Ellis, 
four-story brick, Nos. 265 to 271, cost $100,000; the Watson & King, four-story brick block, 
State and Van Buren streets, cost $85,000; the G. C. Pressing, four-story brick building, 
Nos. 337 and 339, cost $25,000; Edward Kimball's four-story stone front, No. 101, cost 
$50,000; Hadduck's building, Nos. 1 to 11, four-story brick, $30,000; Potter Palmer's seven- 
story building, No. 187, cost $30,000; N. P. Wilder's five-story brick, Nos. 47 and 49, $30.000; 
Legrand Burton's five-story brick, Nos. 43 and 45, $25,000; Eeed & Bushnell's, Nos. 137 
and 139, four-story stone, $30,000; A. Rawson's, Nos. 149 and 151, five-story stone, $50.000; 
William Burke's four-story stone, No. 203, $20,000, and P. O'Neil's block, Nos. 357 and 359, 
a four-story brick, cost $35,000; Wilson's Laundry, No. 297; N. E. Peterson's, No. 147; Wil- 
son's, No. 158; Donohue's, No. 155; Goodridge's. No. 157, Lincoln's, No. 159; H. O. Stone's 
No. 109, cost from $10,000 to $17,001), each. 

The First National Banking Company, the walls of whose building, Nos. 104 and 106, 
were left standing October 9, 1871, completed the five-story stone house in 1872, at a cost of 
$300,000; Potter Palmer's six-story stone front, Nos. 108 to 116, cost $200,000; G. W. Snow's 
four-story stone front, Nos. 262 to 276, cost $150,01)1); E. S. Pike's five-story skme front, Nos. 
166 to 1 72, cost $140,000; Springer's building, Nos. 64 to 72, four-story, cost $80,000; Mayneer's 
five-story stone front, Nos. 248 to 256 cost $S!),0 :); Coff'man & Andrews' four-story stone, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 129 

No. 308, cost $80,000; C. H. McCormick's five-story stone, Nos. 122 and 124, cost $60,000; 
John Trayner's five-story iron front, No. 182, cost $60,000; Otis, four-story stone building, 
Nos. 158 to 164, cost $50,000; Thomas Mackin's block, Nos. 138 to 144, cost $30,000; L. C. 
P. Freer's building (begun in 1872), Nos. 60 and 62, cost $60,000; George Smith's four-story 
stone front, Nos. 48 to 56 (begun in 1872), cost $60,000; M. Laflin's four-story brick Nos. 
40 to 46, cost $40,000; the Waller three-story stone building, Nos. 330 to 334, cost $50,000; 
the Madison four-story stone, Nos. 74 to 78, cost $30,000; J. C. Partridge's five-story stone 
block, Nos. 118 and 120, cost $40,000; E. S. Pike's four-story stone, Nos. 174 and 176, cost 
$30,(MX); Potter Palmer's five-story brown stone, No. 180, cost $28,(XK); Swartz's four-story 
stone, No. 136, cost $25,000; James E. Otis' four-story brick, Nos. 278 and 280, cost $25,000; 
A. J. Alexander's three- story stone, Nos. 286 to 290, cost $30, (KM); Smith Bros.' four-story stone, 
Nos. 292 and 294, cost $35,000; the Mandel Bros', building, northwest corner State and 
Harrison, cost $30,000; the four-story stone building, Nos. 296 to 304, cost $50,000; the De 
Koven, four-story brick, Nos. 16 to 22, cost $37,000; the W. H. Winston, four-story brick, 
Nos. 12 and 14, cost $25,000; the J. H. Dunham three-story brick block, Nos. 2 to 10, cost 
$17,000; Mrs. Cavanagh's four-story stone building, No. 148, cost $16,(MK); the two three- 
story and two four-story brick buildings, Nos. 150 to 156, cost from $8,000 to $12,000 each; 
the L. C. Maynard, four-story brick. No. 306, $15,(KX); the Parmlee, four-story brick, No. 310, 
and the Hubbard four-story brick, No. 312, $16,000 each; the Almini two-story stone, No. 
344, cost $10,500, and the Peiser two-story brick, No. 346, cost $8,000. A few wooden build- 
ings were erected in opposition to the ordinance. 

Dearlx>rn was from the beginning destined to be a short street, aud a popular one. Near 
the east line of the original town, it, in time, became the center of the business section in its 
whole length from the river to Jackson street, and was especially adapted for the location of 
bank, law, real-estate and newspaper offices. In 1869 the street was opened from Monroe 
to Jackson, to give frontage to the Bigelow house, as well as to the Honore block and the 
Sheppard block. The historic Tremont house was near its head, and the beautiful Honore 
block near its foot. The old McArdle house, the " old Salamander drug house," the Portland 
block, the Tribune, the Journal arid the Times buildings, the Real Estate Exchange and other 
very fair architectural attempts graced the street. The fire fiend even dreamt of sparing it 
on that terrible morning of October 9, 1871, but the flames returned to lick up the buildings. 
Before midnight Dearborn street was a ruin. 

The McCormick block, southeast corner of Dearborn and Randolph, was among the first to 
rise complete. This five-story stone building, 80x102 feet, cost 150,000; the King & Fuller- 
ton four-story Athens stone building, Nos. 88 to 98, cost $160,000; the Portland block, a five- 
story brick, with stone facings, cost the owner. P. C. Brooks, $300,000; the Speed building, 
Nos. 121 to 127, a four-story stone, cost $100,000; Kuhn's European hotel, Nos. 145 to 149, a 
I'm- story brick, cost S 125.1 KM); the Tribune five-story brown stone front, $100,000; the Ken- 
dall block. Nos. 1(X> to 110, a four-story stone, $100,000; the Journal four-story Cincinnati 
stone, resting on iron columns. SSO.OOO; (ho Fitch, nortlu-ast corner of Monroe and Dearborn, 



130 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 



),<M)0; the Peabody, Nos. 151 and 153, $60,000; the Manierre, No. 131, $75,000; the 
McCarthy, No. 97, $85,(HK); the Williams, Eice and Bryant blocks, costing about $80,000 
each; the Honore, southwest corner of Monroe, $400,000; the Honore, northwest corner 
Adams, $250,000; walls of post-office intact; the Fuller, $80,000; the Hawley, $100.000; 
the Dickey, $100,000; the Dickey & Manierre, the Rawson, the Bentley, the Cobb, the 
Smith, all $50,000, were erected, and the Tremont house. 

The Clark street of 1871 was to the city of 1871 what State street is to the city of the 
present day. It was a street of miscellaneous buildings, peoples and trades; the extremes of 
good and bad jostled against each other in the day-time, and the extremes of bad at night. 
Hovels stood in the shadow of the great brick block, the saloon adjoined a dry-goods or jewelry 
store, and the language of the tragedy or comedy or the music of the song and dance were 
mixed up in echo with the words of the preacher or the voices of the choir in an adjoining 
meetinghouse. It was Montana's Last Chance Gulch of 1800 moved to the shore of Lake 
Michigan in 1871. 

The great fire checked up suddenly the progress of legitimate as well as of illegitimate 
trade, and converted the great and small shelters into a double line of ruins. Welcome fire! 
It destroyed little that was creditable to civilization or art on this street, for there was but 
little to destroy, while it rooted out all that was discreditable, and made a way for progress. 

The six-story 80x140 feet, Buena Vista stone building, the Ashland block, was built for 
Gen. S. B. Buckner, within two months, at a cost of $175,000 (torn down in May, 1891); 
the Superior block, built for Fowler, Goodell & Walter, at Nos. 75 to 79, a six-story stone 
front, cost $135,000; the Methodist church block, a five-story stone front, 80x130, cost 
$100,000; Morrison's Buena Vista stone front, 100x100 feet, at Nos. 119 to 129, cost $90,000; 
his second, Nos. 131 and 133, Buena Vista stone front, four-story building, cost $80,000; the 
Morrison block, Nos. 141 to 149, or the Boston square dealing clothing house, cost $100.(MMt; 
the Kentucky block (now Quincy building), a five-story stone front, 90x190, cost $200,000. 
It was built for Knight & McNeil. A five-story stone building, Nos. 311 to 315, cost $75,000, 
and a similar building, No. 323, were begun for Malcom McNeil, of Kentucky. 

The Todd five-story Athens stone front at 255 and 257 was projected, the estimate being 
$05,000; also the Frazier block, No. 301, to be the same as the Todd building; Thomas 
Hoyne's stone building, Nos. 179 and 181, was completed for $50,000; that of Hamliu Bros., 
Nos. 87 and 89, in cut stone, for $50,000; that of the Quinlan Bros.. Nos. 81 and 83, for 
$00,000; that of J. C. Bigelow, Nos. 191 and 193, a four-story sandstone building for $40.000; 
the Kingsbury, Nos. 49 and 51, a four-story stone, for $50,000; the Adsit, a similar building 
at Nos. 37 to 43, $60,000; the Scammon, five-story stone front, Nos. 29 to 35, for $125,000; 
the O'Callaghan building, No. 9, a four-story marble front, $17,(X)0; a marble front for Sydney 
Myers, Nos. 11 and 13, for $35,000; the Peck building. Nos. 15 and 17, four-story marble 
front. SKI.OOO; the Union Trust Co's. block, front of Buena Vista stone, No. 135, for 
S30.000; E. W. Morrison's $30,000 block. Nos. 151 and 153; the Jennings four story block, 
Nos. 175 and 177, for $35,1 MX); a $35.000 sandstone building, Nos. 187 and 189; the $20,000 



THE JH'I/JHM: INTERESTS. 131 

Ruble stone building No. 183; the $20,000 Larmon stone building, No. 185; the $20,000 
three-story brick building of James Matthews, Nos. 259 and 201; the Harrison three-story 
brick, Nos. 841 to 349 for $50,000; the Weir block, No. 91, a five-story stone house cost 
$20,000; Mrs. Cunningham's four-story stone-front building, No. 101, $15,000; the Manierre 
brick block, No. 47, $15,000; the Wheeler block, Nos. 1 to 5, brick, $25,000; the Weil block, 
No. 289, $7,000; theMcMahon buildings, 291 and 293, $12,000, and the smaller brick or stone 
buildings of J. N. Billings, 295; Becker & Kopsell, 297; Dr. Sherman, 299; D. Haven, 213; 
Miller, No. 115, were erected within the year on the east side of the street. Terra cotta and 
iron were also introduced into a few of the buildings on this side. Terra cotta trimmings ami 
brown stone body were used in the Hopson five-story building, No. 85, cost $20,000; iron and 
stone in the Marks two-story building, Nos. 277 and 279, cost $28,000, and iron and stone in 
the three-story building of Pflaum, No. 319. The Glance four-story brick building, 100x100 
feet, Nos. 281 to 287, cost $64,000. 

In the Lakeside seven-story building, Amherst stone was used. This house is 100x12.") 
feet, cost $200,000 and exemplifies the higher style of architecture as applied in 1871-2. The 
iron and brick form was first introduced in this street, in the Thomas Mackin building, No. 330, 
and limestone front, in the $25,000 building of James Campbell, No. 152. In the other 
buildings the Athens or Lemont, the Kankakee or the Buena Vista stone or local brick was 
used. The Sherman house, designed by W. W. Boyington, constructed with Kankakee sand- 
stone fronts on Clark and Randolph, cost $650,000; the Hinsdale, No. 142, a four-story red 
brick with brown stone trimming, cost $100,000; the McNeil five-story stone, Nos. 250 and 
252, $100,000; the Freer, four-story Kankakee front, Nos. 180 to 184, $90,(XM); the Boone, 
five-story stone, Nos. 282 to 302, 1(X) X 103 feet, cost $125,01X1; the Corwith, five-story Athens 
stone, Nos. 322 and 324, cost $75,000. while a similar building for R. G. Boone, Nos. 310 to 
314, cost $65,000; the Shreve, four-story Buena Vista stone front, Nos. 20 to 28, cost $75,000; 
the Loomis, four-story white stone, Nos. 2 to 0, cost $25,000; the W.-S. Carver, four-story 
heavy stone front, Nos. 40 and 48, $35,(XK); the Ogden, four-story cut stone, Nos. 30 to 36, 
cost $55,000; Tureman's four-story, No. 136, $31,000; McNeil's four-story," Nos. 128 to 138, 
$35,000; Johnson's three-story brick, Nos. 104 to 120, cost $85.01 H); Spalding's five-story 
Buena Vista stone, Nos. 158 and 100, cost $50,000; Lawrence's adjoining, $50,000; Dr. In- 
gall's, Nos. 188 and 190, four-story stone, $35,000; McNeil's five-story stone, Nos. 222 to 220, 
cost $60,000: McNeil's five-story stone, Nos. 250 and 252, cost .$100,000; Dr. Barrett's four- 
story sandstone. Nos. 172 and 174. cost S25.OOO; J. L. Reynolds' five-story Buena Vista 
stone building, No. 154. S30.000; the Jarvis block, Nos. 122 and 124, a four-story brick, 
$55,000; McNeil's five-story stone, No. 148, cost $30.01 M) : McNeil's four-story stone, No. 186, 
cost $22,000; Dr. Haven's four-story brick, Nos. 320 and 328, cost $20,000. The Wheeler, 
Stillman, Otis. P. D. Hamilton, Couch estate, and T. B. Lonergan erected buildings, ranging 
in cost from $11,000 to $18,000. 

The rebuilding of La Salle street was marked by that nondescript structure, which occu- 
pied the southeast corner of La Salle and Adams streets, and was known as the old Tank" 



132 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

or " the Rookery," and was occupied until 1883, by the city offices. That house was 178 
feet square, a two-story brick with the old water tank, a round brick tower forming the center. 
It was a representative of what the exigencies of October, 1871, suggested, and as a monu- 
ment to the hurry and want of taste of that day, was worth the $ 75,000 expended on its con- 
struction. The building which to-day covers this site is the representative of brighter days 
in the city's history. It bears the same relation to Chicago of the present as the "old Rook- 
ery" did to the rebuilt city of 1872. Private enterprise was much superior to the municipal 
enterprise of the time, for while the "old Rookery" was building a number of elegant busi- 
ness blocks were also rising from the ruins. 

The Major block on the site of the old Wilson homestead, was sold to Major in 1880; 
the Marine Co.'s block, No. 23 to 27, erected by John Y. Scammon, cost $150,000; Lemont 
stone was used in the front of this building; the Nixon block, Nos. 169 to 175, which partly 
escaped total destruction, was finished at a cost of $ 125,000; the Grand Pacific hotel build- 
ing, a six-story stone building, 180x322 feet, cost 11,500.000; Gallop & Hitchcock's Buena 
Vista block, Nos. 132 to 136, a five-story stone building, cost $200,000; the Otis block, Nos. 
138 to 158, a four-story stone building, cost 1100,000; the Bryan block, Nos. 160 to 176, 
cost $150,000; the Union National Banking Company's four -story stone building, Nos. 102 
to 108, cost $120,000; the Merchants Insurance four-story stone building, Nos. 92 to 100, 
cost $200,000; the Miller & Fry block, Nos. 84' and 86, a four-story iron front, $110,000; 
Hoyne, Baird & Bradley, Nos. 88 and 90, four-story iron front, cost $70,0(X); the Metro- 
]x>litan block, Nos. 48 to 62, Buena Vista sandstone fronts, $170,000; Union Mutual Life 
Insurance Company's building, Nos. 129 to 133, a four-story brick, $60,000; Hartford 
Insurance Company's building, No. 49, throe-story brick, $20,000; the W. L. & C. I. Peck 
building, Nos. 1 to 9, $50,000; the Phoenix Insurance Company or May building, No. 127, 
cost $30,000; the McGee building, Nos. 04 to 70, cost $75,000; the Schlosser at 202 and 208, 
cost $50,000. 

The name Wells street, as applied to the southern .extension of North Wells street, up to 
1871, was abolished in August, 1871, and the name Fifth avenue bestowed upon it. On 
October 9, the fire abolished the street itself, sweeping away the large buildings north of 
Randolph and the disreputable places south of that street. The total destruction of old 
Wells street compensated in a large measure for the trials and sufferings of the period, for 
no good citizen could view the ruin of that den of shame and infamy, with any other feeling 
than that of satisfaction. 

Even after being clarified by fire and its name being changed, men still looked with sus- 
picion on the street, and many believing that the curses of mothers, children and wives rested 
so heavily on it, were slow to invest moneys in massive permanent buildings. For this rea 
son the year succeeding the fire witnessed the erection of a number of cheap frame and brick 
houses, while only a few expensive buildings were constructed the three story and basement 
brick of the Northwestern Distillery Company, at 407 to 411, costing $30,000, being the 
most expensive of the lot, erected up to October 9, 1872. The proposed White building, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 133 

Nos. 83 and 85, was estimated to cost $75,000, but work upon it was not begun within the 
year. J. P. Moore's building, No. 107, cost $22,000; Moore & Hallet's four-story marble 
front, Nos. 163 and 165, cost $25,000; Chase & Boot's stone front, No. 125, $16,000; Lar- 
son's stone front, No. 123, $14,000; Cleave's Milwaukee brick front at No. 77, $12,000; P. 
and J. Casey's brick, Nos. 41 and 43, $12,000; the two four-story brick buildings, No. 109, 
$15,000; No. Ill, $12,000; Jensche's at No. 121, $12,000; the Vermont block, stone front, 
Nos. 155 to 159, erected for H. S. McLean and S. F. Brown, at a cost of $50,000; the stone 
front, at No. 161, for Judge Tree, cost $12,000; the Kerfoot stone front, No. 179 and 181, cost 
$25,(KH); James Ahern's brick building, Nos. 349 and 351, cost $15,000; the Worst. Blaumer, 
Lasser building, No. 373 to 381, cost $40,000; J. Pettibone's at Nos. 286 to 290, cost $30, 
(MX); a $20,000 building at No. 280, and a number of buildings ranging in cost from $4,000 
to $11,000. 

Franklin street may be said to have taken on its present form within a year after the 
great fire. In 1871 it was an open street from the river to Madison, and again from Adams 
to Tyler streets, where it terminated. In 1872 it was opened from Madison to Adams, and 
the classic neighborhood, known as "Conley's patch," was brought to the view of the traveler 
on South Water street. The principal permanent buildings erected on this thoroughfare in 
1871-2 were J. V. Farwell & Co.'s building, a five-story stone front, 95x190, cost $150,<MX); 
the Nevada block (Nos. 106 to 110), 80xlOO,-cost $60,000; Mrs. Cunningham's building, No. 
116 and 118, $60,000; John King's building, Nos. 88 to 94, cost $40,000; W. J. Martin's 
building, Nos. 112 and 114, cost $30,000; Potwin's building, Nos. 128 and 130, 55x81 feet, 
cost $24,000; Sutherland's building, No. 49, 20x81 feet, cost $20,000; Woodbridge's build 
ing, Nos. 54 and 56, cast $20,(XK); Gerber, Wilson & Co.'s building, one story, Nos. 228 to 
234, cost $16,000; Sontag's, No. Ill, $14,000; O'Eielly's, No. 274, $11,000; Woods, Nos. 44 
and 46, $11,000; Cleary & Enright's, Nos. 48 and 50, $11,000; Childs', No. 115, $12,000; J. 
Peacock's, No. 113, $10,000; Whites, Nos. 21 to 41, cost $35,000, and No. 124 cost $15,000. 
A few small brick buildings were also erected during the year, and preparations made to 
extend the built-up frontage. 

That old Market street was transformed from a hotbed of vice into a great commercial 
thoroughfare is partly due to the great fire. Nothing less than a thorough roasting could 
wipe out the leprosy of the old street. Within twelve months of the time when the shanties 
of old Market street were reduced to ashes, the Field five-story brick building, on the north - 
ea>t corner of Madison rose, costing $350,000; the Farwell block, Nos. 135 to 151 ; the Wilson 
& Farwell block, Nos. 73 and 75. cost $45,000; the Garvin, Nos. 77' and 79, cost $40,00(1; 
the King, 81 and 83, cost $25,000; the Weber, 125 and 127, cost $50,000; the Cleveland and 
Thompson, 145 and 147, cost $00,000; the Central hotel, 72 to 78 (erected by J. A. Wilson 
and \V. W. Farwell), cost $166,000; the Wadsworth & Dickinson, known as "The U. S. 
bonded warehouse," Nos. 204 to 210, cost $45,000; the Lind building, Nos. 22 to 26, rented 
to Fuller & Fuller: Wells & Co.'s five story brick. 251 to Wl Madison, cost $100,000. Phil- 
adelphia pressed brick with Ohio stone trimmings was used in both fronts. Reid, Murdoch & 



134 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

Fischer built, a $13,000 one-story house, Nos. 57 to 71, and a few smaller brick structures were 
erected. 

River street, beginning at the intersection of Wabash avenue and Water street, runs 
northeast to the south line of Hush street bridge. On each side a solid line of large brick 
wholesale houses existed for years before the great tire, and after the burning this street was 
the first to rise up in solid lines from the debris. As stated before, the Judge H. Fuller, 
$18,000 three-story brick building, Nos. 9 to 13, was the first permanent structure begun in 
the New Chicago. The Loomis & Laflin $90,000 four-story brick was completed in 1872 at 
Nos. 21 to 39; Walters, Rogers & Norton erected their $03,000 five-story brick, Nos. 28 to 
34: Joel C. Walter, a $45,000 five-story brick, Nos. 40 to 40; Matt, Laflin a $40,000 tive- 
story brick, Nos. 10 to 18; Ray & Coats, a $38,000 five-story brick, "Fort Dearborn block," 
Nos. 36 and 38; Numseri & Sons, a $35.000 five-story iron building, Nos. 45 and 47; Win. 
M. Hoyt & Co., a $30,000 five story brick and stone building, Nos. 1 to 3, and Hempstead & 
Armour, a $30,000 four-story brick, Nos. 50 and 52. The Ryan, three-story brick, Nos. 5 
and 7; the Downer, four-story brick, Nos. 15 to 19, and the Brown five-story brick, Nos. 
and 8, cost from $5,000 to $15,000, were erected prior to the close of 1872. 

South Water street as rebuilt in 1871-2 retained, in its lines of business and architect- 
ure, the forms of the old street. The buildings were erected for use rather than ornament, 
plain as a bricklayer could build. The greater buildings erected in 1871-2 included the 
Robbins $90,000 five-story stone, Nos. 201 to 207; the $60,000 four-story brick, Nos. 169 to 
175; William Russell's $00,000 four-story brick, Nos. 209 to 215; R. H. McCormick's 
$80,000 five-story brick, Nos. 01 to 07; the Wicker, $00,000 four-story brick, Nos. 82 to 90; 
.the Bauer & Lowenthal $100,000 four-story brick, Nos. 22 to 32, and the Wadsworth four- 
story brick, Nos. 221 to 239, cost $120,000. 

The Michigan Central Railroad Company's $25,000 three-story office building, No. 2, 
was constructed of rough hewn stone; their freight depot, Nos. 8 and 10, cost $10,000; the 
Price five-story brick, No. 42, cost $35,000; H. W. Henderson's five-story brick, Nos. 48 and 
50, corner of Wabash, cost $3(),0(X); Clark & Lay ton's four-story brick, Nos. 170 to 184, cost 
$35,000; C. B. Hasmer's, Nos. 186 and 188, $20,000; Pardee's, Nos. 210 to 210, $30,000; 
Dominick's three-story brick, Nos. 220 to 232, cost $30,000; C. G. Smith's "Lumbermen's 
exchange," Nos. 234 to 240, cost $37,000; W. B. Ogden's four-story brick, Nos. 242 to 248, 
cost. $45,000; William Hickling's four-story brick, Nos. 250 to 250, cost $25,000, and M. 
Hickling's, No. 12, $18,000; Purington & Scranton's four-story brick block, Nos. 20(5 to 272, 
cost $25,000; Ballentyne & Lawrence's five-story brick, No. 71, cost $25,000; Foster \ 
Porter's three-story brick, Nos. 93 and 95, $25,000; E. B. Williams' four-story brick, Nos. 
97 to 101, $35,000; H. McGee's four story brick, Nos. 123 and 125, $30,000; the Couch 
building, Nos. 153 to 159, $50,000; Brown's four-story brick, Nos. 149 and 151, $20,000 
the Couch four-story brick building. Nos. 179 to 183, $50,000; a five-story brick, Nos. 55 'to 
59, cost $40,000; Harmon & Messer's four-story brick, corner South Water and River streets, 
cost $30,000; P. L. Yoe's three-story brick, Nos. 89 and 91, cost $25,000; the four-story 



THE BUILDING I XT K RESTS. 135 

brick, Nos. 133 to 187, cost 88,001); a five-story brick, No. 245, cost $24,000; one at No. 
83, cost $20.(XM); one at No. 85, a lik sum: one at No. 39 and one at No. 43, $15,(MX> each; 
Fullerton's at 118 and 120, $15,000; Beers' at No. 73, $15.(KX); J. & H. Chapman's, No. 
139, $15,000; one at No. 241, $18,000; Wright's two-story brick, Nos. 218 to 224, $13,000; 
Taylor's four-story brick, Nos. 274 and 276, $12,000, and Wheeler's, 278 and 280, a like 
sum; the Western Transportation Company's one-story brick and filling, $20,000, arid the 
Binz four-story brick, No. Ill, $17,000. 

Lake street, from the Illinois Central railroad depot to the bridge, over the south branch, 
was, with the exception of short Kiver street, the only well built up thoroughfare prior to the 
fire. It was the first to bestow the ideas of art on its buildings, and, after its destruction, 
October 9, 1871, was the first to adopt a uniform style of architecture for the new buildings. 
Within a year, one building, costing $2(X),(XX), three costing over $100,000 each, and ten 
costing $100,000 each, with several $ 50,000 to $80,000 houses, were completed. L. J. and 
W. S. McCormick's five-story stone, Nos. 34 to 40, cost $2()0,(XX); McGee & High's four-story 
brick, Nos. 104 to 108, cost $100,000; Hibbard & Spencer's, known as the Eeed build- 
ing, a five-story brick, at Nos. 30 and 32, cost $117,000; S. B. Cobb's five-story stone, Nos. 
1 to 13; Peter Hayden's five-story iron front, Nos. 45 to 49; LeGrand Burton's five-story 
iron front, Nos. 59 to 63 (formerly the City hotel); Osborn & Adams' four-story stone, Nos. 
199 to 205; McCormick's block, five-story marble front, Nos. 4 to 8; Kohn Brothers' five- 
story stone, Nos. 10 to 14; Fred Tuttle's five-story iron front, Nos. 58 to 02; Bobbins' five- 
story iron front, Nos. 190 to 190; the Couch five-story stone, northwest corner Lake and 
Dearborn, and the five-story building, Nos. 152 to 150, cost each $KX),000. The Garrett 
Biblical Institute Company's four-story brick, Nos. 243 to 255, cost $110, (XX). The Tremont 
house is included in the list of buildings on Dearborn street. 

The Sturgis $80,000 five-story brick, Nos. 72 to 78; the Clark, Dickey & Scammon 
SSO.(MH) four-story brick, Nos. 80 to 86; the Botsford $75,000 four-story stone, Nos. 92 and 
94, and the Bight $70,(XM) five-story brick, Nos. 112 to 110, were brought into existence 
within one year. 

The Winston four-story stone, Nos. 144 and 140, the Bxjsenfeld & Rosenberg five-story 
building, Nos. 15 and 17, and the C. H. McCormick building, Nos. 19 and 21, cost each 
!?l>0.000; the Blair block, a four-story brick, Nos. 172 to 170, cost $05,(KX); Doggett, Bassett 
&. Hills' rive-story brick, Nos. 29 and 31 : Drummond's four-story iron front, Nos. 05 and U7: 
the Couch five-story stone, Nos. 71 and 73; the Botsford & Shumway four-story stone, Nos. 
107 and 109; Bugal's four-story stone, Nos. Ill and 1 13: Porter's four-story brick, Nos. 207 
and 209: Porter, Stone. Haddock, Lawyer and Buttorfield's block, four-story brick, north- 
west corner of State: Henry Corwith's five-story iron front, Nos. 54 and 50; Mailers & 
Adams' four-story stone, Nos. 136 to 140; Scammon's five-story brick, Nos. 222 and 224, and 
William Wheeler's four-story brick, Nos. 139 to 145, cost 50.1 MM) each. 

The Corwith five-story iron building. Nos. 51 and 53: Henry Greenebaum's four-story 
brick, Nos. 159 to 105: J. Cobb's four story stone. Nos. 171 and 173: D. Young's four-story 



136 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

brick Nos. 195 and 197; Ullmaii & Pardee's four-story brick, Nos. 289 and 241, and Talburt's 
four-story stone, No. 118, were completed within the year, at a cost of $40,000 each. 

Mrs. Church's four-story stone building, Nos. 131 and 133, cost $25,000; Prescott's 
five-story brick, Nos. 175 and 177, $32,000; A. White's four-story brick, Nos. 217 and 219, 
$30,000; William C. Dow's five-story stone, No. 22, $30,000; the five-story stone and iron 
front, No. 24, cost $28,000; Muller & Try's five-story brick and iron block, Nos. 46 and 48, 
cost $26,000. 

Jennings & Oppenheimer's four-story brick, Nos. 132 and 134, cost $24,000; McNeill's 
six-story stone front, No. 44, cost $20,<XX); Blasey's three-story brick, No. 191, $10,000; Hoi- 
den, Surdam & Locke's four-story stone, Nos. 178 to 182, $15,000; Stearnes & Go.'s four- 
story brick, No. 248, a like sum; Grant Goodrich's four-story brick, No. 240, $13,000; 
Thatcher's four-story brick, No. 218, $13,000; the three three-story brick buildings, Nos. 202, 
204 and 206, $12,000 each, and Robinson's one-story brick, No. 193, cost $10,000. 

Randolph street could boast of a few elegant new buildings within one year from the day 
it was fire-swept, as well as the old Lind block, on the northwest corner of Randolph and 
Market streets, which withstood the blaze. The Sherman house referred to in the list of 
Clark street buildings, was, of course, the leading structure of rebuilt Randolph street. The 
Briggs house, northeast corner of Randolph and Fifth avenue, a six-story stone front, was 
built for Reed & Moss, at a cost of $160,000; Bowen's five-story brick, Nos. 11 to 21, cost 
$150,000; J. Y. Scammon's five-story brick, named the Dearborn block, Nos. 1 to 9, cost 
$110,000; the Kingsbury building, a five-story stone, Nos. 113 to 119, cost $150,000; the 
Hamlin & Greer four-story stone block, Nos. 74 to 82, cost $110,000; the Metropolitan 
block, on the northwest corner of Randolph and La Salle streets, a four-story Buena Vista 
stone building, $170,000; The Western News Company's four-story stone block, Nos. 40 and 
42, $100,000, and A. C. Honore's four-story brick, Nos. 191 to 197, $100,000. 

The Bryan & Haines' four-story stone building, Nos. 143 to 147, occupied by the 
Fidelity Savings bank, cost $70,000; Schoelkopf's four-story stone, Nos. 230 to 230, $70.000: 
William Blair's five-story stone building, Nos. 179 and 181, 175,000; Hooley's Opera house. 
No. 149; Bonfield's four story stone, Nos. 199 to 203, $60,000; Hocken & Koefflar's four- 
story brick, Nos. 227 to 233, $00,000; Heath & Milligan's five-story Milwaukee brick front. 
Nos. 170 and 172, was completed, in March, 1872, at a cost of $50,000; Gardner's $75.000 
five-story white stone block, Nos. 171 to 175; Mary Shaw's $35,000 four-story stone building. 
Nos. 207 and 209; Peasch's $25,000 four-story stone, No. 221; the $20,000 five-story stone, 
Home of the Friendless, No. 177; the $30,000 four-story stone Home of the Friendless, 
No. 109; Rosenfield's $30,000 five-story stone, No. 107; the Allen $40,(HX) four-story brick, 
Nos. 34 and 30; Hinsdale's $20,000 four-story brick, Nos. 22 to 20; Mrs. Sandford's $18,000 
four-story brick, No. 38; J. M. Bryant's four-story stone, No. 98, cost $25,000; Swift's four- 
story brick, Nos. 100- and 102, cost $30,000; Hosmer & Manning's four-story stone, Nos. 1 12 
and 114. cost $38,000; Strod's four-story brick, Nos. 84 and 80, cost $20.000; Wehrle's Hire- 
story brick, No. 1 55, cost *S.( )( K ), and two smaller buildings. 



THE BUILDING TXTKHKXTS. 187 

Thi' effort made by the property owners on Washington street, to build in accordance 
with the architectural ideas of twenty years ago, gave to New Chicago one of its leading 
thoroughfares. The Times building, five stories, with Michigan Parma stone fronts, on 
Washington and Fifth avenue, cost $150,000; "My Block," or N. P. Wilder's six-story study 
in marble, Nos. 14 to 20, cost about $'200,000; the Staats Zeitung building, a six-story 
block, cost 1100,000, and the Holmes & Hubbard four-story Berea stone block, Nos. 104 to 
170, cost $100,000. The Chamber of Commerce, on the southeast corner of Washington and 
La Salle, was constructed of Buena Vista stone, at a cost of $300,000. It was a model build- 
ing at that time and considered perfect in its proportions; but to-day men wonder what they 
saw admirable in it, in the light of the present remodeled palace. 

The four-story brown stone front, Nos. 191 to 197, designed by architect W. A. Furber, 
cost $95,000; King's building, a four-story house, No. 85, cost $80, 000; the McCarthy four- 
story stone building (fronting on 97 Dearborn), cost $75,000; the Reed four-story irou and 
stone block, Nos. 156 and 158, cost $75,000; the four-story stone, No. 159, cost $75,000; 
Edward Ely's four-story Milwaukee brick and brown stone block, Nos. 6 and 8, cost $75,000; 
the five-story stone front, Nos. 36 and 38, $60,000; the Mason four-story stone, Nos. 92 and 
94, cost $50,000, and the five-story iron front, Nos. 163 and 165, cost $50,000. 

The Owens block, Nos. 222 to 22(5, a four-story brick; a four-story stone, Nos. 88 and 
90, a three-story stone, Nos. 84 and 86, and the Shreve, Berea stone four-story block, Nos. 
91 and 93, cost $40, UK) each. The Morris building, No. 12, a four-story pressed brick front, 
cost $35,000. The four-story brick, Nos. 218 and 220; the Teutonic Insurance Company's 
brick and stone four-story building, No. 172; Joseph Smith's four-story stone, Nos. 187 and 
189; the four-story brick. Nos. 183 and 185, and Dr. Davis' five-story Berea stone block, No. 
25, cost $30,000 each. A few small brick buildings were erected, such as that of Seymour & 
Co., No. 219, cost $12,(XK); that at No. 217, $8,(XX), and that at No. 204, $7,000. 

Madison street, which had just entered upon a course of much-needed improvement 
before the fire, was prepared by fire to assume its present dress. West of La Salle street a 
number of cabins lined old Madison, while east of La Salle only a few new and important 
buildings gave token of its destiny. The fire destroyed both the good and bad, and cleared 
. the way for that splendid collection of buildings found there at the close of 1872. On this 
street, Xos. 265 to 279, the first block completed in the burnt district, -was opened for 
the transaction of business. 

The five-story, Marquette stone Tribune building was at once erected at a cost of over 
$100,000; McVicker's theatre, a four-story imitation marble front, Nos. 78 to 86, rose out 
of the ruins at a cost of $170,000; Scoville & Allen erected their $125,000 five-story Columbia 
sandstone block at the corner of Franklin with a redpressed-brick fronton Franklin; Keith Bros. 
invested the same amount in their Ohio sandstone, five-story block, Nos. 246 to 252; Ham- 
lin, Hale & Co. 's five-story brick, Nos. 222 to 238, cost $125,000; M. D. Wells & Co. used 
Philadelphia pressed brick in their five-story block on Madison and Market streets. Nos. 254 
to 262; M. Burke built the five-story brick, Nos. 140 and 142, at a cost of about #100,000; 



138 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

It. &. O. Manierre's four-story stone, Nos. 91 to 95, cost about $85,000; the Morrison four- 
story stone buildings, Nos. Ill to 117, cost $75,000; C. De Wolf's four-story stone, Nos. 105 
to 109, cost $60,(XX); A. B. Smith's, Nos. 99 and 101, cost $50,000; James Wadsworth's 
five-story brick, Nos. 175 to 181, cost $80,000; Gilbray, of Philadelphia, had the five-story 
ornamental stone front erected at a cost of $125,000, Nos. 215 to 223; Field, Leiter & Co.'s 
five-story, common red brick wholasale house, Nos. 241 to 263, cost $350,000; Mrs. Hawley's 
five-story iron and marble front, Nos. 98 and 100, cost $70,000; H. O. Stone's five-story 
stone front, Nos. 144 and 146, cost $60,000; Rosenfeld & Rosenberg's buildings, Nos. 
112 to 116, cost $60,000; W. C. Coolbaugh completed the first b'ock, a three-story brick, in 
the burnt district, Nos. 265 to 279, at a cost of $60,000; the National Bank of Commerce 
erected a four-story, Mi waukee brick building, Nos. 50 to 56, and Rosenfeld & Rosenberg a 
five-story stone front, Nos. 106 and 108, costing $45,000 each; A. C. Prout's four-story, Phil- 
adelphia pressed brick, Nos. 186 and 188, cost $40,000; the Otis block, four-story brick, 
Nos. 66 to 76, cost $40,000; Anderson's four-story stone, Nos. 139 and 141, cost $50,000; 
James Marks' two-story stone front, Nos. 167 and 169, cost $20,000; James Irons and H. 
McGee erected the $12,000, three-story stone, Nos. 171 and 173; W. S. Shepherd, the $20, 
000, five-story brick, No. 183; the Fifth National bank, the one-story brick, Nos. 189 to 197, 
cost $20,000; J. W. Pierson, the four-story stone front, Nos. 225 to 229, cost $20,000; C. P. 
Jenks, the $20,000, four-story stone front, Nos. 10 and 12; S. S. White, the $20,000 two- 
story brick, Nos. 14 and 16; C. C. P. Holden, the five-story stones, Nos. 102 and 104, 
cost $25,000; the five-story stone, No. 110, cost $18,000; the Harlan block, a four-story 
stone, No. 166, cost $20,000; S. Nickerson's two-story brick, Nos. 178 to 182, cost $20,000; G. 
R. Smith's three-story stone front, No. 184, $11,500; James Egan's two-story brick, No. 196, 
$10,000; G. S. Knox's three-story brick, No. 198, $10,000; George Bent's three-story brick, 
Nos. 200 and 202, cost $20,000; Jameson & Morse's two-story brick printing house, No. 240, 
cost $6,000; Holden, Tascott & Simpson's three-story brick, No. 242, cost $15,000; O. Han 
son's two-story brick, No. 244, cost $3,500; Henry Corwith's four-story brick, Nos. 264 and 
266, $30,000; Samuel Myers' four-story brick, Nos. 268 and 272, $35,000, and George R. 
Roberts, four story brick, Nos. 274 aud 276, $25,000. 

Monroe street was outside the business center in 1870; its little buildings were swept 
away in 1871, leaving the walls of the Palmer house, then being constructed, and of the 
Nixon building standing. Within a year a few great buildings and a number of important ones 
were completed, and the street began to assume its present form. The Palmer house on 
the southeast corner of State street, the Clifton house on the northwest corner of Wabash 
avenue, J. V. Farwell & Co.'s half-million dollar building. Nos. 221 to 265, with its compo- 
sition stone front; the American Express Company's $3(X),000 five-story Berea stone front 
and Mansard roof, Nos. 70 to 78; Culver, Page & Hoyne's five-story pressed brick and iron 
front, Nos. 118 to 120, cost $75,000; H. Brinkworth's four-story brick, Nos. 73 and 75, cost 
$90,000; J. M. Williams' five-story stone, Nos. 19(5 to 204. cost !?70,0(Kt : Albert Crane's 
cut stone four-story building, No. llfi, cost 45.000; B. P. Ward's four-story stone. No. 112, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 139 

$30,000; Appleby's five story stone, Nos. 180 and 182, $25,000; John Miller's five-story stone, 
No. 143, 125,000; J. P. Smith's, Jr., five-story stone front, $30,000; J. W. Burt's five-story 
stone, Nos. 207 to 213, cost $90,000; E. Lancaster's four-story marble front, No. 149, $18,000, 
Judge Tree's four-story stone, No. 177, $15,000; McLean's three-story brick, Nos. 184 and 
186, $15,000; George Boomer's four-story brick, No. 71, $25,000; Potter Palmer's three-story 
brick, Nos. 49 to 55, $10,000; a five-story brick with stone facings, Nos. 139 to 141, $35,000, 
and Myers' opera house, all took the place of the ruins. The walls of the old Postoffice 
building withstood the fire and held the northwest corner of Monroe and Dearborn until 
razed to give place to the present First National bank building. 

The upbuilding of Adams street did not seem to concern the builders of New Chicago for 
a number of years after the fire. Such buildings as the Lakeside, Quincy and Honore abutted 
on this street in 1872-3; but beyond the fact that J. McDonald erected a four-story brick block, 
100x50 feet, or Nos. 174 to 182, at a cost of $75,000, and Mrs. Hadley, a $35,000 four-story 
stone block, Nos. 80 and 82, capital appears to have overlooked the street. The De Wolf, 
three-story brick, Nos. 170 and 172, was a $15,000 venture on the part of the Justice. The 
Gas company made no attempt to improve their grounds. 

Jackson street from State street westward was a region of little tenement houses. The 
tire swept them away. Even the building of the Grand Pacific hotel did not hasten the work 
of improvement, and not until the present Board of Trade building was begun did this 
thoroughfare show signs of life. In 1871-2 a four-story brick house costing $30,000 
was built at Nos. 45 and 47, and a somewhat similar house at Nos. 81 and 83 for $20,000; 
William M. Dee's $10,000 four-story" brick was erected at No. 85; P. Hogan's $7,000 
house at Nos. 221 and 223, a $34,000 building, Nos. 225 to 229, a two-story frame at No. 
90, and a one-story frame, Nos. 80 and 88. 

Van Buren street west of Clark street was little better than Market street in its buildings 
and inhabitants when the great fire swept it out of existence. The Michigan Southern rail- 
road depot occupied the position of the present depot. Its rebuilding was the first important 
work carried on after the tire; Alcott's four-story brick, Nos. 45 and 47, was finished at a cost 
of 35,<XH1; E. L. Stahl erected a $10,000 three-story brick, No. 173; M. Egan, a $15,000 
two-story brick, Nos. 227 to 233; Andrew Guemath, a four-story brick, No. 225, cost $8,000; 
the Western Book Concern erected a four-story brick at a cost of $25,000, Nos. 24 and 20; D. 
K. Pearson and W. H. Carter erected a similar building, Nos. 40 and 48, which cost $35,000; 
R. & L. Lancaster built the three-story $60,000 brick building, Nos. 74 to 78; the German 
Methodist Episcopal church society erected a little frame building, No. 98; T. H. Brown, a 
$50,000 three-story brick building, Nos. 208 to 218; Michael Gillock, a five-story brick, Nos. 
204 and 206, at a cost of $25,000; C. Arnold, a $12,000 brick, No. 200; L. Fisher, a $7,000 
brick, No. 202; J. M. Weber, a $10,0(X) brick, No. 186, and a $7,000 brick at No. 172. 

The Atlantic hotel was erected in 1873 by John Keller. It is a five-story stone-and- 
brick building, stone front, measuring 50x125 feet. On the first floor are the office, bar, bill- 
iard room, dining room, etc., and on the upper floors are handsomely furnished parlors and 

9 



140 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

sleeping apartments. The house contains in all about 150 rooms. As a specimen of the 
buildings of that period and as a pioneer of the importance of Van Buren street, the old 
Atlantic merits attention. 

Congress (formerly East Tyler) street, east of the river, extended only from Wabash to 
Michigan at the time of the tire. The buildings on the north side were reduced to ruins, and 
a few of those which occupied the south side; but within twelve months Aiken's theatre, at 
the corner of Wabash, was completed with others, such as the $25,0(X) three-story brick, No. 
19; William H. Taylor's $12,000 two-story brick, corner of Wabash, Nos. 25 and 27; Kale & 
Cohn's $8,000 two-story brick, Nos. 47 and 49; J. K. C. Forest's $25,000 four-story brick, 
No. 20; J. Willard's $70,(K)0 four-story brick, fronting on Wabash, Nos. 22 to 80; Oscar 
Field's $10,000 two-story brick, Nos. 42 and 44; Mrs. Tierney's '$2,000 one-story frame build- 
ing, Nos. 51 to 59, fronting on State street; Pennoyer, Shaw & Co.'s $3,500 one-story frame, 
Nos. 29 to 45; William Wheeler's $2,000 one-story frame, Nos. 40 to 60, with front on State 
street, and J. Beers' $8,000 one-story frame building, No. 18. The fire of 1874 destroyed 
some property on this street, and ten or eleven years later the large Donohue & Henneberry 
building, northwest corner of Wabash, was literally burned up. No other street in the world 
has benefited so largely from tire as this short street. The south front of the Auditorium, the 
south front of the Leiter building and that of the Kimball building, form an index to the 
future of this street, which is to be widened, and the south line improved with great buildings. 
Harrison street of 1871 was as irregular in its lines as it was in its buildings and inhab- 
itants. It required the refining power of tire to make it straight, and the fire-king selected 
its lines for the commencement of his devastating march northward. East of No. 47 to the 
lake escaped destruction that night of October 8-9, but the south line was more fortu- 
nate, as the fire did not spread east of No. 130. The upbuilding was slow, compared with 
northern streets, and, in fact, nothing of a permanent character was erected thereon until 
1873, if the $2,000 two-story frame, No. 105, the $3,000 three-story frame, No. 106, and the 
$2,000 two-story frame, No. 168, be excepted. 

The rebuilding of the north side was resumed simultaneously, and before the close of 
August, 1872, Armour & Munger's elevator, on North Water street, between Franklin and 
Market, relieved the dreariness of the ruins. This building 275x75 feet resting on a stone 
base, was sided and roofed with slate. The Galena elevator, a wooden building, 300x80 feet, 
was completed soon after, followed by the four-story Milwaukee brick house of the Chicago 
Marble Company, and the two brick freight sheds of the Northwestern Railroad Company. 

East Kinzie street the nortli line of the original town of Chicago, was, for years before 
the fire, a business street of no mean pretensions. On October 9 and 10, 1871, it was reduced to 
ruin. The enterprise of Leander J. McCormick led the way in rescuing it from inutility. A 
three-story $45,000 brick was erected at Nos. 185 to 191; a three-story $8,000 brick at No. 
155, and a similar building at No. 149; while a $30,000 three-story brick was built at Nos. 
197 and 199. Tillinghast & Co.'s four-story Philadelphia pressed brick corner of La Salle 
street; F. Sawyer's two-story block, Nos. 205 to 215, the three-story brick block adjoining; 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 141 

the four-story brick on the opposide side of the street, and the Western Electric Manufactur- 
ing Company's three-story brick, 240x60 feet, adjoining relieved the Dearborn avenue neigh- 
borhood. At least fifty other brick buildings were completed by October, 1872, and a begin- 
ning made on more than fifty other permanent buildings. 

Michigan street could boast of over fifty brick buildings at the close of 1872, exclusive 
of the corner buildings on the streets intersecting it The principal buildings were the Charles 
E. Willet's soap factory, No. 53, a three-story brick; Peter Smith's wagon shop; P. Mooney's 
horse shoeing establishment, No. 108; H. N. HafPs five-story 100x100 feet building, called 
the Hemlock block; E. Ainmon's three story brick, No. 139; Sherman, Hall & Cook's 
three-story brick; the Phoenix works, Nos. 228 and 230; a three-story brick on the opposite 
side of the street; the Raymond and the Rogers brick warehouse buildings, Nos. 235 to 243; 
J. Jonas' hide and skin shop, Nos. 245 to 249; a two-story brick, Nos. 200 and 202; and the 
Peshtigo company's three-story block at the east end. 

Illinois street showed the effects of the great fire for some years. Omitting the build- 
ings on the corners of intersecting streets, there were only a few improvements made in 1872. 
Alderman Devine led the advance guard of improvers by erecting a block of three residence 
buildings, each three stories in hight and basement, Nos. 207, 209 and 211. J. W. Newell 
& Sons, locksmiths erected the three-story brick. No. 205; J. M. Goodrich the four-story 
brick, No. 245; a four-story brick, near the corner of Market street was built far back from the 
building line; opposite was erected a two-story brick dwelling, and at No. 120, another two- 
story brick house. O. M. Harris built a three-story brick warehouse, about number 240; a 
three-story brick was erected on the corner of Rush street; two brick dwellings on the corner 
of Pine street, and two permanent structures east of Pine street. 

Indiana street boasted of twenty brick houses in October, 1872, including a two-story 
brick dwelling east of Rush street, a three-story double brick Nos. 275 and 277 and 
three brick buildings west of State street, with fifteen brick cottages or business buildings, 
scattered here and there, such as the Harry Fox block of five dwellings near Pine street. 

Ohio street, a favorite residence locality before the fire, was revived immediately after. 
The Kinzie school building, a three-story brick resting on a high rock basement, the George 
Webster Milwaukee brick block of five dwellings, east of Rush street, on the north line; 
George M. Stanton's three-story brick also east of Rush street, Mrs. Adam's two-story brick 
close by, the two-story pressed brick, No. 211; the three-story brick No. 181, the three- 
story brick near Wells street, the restored German Lutheran meetinghouse; Stafford's three- 
story marble front, double dwelling house, and the washed-out building constructed of old 
brick, all marked the renewal of the life of old Ohio street. 

Ontario street showed nine brick buildings in October, 1872, including the block of three 
three-story brick dwellings erected by Griffin, near Clark street; Dr. Grear's three-story 
dwelling adjoining and Smear's two-story barn near Rush street. 

Erie street boasted of a double two-story brick building, just east of Clark street. 

Huron street exhibited signs of life in the preparations made for the building of the New 
England church, corner of Dearborn. 



142 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Superior street made the beginnings of its present condition in 1872. Frank Agnew 
erected a two-story marble-front dwelling near Bush street; a two-story brick, with stone 
facings, was built west of Agnew's house; two brick dwellings were erected east of Pine street; 

\ 

a block of four dwellings, two-story brick, with mansard roof and high basement, was erected 
at Nos. 377 to 383, adjoining a new frame dwelling house, while on the corner of Rush street 
the work of building the Fourth Presbyterian meetinghouse was begun. 

Chicago avenue improvements in 1872 compared favorably with those of any of the east 
and west streets in the north division. Twenty-two brick buildings were erected, exclusive 
of Samuel Johnson's business block. Opposite the water-works, a new marble front and a 
one-story brick dwelling were erected; east of Cass street, a double two-story brick dwelling; 
near by, a block of four two-story brick dwellings; at the corner of Cass, E. C. Epp's two- 
story French roofed dwelling; two three-story brick dwellings, Nos. 317 and 319; two two- 
story brick dwellings, Nos. 327 and 329; Schoellkoff's two-story brick dwelling, No. 298; a 
one-story brick, No. 123; a two-story brick, No. 148; three two-story brick dwellings, Nos. 
108, 110 and 112; two two-story brick, Nos. 91 to 95; three two-story brick, Nos 35, 39 and 
52; a brick building, No. 85; the Herting brick block, corner of Wesson street and the Pear- 
son school, a Milwaukee brick structure. 

From Chicago avenue to Cedar street (a short street running from Eush to the lake) no 
brick or stone improvements were made in 1872. The three-story dwelling for Michael 
Brand, at 30 Cedar street, and Bush & Brand's brewery buildings were built on Cedar street, 
Schmidt & Glade's brewery buildings on Grant place, the Bartholomae & Leicht brewery 
on Sophia street, and the large brick building of the Sisters of Mercy, known as St. Joseph's 
hospital, also on this street, led the van of improvement. 

Division street boasted of the Franklin ' schoolhouse, the three-story Philadelphia 
pressed brick block, Nos. 313 and 315, and the two-story brick on corner of Clybourne avenue. 
On Linden street, the walls of the large building, St. Michael's church, withstood the fire, 
and were used in the restoration of the church. On Clybourne avenue fifteen brick houses 
were erected up to October, 1872. 

By December, 1871, St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran society had a school and 
church completed at 333 Larrabee street, and on October 9, 1872, their new brick house, 
a duplicate of that destroyed, rose, complete, out of the ruins. 

Pine street of old was one of those beautiful streets which won for Chicago the title 
"Garden City," and warranted the motto for the municipal seal urbs in horto. Large resi- 
dences stood in large grounds, in many instances an entire block being devoted to garden and 
lawn. The fire, in removing what was vile and crowded and grotesque, wiped out the homes 
on Pine street. The first improvement was the five-story brick pile of James S. Kirk & Co. 
Two days after the fire they began rebuilding. A stream of water was turned on the hot 
brick in the ruins of the old factory, to cool them, a large number of laborers and bricklayers 
were present ready for work, and by December 19, 1871, the firm recommenced the manu- 
facture of soap in a building raised upon ruius and built of ruins. The Harry Fox brick 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 143 

block of five dwellings, three-story, was built on "the sands," east of Pine. The Webster & 
Baxter brick block of five three-story dwellings was erected at the corner of Ohio street; B. 
F. Adams' three-story marble front occupied a corner of Ontario street; I. N. Arnold's three- 
story marble block of three dwellings was built near Ontario, while a dozen of less pretentious 
brick buildings pointed out the fact that new Pine street was destined to excel the old. 

Kush street was another ornament of the Garden City, but, like Pine, was reduced to 
ruins. Immediately after the fire, an attempt was made to erect a fireproof building, on the 
site of the former Empire warehouse, at the corner of Kinzie. This building, a three-story 
one, 166 feet on Kiuzie, 72 on Kush and 172 on the river front, was erected for T. B. Brown and 
Moore. The first attempt at improving residence property was the quarter-million-dollar one 
of George M. Stanton and Frank Sturgis, which resulted in placing a four-story marble 
block of ten dwellings between Ohio and Indiana streets. The Milwaukee brick dwelling of 
H. J. King was erected at the corner of Huron street, while opposite, Julian Rumsey's three- 
story double dwelling was built. A large building for warehouse purposes was erected near 
the bridge, and a large number of frame dwellings were put up before the fire ordinance was 
approved. 

Cass street did not begin to assume its modern dress until the summer of 1872. Prior to 
July, a few ordinary brick dwelling houses were erected. William Gordon, of Savannah, Ga., 
may be credited with beginning the true improvement of the street, for by the close of 1872 his 
block of five brick three-story dwellings, at the corner of Illinois street, was complete; the 
Slader two-story brick dwelling, on the corner of Indiana street, was completed early in the full 
of 1872; J. L. Stark's marble-front two-story residence, north of Indiana; Frank Agnew'stwo 
marble front dwellings, on the corner of Superior street, and the odd Swiss looking chalet of 
Mrs. Heed, at the corner of Ohio, were also, completed in 1872, and all played an important 
part in suggesting the style of buildings subsequently adopted by the builders of Cass street. 

North State street improvements commenced at the wrong end, and marched southward 
by degrees. Thomas Mackin, Alderman Devine and a few other builders, however, went 
cautiously at work to improve the street south of Superior street, so that by the close of 1872 
it was not wanting in material evidence of progress. In the far north, Elliott Anthony, now 
a judge of the Superior court of Cook county, built a two-story brick block, corner of State 
and Piersou streets; the Smith dwelling, a three-story brick, was erected on the corner of 
Chicago avenue; a second three-story brick was built on the southeast corner of Division; 
the five four-story brick dwellings, with brown-stone facings, raised above the ruins on the 
northwest corner of Division, while nine other brick buildings were scattered through the 
forty-five frame buildings erected in 1871-72. Charles Pope's four-story brick malt-house, 
near Banks street, and the Doyle brewery, near Division, were built immediately after the fire. 

North Dearborn street, of olden days, was a favorite residence street, even as its southern 
extension was a popular office street. It was the boulevard of the north division, with well 
kept lawns or flower gardens stretching from the building line on each side back to the 
detached dwellings. 



144 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Early in 1872 the two-story double brick building, Nos. 101 and 102, was completed; the 
three-story brick block of dwelling houses, 210 and 212, was also ready for occupancy in the 
summer; the Marble dwelling, a three-story brick, with stone facings, on the corner of Chest- 
nut street; Taylor's block of five residences, each a three-story brick, with stone facings; B. 
B. Page's Milwaukee brick dwelling, at the corner of Maple street; the four-story brick block. 
451 to 455, north of Division street, Eli Bates' two-story brick dwelling; a brick residence, 
with mansard roof, farther north, and a double brick dwelling, at 590 and 592, were all com- 
pleted. The Griffin Block, north of Indiana ; Dr. Collyer's church ; the New England church ; 
Dr. Isham's pressed brick building; O. F. Fuller's double brick, at corner of Oak street; Mrs. 
Johnson's double brick residence; a three-story residence, No. 460, and the Potter dwelling, 
corner of Schiller street were completed in November, 1872. 

What has been written of South Clark street in regard to the style and condition of build- 
ings before the fire, applies equally to North Clark street of that period. It was a Turkish 
bazaar in many respects, but while the residents drank beer in extraordinary quantities, in 
opposition, as it were, to the whisky drinkers of South Clark street, morality was held in 
higher esteem. It had no characteristic of the "Garden City" board hovels, balloon frames, 
an odd brick building, an odd pretentious residence and buildings of miscellaneous primitive 
styles, all had to surrender to fire, all had to make way for the Chicago of the future, the 
New Chicago of the present. Ewing's warehouse, a brick-and-stone building, fronting on 
Clark, extending back two hundred feet along the river, soon rose above the ruins, opposite 
Gowen's new three-story $60,000 marble front. Just north of the bridge, on the west side of 
the street, the three-story brick house of Appel, Knote, Lang, Flentey and Huck were built; 
the McCormick block, on northeast corner of Kinzie; the Lombarduer three-story brick at 
Kinzie; E. K. Rogers' $40,000 five-story brick, with stone facings, Nos. 68 and 65; S. G. 
Taylor's marble front, three-story building; the four-story Humboldt block; the Peter Hahn 
three-story building, Nos. 236 and 238; Mrs. Bussick's four-story brick, Nos. 178 and 180; 
the five-story Purple block (Clarendon house), stuccoed front, Nos. 148 to 158; Beck & 
Wirth's four-story brick tobacco warehouse; Swarth Brothers' three-story grocery building, 
Nos. 383 to 387; the Turner hall and the North Chicago Railroad Company's large brick 
barn. The total number of brick buildings erected on North Clark street from October 1 1 , 
1871, to October 11, 1872, was one hundred forty-two, and of frame, one hundred forty-three. 
During the winter of 18723 several brick houses were begun. 

Wells street, ambitious to excel North Clark street in the number of buildings and volume 
of trade, fell at the feet of its rival in 1872, and has remained second in the race down to the 
present time. The E. A. Jacobs' four-story stone front at the corner of Michigan street was 
the first important house which rose above the debris. At the close of October, 1872, this and 
two other stone fronts were the only buildings with any architectural pretensions on the street. 
if the large frame building of J. Corcoran, known as the Hatch house, near the Northwestern 
railroad depot, may be excepted on account of its constructive material. During the year 
ending October, 1872, there were two hundred and thirty frame houses, six one-story brick, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 145 

sixteen two-story brick, twenty-six three-story brick and one four-story brick, erected on this 
street. 

Franklin street boasted, in October, 1872, of one hundred and twenty-two new frame and 
six brick buildings. The pressed brick house, at the corner of Huron street, erected for the 
Evangelical Lutheran society, and the two two-story, 150x300 feet, brick buildings of the 
Union Brass Manufacturing Company and the Crear Adams Company, were the only ones 
deserving special notice. 

Market street could boast at this time of the six-story Milwaukee brick block, known as 
the Moulton house, built by J. W. Moulton at a cost of $150,000. St. Joseph's church and 
school building and the Home of the Good Shepherd were prominent landmarks among the 
one hundred and forty-two frame and three brick buildings erected that year. 

Kingsbury street showed one hundred frame and three brick buildings at the close of the 
first year of rebuilding. Townsend street could not show even one brick, and Sedgwick street 
only two or three. Clybourne avenue took the lead of all the semi-cross streets within the 
north division in the number of brick buildings, but on this as on the other streets cheap bal- 
loon frames sprang up like mushrooms from a hotbed. 

The impetus given to West Madison street by the misfortunes which had fallen on the 
residents of the burnt territory, brought it into the front rank of business streets. At Nos. 
155 and 157 the W. Patterson four-story stone front was erected at a cost of $21,000; on the 
northwest corner of Madison and Halsted R. Parker erected a $65,000 five-story brick build- 
ing; at No. 189 D. Cole built a $20,000 iron-and-stone house; J. H. Davey erected his 
$125,000 four-story brick block on northwest corner of Green street, and his $35,000 three- 
story brick at Nos. 218 to 228; William Rapp, a $15,000 three-story stone at No. 217; Hitch 
cock one at No. 219, and Philo Carpenter a similar building at No. 221. The Ewing 
$140,000 four-story brick block on southwest corner of Madison and Peoria; the C. C. P. 
Holden $40,000 four-story stone, Nos. 298 and 300; the Charles Spry $30,000 three-story 
stone, Nos. 278 and 280; the Partridge $30,000 three-story brick adjoining on the west; Dr. 
Glacius' $20,000 three-story stone, No. 324; Clarke & Browne's $18,000 three-story brick, 
Nos. 402 and 44; Henry Ladrer's $12,000 three-story brick, No. 271, and E. H. Goodrich 
and James Ward's $9,000 three-story brick, No. 203, were among the leading buildings 
erected in 1872. 

The Washington house was built in 1872 and operated under the name Skinner 
house until 1881. It has a frontage of one hundred feet on Madison and sixty-five on 
Canal and is four stories in hight. Although built in 1872 it possesses many of the charac- 
teristics of the large brick houses erected before the fire. 

Halsted street, like West Madison street, received material benefits from the great fire- 
Within the year ending October, 1872, James Parker's three-story brick, Nos. 44 to 50, was 
built at a cost of $30,000; C. R. Gardner's $60,000 two-story brick the Academy of Music- 
sprung into existence; Guthman's $17,(XH) three-story brick, No. 95; Meredith's $16,000 
three-story stone, No. 89, and C. C. Merrick's 10.000 three-story stone took the places of 
board houses. 



146 



INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 



The number and cost of permanent buildings erected from October, 1871, to October, 
1872, are shown in the following table: 



No. Cost. 

South Water street 45 $ 1,514,000 

Lake street 49 3,042,000 

Randolph street 33 2,021,000 

Washington street 28 1,930,000 

Madison street 48 2,533,000 

Monroe street 20 1,558,000 

Adams street 4 170,000 

Jackson street 5 77,000 

' Van Buren street 12 239,000 

Congress street 5 125,000 



No. Cost. 

River street 13 $ 435,000 

Michigan avenue 13 874,000 

Wabash avenue . . . . 45 3,657,000 

State street 71 ' 6,246,000 

Dearborn street 32 2,870,000 

Clark street .?. 75 6,739,000 

La Salle street 33 4,863,000 

Fifth avenue 32 642,000 

Franklin street 22 568,000 

Market street.. 13 490,000 



249 $13,209,000 349 $27,384,000 

This shows a total number of five hundred and ninety-eight'buildings in the south divis- 
ion of the burnt district exclusive of frame buildings. During the ensuing year the prog- 
ress of building was equally marked, so that by October, 1873, Bayard F. Taylor chronicled 
his observation of the city's wonderful revival in the following lines: 

"I found Chicago, wood and clay," the royal Kaiser cried, 

And Hung upon the sleeping mart the mantle in his pride; 

It lay awhile he lifted it, and there beneath the robe 

A city done in lithograph, the wonder of the globe; 

Where granite, grain and marble heart, in strength and beauty wed, 
"I leave a mart of palaces," the haughty Kaiser said. 

On the opening of the rebuilt Chamber of Commerce, October 9, 1872, Mayor Medill stilted : 
" This mighty work of reconstruction and rehabilitation could not be so far advanced by 
any possible effort of our unaided citizens. Nothing but the enormous aid in money and 
materials that we have received, has enabled us to achieve such wonders in so incredible a 
space of time. With our unsupported strength we could rebuild and restore no faster than 
we could produce surplus earnings and devote spare time to work. But the capitalists and 
craftsmen of America and Europe stepped forward and proffered the assistance that could be 
employed. The citizens of Chicago supplied the daring, the enterprise, the brain-power, the 
plans, a large amount of muscle, and whatever capital and credit the flames had spared. Our 
friends and correspondents supplied everything else. The extent of this help is not easy 
to calculate; but the best approximate estimate I can make, from the data in my possession, 
makes it equal to. one-half the total loss sustained in the capital destroyed and earnings of 
labor and business lost by reason of the tire. I estimate the destruction of property by tire 
at $160,000,000, and the loss on employment and business at $30,(KK),(KX), or a total of 
$190,000,000, as the consequence of one day's work of the fire fiend. Against these losses we 
have received as follows: 

On insurance $40,000,000 

Losses on real estate 10,000,000 

Loans on personal securities 2,000,000 

Loans, compromises with burnt-out merchants, deductions on claims 6,000,000 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 147 

Donations to the poor in moneys and goods 17,000,000 

Loans and donations from relatives and friends, to the poor 2,500,000 

Rebates under relief bill. 1,000,000 

Purchase of Customhouse lot 1,250,000 

Investments here from abroad 6,000,000 

"To this may be added insurance that will yet be paid, $8,000,000; Federal expenditure 
on Custom House, $3,000, (XX), and balance of canal lien from the state, $2,000,000, or an 
addition of $13,000,000, making a'total revenue of about $90,000,000. In addition to all 
this we had the assistance of the skill and labor of 30,000 able-bodied men from other places 
since spring to help rebuild the city and supply other demands of labor." 

Writing under date, February 21. 1891, Mr. Medill says: "The work of building and 
borrowing went on without abatement and under full headway for another year. When the 
great panic of 1873 struck the city, progress was arrested for a time, but did not stop, it only 
slowed down. Still the backset was a severe ona I think I underestimated the losses on 
real estate during the twelve months succeeding the fire. My present belief is that they 
exceeded $15.000,000, and may have been close upon $20,000,000. I have always thought 
since then that I got that important item much too small. It would be safe to estimate the 
loans upon personal security at fully $-4,000,000; compromises and deductions can be safely 
put at $8,000,000, some of which money, however, was afterward repaid. I am now satisfied 
that investments from abroad were not less than $8,000,000, and they were probably 
$10,000,000. The total loans, aid, donations and insurance received aggregated fully 
$100,000,000 during the twelvemonths succeeding the tire." All the credits, therefore, under 
the new lights, since the writer of the above delivered his address in October, 1872, may 
be placed at $121,750,000, received by Chicago prior to October 9, 1872, against a total loss 
of over $200.000,000 by the tire of October 9, 1871. 

The Real Estate and Building Journal in its estimate of the fire of 1871, placed the total 
loss on buildings at $53,080,000, and states that this estimate is probably the first correct one 
ever published. Itemized, it is as follows: 

Eighty business blocks $ 8,515,000 

Railway depots, warehouses and Chamber of Commerce 2,700,000 

Hotels 3,100.000 

Theaters 865,000 

Daily newspapers (buildings) 888,(M)(l 

One hundred other business buildings I,008y430 

Other taxable buildings. .......<. , 28,880,000 

Churches 2,989,000 

Public schools 249,780 

Public buildings not taxed 2,121,800 

Public property 1,763,000 

The value of all the real and personal property in the city at that time, taxed and un- 
taxed, was estimated at s?r>75.000;o<)0, and of this $18(5,000,000 was destroyed. 

The Vienna (Austria) /'Vie Presse of March, 1873, in an editorial says: ' Scarcely have 
two years elapsed since the 9th of October, 1871, the day on which arose that terrible con- 



148 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

flagration which converted the largest, most beautiful and most prosperous city of the West 
into a heap of ruins, such as seemed destined forever and irrevocably, to cover not only the 
whole property, but the very existence of 400, (XX) people. And to-day this very city stands 
rebuilt upon its former site, resurrected in rejuvenated beauty, swelled with enhanced energy 
and enterprise, at the threshold of a grander future than the one which for all time was 
deemed dissolved in the flames. * * * We people of Vienna, have, above others, 

some idea of the rapidity with which, under favorable circumstances, a new city may spring 
up from the soil, and new industries be brought to life. But what was achieved in Chicago 
under unfavorable conditions, in the brief space of eighteen months, stamps our doings as 
miserable, shortcoming attempts. To us it is an enigma, a miracle, whose secret to penetrate 
and whose real condition to explore, is with us a pressing commandment of necessity. * * * 
All modern extensions of European cities sink into insignificance when compared with what was 
created, far in yonder American West, by the united and well-directed energy of a simple com- 
monwealth." 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 149 



U. 



GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE. 

e'G October 9, 1872, the record for the year shows a marvelous, if not miraculous, 
growth, but it was only the beginning of a city. Year after year the lines of per- 
manent buildings were extended, until Chicago could boast of regular, well built- 
up thoroughfares. 

From April, 1872, to March 31, 1873, there were 1,233 permits issued, for the construc- 
tion of brick buildings, and 301 permits granted for the removal of wooden buildings. The 
new tire ordinance, under which the permits were issued, was so radical in character as to 
win opposition from the majority of citizens, and particularly from the working classes, who 
were most seriously affected by it. In 1873-4, permits to erect 935 brick buildings and 175 
to remove wooden buildings were issued. The respective numbers for 1874-5 were 712 and 
244, or 2,881 building permits since February 21, 1872. The official record of the issue of 
permits, by distinct years, shows that in 1873 there were 1,000 building permits issued, to 
cover 42,300 feet, at an estimate cost of $25,500,000; in 1874, 757 permits, to cover 33,065 
feet, at a cost of $5,785,541 ; in 1875, 875 permits, to cover 55,479 feet, at a cost of $9,778,080, 
and in 1876, 1,636 permits, to cover 43,222 feet, at a cost or $8,270,300. In 1877 there were 
2,698 permits issued, and in 1878, 2,709. The estimates of cost do not include the large sums 
expended on the federal, county and city buildings. The number of buildings in 1877 did 
not reach the number of permits, being only 1,389. with a frontage of 38,033 feet, and cost- 
ing $6,922,649. In 1878 the number of buildings erected, 1,019, showed only 31,118 feet, or 
about six miles of frontage, and cost $6,605,200, the least in the seventeen years since the fire. 
In 1879 a slightly larger frontage was built over, but the expenditure did not amount to that 
of 1878, the permits numbering 1,093, the frontage measuring 33,311 feet and the cost 
approximating $7,500,000. 

Building Commissioner John M. Diinphy, in the first general report of his department, 
made to the council in 1890, referred to the rebuilding of the city, thus: 

"The five years following the great tire of 1871, were the busiest five years in the way of 
building over known in this city or in this or any other country. During those years the 
burned district, which had been swept by the tire, was partially built up. There were 
destroyed by tho great conflagration 15,768 buildings, including 175 manufacturing estab- 



150 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

* 

lishments, which were valued at $49,239,000. The improvements thus destroyed covered 
2,200 acres of ground, including the heart of our city. The great building mania which fol- 
lowed in building up that which the fire had burned down was not wholly confined to the 
burned-out district, for it proved infectious to the entire city. And while the great bulk of 
improvements were made during the few years following the fire to replace buildings destroyed 
by the fire, there were great numbers erected outside those limits, and some of the best build- 
ings seen to-day in the district described were built between October 10, 1871, and January 
1, 1877. The amount of building, however, in the burned district during the dates above 
given was perfectly enormous. Many of the public buildings, both government, city and 
county, were well under way or completed, and while the masses of our people were engaged 
one way or another in the reconstruction, let me say that the pride exhibited by many of the 
owners of these structures was truly wonderful. There appears to have been an unceasing 
rivalry as to who should have the best improvements, and one vied with the other to that end. 
No money was spared in embellishments that could add to the owner's property. Indeed, 
the fine architectural designs and embellishments that entered into the reconstruction during 
that period are plainly observable to-day, and will last for all time. The amount expended 
during those five years, or up to January 1, 1877, in the burned district, no one can tell. It 
was an immense sum, but without any official data, it is hard to approximate the amount with 
any certainty. However, it is my belief, based upon personal observations, lx>th before and 
since the great conflagration, that there was expended during the five years mentioned, a sum 
equal to the amount of losses in buildings, caused by the fire of October 8 and 9, 1871, which 
was $49,239,000. There is no doubt in my mind that this sum was expended, and probably 
more instead of less, to say nothing of the amount put into buildings outside the burned dis- 
trict, but inside the city limits during the same period of time." 

The Courthouse and City hall described in a former page is a dual structure, with the 
front of the county section on Clark street and that of the city section on La Salle street. The 
length on each of the streets named is 340 feet and the width of the two sections 280 feet. In 
November, 1872, the city and county conjointly advertised for plans. They offered a premium 
of $5,000 for the best plan, $2,000 for the second and $1,000 for the third best. Fifty plans 
were received, but nothing was done until 1877, when J. J. Egan's plans for the two sections 
were accepted. Before it was completed the estimated cost of the city building was 11,642, (KH>, 
while that of the county building, after several increases, finally became $2,424.628. In 
reality, however the cost of the buildings was about $5,000,000. The architect adopted the 
style of the French Renaissance, with its magnificent substructure and columnated super- 
structure, but the domes were ultimately discarded. Four massive granite columns mark the 
Clark street entrance. Upon them facades of polished granite stand in relief. The two 
extreme columns bear the interesting data which perpetuates the names of the commissioners 
under whose direction the house was constructed and the names of the artisans who performed 
their part of the work. The chiseled facades bear the following inscriptions: 



THE BUILDING INTBRB8T8. 151 

Anno Domini 1877. 
Hoard of Commissioners of Cook County. 

Charles ('. P. llolden, Chairman. 

Charles C. Avars. Theodore Gueuther. John McCaffrey. 

James Bradley. Henry C. Seune. Michael Mulloy. 

P. >[. Clear}-. George 1. Hoffman. K. C. Schmidt. 

John Conly. Henry J. Lenzen. John Tabor. 

Patrick Carroll. 

The other massive block of granite tells this legend: 

Anno Domini 1877. 

James J. Kgan, Architect. 

William Handler, Superintendent. 

Contractors: 
Henry Harms. \Vm. McNiel <te Son. Hinsdale-Doyle Granite Co. P. J. Sexton. 

As completed in 1882, this architectural pile presented to Chicagoans, for the first time, 
a true idea of art in the exterior of buildings. The heavy stone work in the first story, the 
grand stone steps leading from the sidewalk to the first floors, the Corinthian columns of 
polished Maine granite with beautiful capitals forming the colonnade for the third and fourth 
stories, and bearing the grand architrave, frieze and cornice, all described in chapter one, are 
noble in design. In May, 1891, the question of adding two stories to the county building 
was discussed. The county architect, Wegeman, stated that the exterior walls were in good 
condition, but that the foundations of the inner walls were unsafe. The weight of the pro- 
posed two stories would be about 10,090,000 pounds, and the cost about $171,000, including 
trasses. The sentiment of the people is opposed to this hightening of the Courthouse, and, 
for this reason, its extension upward has not yet been undertaken. 

The city building is, in fact, a part of the county building, varying from it only in a few 
ornamental details and in being constructed of Bedford stone. During its construction the 
vampires were watched so closely that the necessity for removing heavy cornices and daub- 
ing the walls has not been presented. The interior is much more ornate than that of the 
county building, and, all in all, the city is pleased with its official temple, its greatest example 
of the Renaissance. 

The Criminal court and Jail buildings, on Michigan, Dearborn and Illinois streets, were 
erected in 1873, at a cost of $875,000. The Courthouse is an old style public building 
(fronting 140 feet on Michigan street and 05 feet on Dearborn avenue) constructed of native 
limestone. Connected with the court proper is the large brick house (fronting 137 feet on 
Dearborn and 43 feet on Illinois street) while adjoining this on the west is the jail building, 
fronting 141 feet on Illinois street. Even in that semi-business neighborhood the houses 
appear out of date, old and jagged. The style is adapted Roman. 

The Federal building, known also as the Postoffice and Customhouse, was completed 
in 1879. Its architectural style is outlined in the first chapter. A few years after its occu- 
pation by the postal aiithorities the era of repairs was ushered in, and in December. 188.1, 
Superintendent Bailey estimated the cost of such repairs at 94,300. He reported that many of 



152 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

\ he cornice stones were breaking and cracking and needed replacing. He advised the painting 
of all the stone work to save it from harm through rain, frost and sunshine. The interior 
looked shabby, the plastering needed repairing and rendered frescoing necessary. Among 
the items in the estimate were: Salary of superintendent and contingent force, $7,700; oiling 
doors and sash and painting iron doors and window frames for interior, $6,000; resodding 
grass plats and shrubbery decorations, $1,000; caulking and painting stonework, $15,000; 
repairs to tiling of the stairways, $2,000; new tiling in water-closets and repairs to stone 
work in the same, etc., $1,500; repairing flagging and basement cement floors, $1,500; 
painting the interior of the building, stone work, window frames, etc., $'20,000; making pro- 
posed changes to the interior of Postoffice, $25,000; contingent fund for repairing small 
defects during the year, $1,500; painting roof and valleys and gutters of the same, $1,600; 
replacing wash-stands, water-closets, etc., throughout the building, $6,000; plastering, 
$4,500; painting outside and caulking interior skylight, $1,000. The same story of decay 
has been repeated annually since 1885, and now this grotesque outrage on the building art 
threatens to bury the officials. This is a city of surprises, but the collapse of this building 
would be no surprise. 

The American Express Company's office, on Monroe street, must be considered the first 
work of Richardson in Chicago. It is also given in the first chapter as an illustration of the 
coldest mixture of Gothic and other forms extant. The Lakeside building is also referred to 
in that chapter. 

The Ayers building, on the southwest corner of State and Monroe, adjoining the express 
company's house, shows the disposition of architects to follow the lead of Richardson. It is 
a substantial building, claiming many good architectural points, but wanting, exteriorly, in 
appearance of warmth. 

The McCormick block, Nos. 4 to 8 Lake street, completed in 1872, is a five-story-and- 
basement building, fronting sixty-four feet on Lake street and one hundred and twenty feet 
on Michigan avenue, the basement being 80x140 feet. Ohio stone was used in the fronts and 
French plate glass in the windows. Its architectural features are commonplace, belonging 
rather to 1870 than to 1872. 

The Heath & Milligan block, 170 and 172 Randolph street, was completed in March, 
1872, or within five months after the fire. Milwaukee pressed brick was used in the con- 
struction of the front. The Oriental, on La Salle street, is one of the earliest houses on that 
street. A Corinthian portico, colonnade and labeled windows mark its well-defined facade. 
The Western News Company's four-story-and-basement building, Nos. 40 and 42 Randolph 
street, was erected in 1872 at a cost of $100,000. Illinois stone was used in the front. 

The Gardner house was completed October 9, 1872. It fronts one hundred and twenty 
feet on Michigan boulevard and one hundred and seventy-one feet on Jackson street, is six 
stories and mansard attic in hight and interiorly presents some of the best workmanship of 
that period. Philadelphia pressed brick was used in the fronts of this building. TheBallard 
building, 163 and 165 Wabash avenue, was e-rected in 1872. The ornamental iron front carrit * 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 153 

live stories on the Wabash avenue and Monroe street facades. The four upper stories are 
compressed into one by great pilasters, which receive straight arches below the cornice, giving 
a vertical building with square, double windows each side of the single one in the center of 
the facade. The five-story-and-basement building, Nos. 121 and 123 State street, erected in 
1872, stands on the site of the Western News Company's old building. It is 48x150 feet, with 
French plate glass windows in front, light court and other improvements overlooked in other 
large buildings of that period. 

The Pike five-story building, 106 to 172 State street, was erected in 1872 at a cost of 
$140,000. It fronts eighty feet on State street and one hundred and twenty on Monroe. The 
first story shows iron construction and the four stories above Lemont stone slabs. 

The Boyce building, 125 and 127 State street, was built in 1872 of Lake Superior brown 
sandstone in Norman-Gothic style. It fronts fifty-five feet on State and extends east on 
Madison street 160 feet. The stone work and carving thereon were considered the best work 
in the city up to that period, as the Superior block on Clark street, opposite the Courthouse, 
was not then begun. The Ross & Gossage building on State street was erected in 1872, Am- 
herst sandstone being the constructive material of the front, at a cost of $200,000. It has a 
frontage of sixty-four feet, a depth of one hundred and sixty feet, and is six stories and base- 
ment in hight. 

The Giles Brothers' building, 266 and 268 Wabash avenue, is a four-story iron-and-stone 
front house, erected in 1872 at a cost of $75,000. The pilasters of the first floor merge into 
brackets and cestophori in the second. The third and fourth stories show excellent work in 
stone, while the cornice exhibits the best workmanship in galvanized iron. The Sturgis five- 
story building, 121 and 123 State street, was completed in November, 1872, at a cost of 
$1(X),000. This house, 48x150 feet, shows a Lemont stone front, French glass windows, and 
large light court. 

The Major block, purchased in 1891 by Leander J. McCormick from S. A. Crozer, of 
Delaware county, Pa., for $625,000, has a frontage of 135 feet on La Salle street and sixty- 
six feet on Madison street. A five-story basement-and-attic office building covers the entire lot. 
This building was erected in 1872, and is valued at $80,000, while $30,000 was expended in 
1890 in furnishing elevator service and in remodeling the building. The gross rental is 
S I'J.I H K ) a year. Without allowance for the building the price per front foot for the Madison 
street frontage is nearly $9,500. The La Salle street frontage is valued at almost one-half 
this amount. A more tangible idea of the value is gained from the fact that this transaction 
sets a valuation of over $70 on each of the 8,910 square feet on the corner. The building is 
in the Renaissance style as observed here generally after the tire. 

The Metropolitan block, on the northwest corner of Randolph and La Salle, one of tin- 
first buildings erected after the fire, and one of the first six-story brown sandstone houses, 
was for many years considered the finest office building in Chicago. The erection of so many 
new and modern office buildings farther south rather dropped it out of the popular mind. It 
always rented well, however, and is a paying piece of property. The northward movement of 



154 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

improvements in 1890, resulting in the remodeling and modernizing of the Northern, the 
Chamber of Commerce, the Oxford and the La Fayette buildings has brought the Metropoli- 
tan block into notice, and its proximity to the courthouse makes it much sought after for 
certain classes of offices, while the increase in land values has made it necessary to increase its 
income earning power. Hence the addition of two stories and the improvements of 1891. 

The Bennett Medical college building, 511 and 51 3 State street, was one of the first large 
buildings erected on State street in the seventies. It is a five-story house, 40x1 (M) feet, form- 
ing a front for the hospital building in the rear. 

The Academy of Music, built on Halsted street just south of Madison street, in 1871, 
for William B. Clapp, was to the west side of that period what Crosby's opera house was to 
the central business district before the fire. The Academy went down in flames, was rebuilt, 
and in later years was redecorated. 

Hooley's theatre was completed in 1872 and dedicated on the same day the great old 
Board of Trade building on La Salle and Washington streets was opened. The entrance 
and oriel windows modernize the front, but the cornice leaves little impression of latter-day 
style. The interior is well arranged and decorated. 

The Grand opera house, 87 and 89 Clark street, originally Bryan hall, was known as 
Hooley's opera house for a short period before the fire. In 1872 the " Billiard palace " rose 
above the ruins of Bryan hall, which was subsequently known as the Coliseum a strange 
mixture of flowers, sandwiches, drinks, music and bnchannalian worship. In 1880 it was re- 
modeled and the name changed to The Grand opera house or Hamblin's opera house. The 
exterior is old style. 

The Eawson, on the east side of State street, north of Monroe street, and the building 
on the southwest corner of Adams and Wabash, occupied by Walker & Co., present almost 
similar features. The Corinthian columns, resting on high panelled pedestals and fluted in 
the upper part of shaft, are used with marked effect instead of pilasters. Between each set 
of columns is the double arched window with small pillar supporting the center impost. 
The style is Americanized Italian, massive in a detached house, but lost in a block of 
buildings. 

The National Life Insurance building, on La Salle street, is one of the great structures 
erected after the fire. Its fluted pilasters, window labeling and its heavy cornice carried on 
brackets and modillions will always give it a place among the great pieces of architecture of 
the city. The entrance, too, deserves more than a passing notice. Two broad pilasters, rest- 
ing on pedestals carved to represent a mound of rocks, bear, in alto relievo, the representa 
tion of lions. For the keystone of the arch a great eagle is used, and above this is the 
entablature. The facades are in ashlar with heavy substructure, vermicnlated at regular inter- 
vals. This is the northern neighbor of the Nixon building, on the northeast corner of La Salle 
and Monroe streets, which battled with the great fire of 1871 so heroically. 

The Marine bank building, on the southeast corner of Lake and La Salle streets, was 
erected in 1872 on the site of the old building, extended oil Lake street to eighty feet, or 



LIBRARY 
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OF ILLINOIS 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 15.-, 

twenty feet greater frontage than that of the house destroyed in 1871. It is a four-story-and- 
basemeut Lemont stone building, Romanesque in style, showing central and corner piers, 
horizontal bands, arched windows and doors, heavy cornice and pediments above the centers 
of the facades. It is one of the enterprises of J. Y. Scammon. 

The old First National bank building, on the southwest corner of State and Washington 
streets, was completed in 1872, at a cost of $295,000, $75,<XX) of which was expended on 
restoration after the fire. It was considered a fireproof house, iron, stone and brick being 
the constructive material; but it did not prove itself so in presence of the great fire of 1871, 
for the inner vaults were the only portions of the building untouched by fire. Part of the 
walls fell in and the iron work was twisted or melted. It was a Florentine building, with 
balustraded portico in cut-off and pediment above the cornice. Prior to the introduction of 
modern houses, the old First National bank was considered a rare architectural work, and was 
spoken of in connection with the Palmer, Tremont, Field and other leading houses. 

The Merchants Savings Loan & Trust Company's building, on the northeast corner of 
Dearborn and Madison streets, was erected in 1872. It is a five-story ashlar stone house, 
40x80, built in attractive style and well finished interiorly in marble, ornamental tile and 
fresco work. 

The Fidelity Savings bank, erected in 1872, is a superior building to the old bank, 
completed before the fire, the vaults of which withstood the test. The new building, vaults 
and ground cost about $2(X),000, the owners, Bryan & Haines, agreeing to give a four-story 
stone- and-brick house protected against fire, so far as the knowledge of fireproofing in 1872 
might permit. The stone front shows that attention was paid to details and the interior 
reflects the promise of safety. The iron and vault work, in the bank proper, is artistic as well 
us strong. 

The Revere house, on the corner of Clark and Michigan streets, was built on the site of 
tin 1 hotel of 1801, by Thomas Mackin, in 1872. It was one of the first large architectural 
buildings erected on the north side immediately after the fire. In 18845 two attic stories 
were added, by J. D. Fanning, the lessee, and a corner bay, spinging from a corbel, at the 
level of the old cornice, constructed. The building fronts one hundred and fifty feet on 
Clark, and one hundred feet on Michigan street, is six stories high, contains one hundred and 
fifty rooms, and has nine entrances and exits. The Corinthian hall, 100x100 feet, is con- 
nected with the hotel by a covered tin bridge. 

The Nicollet building, on Fifth avenue, was erected immediately after the fire. Atten- 
tion was bestowed on its exterior appearance, and as a result, a fine ashlar stone front struct- 
ure memorializes the architectural ventures of the time on that thoroughfare. Opposite, on 
the west side of the street, a brown stone building, inclining to German architectural forms, 
was subsequently erected. 

The Staats Zeitung building followed the Times building in the order of construction. 
The style is common to that of the better stone houses of the period. 

The Evening Journal building, built immediately after the fire, is French Renaissance 



ir,6 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

from the pedestals to the finial. With a limited frontage, it shows a facade of four high stories. 
a sub story and an attic story of more than fair architectural proportions. The clustered Com- 
posite columns and pilasters, each annulated and fluted, of the same order, with two square 
piers at each side, support the superstructure. The central columns form a portico, and this, 
repeated in abridged form on the second and third stories, gave two colonnades. On the 
level of the third floor is a square balconette, done in balusters, extending beyond the clus- 
tered columns. Above the level of the fourth floor the columns carry a chaste pediment. 
Pilasters, in couples, mark the central projection of the fourth and fifth stories, each set carry- 
ing a heavy cornice on floor level, and above the fifth cornice, a square gallery or balustrade 
at the base of the hip roof or projection of the mansard. In the first and fifth stories the 
windows are square, and so is the recessed window in the colonnade of the second story all 
other windows show the arch and keystone, with heavy labeling in attached columns. The 
side windows of the upper attic are capped with rich pediments, and the central window by a 
frontal. The ensemble is well worth study, for each part is based on a definite style. In the 
remodeling of this building, the vandal utilitarian abolished the portico. He sought more 
light and less ornament. 

The Times building, erected after the fire, is constructed of Parma (Mich.) sandstone. 
It is a five-story-and-basement structure, 80x183 feet, and siibstantial beyond comparison with 
any of its cotemporaries. It shows an adaptation of the Vetruvian style of order above order 
and arcade above arcade, but the horizontal outweighs the vertical in the facades. It is a 
mixture of the Italian and French, with balconettes, pediments, pilasters, engaged pillars, 
heavy cornice and grand parapet, all put together in artistic shape, and all subservient to 
light and accommodation. 

The Tribune building is one of the first brown-stone structures erected after the fire. 
Its labeled windows, pilasters, cut-off corner, frontal and regular pediment are its only archi- 
tectural features, if the fact that every room is lighted and exposed to live air be considered 
outside the domain of architecture. The entrance to the upper offices of the building is scant 
and crowded, and the elevator shaft is dark. The style is Italian. 

The Honore building on the northwest corner of Dearborn and Adams streets was erected 
in 18734. It is a six-story-and-basement house in the Corinthian-Doric dress of the Renais- 
sance, showing order above order. Thus, in the center of the Dearborn facade and in the 
first story, the Roman-Corinthian appears and in the stories above the Roman-Doric column 
controls. Designed by C. M. Palmer, the architect of the Palmer house and of the Madison 
house, it reflects the ideas of ornamentation which prevailed here after the fire. Venetian 
windows, such as those in the Grimani palace, in Doric rather than Corinthian company, may 
be seen in this building. Balconettes, too, find a place here with the deep frie/e, heavy cor- 
nice and high retreating parapet. However strange it may appear to find on Dearborn and 
Adams streets a reflection of Venice in stone, the fact remains. It is San Michele's imitu- 
tion of the ancient Roman architecture (revived in the fifteenth century) redressed in the 
nineteenth century for Chicago iise. The building is now (1801) within measurable distance 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 157 

of improvement. In 1887-8 the property was purchased by Hinckley and Cooper. In the 
latter year the dreain of enlarging and remodeling it was entertained. The building was 
examined by experts who reported the construction of the walls to be very strong, and that 
four stories could be added, making it ten stories high. To do this and to make the other 
improvements contemplated (which include thorough fireprooting) will cost from $350,000 to 
$500,000. The lot is one hundred and fourteen feet on Adams street and one hundred and 
ninety on Dearborn, but ninety feet of the frontage on Dearborn street is one hundred and 
forty feet deep, and there is a rear building about 20x90 feet, which is hidden from view 
from Dearborn street. It is proposed so to change these buildings as to give a court about 
seventy feet square near the center of the lot which will afford light to all rooms. 

The Howland block varies only in a few details and in its hight from the Honore. The 
Corinthian rules above the first story where the Ionic holds sway. Pilasters of the respect- 
ive orders exert a strong and salutary influence on the building. Again the system of fluted 
columns and pilasters is very much in excess of that which obtains in the Honore, giving the 
Howlaud an agreeable vertical facade and showing a combination of strength and beauty. 
The hight is five stories and basement. The frontal above the cornice in the center and the 
pediments at the ends confirm it as belonging to the Renaissance. Its location, however, mil- 
itates against it when compared with the location of the Honore; it is not so well known as 
the corner building, and it is opposed by the modern Commercial styles on the east side of the 
street With all this opposition, it is creditable to the architects, builders and owners, and 
stands today a monument to the high appreciation in which they held the building arts in 
1872-3. 

The power of syndicates or of consolidated moneyed interest to bring forth large build- 
ings was first demonstrated here during this period in the building of the old Exposition 
on the lake front, and next in 1879, when the erection of Central Music hall was considered. 
The financial panic, 1873-8, militated against art in every form and delayed in an especial 
degree the era of great buildings. 

The Palmer house is described in another page, in connection with the courthouse as an 
illustration of one form of the Renaissance. It is undoubtedly a beautiful building, rich in 
ornament and most creditable to the architects and builders. 

The Tremont house did not rise from the ruins of the old building until 1874. On its 
completion Chicago boasted of one of the most beaiitiful hotel buildings in the Union. It is 
five stories in hight, basement and attic, crowned with five two-story towers or pavilions. 
The exterior walls, of the best Amherst sandstone, present some of the finest effects of the 
French Renaissance. The interior arrangements do not bring a blush to the beautiful 
exterior walls; for all the house-builders' knowledge of 1874 was requisitioned to render the 
house perfect for hotel purposes. Designed by J. M. Van Osdel, at a time when the Clifton 
house, the Reaper, Hawley, Equitable, Farwell, Law and Jewett blocks were in the hands 
of his draughtsman, it is an enduring monument to its owners and builders. With its wealth 

o o 

of columns, pilasters, piers, balconies, balconettes, cornices, balustrades, dormers and pavilion 
domes, it is a building which holds a high place in the estimation of architects. 



15S INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

In 1878 tho idea of consolidating interests incorporate form for building purposes was first 
given practical effect, inan extensive way, at Chicago. The Inter-State Exposition Company 
organized with a capital stock of $'250,(XX) to build and maintain a structure for fairs, conven- 
tions and annual expositions of art and industry, the stated object being to serve the public on 
an eleemosynary principle. On this basis the city granted a revocable lease of valuable ground 
at the rate of $500 per annum, and on this ground a peculiar structure was erected. For the 
past twelve years it yielded from four to seven per cent on the capital stock to A. F. Seeberger, 
John P. Reynolds, Wiley M. Egan, J. B. Farwell, J. Irving Pearce, J. W. Ellsworth, T. W. 
Harvey, N. S. Bouton, and other stockholders. On June 3. 1873, the work of construction was 
begun, and within ninety-six days a building 800x240 feet in extent and 110 feet high was 
reported complete. In comparison with other structures it was raised in the shortest time, for 
Haverly's theatre, of later days, a much smaller house, occupied ninety days. The glass 
roof in iron frame work, the domes and pavilions without and the grand gallery, all 
round the interior, are the only features approaching architecture. 

The Marine hospital was erected in 1808-73 at a cost of $458,000. As completed its 
interior was better adapted to barrack than to hospital uses; but in 1882 the errors of the 
United States architect were corrected at an expense of over $48,0(H). This house is a sub- 
stantial brick structure, four stories high and three hundred and sixty feet long. Sanitary 
science has done much to render it a healthy home, while the hospital authorities have 
reclaimed from the lake sufficient grounds to permit a fair attempt at landscape gardening. 

The Normal school biiildings on Sixty-eight street and Stewart avenue were erected in 
1869-71, at a cost of about $100,000, J. K. Winchel being the architect. The school proper 
and the hall were the pioneers of the large public and semi-public buildings of that por- 
tion of the city formerly known as the Town of Lake. The style of both buildings is obso- 
lete. It was an elaboration of the schoolhouse idea of old Chicago. 

The Alexian Brothers' hospital, on North Market and Franklin streets, is a two-story- 
basement- and- attic building, erected in 1872 at a cost of about $50,000. The central tower, 
four pavilions and mansard roof with fine dormers give to this building an air of warmth, 
health and comfort wanting on latter-day structures. 

St. Joseph's hospital building, on Garfield avenue near Burling street, was erected in 
1872. It is a large brick three-story-baseinent-and-attic house with ornamental roof, after 
the French style. 

The First Presbyterian society's building, on Indiana avenue and Twenty-first street 
was erected in 1X72 at a cost of $105,000, including ground and furnishings. It is a brick 
structure with stone facings, heavily buttressed with tower and spire two hundred and sixty 
feet in hight. The side walls are fifty feet and the gables one hundred feet in hight. The 
symmetrical tower and spire were the objective points of the architect, and he succeeded in 
accomplishing meritorious work. 

In 1872 the ruin and site of Grace Methodist Episcopal church were sold and lots pur- 
chased on LaSalle and Locust streets, where a SIUO.CUO Gothic house was erected in 1872-3. 
The auditorium in basement seats 1,200 and that of the main floor, with galaries, 1,500. 




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THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 159 

In 1872-3 the large stone Gothic building on Michigan avenue, south of Sixteenth 
street, was completed (except in a few minor details, such as the spire or exterior ornaments) 
at a cost of $175,000, for the First Uuiversalist society. 

In 1872-3, after the New School Calvary Presbyterian society merged into the First 
Presbyterian society, that organization erected the building on the northeast comer of 
Indiana avenue and Twenty-first street. 

A duplicate building of the First Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran house on Superior 
street was raised in 1872-3 on the foundations, at a cost of $15,000, which is minus every 
point of beauty. 

The Grand Pacific hotel building was erected in 1871-3, after plans by W. W. Boying- 
ton, on the site of a new house completed just before the fire. It cost about $1,800,000. 
Occupying the half block bounded by La Salle, Jackson, Clark and Quiucy streets, its 500 
rooms are well lighted. The exterior of this large Amherst stone building may be classed as 
French, ground or mixed with Western styles. It is the Palmer house minus the rich exte- 
rior decorations of that building; but more lightsome and airy in the interior. The central 
and corner pavilions on La Salle, Jackson and Clark streets are six stories, attic and base- 
ment in bight, with the six recessed sections of the three fronts and the rear, on Quincy 
street, five stories, attic and basement. The third and fourth stories are forced into one in 
the center and corners of the three facades, and this is repeated in the fifth and sixth stories. 
The ]x>rticoes show light columns, carrying balconies, corresponding with the level of the sec- 
ond floor. Balconettes carried on brackets, mark the same level of the corner pavilions. 
The ornate pilasters in the projecting sections, the labeled windows in the recessed sections, 
and the tine dormers in the mansard roof are architectural features. It was an extraordinary 
building for the time, and even until the completion of the Board of Trade and the other great 
buildings of latter days, the Grand Pacific was queen of architecture in that district. 

The Sherman house was erected in 1872-3, after designs by W. W. Boyington, at a cost 
of ^000,000. The stone for the Randolph and Clark street fronts, one hundred and sixty-one 
and one hundred and eighty-one and a half feet, respectively, obtained from the Kankakee 
quarries, was originally a light brown color, but turned to a grizzly yellow within a few years. 
The general outline of the other great hotels erected here after the fire is evident in this. The 
high basement, with entrances from the sidewalk, is a feature, not so ornamental as xisoful, 
carried to extremes hero. The frontals and pediments in the central and corner projections 
and the largo number of chimneys rising above the front walls, in front of the mansard roof, 
and, in some cases, above the balustrades of the pavilions, afford relief to a facade spoiled by 
the plainness of the recessed walls. Like its sister buildings of 1872-3, it escaped criticism 
and even won the praise of architects for a term; but when the courthouse on the opposite 
corner was completed the Sherman building was scarcely observable the greater architect- 
ural pile overshadowing it and winning all attention. 

The Leland house, on the southwest corner of Michigan boulevard and Jackson street, 
stands among many of the modern buildings of the city, most of its pioneer neighbors having 



100 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

disappeared. The general plan varies but little from that of the Grand Pacific. Quoin stones 
and frontals take the place of the pilasters and labels in the other hotel building, but the 
ground or first floor shows the architraves rather than the archivolts of the Grand Pacific. 
Brick is used in the Leland where stone is used in the last-named house, yet the iron bal- 
conies and balconettes and the chaste mansard roof, with dormers corresponding with the 
windows below, give to the Leland an exterior character of which the modern buildings can- 
not rob it. There are two hundred and sixteen well lighted rooms in this house. Its location 
is eminently superior. Since its erection, immediately after the fire, it has continued to hold a 
high place in public estimation. 

Within two days after the fire the First German Methodist Episcopal society erected 
a little house on the ruins of the church of 1857, and in May, 187'!. a 17,(XK) two- 
story-and-basement frame building, 44x90 feet, was erected for commercial and religious 
purposes on Clybourne avenue. Before the close of 1873 a brick building, 00x75 feet and 
four stories in hight, was completed for the Van Buren Street German Methodist Episcopal 
society, which they owned until 1879, when the mortgage holder relieved them of the onus of 
ownership. The Mariners' Temple, a five-story house, was completed in 1873. St. Ansgarius 
Protestant Episcopal church was erected in 1872-3, at a cost of $21,000. 

The church of St. Anthony of Padua, on Hanover street and Twenty-fourth place, was 
erected in 1873-4, at a cost of about $150,000. A high rock-faced stone basement with brick 
superstructure, clearstory and iron dome, show fairly well its Byzantine design. It was the 
first of the large churches erected in the seventies, and the only Byzantine building in the 
city at that period. 

The rebuilding of St. James Protestant Episcopal church was commenced in 1S73 
and carried on in the face of many difficulties until IS75, when it was completed at a cost of 
$1()0,(MX>. It is of course a duplicate of the burnt building, presenting the same Anglo-Gothic 
outline. The memorial reredas and ornamental windows lend a charm to the interior decora- 
tions. The total length of this building is one hundred and seventy-three feet, and the width, 
across transepts, one hundred and nine feet. 

In 1873-4 a number of houses for religious worship was erected, among these the 
Trinity Episcopal building, a stone house on Michigan avenue find Twenty-sixth street, fit a 
cost of $ KM (,000. It is a low, cruciform house, substantial and well designed, with belfry on 
front gable and heavy, buttressed walls, Celtic rather than Gothic in style. The brick and 
stone house was erected in 1S74 for the congregation of the Immaculate Conception at a cost 
of over $30,000, and the residence and school building in 1N7S and 1ISS.">, at a cost of over 
$20,000. The Second Presbyterian society erected a stone building on the northwest corner 
of Michigan avenue and Twentieth street in 1874. January 4, 1S74, the North Presbyterian 
and Westminster societies, working as the Fourth Presbyterian church, erected the Leinont 
stone building on Rush and Superior streets. This is a cruciform house, well built, and cost 
$80,000. St. Adalbert's church building was begun in 1.S74 and completed in ISS4onthe 
corner of West Seventeenth and Paulina streets. The foundations of other churches were 
made and a few of the smaller buildings erected. 



THK BUILDING INTERESTS. 161 

The tire of July 14, 1874, spread over sixty acres in the south division between Twelfth 
and Van Buren and Clark streets and Michigan avenue. With the exception of that portion of 
the newly burned territory north of Harrison and the First Baptist church building, which 
was destroyed, the houses well merited destruction, for many of them were bad in every way. 
Their summary removal by fire made way for the superior buildings which were soon after 
erected. 

The Cathedral of the Holy Name is the title of one of the finest specimens of Gothic 
architecture in the whole western country. Located on the northeast corner of State and 
Superior streets, this great stone structure shows its symmetrical tower and spire, two hundred 
and t/en feet in hight. From the southwest corner of the streets named, the whole facade and 
south side of this pure Gothic building may be viewed. The corner stone was placed 
July 19, 1874, and the house completed iu November, 1875, at a cost of over a quarter mill- 
ion of dollars. The interior is a study for architect and decorator, the graceful columns sup- 
porting a vaulted roof, the marbles, the stained glass windows and the altars are all in har- 
mony with the building. The laws of proportion in Gothic work have been observed to the 
letter, and this precision is carried into the mere constructional work. 

The Moody and Sankey Tabernacle, at the corner of Chicago and La Salle avenues, was 
erected iu 1 873-5 at a cost of $08,000 exclusive of the ground, then valued at $22,OIX). It is 
a pressed brick structure with stone facings, resembling, in some points, one of the modern 
hall buildings on Milwaukee avenue, the buttresses and open vestibule remaining to dis- 
abuse the mind and point out its sacred, as distinguished from the profane, character. 

Rush Medical college (new) was erected in 1875 on the corner of Harrison and Wood 
streets. With the exception of the roof, dormer windows and extension of piers above front 
wall to the hip-knob, the front of the building shows only architecture in its primitive form. 
It is a three-story, attic and basement, house, suited perfectly iu its interior to college pur- 
poses; but as a building inferior in every way to its neighbor, the Presbyterian hospital, 
erected by the authorities of the college. 

In 1875 the foundations of the present brick-and-stone structure, known as St. Anne's 
church, Fifty-fifth street and Wentworth avenue, were placed. This is a large Gothic house, 
the lirst substantial structure in the old Town of Lake to show the application of the Gothic 
style. In 1XX7 the spire was placed above the tower, and in 1889-91 the residence Irontmg 
(in Weutworth avenue and the commodious school and convent buildings, fronting on the boul- 
evard, were begun and completed. 

The Chicago clubhouse on the north side of Monroe street, east of State street, was 
completed in 1X75. It was the first modern building in that section of the city, its red 
brick front with ricli stone facings and pretentious entrance conveying a look of elegant eas 
and comfort not outdone by the north front of the Palmer house opposite. The interior dec- 
oration is superb. 

St. Paul's Catholic church of 1S7H, on South Hoyne avenue and Ambrose street, holds 
the name of the old church of St. Paul's established before the fire. 



162 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

With pure malevolence toward the fire-god and art, the Swedish Methodist Episcopal 
society erected a shapeless structure on Oak and Market streets in 1872, which stood until 
1876, when a brick house, 70x72 feet, was constructed at a cost of $30,000. Froin this largo 
expenditure something graceful was expected, but the expectation was never realized. 

The first Norwegian Methodist Episcopal church was erected on Indiana and Sanganion 
streets, and during the first half of the last decade the Norwegians built a second house on 
Maplewood avenue and Thompson streets. 

In 1861 the Sinai congregation purchased the house of the First English Evangelical 
Lutheran society on Monroe street, west of Clark street, and in 1865 purchased the Plym- 
outh Congregational church building on the northwest corner of Van Buren and Third 
avenue, for $7,500, where the fire found it and reduced it to ashes. In 1875-76 the French 
Gothic stone house on the southwest corner of Indiana avenue and Twenty-first street was 
erected at a cost of over $90,000 after plans by Adler & Sullivan. Were the roofs other than 
what they are, the style might be classed with that of the basilicas. 

The Centennial Baptist building, on the southeast corner of Jackson boulevard and Lin- 
coln street, was begun in 1875 and completed in 1876, at a cost of $S,tKH). It is a plain 
brick structure with some Gothic pretensions. As a building it does not show the progress of 
art during the first century of the Republic. 

The present stone building of Christ Reformed Protestant Episcopal society, on Michigan 
avenue and Twenty-fourth street, is peculiar in its architectural form. The tower is nonde- 
script, something like the city's fire towers or lookouts, but with this exception the house 
presents many Gothic lines. 

St. Paul's church (Reformed Episcopal), on Washington and Carpenter streets, was pur- 
chased in 1878 from the Third Presbyterian society; but the property was sold in 1885, and 
the building of the large house on Adams street and Winchester avenue commenced. 

After the schism, Christian church No. 2 built a house on the northwest corner of Twen- 
ty-fifth and Indiana avenue; after the second schism, 1878, the third party erected a house 
on Prairie avenue and Thirtieth street, which subsequently became the principal house of 
worship and remained so until the fourth disagreement in 1883. The society appears to have 
confined itself to dealings in old Protestant Episcopal buildings and in the erection of little 
houses suitable to changeable religious moods and financial conditions. The members did 
not once dream of such a thing as ecclesiastical architecture. 

The Jefferson Park Presbyterian society cast aside their little frame building on the 
northeast corner of Adams and Throop streets in 1877, when their $1,500 brick house of 
worship was completed. 

The Atlas building, on the northwest corner of Wabash and Randolph, was erected that 
year, Philadelphia pressed brick and other ornamental material distinguishing it from the 
older Grocers' block. The latter was one of the first houses erected after the fire, and was 
the pioneer of the immense wholesale buildings of that section. The Atlas was the harbinger 
of the avenue's latter day business palaces and of brighter days for the whole city, for when 



TUB BUILDING INTEHESTS. 163 

that structure was begun it required faith in Chicago and great commercial courage to 
expend moneys on building even within the business center. In February, 1890, the Atlas 
was sold to satisfy a judgment in favor of Thomas Brown. It was bought by Erskine M. 
Phelps, for $75,000, which covered the judgment amounting to $71,000. The property fronts 
169 feet on Wabash avenue, and 140 feet on Randolph street, and is worth fully 1400,000. 
The purchase by Mr. Phelps was made in the interest of J. W. Doano, the owner and 
present occupant of the block. There has been much litigation over this property, and 
its history is a complicated one. 

The English Protestant Episcopal society (known as the Church of the Atonement and 
later as the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul), built a small house for worship in 1 854 at the 
corner of Washington and Peoria streets. In April, 1861, this society transferred the prop- 
erty to the bishop and in 1 866 an old building was purchased from the Presbyterians which 
was moved to a point near the northeast corner of Robey and Washington streets, where it 
was burned in 1868. In June, of 1868, the erection of a new house was commenced. That 
year witnessed its completion. In 1873 this society was merged with St. John's society into 
St. Andrew's church, and in 1883 the Atonement building was remodeled and a stone 
basement constructed, the improvements costing $9,000. The Church of the Ascension 
erected a frame house on Oak street east of Wells street in 1858, which was moved in 1864 
to the corner of Maple street and La Salle avenue, and in 1 867 removed to the corner of Elm 
arid La Sallo avenue, where it was burned. Anew house was built in 1874, and in 1SSO-S2 
the walls of a large church were constructed. Calvary church, on Warren and Western 
avenues, as built in 1867, was a small frame house until 1872, when it was enlarged. Ten 
years after, it was remodeled and enlarged. 

The Portland block of 1876, designed by W. L. B. Jenney, was the first brick -facade 
venture in Chicago. That is, it was the first large office building of architectural pretensions 
in the central business district where pressed brick took the place of planed stone or cut 
stone. 

The Windett building, which occupied the site of the new Masonic Temple, was erected 
after the fire in the Renaissance style. The owner mortgaged this property to the Connecticut 
Mutual Life Insurance Company at the time of building. The insurance company, through the 
United States court, foreclosed the mortgage and secured possession of the property. Later 
the company sold it to the West Division Street Railway Company, which company leased it 
to the Chicago City Railway Company. Wiudett brought suit in the circuit court of Cook 
county to redeem this property, claiming that the insurance company had not properly adver- 
tised the foreclosure sale, and also that said company had agreed to extend the time at a 
reduced rate of interest. The circuit court decided against Windett, and lie appealed to the 
appellate court. Again he lost his case, and then he took it up to the State supreme court, 
and on October 31, 1889, that tribunal filed an opinion confirming the decision of the lower 
courts. The suit of Frank Ray for the specific carrying out of the contract to sell the prop- 
erty to him, made by C. T. Yerkes, ensued, and ultimately it became the property of the 



1(54 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Masonic Temple association. In 1891 the work of constructing the Temple was entered 
upon, as related in the pages devoted to modern buildings. 

The Boylston building, on Dearborn street, which fronted on heaps of debris and boxes 
until the opening of Dearborn street in 1884, was remodeled in 1889-90, and transformed 
into a good office building. Although marble wainscoting and floors are confined to the main 
hall and toilet rooms, the workers in oak have compensated in a great measure for the 
absence of a more popular decorative material. When this large house was erected far south 
of the business center, the owners never dreamt of the passenger elevator and its uniformed 
conductor, driver and brakeman, but now the whole institution is here. The Dearborn front 
is in stone and the Third avenue front in brick with stone trimmings. The style is Venetian- 
Renaissance. 

The public halls, blocks and buildings devoted to commercial uses or musical or dra- 
matic purposes in 1879 are named in the following list: 

Abbey, 251 and 258 Wabash avenue; Abbott, 23 to 27 Lake street; Academy of Music, 
83 South Halsted street; Accordia hall, 112 and 114 Randolph street; Adams, 358 and 360 
Wabash avenue; Agricultural Insurance Company, 544 West Madison street; American Ex- 
press, 72 to 78 Monroe street; Andrews, 153 and 155 La Salle street; Appleby, Monroe street 
between Fifth avenue and La Salle street; Arbeiter hall, 368 Twelfth street; Arcade, 15(5 
to 1C4 Clark street; Arthur, 2131 Wabash avenue; Ashland, 53 to 65 Clark street; Athen:<>um, 
48 to 54 Dearborn street; Atlas block, 45 to 61 Wabash avenue; Attrition mills building, 
300 and 302 Clark street; Aurora Turner hall, Huron street and Milwaukee avenue; Avenue 
hall, 159 Twenty-second street; Ayer's building, 166 to 172 State street. 

Batchelder's building, Clark street, southeast corner Randolph street; Beaurivage, 194 
Michigan avenue; Bemauer, northwest corner Lake and Clinton streets; Board of Trade, 
southeast corner Washington and La Salle streets; Boger's, 268 and 270 North Avenue; 
Bohemian Turner hall, 74 and 7(5 West Taylor street; Bonfield building, 1 99 to 203 Randolph 
street; Boone, 129 to 133 La Salle street; Boyce, - - State street: Borden, northwest 
corner Randolph and Dearborn streets; Brand's hall, 160 to 170 North Clark street; Brink 
worth's, 73 Monroe street; Bryan, 160 to 174 La Salle street; Bryant block, 89 Randolph 
street. 

Caledonia building, 167 Washington; Castle's block and hall. 615 to 625 W. Lake; 
Central hall, 2139 Wabash avenue; Central Manufacturing block, 74 to 78 Market; Central 
Union block. Market, northwest corner Madison; Chamber of Commerce, Washington, sooth 
east corner La Salle; City National bank building, 15(5 Washington; City hall, Adams 
corner La Salle; Cobb's building, 120 to 128 Dearlx>rn; Cole's block, 186 to 19(5 W. Madi- 
son; Corigan's block, 395 to 399 State; Corinthian hall, 187 Kinzie; Cornell block. 10 to 
16 N. Canal; County building, Clark, corner Washington; Covenant hall, 36 La Salle; 
Crilly & Blair building. 1(53 to 1(59 Dearborn; Criminal court building. Michigan, corner 
Dearborn avenue; Criterion theatre, 274 Sedgwick: Cunningham building. I 16 and 118 
Fifth avenue; Customhouse, Clark, corner Adams. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 165 

Davison block, 147 to 153 Fifth avenue; Dearborn building, 130 and 132 Dearborn; 
Dearborn block, Randolph, northwest corner Michigan avenue; De Wald's hall, 334 North 
avenue; Dickey building, 34 to 46 Dearborn; Dore block, State, northwest corner Madison; 
Douglas hall, South Park avenue, southeast corner Twenty -seventh; Drake block, Wabash 
avenue, southeast corner Washington. 

Eagle Works block, Clinton, southeast corner Washington; Economy block, 191 to 201) 
Dearborn; Empire block, 128 and 130 La Salle; Ewing block, 20 to 38 N. Clark; Excelsior 
hall, 13 S. Halsted; Exchange building, 116 Washington; Exchange building, Union Stock 
Yards; Exposition building, Michigan avenue and Monroe. 

Fairbaiik hall, third floor, 61) State; Farwell building, Arcade court, rear 159 La Salle; 
Farwell hall. 148 Madison; Finucan's hall, 2901 Archer avenue; Folz's hall, 267 and 269 
North avenue; Foote block, Clark, southwest corner Monroe; Forbes block, 193 Washington; 
Ford's hall, 44 to 50 W. Van Buren; Fuller block, 148 to 156 Dearborn; Fullerton block, 
90 to 96 Dearborn. 

Gazzolo building, 82 and 84 W. Madison; Gardner building, 164 and 166 Washington; 
German Methodist Episcopal church block, 98 to 102 Van Buren; Germania hall, 62 N. 
Clark; Glickauf block, 81 and 83 N. Clark; Goggin & Schaffner's building, 205 and 207 - 
State; Grand Army hall, 167 Washington; Grand opera house, 87 Clark; Grannis block, 
111 to 117 Dearborn; Greenebaum building, 72 to 82 Fifth avenue; Grocer's block, 29 to 43 
Wabash avenue; Grand block, 1903 to 1911 State. 

Hale building, State, southeast corner Washington; Halsted Street Methodist Episcopal 
church block, 778 S. Halsted; Halsted Street opera house, 255 S. Halsted; Harrison Court 
building, 2(54 and 268 S. Halsted; Hartford building, 49 La Salle; Haverly's theatre, 104 to 
110 Monroe; Hawley building, 134 to 146 Dearborn; Healey hall, '2700 Archer avenue; 
Hemlock building, Michigan, southeast corner North La Sallo; Henning & Speed block, 121 to 
1 2 i Dearborn ; Herrick block, Wabash avenue, southeast corner Madison ; Hershey Music 
hall, S3 Madison; Hoerber's hall, 220 to 224 W. Twelfth; Holt building, 165 Washington; 
Honore building, 194 to 210 Dearborn; Hooley's theatre, 149 Randolph; Hough's block, 
Wabash avenue, northeast corner Harrison; Rowland block, 174 to 192 Dearborn; Hyman 
building, 142 to 152 South Water. 

Independence hall, ISO Twenty-second; Ingals' building, 190 and 192 Clark. 

Journal building. 159 and 161 Dearborn. 

Kedzie's building. 120 and 122 Randolph; Kendall block. 104 to 110 Dearlwrn; Kent 
bnil'ding, 151 and 153 Monroe; Kentucky block, 195 to 203 Clark (Quincy); Kingsbury 
block, 113 and 115 Randolph. 

Lakeside building. Clark, southwest corner Adams; Lancaster block, Van Buren, south- 
east corner Third avenue; Landmark hall, Cottage Grove avenue, corner Thirty-seventh; 
Larsen block. 719 to 723 W. Lake: Leander Roed building, 79 to 85 Wabash avenue; 
Leonard's building, 99ti and 998 W. Madison; Lill's block, 613 to 617 W. Lake; Lind block, 
Randolph, northwest corner Market; Looinis building, 2 to 6 Clark: Lumber Exchange, 



166 INDUSTRIAL V1IIVAGO: 

South Water, northwest corner Franklin; Lumberman's Exchange, 238 South Water; 
Lyceum theatre, 54 S. Desplaines. 

Madison block, 230 to 238 W. Madison; Major block, 139 to 151 La Salle; Malcolm 
building, 175 to 179 N. Clark; Marine building, 152 to 158 Lake; Maskell hall, 173 S. Des- 
plaines; Mason block, 92 and 94 Washington; Matthei building, 24(3 and 248 S. Halsted; 
McCormick block, 07 to 73 Dearborn; McCormick Music hall, 40 to 48 N. Clark; McDonald's 
block, 947 to 955 W. Madison; McNeil building, 128 and 130 Clark; McVicker's theatre 
building, 78 to 84 Madison; Mendel block, 127 to 133 Van Buren; Mercantile building, 112 
to 118 La Salle; Merchant's building, La Salle, northwest corner Washington; Meridian 
hall, 97 and 99 W. Randolph; Methodist church block, Clark, southeast corner Washington; 
Metropolitan block, 159 to 105 Randolph; Miller & Fry building, 84 and 8(5 La Salle; Mor- 
rison building, Clark, northeast corner Madison; Morrison block, Clark, southeast corner 
Madison; Mueller's hall, 356 to 364 North avenue. 

National Life Insurance building, 159 and 167 La Salle; National theatre, 20 Clybourne 
avenue; Nevada block, Franklin, southwest corner Washington; Nixon building, 169 to 175 
La Salle; Norton's block, 220 to 236 W. Washington. 

Odd Fellows' hall, 406 and 408 Milwaukee avenue; Ogden building, Clark, southwest 
corner Lake; Old City hotel block, 39 to 45 State; Olympic theatre, 49 Clark; O'Neill block 
and hall, 679 and (381 W. Lake; O'Neill's building. State, northeast corner Harrison; Ontario 
building, North State, southwest corner Ontario; Oriental building and hall, 122 La Salle; 
Orpheus hall, 239 and 241 W. Lake; Otis building, Madison, southwest corner State; Otis 
block, 138 to 158 La Salle; Owsley's block, 785 to 789 W. Madison. 

Pacific block, 281 to 289 Clark; Parker building, 95 and 97 Washington; Pierce block, 
'250 and 252 Wabash avenue; Pleiades hall, 220 S. Halsted; Portland block, 103 to 109 
Dearborn; Postoffice, Clark, southeast corner Adams; Purington building, 298 to 304 Wabash 
avenue. 

Rawson building, 149 and 151 State; Reaper block, Clark, northeast corner Washington; 
Rigdon block, 3015 to 3033 Cottage Grove avenue; Robbins' buildings, 204 to 232 S. 
Halsted. 

Saint Albans block, 291 to 297 Wabash avenue; St. Mary's block, Madison, southwest 
corner Wabash avenue; Saint James block, 400 to414Clark; Saint Peter's hall, 328 and 330 
State; Sack's hall, W. Twentieth, corner Brown; Schimmel's block, 47 to 53 S. Desplidnes; 
Schloesser block, 200 to 210 La Salle; Schlotthauer's hall, 328 Sedgwick; Schnaitmann'ts 
hall, 634 Larrabee; Sharpshooter's hall, North Clark, corner Illinois ; Shepherd building, Madi- 
son, between La Sallo and Fifth avenue; Shreve block, 91 and 93 Washington; Slosson 
block, Randolph, between Franklin and Fifth avenue; Springer building, State, southwest 
corner Randolph; Staats Zeitung building, Fifth avenue, northeast corner Washington; 
Standard hall, Michigan avenue, corner Thirteenth; Stewart building, State, northwest cor- 
ner Washington; Stone's building, 144 and 146 Madison; Superior block, 75 to 79 Clark; 
Suttori block, 737 to 745 W. Madison; Svea hall, Chicago avenue, northeast corner Larrabee; 
Syracuse block, 171 arid 173 Randolph. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 167 

Taylor building, 140 to 140 Monroe; Teutonia building, Fifth avenue, northeast corner 
Washington; Thatcher building, Wabash avenue, between Madison and Washington; the 
Walton, 307 N. Clark, southwest corner Locust; Thompson block, 22$) to 247 W. Madison; 
Times building, Washington, northwest corner Fifth avenue; Tribune building, Dearborn, 
southeast corner Madison; Turner hall, 257 N. Clark; Turner hall, 251 to 255 W. Twelfth; 
Tuthill King building, Washington, northwest corner Dearborn. 

Uhlich block, 19 to 37 N. Clark; Union building, 100 to 110 La Salle; Union hall, 181 
Clark; Union hall, 30)07 to 3611 S. Halsted; Union Park hall, 517 W. Madison; Unity 
building, 75 to 81 Dearborn; United States Express Company's building, 87 and 89 Wash- 
ington. 

Van Buren block, 41 to 67 W. Van Buren; Vermont block, 155 and 157 Fifth avenue. 

Wadsworth building, 175 to 181 Madison; Wallace block, 182 and 184 Wabash avenue; 
Walther's hall. 3U32 State; Washington block, 104 to 110 Fifth avenue; Washingtonian 
home building, 566 to 572 W T . Madison; West End opera house, 431 and 434 W. Madison; 
Westphal's hall, 691 and 693 S. Halsted; Williams building, 85 and 87 Dearborn; Williams 
building, 164 to 176 Wabash avenue; Williams building, Monroe, southwest corner Fifth 
avenue; Willmarth building, 390 to 396 Wabash avenue; Windett block, State, northeast 
corner Randolph; Workingmen's halls, 368 W. Twelfth, 54 W. Lake and 192 Washington. 

Yates building, W. Randolph, southwest corner Canal; Yates building, Randolph, south- 
west corner La Salle. 

The great majority of the buildings named presented the French Renaissance in their 
ornamental details. France has dominated art for centuries. In 1665 Christopher Wren ar- 
rived in Paris en route to Italy and Greece. The building of the Louvre was in progress and he 
saw so much that was grand he concluded that nothing greater could be studied. The Italy of 
Michel Angclo and Raphael held dominion before her and instructed the world of their time 
in art and architecture. Even the Flanders of Rubens and Van Dycke swayed the world of 
art, in a measure, before the great French school was established, and time may prove that 
true art has returned to Italy and Flanders in its mysterious march. To-day the artists of 
Milan and Venice and Florence and Rome herself, are competing with the French masters. 
Belgium presents vast pretentious and the rnqdern United States, the synonym of progress, 
is putting forth a strong effort to enter the lists. As imitators of the French they could not 
succeed and the knowledge of this fact drove them, or is fast driving them, to originality in 
design. The twentieth century will bear witness to the repetitions of history. While the 
studied memories of France of the eighteenth century can never be removed, neither can they 
be imitated without damage to their originality and beauty. The older Roman and Belgium 
schools must be reproduced and new schools established in the cities now rising above the 
barbaric commercial state, and for none may greater hope be entertained than for Chicago. 
undiscovered when art was old in Europe. 



Ifi8 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 



UI. 



COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE. 

JN December, 1879, a modern building was completed on State street which pointed out 
at once a change in style and the return of good times after six years of depression. 
It outlines, in a measure, the utilitarian ideas which architects were forced to follow 
within a short time and forms the link or divide between the columnated or pilastered stone 
fronts of former years and the gigantic brick fronts of later days. It is the Central Music 
hall. 

The decade ending in December, 1879, was ushered in by the dedication of a temple to 
music, and made its exit amid that veritable storm of pageantry and song which characterized 
the dedication of the Auditorium to music and the drama. It marks a distinct period in the 
history of the city's architecture; one in which the leading thought of capitalist, engineer, 
architect, decorator, artisan and material man, combined to build a city above the gardens 
and ruins of the village. The history of the greater buildings, erected within the decade, 
tells the success of labor directed by this thought, even as that of the larger houses con- 
structed within the last two years, speaks of the development of this success. 

The Federal, the County and the City buildings were not yet complete, nor was tin- 
Board of Trade building commenced. Chicago was still a great village. A city was actually 
raised out of the southern swamp in 18812, when Pullman became one of the world's 
wonders and houses began to give life to marsh and prairie. 

The Commercial style is the title suggested by the great office and mercantile buildings 
now found here. The requirements of commerce and the business principles of real estate 
owners called this style into life. Light, space, air and strength were demanded by such 
requirements and principles as the first objects and exterior ornamentation as the second. 
Thus, severity in many buildings, ornamentation in a few and massiveness in all. portrayed 
the varied ideas of owners in art matters, as well as their determination to build strong and 
large. The title, Commercial style, applies to the Montauk block of 1882, as well as to the 
Masonic Temple of 1891, and may be said to embrace, generally, all modern houses over 
seven stories in hight. Let a few of the leading blocks of Commercial architecture be men 
tioned. The Masonic Temple shows a hight of 290 feet from the first floor to skylight, 
247 feet from sidewalk to coping, and contains GOO rooms; the Fair is 241 feet to coping; the 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 169 

\\omans' Temple. 19(>.J feet to coping, 2li*> feet to spire, and contains 300 rooms; the Audi- 
torium is 2U."> feet to lantern; the Owings, 217 feet to gable; the Grand Central depot, 2211 
feet to top of tower; the Abstract & Trust Companies building, 210 feet, contains 200 rooms. 
the NeW Ashland, 210 feet, contains 800 rooms; the Manhattan, 204 feet to coping, contains 
400 rooms; the Monaduock, 204 feet to coping, contains 550 rooms; Heimiug & Speed's 
(south Clark street) building, 192 feet; the Unity, about the same hight, containing 300 rooms; 
the remodeled Chamber of Commerce, 198 feet, contains 900 rooms; the Home Insurance, 
178f feet; the Tacoma, 175; the Chicago, 174 feet; the Pullman, 165 feet; the Rookery, 164| 
feet; the "Rand-McNally, 148 feet; the Royal Insurance, 145 feet; the Chicago opera house, 
135 feet, and the Leiter, on State street, 133| feet. The Bartlett, south of the Boylston, the 
new German theater, and the new Oriental, all planned in 1891, are to be fourteen -story 
houses of from 200 to 250 rooms. The McCormiek, on the southeast corner of Dearborn and 
Randolph streets; the new Unity, and the Columbia Vault Companies building are sixteen- 
story structures. They are not all the modern Commercial structures by any means; for the 
eight, nine and ten-story buildings outnumber them, while retaining the same general charac- 
teristics. 

The new style was outlined in the Portland of lS7f>, when pressed brick piers, with 
numerous large windows, took the place of pilasters or pillars, with recessed Italian windows. 
It was a surprise, indeed, when that building was completed. It won popularity at once as 
an office building, but the attachments formed for the Renaissance militated against its dupli- 
cation for six years. It stood a lone modern brick on Dearborn street until 1882, when enter- 
prise seized hold of the idea and constructed the Montauk. In the interim, the passenger 
elevator was perfected, and new ideas of construction were inculcated, so that the venture of 
1 ^ v_> was really removed from the realms of venture in all things, Jay the success of the Port- 
land, and it was proven that an office building, erected to suit modern notions, thoroughly 
equipped with modern appliances, would till up with modern tenants, leaving the old and 
n 11 remodeled houses to the conservative fogy. 

The part played by the elevator in this Chicago Renaissance is scarcely appreciated. 
The owner, of course, realizes that there would be little use for a high building without it, and 
the architect arrived slowly at the same conclusion. The latter studied the means for build- 
ing high on the compressible soil of Chicago the former studied the means of filling a high 
building with paying tenantry. Between them, the elevator and the system of Chicago con- 
struction was perfected, and each was satisfied. Without the two systems interior trans- 
portation and this construction the great high buildings of the present could never be 
rendered what they are. Let this be illustrated. Under the system of Chicago construction, 
or any other system here, the limit in hight is the limit of the carrying capacity of the clay 
upon which the foundations rest. Now, the carrying capacity of Chicago clay scarcely exceeds 
three thousand pounds per square foot of ground,- and as brick or stone is almost three times 
as heavy as the modern steel and hollow-tile construction, it follows that an eighteen-story 
house may be erected where a six-story one would be the rule in brick or stone. To make 



170 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

this plainer, take the steel chimney of the new Fair block. It is two hundred and fifty feet 
above the sidewalk, nine feet, five inches in diameter, and about two hundred and fifty tons 
in weight. A brick chimney, of the same hight and capacity, would weigh about seven hun- 
dred tons, occupy almost double the space and cost about forty per cent more. Thus the 
advantages of the new system were embraced, and, the elevator being an accomplished fact, it 
remained for owners to conceive high houses, for architects to design them and for engineers to 
construct them. 

Since 1882 the system has gradually developed, until its limits point out immeasurable 
possibilities. Rendering the steel and burnt clays lighter, and at the same time stronger, 
must be considered as a hight regulator, while the work of the engineers, providing for the 
application of still lighter material to higher buildings, may lead to tower houses of steel, 
shoathed with brick or terra cotta, carried up to Eiffel hights. 

The cantalever system, first applied in the Rand-McNally building, was made necessary 
by the proximity of the Insurance Exchange, through the heavy foundations of which it was 
inexpedient to cut. Beds of concrete and iron were placed near the foundation of the heavy 
Exchange building and on each bed a massive steel pillar was placed. Steel girders of im- 
mense carrying capacity, were placed on the columns. Each one overhangs the foundation on 
the side next to the neighboring building, and this overhanging end represents a short arm 
of the lever completing the system to the first floor level, above which the ordinary Chicago 
construction system is carried out in steel and burnt clay. In the building of the Chemical 
bank block a similar plan had to be followed. It is quite as reliable and more economical 
than columnated or pier foundation work. The fastening of beams and girders by bolts and 
nuts was observed hero until a new and better system was evolved for the construction of the 
Tacoma. In this building all fastenings are made by means of rivets, heated in a portable 
forgo and hammered while red. The object of this system was to guard against loosening, as 
nuts and bolts are liable to loosen, and to insure rigid construction. 

As has been stated the possibilities of the system are immeasurable. It may revel in 
the Renaissance, boast of the majesty of the Romanesque, or dwell with the ascetic in the 
monastic Gothic. Examples of what may be done with it under architectural inspiration are 
living in this city. It is seen rioting in the Rookery, taking on a perfect dress in the Woman's 
Temple, and thoroughly puritanical in the Monadnock-Kearsage. Its empire is the air. 
Creeping heavenward, it seems to reach beyond the smoke and noise of the city and beg for a place 
above the clouds. Comfort, cleanliness and light are within it. Without, its bays and oriels 
attract every straggling sunbeam, sending it below to brighten the streets or to cast light into 
the windows of its humble neighbors. The summer bre?zes. from the lake and prairies, it 
scatters with lavish hand, and when the icy winds from the bleak Canadian northwest beat 
down upon the city, it checks their barbarous career, breaks them in fragments, and offers to 
the pieces warmth and cheer. The time will come when its walls will carry more ornament 
than at present, and the Chateau of the Loire of pre-Gothic days will be represented here by 
towering commercial structures, perfect in aesthetic principles, to endure as long as Chicago 
endures. 



LIBRARY 
OF THE 

OF ILLINOIS 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 171 

Before the close of 1 S85 nn impression was made by the modernizer, and there were found, 
scattered round, a number of large houses, varying, within and without, from anything seen 
here prior to December, 1 874). The elevator and the new system of Chicago construction 
were playing leading parts with the architect, the decorator and the remodeler in the drama 
and a half decade witnessed extraordinary works, a revolution in the building arts. The 
great majority of the buildings named in the last chapter were here at the close of .1885, and in 
addition were those named in the following list: 

Hoard of Trade, Jackson street. Gaff, La Salle street. 

Binz's hall, 786 W. Lake street. Hampshire block, southeast corner La Salle and 

Brother Jonathan, Sherman street. Monroe streets. 

Calumet, 187-191 Lake street. Hansen building, 11G and 118 Dearborn street, 

Carpenters' hall, 221 W. Madison street. Haverly's theater, Monroe street. 

Chicago opera house, southwest corner Wash- Hoerber's hall, 220-224 W. Twelfth street. 

ington anil Clark streets. Jarvis', 124 C'lark street. 

Courthouse and City hall. Kastner's hall, 3001 Archer avenue. 

Commercial National bank, southeast corner Klare's hall, 72 N. Clark street, v 

Monroe and Dearborn streets. Mailer's, 226 and 228 La Salle street. 

Central Music hall, southeast corner State and Musury's, Michigan avenue. 

Randolph streets. Montauk, 111-117 Monroe street. 

Coiinselinan building, northwest corner La Salle Open Board of Trade, Pacific avenue, near Jack- 

and Jackson streets. son. 

Ely building, southwest corner Wabash avenue Power's building, Michigan avenue. 

and Monroe street. Parker block, 6 and 8 Sherman street. 

Fitzgerald's hall, Halstedand Adams streets. Koyal Insurance, Jackson street. 

Frauchere'g hall, 188 Bine Island avenue. Sibley building, 200-200 Randolph street. 

Fry building, SI and SO La Salle street. Pullman building, Adams street and Michigan 
First National bank. Dearborn and Monroe streets. avenue. 

South State street, Halsted, Madison, Wentworth avenue, Milwaukee avenue and North 
Clark street, outside the business center, witnessed unusual activity in building, and pre- 
sented, in ISS5, numbers of substantial blocks of pressed brick and terra cotta fronts. All 
round the city the carpenters of the Queen Anno period were busy with saw and hammer, 
and Chicago was soon raised above its village condition and prepared for the greater build- 
ing ago which began in 188G. Four hundred church buildings speak of the religious earnest- 
ness of the people. The Union League clubhouse on Jackson street and Fourth avenue; 
the Union clubhouse on Dearborn avenue and Washington place; the Calumet clubhouse 
on Michigan avenue and Twentieth street; the Chicago clubhouse on Monroe street, east of 
State street; the Farragut Boat clubhouse; the Illinois clubhouse, 154 South Ashland 
avenue; the Washington Park clubhouse on Sixty-first and South Park avenue and the 
Sheridan clubhouse on Michigan boulevard are semi-public buildings which tell, in them- 
selves, the history of the social growth of the city. 

North, soiith and west the architecture of dwelling houses bears testimony to the times. 
Along the southern boulevards particularly, the idea that the home has assumed the forms of 
stability is well exemplified. Chateaux of the twelfth century appear in line with the modern 
Romanesque and Gothic residence, and even the grim Colonial, telling of exclusiveness and 
cupidity, find a place on those magnificent thoroughfares. 



172 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The store and flat buildings have cast aside their fragile, bumble appearance and now 
are dressed in pressed brick and terra cotta; while the great suburban hotels with verandahs 
or balconies and their sister buildings, the Chicago apartment houses, have come to stay. 

The Central Music Hall Company was chartered in 1871), with a capital stock of $180,- 
000. John M. Clark was president, Martin A. Ryerson, vice president, and Lucy A. Car- 
penter, secretary and manager. Unlike the leasing syndicates of later days', this company is 
owner of land and building and the earner of rich dividends. It was completed in December, 
1879, at a cost of $215,000, after plans by Adler & Sullivan. The ground area is 125x151 
feet, and above this rise seven stories of dressed Lemont stone. The portico shows two 
massive Corinthian columns of polished red granite, but outside of this feature the style is 
simple. In the interior arrangement the economy of architecture is made apparent, for the 
auditorium or music hall is 83x125, the Apollo hall one-fourth that area, the twelve store- 
rooms, on the first floor, large and lightsome, and the seventy office rooms, airy arid well 
arranged. 

The buildings of Pullman were designed by S. S. Beman and built according to his 
plans. The surveys were made in 1879 and early in 1880, and on May 2(> of the latter year 
the work of excavation for the foundations was begim. The site was a waste of marsh 
and lake even on January 1, 1880. It was a town one year from that date, and the first 
family had actually settled in a modern brick dwelling. April 2, 1881, the great machinery 
hall and the workshops were inaugurated, and an industrial community ushered into existence. 
The water tower rises to a hight of 195 feet from a square base of 70 feet, covering an 
area of 4,900 square feet. For 100 feet of its hight this quadrangular form is observed, when 
it merges into an octagon, tapering sparingly toward the finial. In the basement of the tower 
is the pumping machinery, which raises the water to the great tank in the tenth story. This 
tank is thirty feet high by fifty-six feet in diameter, and has a capacity of 500,000 gallons. 
Below the machinery room is a reservoir, 70x30 feet, which receives the sewage, but not the 
drainage, of the city and from which it is pumped to the sewage farm, three miles away. The 
tower and its interior present a few architectural and many engineering points. It is part of 
the heart of Pullman the circulatory organ of the town. The engine house with its power- 
ful habitant, the Corliss engine, the Allen Paper Car Wheel works, the Pullman Company's 
shops, the hotel Florence, the Arcade, the public schoolhouse, the Union church building, the 
new Catholic church and the railroad depot, all present architectural features, while the 
1,000 pressed-brick, stone-trimmed and slated homes of the people speak of order in every- 
thing, leaving a citizen to regret that the members of the Pullman Company and their archi- 
tect did not settle here in 1855 and teach the older village, on the Chicago river, how to build 
a town. 

The Masury six-story building, at 1 90 and 1 92 Michigan avenue, partakes in a measure 
of the character of the great modern office buildings, but is wanting in their size and rugged- 
ness. It was the first large business house erected on Michigan avenue after the panic and 
was completed in 1881. Its three grand oriels, springing from corbels, which rest on the 



THE BUILDING INTEREST*. 173 

pillar dividing the largo windows of the second floor into two divisions, rise from the level of 
the third floor and receive a cone-like roof above the parapet. A pavilion and dormer with 
gallery above give point to the main recessed section, and with the double, straight and 
pointed windows and balcoiiettes of recesses and bays give an Italian-Gothic ensemble worth 
imitating, while the rectangular windows, between the cornice brackets in the attic story tell 
of the possibilities of such a style. 

Haverly's, or the Columbia theatre, was begun June 12, 1881, and completed September 
12, that year, at a cost of $150,000. Oscar Cobb was architect; James D. Carson, superin- 
tendent, and Joseph Downey, builder. The despatch with which this house was carried up 
was so remarkable that experienced builders and architects came from all quarters to examine 
the great creation of eighty-three days. The front presents some of the older features of 
Chicago architecture in a new dress. The canopy, carried on chaste pillars to the base of the 
third story, the hallway and ornamental window glass relieve the plainness of the first story 
or ground floor front. As improved in 1884, the interior presents marked decorative features. 
The old postoflice building, restored after the fire for theatrical purposes, and named the 
Adelphi, was know as Haverly's theatre until 1881, when it was torn down to make way for 
the First National bank. So far a beginning was made. The change won recognition gradually. 
Let this be proven! The dreams of 1881 became realities in 1882. No less than 8,113 
buildings were erected. Among the business blocks completed or nearing completion at the 
close of that year the following may be mentioned: 

The Montauk block, ten stories high, 70x90 feet, cost $220,000. The Mortimer, Tapper 
& Grannis building, 90x50 feet, ten stories high, at Nos. 187 to 191 La Salle street, cost 
$140,000. The liyerson block, northeast corner of Wabash avenue and Adams street, '110x172 
feet, six stories and basement, entirely fireproof, with internal construction of iron, cost 
about $200,000. The Kyersou building, No. 134 Wabash avenue, 58x100 feet, five stories, 
iron interior, cost $100,(X)0. A six-story office building by A. J. Averill, 40x109 feet, at 
Nos. 239 and 241 Wabash avenue, cost $70,000. A five-story basement and warehouse by / 
George Watson, corner of La Salle and Kinzie streets, 100x175 feet, cost $85,000. The J. 
C. & S. D. Hammond, five-story office building, La Salle street, cost $45,000. J. L. High's 
building, for offices, 25x100 feet, on Adams street, near Dearborn, south front, cost $35,000. 
A live-story store, 26x170 feet, at No. 205 Madison street, cost $40,000. Farwell building, 
by J. V. and C. B. Farwell, west side of Market street, from Monroe to Adams street, 
597x255 feet, six stories, basement, and sub-basement, cost $700,000; rented at $144,000 per 
year. Jewett block, by Samuel J. Jewett, northeast corner Market and Monroe streets, 97x263 
feet, six stories and basement, cost $220,000. Robert Law's building, adjoining the above 
on the north, six stories and basement, 100x150 feet, cost $105,000. TheH. Corwith build- 
ing, next adjoining and of same dimensions and hight, cost, $12(1,000. The Shoppard 
block, on the southeast corner of Adams and Market streets, 73x80 feet, six floors, cost 
$75,000; also live-story store building, 50x73 feet, Nos. 199 and 201 Fifth avenue, by the 
same owner, cost $80,000. The H. C. Duraud, six- story warehouse, 50x81 feet, on Jackson 



174 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

street, near the corner of Market, cost $50, ("MX). The office building for the use of the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, on the northeast corner of Adams and Frank- 
lin streets, 124x181 feet, and six stories high completed at a cost of $350,000. The First 
National bank building, northwest corner of Monroe and Dearborn streets, completed at a 
cost of $500,000. The beginnings of the new Board of Trade building must be credited to 
this year. Among other of the most important structures erected during the year were: The 
Union clubhouse, corner of Dearborn avenue and Washington place, fronting on Wash- 
ington park. This structure is 80 feet square, built in rock-faced brown stone, at a cost of 
$100,000. A five-story elevator, built by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Com- 
pany, on the river at Twelfth street, cost 1100,000. The Seaverns buildings, stores andflats, 
on State and Twenty-second streets and Wabash avenue, total cost, $250,000. The Rosen- 
feldt building, 90x150 feet, four and five stories, on the southeast corner of Washington 
boulevard and Halsted street, cost $140,000. The College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
corner of Harrison and Wood streets, five stories, stone front, cost $70,000. Fish & Wheeler's 
factory, corner of Polk street and Third avenue, five stories, cost $60,1 X)0. John Borden, 
a four-story business building, 80x105 feet, at Nos. 208 to 214 Randolph street, cost $60,- 
000. A. M. Billings' gas-works, corner of Division street and Elston avenue, cost $600,000. 
A row of three-story stores and flats, corner of West Madison and Loomis streets, cost 
$100,000. Bemis & McAvoy, six-story brewery, 60x138 feet, on South Park avenue, near 
Twenty-fourth street, cost $90,000. The Academy of Fine Arts, Van Buren, near Michigan 
avenue, three stories, cost $10,000. Bullock Bros.' Manufacturing Company, Tolrnan avenue, 
near Lake street, group of buildings for electric machinery manufacturing, cost $250,000. 
Billiard-table factory for J. M. Brunswick & Balke Company, buildings occupying block, 
front on Superior street, corner of Market street, one 60x200 feet and one 60x1 00, each six 
stories, cost $80,0(M). Douglas" Park pavilion, in Douglas park, facing Ogden avenue and 
lake, cost $12,0(M). Residence for J. V. Farwell, two-story basement and mansard, 60x70, 
corner of Pine and Pearson streets, one of the most elegant in the city, cost $120.000. Flats ^ 
by L. W. Yaggy, two buildings, corner of Dearborn avenue and Erie street, one six-story 
and basement and the other two-story and basement, cost $120,000. Residence for B. P. 
Moulton, No. 1912 Racine avenue, 45x80 feet, cost $85,000. P. J. Sextons' four-story 
dwellings, 162x72 feet, Nos. 341 to 351 Chicago avenue, cost $55,000. Residence of C. P. 
Kimball, Ontario street, between Cass and State streets, two-story basement and high roof, 
cost $40,000. Residence of Marx Wineman, Michigan avenue, north of Twenty-sixth street, 
built of granite and finished with great elegance, cost $60,000. Mansion for Potter Palmer, 
corner Banks street and lake shore drive, 80x100 feet, three stories and basement, with tower 
twenty-three feet square and five stories high, one of the finest of the north side mansions, 
cost $200,000. Block of three houses for H. H. Shufeldt, William C. Egau and Eugene 
Egnn, corner of Dearborn and North avenues, fronting on Lincoln park, cost $120,000. A 
house for A. Byram, corner of Michigan boulevard and Twenty-ninth street, cost $75,000, 
and opposite is the residence of Sidney Kent, a house in French Renaissance, time of Francis 
I., showing elaborate architecture throughout, cost $SO,(MM). 



THE BUILDING INTKREHTS. 175 

The Mont auk building, the pioneer of giant Commercial architecture iu Chicago, a nine- 
story-and-high-basement building, was designed by Burnham & Root. It exerted an immense 
influence on the building arts, not alone in Chicago, but also throughout the whole Union 
wherever great building enterprise has been manifested during the last ten years. The whole 
tendency is Romanesque, more pronounced in the portico, cornice and parapet than in any 
other feature, if the horizontals, or the bands at floor levels, be excepted. The center of the 
facade, like each of the recessed or side divisions, is pierced by three segmental windows, the 
substructure is heavy batter work, but not at all out of proportion, while the whole structure 
stands out clean and majestic, telling that the venture of 1881-2 is a success in every par- 
ticular. 

The Foss block, on the southeast corner of Madison and Loomis streets, erected iu 1882, 
is a good example of the transition period in the west division. It is the divide between the 
marble fronts of the previous decade and the massive brick fronts which came after it, of 
which the Haymarket theatre is a specimen. 

The First National bank building is a six-story-and-basement structure, Romanesque in 
style, with basement and first story in vermiciilated stone and the upper stories in pressed 
brick. A Roman-Doric portico shows two polished granite columns on ea3h side, correspond- 
ing with pilasters carrying a heavy entablature and balustrade. In the central and corner 
pavilions the horizontal style of the recessed sections merges into the vertical. The portico 
extends to the level of the second principal floor and piers in the corner projections corres- 
pond with it, thus carrying the high basement and first floor in one story. The second iind 
third stories are also carried in one by pilasters, and the fourth, fifth and sixth are compressed 
into one story for architectural effect, the two windows of the sixth story in each corner 
pavilion and the three in the central pavilion, showing the round arch, finishing a section. 
The cornice is becoming, and the parapets above it, in the pavilions, render the sky-line perfect. 
This house occupies the site of the " Honest building " which was restored after the tire and 
used up to 1882, when it was torn down. The banking hall, occupying the first floor, is 
lighted by a great court. While the mural decorations and furniture are of the highest class, 
they are lost in the business air which pervades this hall, so that to pick them out one must 
visit the bank with that sole object. 

The Calumet, a Romanesque block, was the first high office building in the new Board of 
Trade district and the second in the city, dating back to 1882-3. During its construction 
citizens walked deliberately to have a look at the storied mass of St. Louis, dark red, pressed 
brick, and old codgers chuckled at the idea of the Montauk being duplicated. When they 
dwelt on the fact that New York men came hither to build such high houses they concluded 
that "there must be something in Chicago" and convinced themselves that the city was still 
growing. A few years later they half conceived the idea that the city was in its infancy, but 
to-day the cautious old fellows laugh and chuckle again and tell you without blushing that 
the town is only beginning to grow. The old Calumet (for it is old in comparison with its 
juvenile neighbors) shows very visibly the wear and tear of eight years, and, to look at it in 



176 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

damp weather, one would think it weeping for those olden days when it caught every breeze 
and looked down proudly on its lowly surroundings, or with jealousy at its eastern neighbor, 
the Montauk. It is yet high, for additional stories have been added, and years must pass by 
before this one pioneer of "sky- scrapers" will surrender an iota of its prestige. The entrance 
to the Calumet building shows the introduction of metallic wainscoting into Chicago build- 
ings. The owners, Grannis, Mortimer & Tapper, saw in this material a decorative feature 
better suited to such large Romanesque buildings than ornamental tile. It is also the first 
building in the world where fire clay tile was used for ceilings and hollow tile for partitions. 
One wall of such tile, eighteen feet long and one hundred and thirty feet high, is built with- 
out extraneous supports. 

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy office, six-story-and-basement-building on Adams 
and Franklin streets, was designed by Burnharn & Boot early in 1882, who adopted the 
Florentine-Romanesque style, showing high ornamental parapet over central projection, with 
latter-day details. St. Louis pressed brick, with terra cotta frieze cornice and floor-level 
moldings rise above the first story of bush-hammered Bedford stone. The window openings 
show heavy, molded jambs. The central court, covered with a Hayes skylight, is 55x75 
feet clear. Around this court are galleries, corresponding with the levels of the second, 
third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors, supported on tile-encased iron columns. Two stair- 
ways and three elevators communicate with the upper floors, while the basement is reached 
by common stairs. By a system of miniature cornices the second and third floors are blended 
into one story and this is repeated in the fourth and fifth stories. The richly capped win- 
dows of the sixth floor appear in the deep frieze, and their capitals aid in forming the cornice. 

The panorama buildings on Wabash avenue, circular or octagonal, are rough monuments 
to the beginnings of the great scenic paintings of the Philippoteaux. The great canvas, 
four hundred feet in length by sixty feet in hight. required a shelter, and architecture sug- 
gested this shelter in the rough forms erected in the beginning of the last decade. The 
ancient amphitheater, doubtless, suggested the form to the architect; but the platform in the 
center is a modern idea. The Battle of Gettysburg panorama building on the southwest cor- 
ner of Wabash avenue and Hubbard court was designed in 1888 by Bauer and Hill, after the 
style adopted in the building at Paris, and that at New York, erected in 1883. It is one 
Imndred and thirty feet in diameter with sixteen-sided brick walls fifty feet and ten inches in 
hight, carrying a low dome. Iron pillars extend from foundation to roof, showing ribbing 
spreading out to the open circle in dome above which is the cupola. A ring of glass round 
the roof lines admits the sunlight. A one-story pavilion contains the vestibule and office. 
A spiral stairway, in the center of the main building, leads to a platform, one hundred and 
twenty-six feet in circumference and thirty feet above the floor level, whence the visitor views 
the representation of the battle. The panorama of the Siege of Paris followed and then that 
of the Battle of Shiloh. 

The skating-rink craze suggested other large buildings, that on State and Twenty- 
fourth streets, burned early in 1891, being the highest example. It was a wild craze and the 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 177 

style of buildings, which screened the rollers and held within the noise and dust and noxious 
air, were crude, suggested by hurry and expediency. 

The corner-stone of the present Board of Trade building was placed December 13, 1882. 
So lato as the summer of that year the square fronting the Rock Island railroad depot was 
filled with brick, rock and other debris of the great fire. Portable restaurants were ranged 
along Clark and Jackson streets, and the whole block presented the forms of ruin and decay. 
Men wondered why the Grand Pacific hotel authorities or the railroad companies did not con- 
vert it into a grass plat, and they were still wondering when the press of the city imparted 
the grateful news that the Board of Trade had acquired ownership of the north half and a 
syndicate of the south half of the square eyesore, the object being to cover it over with two 
gigantic houses. The Board of Trade building fronts one hundred and seventy -three and 
three-quarters feet on Jackson street and extends south two hundred and twenty- five feet to 
alley. The front part, about two-thirds of the whole, is one hundred and forty feet high, 
with central tower and lantern rising to a hight of three hundred and three feet. The rear, 
one hundred and sixty feet in hight, is devoted to business offices. The tower, constructed of 
Fox Island granite, like the whole exterior, rises to a hight of two hundred and twenty-five 
feet, where it forms the base for the lantern and shows the four faces of the great clock. This 
lantern is constructed of iron and presents artistic work in metal, for seventy-eight feet, never 
hitherto carried to such great hights in this city. The main entrance shows two heavy square 
pillars of polished gray granite, resting on heavy pedestals of the same material and bearing 
an elaborate entablature. This artistic arrangement of polished granite and the figures of 
commerce and agriculture form part of the tower. The tiles used in the vestibule point out 
the fact that the beauties of mosaic work were not then so thoroughly understood as at 
present; but the marble stairways leading to the great hall lead to the conclusion that the 
construction of such work claimed more care in 1888 than in 1891. The great marble columns 
in the trading hall and the wealth of ornamental glass in the great transoms afford to mem- 
bers a daily pleasure and to visitors an unusual show of massive art. W. W. Boyington pre- 
pared the designs for this American-Gothic building. 

Plans for the open Board of Trade building were prepared in the fall of 1888, and in 
September of that year the work of construction was commenced. The building is 100x105 
feet, six stories in hight. The Ixmrdroom, SOxl(M) feet in area, with ceiling thirty feet high, 
is lighted by large front and rear windows and court light. On each of the upper floors are 
twenty office rooms, averaging l'Jx'2'2 feet, well lighted, each supplied with vault, and they 
open on the court, rialto fashion. The fronts of this old settler among the pioneer office 
buildings are in the regulation style of that period dark red pressed brick, with terra cotta 
trimmings. The total cost approximated 1 ">! ).( M Mt. 

The Adams Express building contrasts strangely with the older buildings on the west 
side of Dearborn street. The front above the first story is carried on four great piers and 
two great pilasters, which extend from the second story to the first cornice or floor level of 
the upper story, broken only by the first and second rock-faced band-courses. The great 



178 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Romanesque entrance is formed by rock-faced brown stone. In hight it equals that of the 
high basement and first floor. A band marks the extent of the first story, stone piers and 
lintels. Above this all is brick and terra cotta, with large square openings for the double 
windows. A balconette extends from pilaster to pilaster, at the level of the fourth floor, and 
three Norman windows take the place of three double square windows peculiar to the lower 
stories, in the center, at the eighth story. A molding or stone band marks the level of the 
ninth story, and above this rise two short pilasters, in graduated brickwork with carved stone 
capitals, crowning, as it were, the inside piers, while heavy ornamental brackets rise above the 
great central pilasters and angle brackets above the corner piers. Between these cornice 
supports are square windows, and above the cornice, a heavy corbel table and a balustrade. 
It is one of the early buildings, suggested by the Montank block. 

The Brother Jonathan building, on the corner of Jackson and Sherman streets, varies 
from the older designs of J. M. Van Osdel. It is brought nearer the modern commercial 
form, and, when it receives four additional stories, will be one of the "sky-scrapers" of that 
region of high buildings. The massive substructure, piers and double windows are interesting. 

In April, 1883, the Pullman Palace Car Company commenced work on their building, 
southwest corner of Michigan avenue and Adams street. The plans, by S. S. Bernan, called 
for a modern house, to cost about $1,000,000, and that grand, American Norman-Gothic 
structure was brought into existence. It covers an area of 127x170 feet, is one hundred and 
sixty-five feet to hipknob, and is, in every respect, a modern, fireproof, ten-story building, of 
two grand pavilions, with first and second stories in massive rock faced, Jonesboro or Hal- 
lowell red granite, and the upper walls in St. Louis, dark red, pressed brick and Chicago 
terra cotta. The Adams street entrance to this building, a marvel of taste, shows strong 
architectural features. There is the heavy square pillar and lengthened capital, carrying a 
superb arch and entablature, all reaching from street level to a point below the level of the 
fourth floor. The first story, on Adams street, shows a rich arcade of five polished pillars 
and two rock-faced battered buttresses, west of the entrance, and four polished pillars and 
two battered buttresses eastward. The same story, on the Michigan avenue front, is all in 
heavy battered masonry, with recessed windows, and with an entrance arched and imposing 
in itself, but plain, when compared with its neighbor on Adams street. The Adams street 
facade is divided by a recessed open court into two great parts. At the level of the fifth 
story three Marat turrets spring from corbels, and extend above the upper cornice, where 
they receive a bell roof, while the rounded northeast corner of the building is cupped by oil- 
lettes and a cone roof. The windows of the second and third stories are almost minus decora- 
tion, but above this, they are arched or semi-arched and labeled lightly. A great bay is 
carried above the Michigan avenue entrance to the level of the fifth floor, where the round- 
arched recessed windows begin. On the ninth floor, the window is square, divided into 
three parts by brackets, supporting a lintel. Outside each window is a bulconette This 
system is not confined to the center of the oast front, but extends to other parts of that front 
and to the Adams street facade. Within, the halls or corridors show very fine decorative 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 17!) 

work, and it is a question if any building of 1891 surpasses this of '1883-4 in exterior 
outline or interior arrangement. By the use of hollow tile in the construction of floors and 
partitions in the covering of iron columns and iu the furring of the exterior walls, the build- 
ing is rendered fireproof. The interior is carried on iron columns, and girders and brick 
walls are dispensed with. This iron work was produced by the Union Foundry Company 
and the Pullman Company. The Durham system of drainage and the Bakersmith system of 
steain heating and pumping were introduced in this building. 

In October, 1883, the C. M. Henderson building, on the northeast corner of Market and 
Adams streets, was designed by Wadskier, and the one-story Schufeldt liquor warehouse, 
built a few years before over the ruins of the old gas house, was torn down. 

The Sibley warehouse, fronting west one hundred and eighty-nine feet on Clark street 
and south two hundred and forty feet on the river, was designed, in 1883, by George H. 
Edbrooke. The street front shows six stories, with first and second basements; and the river 
front eight stories, all in pressed brick with stone trimmings. The gateway to the warehouse 
and the stone fronts on Clark street, with the broad pilasters, convey to this house a sense of 
immensity unknown at that period on the north side. The second and third stories of the 
Clark street front are compressed into one by pilasters carrying arches above the windows of 
the third story, and this plan is carried out in simpler form in the next two stories. The 
upper story, or attic, shows groups of Norman windows, with a pilaster in the form of a 
buttress between each group. Above is the ample cornice and high parapet. 

The Jennings block, on West Madison street, was designed by S. S. Beman, and erected 
in 1884. It is 100x9,") feet in area, five stories, attic and basement iu hight, with hip-roof 
and pavilion roofs of red slate. St. Louis pressed brick is the material used in construction, 
with terra cotta and galvanized iron trimmings. The attic story shows grand dormers and 
frontals, and the whole house partakes of the modern Italian styles. Two great bays, resting 
on ornamental corbels, occupy the center of the facade in the second and third stories, dress- 
ing the building, as it were, in the latest fashion. 

In May, 1884, the Commercial National bank building, on the southeast corner of Dear- 
lx>rn and Monroe streets, was completed, after plans by Jaffray & Scott. Mortimer & Tapper 
were the builders. The basement or first story is constructed of blue Bedford limestone, and 
the superstructure of St. Louis pressed brick and Perth-Amboy terra cotta. While it presents 
many Romanesque features, it is too vertical to be classed as wholly Romanesque, while its 
high attic story and gabled dormers pretend to bring it within the realm of the French 
school. In fact it belongs to the great school of Chicago's necessities a roomy, lightsome 
st ructure, much fairer within than without. With the cornice and parapet of its giant neigh- 
bor to the south, above, the Commercial block loses by contrast much of the strength and 
beauty which undoubtedly belongs to it. The safe-deposit vaults of the Commercial Safe 
Deposit Company are built upon a bed of concrete, six feet in depth, laid on the water line. 
The walls and ceiling are of solid masonry, lined with two layers of railroad iron, which, in 
turn, is lined with a coat of steel. The vaults of this division of the house, as well as the 



180 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

sixty-seven vault doors throughout the building, are the work of the Hall and the Diebold 
Safe and Lock Companies. 

The Weber Music hall building, on the southwest corner of Wabash avenue and Jackson 
street, was completed in 1883, after plans by F. L. Charnley. It is a six-story Anderson 
pressed brick building, and one of the first to show the possibilities of Wabash avenue so far 
south, if the buildings of 1872-8 be unconsidered. 

O 

The Royal Insurance building was designed by W. W. Boyington and built by C. and A. 
Price in the fall of 1883. The work of construction began later that year, and continued 
without intermission until the fall of 18.S4. It fronts one hundred feet south on Jackson 
street, west of La Salle, with rear on Quincy street, thus giving a depth of one hundred and 
sixty-five feet. It is one hundred and sixty-five feet in bight, or nine stories high and base- 
ment, with a glass-covered light shaft or court, 80x56 feet. This great dark rose-colored granite- 
fronted building gives the idea of a mansion of Francis I. time, to which four or five stories have 
been added. The Quincy street front above the lower story is constructed of Anderson pressed 
brick, and though plain in comparison with the Jackson street front, is a very creditable piece 
of work. The basement and first floor fronts show the polished pilaster each side of door and 
rock-faced piers, while the mezzanine shows two heavy Romanesque windows over the square 
Wyat windows of the first floor and a smaller window of the same class in the center with 
gallery outside over the entablature of the entrance. Above this window, in the center of the 
third floor, is a balcoiiette carried on a beautiful corbel. Grand pilasters ex'tend from the 
level of the fourth floor to the first cornice on the level of the ninth, richly capped and show- 
ing hanging buttresses on the two central pilasters. The ninth floor shows two triple arched 
windows on each side of the center, and the center itself shows square windows in two stories 
with grand frontal above carrying the British arms in relief with a crown for tinial. 

The Calumet club building on Michigan avenue and Twentieth street, was completed in 
March, 1883, at a cost of $160,000, after designs by Burnham & Root. Anderson red pressed 
brick in original designs and a judicious use of terra cotta give to this building an appearance 
hitherto unknown in the city. It is 81x183^ feet, three stories, attic and basement high, or about 
ninety feet, with balconied oriels, tourette and square tower. It is one of the earliest of the 
elegant semi-public buildings of the city and the very best of its class. It is an adaptation 
of the Italian, tilled with detail, an extraordinary attempt to group the useful with the orna- 
mental in domestic architecture. 

The Dearborn street depot was designed by C. L. W. Eidlitz in French-Gothic style, and 
built by Joseph Downey in 1883-4 at a cost of $500,001 >. J. T. Alton was superintendent for 
the architect. It is a palace in brick, terra cotta, iron and hard-woods, the first railroad 
building in the city worthy of its time. The extraordinary, saddle-back- roofed clock tower 
or campanile is seen at the foot of Dearborn street. The campanile itself is a barbacan- 
looking structure, pierced with portholes like a keep. The ensemble exemplifies railroad cupid- 
ity. The roof gives the idea of the spreading-out process, for. were it widened from the eaves, it 
might cover territory extending to the building line of State street on one side and that of 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 181 

Clark street on the other. The portholes must, of course, be intended for Pinkerton's sharp- 
shooters. If the object of the architect were to convey this idea, he is eminently successful; 
otherwise he is not, for the whole upper section of the tower destroys the symmetry of the 
lower sections and dwarfs the whole facade. Indeed, it has been stated that this campanile, 
annoyed at its ultra-uniqueness, threatened to cast itself against Donohue & Henneberry's 
building to demolish itself, in fact. The fault of the whole building is its want of hight, 
seven additional stories woiild render it beautiful and useful. The pressed brick used in 
general construction were furnished by the Excelsior Company, the molded brick by the 
Peerless Company, and the enameled brick by the Enameled Brick Company of Philadelphia. 
The Perth-Amboy Terra Cotta Company, of New York, furnished the ornamental blocks for 
the exterior decoration and the great mantels in the waiting rooms. Within, the house is 
perfect for depot purposes. The halls, corridors, waiting rooms and sheds point out the 
care lavished on the interior. Even the basement is much cleaner and neater than the main 
floor of old-time depot buildings, so that with all its faults, it must be considered one of the 
great modern railroad structures of the world. The structure shows a frontage of two hundred 
and thirteen feet on Polk street, four hundred and forty-six feet on Third avenue, and two 
hundred feet on Fourth avenue. The main building is forty feet deep and extending south 
between the side buildings is a train shed six hundred feet in length. This shed is one 
hundred and thirty-five feet in width and sixty feet high in the center. The roof is carried 
on columns and trusses, and light from the sides of a clearstory. The slated roofs of the 
buildings show arched windows in gabled dormers. 

The Henry Memory building, or the Exchange building, on Van Buren street and 
Pacific avenue, was designed in 1884, by J. M. Van Osdel. Wyoming valley blue stone was ' 
used in the foundations, basement and first-story (rimmings, for the first time in Chicago, 
while Anderson pressed brick was used in the seven stories above. Some ornamental panel 
work in brick was introduced in this house exterior, and a beautiful building given to this 
section of the city. 

The Parker building, fifty feet south of Jackson street, opposite the Board of Trade, was 
designed in 1884, by J. M. Van Osdel, to cost $125,000. Red pressed brick and Vert Island 
red sandstone form the front. The basement and first floor fronts show this stone to advan- 
tage, while its use as trimming in the piers of the second and third floors is very happy. A 
heavy ornamental cornice marks the level of the sixth floor, or seventh, including basement, 
and alwve this are four grand pilasters, three double windows arched and showing ornamental 
spandrels. A parapet makes the sky line perfect. 

The Hansen building, erected on the site of the old Times building (on west side of 
Dearborn, south of Washington), in 18S4, after plans by John Addison, is five stories and 
basement in hight. The first and second stories show piers and arches of rock-faced, buff, 
Bedford stone. A course of rich terra cotta marks the third floor level. Four grand pilas- 
ters rise from this belt course, between which, on each floor, are three square, double 
windows, liich terra cotta panels extend from pier to pier, above and under the windows of 



182 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

the fourth floor. The upper windows are flat arched, and these arches with the capitals at 
the piers carry a rich cornice and parapet. 

The Washington park clubhouse was designed by S. S. Beman. The building, 13(>x ( J7 
feet, shows a high basement, two stories, attic and observatories, with a verandah sixteen 
feet wide surrounding the building on the first floor level. Though constructed of lumber, 
some of the tine effects of architectural design are not wanting, but the presence of Queen 
Anne details is objectionable. To the interior arrangement and decoration the visitor has to 
look for its elegancies. As a clubhouse, in connection with a driving park association, it is 
superior to anything in the world. The same may be said of the grand stand. It is 
Unique in its extent and conveniences. The clubhouse, grand stand and stables were con- 
structed in 1883-4, while yet the extension of the old Calumet swamp was the Yazoo Delta, 
of Illinois. Since its completion the fields of reeds and waters have disappeared, and far 
above the old lake bottom the foundations of large residences rest. The club has played a 
great and important economical part, as well as a grand social part, in the drama of city 
building. 

The dimensions of the lot upon which the Chicago opera house stands are one hundred 
and seven feet on Washington street by one hundred and eighty feet on Clark street front. 
Under the contract entered into by the Chicago Opera House Company and the Pecks, the 
former is now paying $30,000 a year rent on a valuation of $500,000. This contract, made 
in 1884, provides for a revaluation every five years. The site was occupied by that house of 
pleasxire, the Tivoli. The entrance to the opera house is on Washington street, and to the 
offices on Clark street. It was designed bv Cobb & Frost. 

o 

The Donohue & Henneberry building, on Dearborn street, north of Polk, was completed 
in 1885, after plans by Julius Speyer. This must be credited as the pioneer of the great 
modern buildings on this street, south of Jackson. True, the Boylston was there, but it was 
not yet modernized. The Donohue & Henneberry building, from basement to attic, was 
designed for a great printing and publishing house. While light and ventilation are fully 
provided, architecture has not been overlooked, for the center of the facade presents forms 
worth adopting. 

The Union club house, on Dearborn avenue and Washington place, completed in 1883, is 
a Massachusetts rock-faced, brown stone structure, 80x86 feet in area, and three stories, 
basement and attic high. It was designed by Cobb & Frost. The square bays, with n balcony 
on the top of each, semi-round, alored gables, solitary oriel, adapted mansard roof, with open 
promenade, circular turret and other architectural fancies, mark this building. 

The Union League club house, designed by W. L. B. Jennoy, was completed in 1885. 
Its location, on the corner of Jackson street and Fourth avenue, appeared, even then, a deso- 
late place, but the members had faith in the district, and this was not disturbed by the pros- 
pect of the fall of the Federal building or the consequent demolition of their new structure. 
W. L. B. Jenney, the architect, adopted the fourteenth century Lombardic style for this house. 

The Home Insurance building, erected in 1884, after plans by W. L. B. Jenney, fronts 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 183 

one hundred and thirty-eight feet on La Salle street and ninety-six feet on Adams street. 
As originally constructed it was nine stories and basement, or one hundred and sixty feet in 
hight. The isolated pier foundations were formed to carry four thousand pounds per 
square foot. The substructure of rock-faced Fox Island granite extends from basement level, 
(which in this building is the first floor) to the level of the third floor and above this are 
the walls of dark red Trenton brick with panels of terra cotta and trimmings of Vert Island 
red sandstone. The entrance shows four great polished, grey granite columns with cor- 
responding pilasters and heavy entablature, carrying a balcony. The hall is a study in marble, 
and the main stairway a study in engineering and art. The second balcony in the center of 
the facade is carried on heavy, ornamental brackets and the third balcony on chaste Corin- 
thian columns bearing brackets and a pilaster each side of the central window, similarly capped. 
The grand pilasters marking the corners of the center of the facade, and corners of the build- 
ing and the piers between the windows compress the third and fourth stories into one story; the 
fifth, sixth and seventh stories into another; the eighth and ninth into a third story, leaving 
the grand arched windows of the tenth story to show between the fourth molding and the 
great cornice. Above the cornice, now the level of the eleventh story, is the balustrade, a 
beautiful piece of work in itself. 

It is one of the largest office buildings in the country, and one of the first strictly fire- 
proof houses erected in this city. The wainscoting and flooring of all the halls are of Italian 
marble. The staircases are of iron and bronze, with threads of marble. Letters are mailed 
in a letter shute on every floor; there are six elevators, and the tenants can have either elec- 
tric or gas light. In 1890 additional stories were constructed, and what was a proud sym- 
metrical building in 1884, is now classed among the "sky-scrapers." The heavy green stone 
first story and polished grey stone columns give a charm to this pile of pressed brick and mor- 
tar which the additions to its hight made in 1890 cannot take away. 

The ten-story Counselman building, designed by Burnham & Root, was completed in 
ISX4. The first story is constructed of Jonesboro dark rose-colored, rock-faced granite, and 
the superstructure of Anderson pressed brick (plain and molded), and Northwestern Com- 
pany's terra cotta. Within, the floors are constructed of eight-inch hollow-tile arches; the 
partitions of three and one-half inch hollow tiles, with tile vault lining and column lining. 
Between the girders of the roof are hollow tile, and taking the place of slate are flat-glazed 
tile, placed in Portland cement. Fireproof suspended ceilings also mark this building all 
the product of the Pioneer Fireproof Construction Company. This house, 46xf)0 feet and ten 
stories or 145 feet in hight, shows little exterior ornamentation, the architects adopting 
instead the idea of massiveness and durability. 

The Troescher building, designed by Adler & Sullivan, is a se^en-story house, 79x90 feet, 
constructed of brown stone, with square columns and arches of the same stone in the first story. 
Five slender piers of brick rise from the first story, and these piers are ornamented from the 
sixth story to the top. The sixth and seventh stories are highly ornamental. 

The Gaff building, designed by S. V. Shipman in 1884 and constructed in 1884-5 is a 



184 INDUSTRIAL OHIO AGO : 

nine-story bouse .with high basement, main entrance and facings in Fox Island granite, and 
the superstructure in Anderson pressed brick, plain and ornamental. 

The Mailer's building, erected in 18845, after plans by J. J. Flanders, has a thirty- 
eight foot front on La Salle street and extends west along Quincy street sixty feet. It is the 
first twelve-story- and-basement office building ever erected here, and proved an engineering 
feat worthy of the building days of 1890-91, for to carry up a narrow house thirteen stories 
is a serious undertaking now, when light-steel construction and the science of foundation 
work are well understood. The basement and first story are in Maine granite and the upper 
walls in Zanesville pressed brick. A corner tower, springing from a richly-carved corbel at 
the level of the second principal floor, banded at the level of the fifth floor, again at the level 
of the eighth floor, then at that of the tenth floor, and carrying heavy ornamention from the 
level of the twelfth floor to its beautiful cap, abolished the idea of a corner pier, just as the 
grand bay, extending from the entablature of the entrance to the level of the tenth floor and 
the triple windows, between the bay and corner tower, abolished the notion of piers in tin- 
center. From the tenth floor to the level of the twelfth clustered pilasters extend and receive 
the arches of the windows in the twelfth story. Ornamental spandrels, a heavy bracked d 
cornice and a great balustrade mark the top of this extraordinary house. Above each bay 
and triple window at the tenth floor level a balconette is constructed and the whole 
assumes a repose extraordinary for such a high and narrow structure. 

The Insurance Exchange, a Romanesque building, was completed May 1, 1885, after 
designs by Burnham & Root. Mortimer & Tapper were contractors for the foundations and 
E. Sturtevant for the brick work. It is 105x60 feet in area and nine stories and basement in 
bight. A heavy batter wall or stone substructure with recessed square windows form the front 
of the basement or first story. St. Louis pressed brick and ornamental terra cotta are used 
in the superstructure, even to the coping of the great parapet. The round corner tourettes 
springing from corbels at the eighth floor level, the rich capitals and arched windows of the 
eighth story, the arcaded windows of the ninth story, the grand entrance and dressy center 
above, with its panels, balconette and tourettes, give repose to this large house which it 
never could possess without them. The architects compressed the whole into five stories or 
divisions with a view to give it harmony. Though the heavy rock-faced stone front of the 
basement varies from the pressed brick of the first story, the two form one story, well outlined 
by a heavy band no less than by large, round-arched windows and spandrels. So with the 
second and third stories, their colonnade of pilasters and baud-course bring them into 
harmony so as to form one architectural part of a whole. The fourth story stands alone, 
marked by a band-course, but the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth stories are compressed into 
one, the arches of the semicircular windows of the eighth resting on pilasters carried up from 
the level of the fifth floor. The ninth story or attic above the basement is arcaded, and forms, 
in fact, a frieze of arched windows close together, carrying the brick cornice and parapet. 
The low arch of the entrance springs from heavy, square columns, with its inner rings rest- 
ing on carved monoliths. A cone- roofed tourette springs from a corbel at each side of the 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 185 

spandrel, and between those round towers is a balcony, carried on a corbel, and on the wall 
level are two rows of windows in accordance with the plan of the windows in the second and 
third stories or second architectural division. The wooden joists are protected by the Wight 
system of porous terra cotta. A circular staircase, extending to the top of the building, and 
the grand Norman entrance are special features of this building. The house extends from 
Adams to Quincy streets, and may be numbered with the pioneers of the great office structures 
in the new Board of Trade district. 

The A. T. Ewing block on Fifth avenue, south of Jackson street, was designed by H. B. 
Seely, and constructed in 1884-5. It is a Romanesque structure of the Italian school, 
showing the round arch in the entrances in the third architectural story and in the arcade of 
the attic, and the straight arch in the second story. The third, fourth and fifth stories are 
resolved into one in the pavilions and recessed center for architectural effect. The hanging 
buttresses, extending from the third floor level of the pavilions to a point above the parapet, 
grow larger as the hight is increased, receive dome-like caps, and add to the symmetry of the 
facade. 

The Temple Court building, occupying the northeast corner of Dearborn and Quincy 
streets, presents a rather plain front, relieved somewhat by the iron balconettes in the center 
of the facade. The eastern extension, however, compensates in a great measure for the plain- 
ness of the older building; for its great Romanesque entrance, its Indian ornamentation 
and grand central bay, bring it into competition with the Phenix and Rookery. Why such 
a front should be hidden away on a short narrow street is one of the mysteries of the building 
arts in Chicago. The owners must have a prescience of the coming importance of that short 
street, as their neighbors on the east have shown their faith in it by the expensive remodeling 
of an old building. 

The old armory of the First Regiment of the Illinois National Guards, No. 24 Jackson 
street, shows the Italian pointed style. It is a stone building castellated; but it is entirely 
out of place among the great houses in the neighborhood, any one of which is greater in size. 
A military building in any city of the United States must be great indeed to escape the jests 
of a great industrial people. 

In August, 1884, plans for the nine-story model office, known as the Rialto, on Pacific 
avenue and Van Bureu street, were prepared by Burnham & Root, who estimated the cost of 
such a house at $360,000. As completed, in 188G, it not only covered a space which was a 
debris receptacle for fifteen years, but it also gave to Chicago a structure remarkable in many 
respects presenting features of the Italian, French and Venetian schools all good from the 
standpoint of the sanitarian; some bad from that of the utilitarian. The two large recessed 
open courts on the east and west fronts insure light and fresh air to the inside offices. The 
Van Buren street facade is divided into three architectural stories and attic. The system of 
pilasters effects this easily. The tirst and second are merged into one, so are the third and 
fourth in one, and the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth in one. The ninth, or attic story, 
above the grand balcony, which, in this building, takes the place of the cornice, goes far to 



186 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

prepare for an excellent skyline; but the upward extension of the piers, to form heavy pinna- 
acles above, ignores the preparations and debases that line. It is a vertical building in fact, 
complete in its interior arrangement, but wanting in its exterior. Its bridge connection with 
the Board of Trade building exercised an influence in naming the house the Rialto. 

The Kinsley restaurant, on Adams street, east of Clark, was built in 1885. An adapta- 
tion of the Moresque style was adopted, and with this style terra cotta came into use as the 
only material for the front. The copper bays were introduced extensively in this building 
for the first time in such a large house, and the interior was made as elaborate and unique as 
the exterior. 

The Art Institute, successor to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, dates its title, at least, 
back to 1879. In 1881 a building designed by Burnham & Root was commenced in rear of 
the old building, with a frontage of fifty-four feet on Van Buren street, and a depth of 
seventy-two feet. That form of the Norman called the Elizabethan was the style adopted, 
its high-pitched roof, gables and peaks being very definite. Monumental terra cotta work 
massed at the end of the building shows the principal entrance. In its spandrels are 
the medallions of Michel Angelo Buonaroti and Raphael ; above, in the tympanum, are 
figures supporting the medallion of Leonardi. The grand hall, 20x4") feet, the grand stair- 
way, the classroom, 32x40 feet, and private classroom, 16x20 feet, occupy the first floor; the 
picture galleries and a classroom, 33x24 feet are on the second floor, while the third floor 
are en suite. A peculiar system of lighting by side and skylight is observed. 

The new building of the Art Institute, on Van Buren street and Michigan boulevard, is 
constructed of rock-faced red stone in Romanesque-Flemish form; was designed by Burnham 
& Root, to be unique, hence it shows a Romanesque or Norman entrance, helping out the 
severe architectural first story. The second and third stories are compressed into one by the 
use of arches in the windows of the third story. An extraordinary attic with its grand 
dormer, pediment and gable carrying acroteria mark this house. The corner towers or bar- 
tizans, crowned with statuary, the carved panels and moldings, the hip roof and finial, and 
the actual repose of the house are Flemish, dressed with Franco-American taste. It is with- 
out a flaw in construction, and its site is most valuable. Within, the decorations are French, 
and this may be said of the ensemble. 

The Field building, on Adams, Franklin and Quincy streets and Fifth avenue, was 
designed in the fall of 1885, by H. H. Richardson, of Boston, to cost about a half million 
dollars, and the work of construction was entered upon before the close of that year. It is a 
brown-stone structure, about the size of the Leiter building, marked by simplicity in style 
and massive rock-faced stone. It is a study iii civil engineering and architecture, which had 
no model here, a superb building fitted for a fort as well as for commerce. This building is 
fully described elsewhere. 

The Clow building on Lake and Franklin streets was designed in October, 1SS.">. by Cass 
Chapman, to cost about $50,000, An adaptation of Moorish architecture was adopted, giving 
to that section a handsome six-story house, 46x100 feet. 




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THE BUILDING INTEREST/3. 187 

In 1880 the six-story building on the northwest corner of Wabash avenue and Congress 
street was designed by Treat & Foltz, to duplicate the Donohue & Henneberry building, 
which was burned' on that site in 1885. It is 80x175 feet, and cost the owner, John Q. 
Adams, about $100,000. Its predecessor presented a very elegant exterior; but, when fire 
attacked it, the interior afforded such an intense heat that brick and iron were consumed. 

The Buckliii laboratory on Michigan avenue and Peck court was designed by Oscar 
Cobb in 1885 in Renaissance form. He dressed it somewhat in Moresque attachments, yet 
succeeded in giving to the city a very fair piece of architecture. Anderson pressed brick with 
Carbondale brown-stone trimmings are utilized to the fullest extent. The windows are all 
heavily labeled and in the center of each facade this labeling takes the form of the complete 
horseshoe arch in the second, third and fourth stories and in the gabled dormer of the court 
facade. In the fifth story and in each front, a triple Alhambresque window takes the place 
of the single horseshoe. The corner tower springs from a dual corbel below the level of the 
third floor and is carried above the roof, where it receives a Kiosk top or rather merges 
into a Russo-Turkish cupola. 

McCoy's European hotel, on the northwest corner of Clark and Van Buren, being nine- 
ty-five and one-half feet on Clark and one hundred and ten feet on Van Buren streets, is one 
of the earliest of modern buildings which the new Board of Trade building suggested for 
this section of the city. With the addition of the seven-story brick building purchased by 
him in 1886, the house may claim to be modern in arrangement and equipment. It was 
built after plans by Gregory Vigeant. The architectural features of the facade are strong 
and interesting. 

The Foreman & Kolm block, on the southwest corner of Adams and Franklin streets, 
was designed in 1886 by Bauer & Hill, and commenced July 22, that year. It is an eight- 
story-and-basement-building, one hundred and thirty-four feet above street level and 100x125 
in area, erected at a cost of $200,000. Blue Bedford stone and St. Louis pressed brick were 
used in the facade. 

The West Chicago clubhouse was designed in 1886 by Adler & Sullivan. It is 50x135 
feet, constructed of pressed brick with stone and terra cotta trimmings, and is two stories, 
basement and attic in hight. The second main story is the only one where an equal arrange- 
ment of windows is observed. The first story shows a bay on one side of a Norman entrance 
and an arched Wyat window with side windows on the other side. The center of the facade 
above the entrance is carried on hanging piers, springing from corbels below the level of the 
second floor, and carried upward outside or in front of the attic to receive a pediment. 
The retreating side walls in the attic show a series of coped steps, the first resembling a 
hanging buttress. A dormer marks one side and a casemate the other side of the large cen- 
tral window in this attic. 

The Girard, Nos. 298-306 Dearborn street, destroyed by fire in January, 1888, was 
rebuilt at once after plans by Thomas Hawkes. All columns, girders, beams and posts were 

encased in hollow tile, and wire lathing was used in the ceilings. This protecting system was 
12 



188 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

carried so far as to suggest iron shoes for the wall ends of the iron girders, for in case of tire 
the girder would slip out without injuring the wall. On the Dearborn street front are two 
bays, carried to the sixth story with iron, brick and terra cotta. The recessed sections show 
arches on the fifth and sixth stories, while a stone course on the top of the seventh story 
forms solid window caps. 

The McCormick warehouse was designed by Burnharu & Boot in 1885 and betrays the 
ideas prevailing in their office at that time. 

The Kookery stands on the site of the City hall and water tank, a rude collection of brick 
which stood at the corner of Adams and La Salle streets from 1872 to 1885. It is a Roman- 
esque building, showing, perhaps, more than any other great office structure in the world 
what license in style really means. There it stands, the admired of all office buildings. 
Lighted on four sides from streets and alleys and in the center from a great court, it is a thing 
of light. The first floor and mezzanine look out from behind the great polished marble col- 
umns and rock-faced comer piers. The third and fourth stories, with their square windows, 
arc forced into one by beautifully constructed piers of dark brown brick with rounded cor- 
ners. The fifth, sixth and seventh stories show pilasters instead of piers with the windows of 
the seventh story arched all in one architectural story. The eighth, ninth and tenth stories 
are similarly treated, and above the arches is the grand cornice. The' attic story shows a 
number of rectangular windows in groups of two, and above them rise the parapet and caps 
of the corner bartizans. From the cornice, on the level of the eighth floor in the center of 
the west front, spring two decorated tourettes from corbels. Between them is the balcony on 
this level and wide windows corresponding in style with those of the architectural story. 
Above the attic rich work in relief takes the place of the frieze of the upper cornice or par- 
apet, and above this rise the ornamental caps of the tourettes with coping between all 
treated with the richness of India and Venice, but observing still the horizontal vertical forms 
which puzzle the Roman, the Gaul and the East Indian alike, and render its characteristics 
so striking. It is a distinct type of the Commercial style, and a monument to its author. 
It is a marvelous invention, winning admiration even from those who know its eccentric- 
ities and infirmities, charming every one like good music, and gladdening the citizen who sees 
in it a palace, raised above the old barrack and rat den of the tax-eaters of 18<2-82, a house 
of stone and marble and brick of which Rome herself might be proud. Within are the won- 
derful vestibules with marble stairways and ceilings and rich mosaics, and farther yet, the 
great court of the building reveling in mosaic, and presenting that wonderful double iron 
stairway rising upward and upward from invisible supports. The whole building is a study 
from basement to attic, one in which the architectural student may revel for a long period in 
interesting and instructive research. It is one where the architect and mechanic may learn 
something new at every turn, and the adherent of style may behold the horizontal and verti- 
cal, equally balanced, ranged under the banners of the Romanesque-Commercial, 

The Phenix building, designed by Burnham & Root, covers a narrow strip extending 
along the south side of Jackson street from Clark street to Pacific avenue. In construction 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 18'J 

and architecture it presents many interesting points. The passer-by cannot credit it to the 
Romanesque or to the Renaissance. The traveler from Calcutta can discover Indian details, 
the Mongolian may see a slice of the pagoda, and the European a section of some famous 
building; but he who can identify the Phenix as a whole with any acknowledged style is us 
rare a bird as the mythological one after which the building is named. The grand oriel win- 
dows of the Phenix are each carried upward by three Indian columns, beautiful to look at, 
but difficult to construct and keep in order. The balconettes, the great balcony on attic level, 
the beautiful work in terra cotta, above the red stone substructure and the great arched 
entrance are all features of the Phenix seldom seen in any other building. It is a grouping of 
architecture, which, if given to a building, the square of its front would stand for all time a 
monument to the cosmopolitan ideas of its designers. 

The Studebaker building of 1886, although following the Pullman building in order of 
time, won more attention from the people than any commercial building hitherto erected. It 
is Romanesque in the general style of S. S. Beman. Its bold granite front and great pol- 
ished pillars still claim attention, even beside its gigantic neighbor, the Auditorium. The 
building is composed throughout of solid granite, stone and brick, with a highly ornamental 
front, and contains eight floors and a basement, each measuring 107x171 feet. The first 
story shows two immense polished granite columns with carved stone capitals and pedestals. 
Between them is the principal entrance, and on each side the large show windows. The 
north gateway shows a heavy arch, resting on four clustered pillars with spandrel, all be- 
tween rock-faced stone piers or pilasters. At the south end the arch is carried on two square, 
heavy polished granite pillars. Six rock-faced pilasters and ten chaste polished granite 
columns, carrying a heavy entablature, mark the facade of the second story. The third, 
fourth and fifth stories are compressed into one. Four rock-faced pilasters and two beautiful 
polished granite columns in the center, corresponding in location with those in the first 
story, but much higher, have their bases on the entablature and extend to the level of the fifth 
floor where they receive five stone arches, the three central arches large and the two outside 
arches small, all forming an imposing arcade, tending to give the second story an entresol 
appearance. A casemate sash is recessed in the arch of each. Four perfect spandrels and 
two semi-spandrels extend to the band-course, marking the level of the sixth floor. The sixth 
and seventh stories are compressed into one by six rock-faced piers and six plain pilasters. 
On the level of the eighth floor is the cornice and above it fifteen arched windows, forming a 
beautiful arcade. The north and south corners assume tower form at the sixth floor level, 
and this form becomes more pronounced toward the top, showing pinnacle, balustrade and 
hip or pavilion roof, carried at a higher level than the balustrade of the central section. 
Withal this the skyline is not so strong as the beautiful building demands. After the com- 
pletion of the Auditorium it was apparent that the process of settlement had begun along the 
southern side of the Studebaker structure, but beyond the lowering of a section of the south 
arch, a defect which has been remedied, the foundations met their requirements. In Feb- 
ruary, 1891. the work of raising the southeast corner pier was undertaken by Hollingsworth 



190 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

& Coughlins, and by the close of June, 1891, it was completed and the settled parts raised 
eight or nine inches to their original places. 

The building adjoining on the north may be considered as a study in the Norman branch 
of the Romanesque. The clustered columns and great arch distinguish it from its neighbors 
on the north and soiith, while its recessed position conveys the idea that it had and has no 
pretensions to compete with them. 

The Rock Island depot stands on the site of the first large building in that section, com- 
pleted in 1867 and destroyed in 1871. As rebuilt in 1871-3 and 1887, it is a gray sandstone 
house, 605x187 feet in area and five and one-half stories high, with flanking towers and central 
projection. The Italian style of ' architecture rules in the exterior. Within, it is all ancient, 
dark, diisty and musty, inconvenient for suburban travelers, and altogether illy adapted to the 
wants of a modern union depot. 

The site of the burned Phelps, Dodge & Palmer warehouse, on the northwest corner of 
Adams street and Fifth avenue, was covered in 1888 9 by the design of Burling & Whitehouse. 
This is a double six-story-and-basement house constructed of chocolate-colored pressed brick, 
with dark terra cotta facings. It fronts one hundred and twenty feet on Fifth avenue and 
eighty feet on Adams street, with a section showing eighty and sixty feet on the respective 
streets. The destroyed building was a modern improvement in itself, but compared with the 
present building it was but a piece of good engineering. 

The Telephone building, on Washington and Franklin streets, is strictly Romanesque in 
the first story, but wanders round in the regions of the vertical above. 

The seven-story structure, 24 and 26 Adams street, was designed in September, 1 888, by 
Pond & Pond, to cost about $60,000. The first two stories are of Bedford stone, and the 
remainder of the exterior walls is of pressed brick. The ground dimensions are 40x80 feet. 
The front of the building is extremely attractive. An arch spans the entire front of the lower 
story, behind which is a broad bay show window, with recess on either side for entrance to 
gallery and offices; also heavy piers at each corner so arranged as to obstruct as little light 
as possible. The top story front has two ornamental bays over which the main roof extends. 
Two floors for gallery purposes and five for offices is the division made. 

In April, 1888, plans for the First Regiment Illinois National Guards armory, on Mich- 
igan avenue and Sixteenth street, were completed, and bids asked for the erection of a 
building 284x171 feet, arranged for stores, flats and hall. In February, 1889, plans by Burn- 
ham & Root were accepted and the work of construction commenced. The structure has a 
very solid and fort-like appearance. The walls of the first story are of solid masonry, pierced 
by no windows. The stone used is rock-faced. The main entrance, on Wabash avenue, is 
arched and sufficiently wide to admit of the easy entrance of sixteen men abreast. The first 
floor of the interior is used for a monster drill room, measuring 156xir>4 feet. A dome-like 
court extends upward from this room to the skylight On (wo sides of this central opening 
on the second floor are arranged twelve company rooms, from one corner of each of which is 
an iron stairway communication with a like sized room above, containing lockers and other 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 101 

conveniences. On the other two sides of this gcillery story are located the officers' quarters 
and the library and reading rooms. The basement contains vaults for the storage of ammu- 
nition, two shooting galleries with six targets each, a bowling alley, shower-batli facilities, 
etc. The whole structure is heated by steam. 

The Walker building, on the southwest corner of Adams and Market streets, is a very 
elegant exponent of the Romanesque. There are the great arches springing from short piers 
in the first story, and the upper arches and piers compressing, as it were, four stories into 
one. Above the level of the first floor it partakes in a measure of the Auditorium style, the 
cut stone used in the facades aiding materially in the exhibition of strength and style. 

The Owings building, that unique, old Dutch 50x70x217 feet pile of stone, Anderson 
drab pressed brick, gray terra cotta and carved stone, was designed in June, 1888, by Cpbb 
& Frost, for F. P. Owings, to cost over $2(X),<tOO. The first three stories show heavy batter 
j tiers, three feet thick, in rock-faced stone, with stone piers in the center of the square win- 
dows in the first or basement story and in the third story, a system carried out in toto in brick 
above the substructure, where the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth stories are forced into 
one by the use of high pilasters. The square windows of the second or main floor are divided 
by polished granite square columns, carrying rich capitals. The Norman-Gothic entrance 
shows the finest piece of spandrel work in the West, and this is duplicated in the tympanum 
of the north gable, and partially carried out in that of the west gable. The grand band, on 
the level of the eighth floor, shows frieze and cornice in relief, and with other abridged bands, 
relieves the vertical style of the building. The corner tower, really a grand bay, springs from 
a double stone corbel, on the fourth floor level, to its cornice, where it receives a cone roof or 
spire, the finial of which is two hundred and seventeen feet above street level. The extraor- 
dinary tile-coped gables of this house are landmarks too prominent to escape notice. The 
base is not so large as that of the Auditorium tower, yet it is so constructed that it carries a 
high slender structure without external supports. The foundation is a great bed of concrete 
and railroad iron of immense transverse strength. An accident occurred during construction, 
which proved the strength of the walls. It was nothing less than the fall of the heavy tank, 
carrying with it a few of the floors, but leaving the walls uninjured. The girders and beams of 
steel are extraordinarily heavy at the top of the third and eighth stories. The partitions and 
floors are constructed of hollow tile, and, with the exception of the sash, doors and frames, 
there is nothing in the structional material to burn. The sanitary arrangement is modern, and 
the principles of light and air are observed in every particular. 

In January. ISSN, the plans for the Tacoma building were begun by Holabird & Roche, 
architects. As outlined then, the following features were presented: Four heavy brick walls, 
three and one-half feet in thickness, are built; one at the north side of lot, one in the center 
running east and west, one in the center running north and south, and one on the east or 
alley side, forming a thorough wind-brace for all directions. The foundations for these, as 
well as for the balance of the building, are a combination of steel I beams and Portland 
cement concrete. The whole facade of the building, however, is constructed of wrought iron, 



1!)3 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

steel, terra cotta and plate glass. The interior and exterior columns are of cast iron, running 
from basement to roof, and thoroughly riveted together. From these columns heavy steel 
girders extend to, and are firmly anchored into the massive brick walls. Upon these girders 
the steel floor beams rest. Each floor is treated as a horizontal truss, being firmly riveted 
together with red-hot rivets and stayed and tied diagonally. This gives great lateral stiffness. 
The result of this construction is an absolutely rigid building from foundation to roof. The 
floors throughout, and the roof, are of hollow terra cotta, arches, and all iron and steel work 
in the building is fire-proofed with terra cotta, including the basement and first story, so often 
left unprotected. The partitions are also of hollow tile. The interior is expensively finished 
in marble, cabinet-finished hard wood and plate glass. One peculiarity of the building is the 
entresol floor, with plate glass front, like the modern store fronts. Owing to the size of the 
lot, occupying one hundred and one feet on the northeast corner of Madison street, and eighty 
feet on La Salle street, the peculiarities of construction had to be studied, unnecessary where 
a larger area for foundations exists, so that the masonry is massed in the center by heavy 
walls running thence to the four sides. Upon this lot the Tacorna towers upward twelve 
stories and attic above the basement. The first story is given up to stores and the two main 
halls, one entered from Madison street and one from La Salle street, converging at the five 
elevators in the center of the building. The spiral stairways are in the rear of the elevators, 
and in the rear of the stairway is a great court, with walls of white enameled brick. The 
whole interior is well lighted and ventilated. Every office has a window opening to the live 
air, and in other respects, the sanitary arrangement has never been excelled. The building 
has electric light and gas, with fixtures for each system as may be chosen by the tenants. 
The Madison street front shows four great bays, rising from highly ornamented corbels on the 
second floor of the entresol level to the band-course at the attic level, where each merges into 
a loggia, the columns of which carry the projections of the main cornice over the bay. This 
plan is repeated on the La Salle street front, which shows three bays. The entresol is extended 
to suit utilitarian ideas. A light terra cotta baud-course marks the level at each floor to the 
fifth story, leaving the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floor levels to be marked by a plain 
molded string-course. At the levels of the ninth and eleventh floors, the band-courses are 
repeated, and again on the attic level. The main cornice is a thing of beauty, and the pier 
forming the southwest corner is no less telling in effect, for without it the great bays would 
lead the observer away from the thought of a pier in so great a building. The Tacorua sym- 
bolizes the triumphs of Chicago. It was completed in May, 18X9, or within eleven months 
after the walls or foundations of the old dingy building, which held the site since the great 
fire, were removed. This was the first building erected with screen walls, supported at each 
story, using iron and steel for carrying all weights. It is a vertical building, in counter- 
distinction to the llomanesque horizontal houses of the city, but Romanesque ornament is 
retained. The sanitary plumbing of the Tacoma building is described in the pages devoted 
to the subject, and its system of foundations treated under the head of foundations. 

The Libby Prison War Museum Association of Chicago leased in February, 1889, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 193 

283x173 feet west front on Wabash avenue, between Fourteenth and Sixteenth streets, opi>osite 
the Haven school and where Fifteenth street would be were it cut through. The terms of 
the lease are $7.MK) for ninety-nine years, with revaluation which is about a six per cent 
return on a S.">(X) per foot valuation. To this site the terrible prison was moved from Rich- 
mond, Va., not as the Coghlins would move such a structure, but in atoms or by bricks, 
boards and timbers, each of which was numbsred so that in rebuilding in the West each would 
hold the same place occupied by it in Virginia. Over 900,000 brick were thus carried hither 
in one hundred and thirty-two twenty-ton box cars and replaced according to the number and 
plans made by C. M. Palmer. The prison, which was formerly used for a tobacco warehouse, 
is five stories high, one hundred and seventy feet long by about one hundred and twenty feet 
wide. The outer walls are of brick, while the interior is of frame construction. Here it is 
surrounded by stone and brick walls. A wall of black artesian well stone, twenty feet high 
and two hundred and eighty feet long, relieved by trimmings of Illinois limestone to make it 
as gloomy as possible, extends along the front. It has an arched entrance, with towers on 
both sides and towers at either end of the wall, constructed of stone, with slate roof, in which 
are the offices of the conipany. A wall of brick fourteen feet high extends round the other 
sides. In the northeast corner of the lot the heating arid lighting plant is erected. The esti- 
mated cost of the building in reconstruction and the walls is $75,000. It is now filled from 
cellar to roof with war relics of every description, all of which are replete with historical 
interest and subjects for entertaining war stories. The walls are covered with oil portraits of 
every noted federal and confederate general and statesman, thrilling battle scenes and .pict- 
ures of incidents and scenes of the war period, and there are two hundred glass cases exhib- 
iting original official documents and personal letters in the handwriting of all the noted men 
identified with the Civil war. There are also specimens of every kind of shot and shell, and 
every style of pistol and gun used in those days. 

The Hamlin theatre, on Wabash avenue, presents a facade which requires more than a 
cursory glance to understand. The great entrance and x>ther parts convey a Romanesque 
impression, but on closer scrutiny the Alhambresque appears. 

The Timmerman hotel, on the northwest corner of Stewart avenue and Sixty-third street, 
is 125x129 feet and four stories in hight. The exterior walls show Anderson pressed brick 
with Michigan green-stone trimmings. Galvanized-iron bay windows relieve the fronts. On 
the busy business street and the broad avenues adjoining the hotel is the opera house, 
54x114 feet and forty- five feet in hight, but from stage to roof it is seventy- five feet in 
hight. The decoration of the auditorium is Byzantine in style. 

The Rosalie music hall, designed by S. S. Beman in 1885, is 60x103 feet in area at the 
first floor, with second story projecting three feet at sides and five feet in front and rear. 
Pressed brick is used in the first story and open wood work and shingles in the upper stories. 

Fort Sheridan is practically a Chicago building. It is a modern military institution, 
resembling a collection of college buildings rather than a barrack, a delusion which its loca- 
tion on the shoro of Lake Michigan is not liable to ditsipate. The " quarters " is a three-story 



194 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

house about four hundred feet in length, constructed of Milwaukee brick. Two balconies 
run along its front. Within, it is finished in natural pine and equipped with the conveniences 
of a seaside hotel. A building similar in size and style may be considered a wing of this 
first barrack. The square tower, tapering toward the top, where it receives a hip-roof, is 
two hundred and fifty feet in hight. Were it round, the archaeologist might look upon it as 
an Irish round-tower. The presence of brick in its construction abolishes the idea of strength 
and endurance, which such a structure should convey. With the aid of piers and pilaster- 
strip, great panels are shown, which are pierced by casemated windows, arranged one above 
the other with too much regularity. 

The Auditorium is to the city of 1891 what the Palmer house was to that of 1874. Not 
only does it prove the expansion of ideas of greatness in the building arts, but it also proves 
the widening of the business center. It was projected by men who had and still have large 
interests in the city, as a patriotic rather than a commercial enterprise; yet it has fulfilled 
the aims of citizens' pride and compensated its builders from a commercial standpoint. The 
Auditorium has a frontage of 302 feet on Congress street, 187 feet on Michigan boulevard, 
and 162 feet on Wabash avenue. Maine granite and buff Bedford stone form the exterior of 
the walls. Seventeen million brick were used in the interior walls, and 0,000 tons of iron 
and steel in the whole building. Sixty thousand square feet of polished plate glass; 50,000 
square feet, or 50,000,000 pieces, of Italian marble in the mosaic floors; 30,000 square feet of 
French mosaics, and 00,000 square feet of ornamental tile. There are 500 windows, 2,000 
doors, 10, (XX) electric lights, 11 dynamos, 230 miles of electric wire and cable, 100,000 lineal 
feet of furring iron, 175,000 square feet of wire lathing, 700,000 square feet of terra cotta 
and tile in arches and partitions, 25 miles of gas and water pipe, 11 boilers, 21 pumping 
engines, and 13 elevators. No less than 25,500 pounds of white lead and 40,875 square feet 
of gold leaf were used in decoration. The excavators having removed about 28,000 cubical 
yards of sand, a pine-plank flooring of 1,000,000 feet of lumber was placed, and on this floor 
a bed of concrete, 4 feet in depth and 02,000 square feet in area, was spread, in which steel 
rails were imbedded. There are 4 miles of steel rail in the foundation of the tower alone, 
carrying the weight (15,000 tons) of that structure, while the 80,000 tons, representing the 
balance of the building, are carried on equally strong foundations. The main structure is 
145 feet above the sidewalk; the tower, which in itself is a larger affair than the Owings 
building, is 240 above the sidewalk, the lantern 205 feet, and the top of flagstaff 2UO feet. 
The building, as a whole, is an independent form of the Romanesque, pointing to independent, 
thought and action. Its owners witnessed the destruction of a city, and, like Justinian of 
Byzantium, in the restoration of the dome of St. Sophia, they resolved to have an inde- 
structible building. The Komanesque idea was in consonance with this resolve, and hence it 
is the predominating feature of the great house, even though opposed by the great Doric 
columns and heavy lintels of the first story, and the repetition of this feature on a lighter 
scale, in the last story of the main structure, and far above this in the tower. The batter 
piers of the substructure, to the level of the fourth floor, the arched, transomed windows of the 



THK BUILDING INTERESTS. 195 

second story, the union of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh in one architectural story by 
means of piers, pilasters and arches, and the extension of this system to the eighth and ninth 
stories, leave no room to doubt the mastery of the Romanesque. Alxjve the third story the 
walls are treated in ashlar and the moldings cut in the heavy rock. Stability and massive- 
ness are apparent in all its parts, as if intended to be carried down the centuries like an 
Egyptian pyramid. If a building may present a magnificent exterior and yet be wanting in 
beauty, that one is the Auditorium, varying in this respect from the work of Gamier of the 
Ecole des beaux Arts, who combined both. The grand balcony on the east front; the tower, 
with its attic colonnade, more Egyptian than Doric, carrying out the idea expressed in the 
tenth story of the main building; the great polished columns in the first story, the pecu- 
liar entresol over the Congress street entrance, once seen are always impressed upon the 
memory. 

Interiorly the Auditorium is magnificent It is at once an office building, a hotel and a 
theater. The Wabash avenue front is the commercial division, the Michigan boulevard 
front the hotel division, and the center of the Congress street front the theatrical division. 
In the commercial division are 126 rooms distributed between the ten floors, each finished 
in oak. The entrance on Wabash avenue leads to a hall, which, in any other building than 
this, could be called the grand hall. The marble and iron stairways and three elevators 
are found here, ostensibly leading to the balcony and family circle of the theater, but really 
to the offices of the commercial or professional tenants of the western division. The tower is 
in the center of the Congress street front. It is 100x07 feet in area at base, and 70x41 from 
basement level for 24(1 feet, or up to the cornice of the eighteenth story. Above this is a 
two-storied structure, or lantern, of iron and terra cotta, twenty-five feet high, and 9x18 feet 
in area, thus giving a total bight of '2(55 feet, or twenty stories. In the first story is the 
great hall. It is a model of elegance. The great i>orphery columns, the marble walls, the 
floor of mosaic, the works in mahogany, the high-arched ceiling, and the bronze work of 
lx>x offices and elevators, tell of grand designs carried out by the artisans. 

The vestibule is 117x59 feet. With its great square pillars and their heavy ornamental 
capitals bearing the vaulted ceiling, it is an apartment worth a study in itself. From it you 
descend to the toilet and smoking rooms, or ascend to the grand foyer. Marbles and woods 
and bronzes meet the eye on every side. The great and lesser stairways are works of art in 
material, decoration and plan. Their walls of polished mahogany, balusters of bronze and 
landings of mosaics appeal at once to the senses and invite ascent. 

The grand foyer or lobby is 1 1 7x59 feet in area. Its fluted columns covered with scarlet 
scagliola. mark the head of the stairway. Square columns, similarly clothed, bear golden 
capitals. The nooks each side of the great stair, forming a part of this foyer, the ladies' 
parlor and the smoking room off it are fairy palaces in mosaics, mirrors, gold and colors, 
pictures in solids. Square pillars in amber scagliola, mark the upper floors to the balcony 
foyer, which, though a little narrower than the grand foyer, presents the same rich cohmmated 
appearance. The coves in a part of the gallery, and in the family circle are, in reality, 



196 INDUSTRIAL 

hinged ceilings, capable of being reversed on a half circle, shutting off those parts of the 
auditorium. They hang on steel frames and weigh twenty tons: but may bo lowered or raised 
at will, according to the space demand of the audience. 

The proscenium arch, with its grand portrayal, in relief, of the sacred and profane, only 
excels the great flat arch of the ceiling. Though the design is suggested by or was bor- 
rowed from one of the Jesuit churches of continental Europe, it is connected here so beauti- 
fully that it is difficult to point out a fault in all this work of Healy and Millet and Sullivan, 
for it is all intertwined so as to render all perfect, and the omission of one part "would destroy 
the beauty of the whole. It is a sea of old ivory and gold and color used with the nicety of 
nature under the direction of art. Whether in the ceilings of vestibules, foyers or audito- 
rium, in the'great round and square columns or in the walls, at the back of the boxes, the 
hand of the true decorator is visible, but the minutiB of his work is indescribable. A volume 
might be devoted to the glories of this one room, and yet not be a complete description of all it 
presents. 

The seating capacity of the theatre is six thousand two hundred and fifty. . The sixty 
boxes have seats for two hundred persons, the body of theater for four thousand and fifty, and 
the stage, requisitioned in the case of national or other conventions, for two thousand. In 
addition to this, there is standing room for one thousand five hundred persons, thus giving a 
capacity of seven thousand seven hundred and fifty. The recital hall, decorated in white and 
gold, is a small theater in itself with a seating capacity of five hundred. It occupies a sec- 
tion of the seventh floor in the west division of the building. 

The hotel occupies the "western division with entrance on Michigan boulevard. It con- 
tains four hundred rooms, together with the great office and greatdining room. The former 
shows a dado of Mexican onyx ten feet in hight, with columns and pillars. The latter, one 
hundred and eighty feet long, commands a view of the lake. Its decorations are as rich as 
they are appropriate. Over the stage of the theater is a four-story structure, 70x1 10 feet 
in area, connected with the eastern division by bridges. Therein are the kitchens of the 
hotel and many chambers. Eighteen mouths before its completion, and within a few months 
after its foundations were finished, a great hall was prepared for the republican national 
convention of 1888. The building was dedicated in December, 1889, or within two years 
and eleven months of the day 011 which the beginnings of the foundations were made. A 
critical description of its decorations will be found in the chapter on mosaics. 

The reconstruction of the Field building, on State street, at the beginning of the decade; 
of the old First National bank building, in 1883; O ( f the United States Express Company's 
building, the Portland block, the Illinois l>;mk building: the Home Insurance, the Schles- 
inger & Mayer block, the old Kentucky block (now the Quiucy), the Chicago & Rock Island 
railroad depot, the Dyche block, McVicker's theatre and hundreds of other buildings in the 
central business region, such as the Cisco, the Lennox, the Chamber of Commerce and (In- L. 
J. McCormick building, on La Salle, near Washington, are equally strong evidences of 
progress in the new style, as are the mammoth office buildings brought forth anew. Old 



TllK m:il.l>lS<; ISTSRBST8, I'.iT 

buildings along Washington, Dearborn and La Snlle streets have had the old bank entrances 
lowered and have been furnished with elevator service. Additional stories have been placed 
on all buildings which can bear them, and almost every recent purchase of central property 
has been followed by some alterations in the improvements. The Home Insurance building 
had two stories added to it, the northwest corner of Madison and La Salle was remodeled, 
the Frye building built up three stories, the Lambert Tree building, farther north on La 
Salle street, enlarged by the addition of two stories, the Portland block, on Dearborn street, 
altered, the Illinois National bank building and the Dyche building, each had two stories 
added. The work of reconstruction and remodeling is not confined to the great old build- 
ings of the central business district. Throughout the three divisions of the city and even 
beyond the new limits the desire for improvement has been carried. 

The Chamber of Commerce portrays in the highest form the metamorphosis of the 
Roman-Doric Board of Trade of 1871-2 into a modern Commercial structure. The total 
liight. from sidewalk to coping, is one hundred and eighty-four and one-half feet; the bight 
of central court from first floor, one hundred and ninety-eight feet; the width between rail- 
ings ninety-nine feet, the width of central court thirty-four feet; the width of court between 
railings, twenty-two feet, the number of rooms, nine hundred and the cost of remodeling, in 
round numbers, was $2,000,000. The lot upon which the building stands is independent 
of all surroundings. On the north is Washington street, on the west La Salle street, each 
eighty feet wide; on the south is Calhoun place and on the east is an open court thirty feet 
wide, so that the building is lighted naturally and splendidly on all sides. Here was erected, 
just after the great fire, the old Board of Trade building. This was a low, massive 
stiucture, and one of the handsomest ornaments of the city. It was designed to accom- 
modate the Board of Trade for all time, but the architect had not taken into account the 
probabilities or the possibilities of the future. Before ten years had rolled by, the Board of 
Trade felt cramped within its walls, and a new and larger structure became necessary to 
accommodate the produce and grain traders of the city. Then the Grecian structure was 
deserted. It had lost none of its beauty, none of its massivTness, but it was an elephant on 
the hands of its owners. All sorts of suggestions were made as to its future use, but none of 
them were practical. Property worth several thousand dollars a front foot grew restive under 
a structure that, though beautiful, was wanting in usefulness. It changed hands. Finally 
it was purchased by Hannah, Lay & Co., practical business men, and the idea of the new 
Chamber of Commerce building was conceived. It requires more than one brain to conceive 
and direct the execution of a great feat in architecture such as this is. The idea was born in 
the minds of the new owners; it was put into tangible form byBauman & Huehl, the architects: 
it was crystali/ed by George Tapper, the superintendent of the construction. The details 
were placed in the hands of men who, in their various trades and callings, have attained emi- 
nence. From foundation to roof every inch of the building bears the impress of superb work- 
manship. There is not a trace of shoddyism about the structure. There is no veneering. 
There is no paint. Everything from the mosaic ceiling of the first floor to the Italian mar- 



198 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

ble wainscoting of the thirteenth is real not an imitation. No cheap substitutes have found 
their way into this work. The question from the beginning was to determine what was best 
and then to secure it at any cost. "In July, 1888," says Mr. Tapper, "we put the old 
Board of Trade building on screws, took out the old and put in the new foundation.'' Mr. 
Tapper can refer to a matter of this kind as a mere trivial event, for he has become accus- 
tomed not only to seeing but to doing wonders in building here in Chicago. To " put the 
screws" under a massive granite structure eighty feet in hight, and hold it in mid air while 
workmen were engaged in tearing out the old and putting in the new foundation, seems an 
easy thing now, but what a wonder it would be to the builder of a half century ago. The new 
foundations planted upon tiers of railroad steel were calculated to defy an earthquake, and so 
firmly are they imbedded in the earth that they may be considered part of the sphere on which 
we live. They are capable of bearing twice the weight of the structure that rises above them. 
But the Chamber of Commerce building does not depend upon these foundations. The}- sup- 
port only the four exterior walls. Those four exterior walls might fall, or be taken down, 
and the entire interior of the structure would stand just as firmly as it does now. In such an 
event a mammoth pigeon house of steel and iron rising two hundred feet in the air, the in- 
terior of the five hundred offices being exposed to the vulgar curiosity of the outside world, would 
be seen; but the great frame work of steel and iron bolted together as it is, as seciirely as the 
ribs of an ocean steamer, would stand as erect and solidly as it did when surrounded by the 
four walls. The entire interior rests upon its own foundations- foundations that were laid 
even while the walls were suspended on jack screws and before the roof of the old Board 
of Trade building was taken off. The floor weights were carried on in the interior for months 
before the public had any knowledge of the progress being made. Perhaps more idea of the 
strength and magnitude of this interior may be obtained when it is learned that between 
thirty-one and thirty-two thousand tons of steel and iron were consumed in the construction 
of the building, the greater part of which, of course, entered into the frame work, floor sup- 
ports and arches, the latter being solidified with terra cotta and cement. The great build- 
ing is thirteen clear stories and*attic high, above the basement. The eleventh, twelfth and 
1 1 1 i rt i 'onth stories are finished with the same high degree of excellence that one finds on the 
first, second and third. There are two general entrances, one on Washington and one on 
La Salle street, while all the offices on the first floor open on the streets, the passage on the 
east and the central court. The main entrance is at the Washington street front and on pass 
ing the doors you find yourself standing on a marble mosaic pavement in a vestibule fifteen 
feet square. A base of light buff-colored Burgundy marble forms a plinth to wainscoting of 
carefully chosen Italian veined white marble. Two windows of noble proportions, one to the 
right and one to the left, are framed with the same buff-colored marble, and at the hight of 
the ceiling of the ground floor an entablature marks what in ordinary circumstances would 
have been the space from ceiling to floor. This architectural feature is very pleasing. A band 
three inches wide of Portuguese marble of a pale pink color forms the first member. It is 
succeeded by a frieze twelve inches wide of Burgundy marble, which in its turn is capped by 




COMMERCIAL ARCHITECT!.' K. 



OB 



BuiiiDijye. 

ITALIAN OHN'AMENT. liUMAN-DOKlU ENTKANUE. 



LIBRARY 
OF THE 

OF ILLINOIS 



TIIK BUILDING INTERESTS. 109 

a projecting molding of Portuguese marble. Above this, east and west are windows like 
those below, similarly treated; at right angles with them is a transom light over the main 
doorway, while opposite to it a bold elliptic arch finishes the north side of the second floor, 
from which, leaning over a marble slab on railings, you can gaze into the vestibule below. 
The main doorway, the arch above it, the elliptic arches, the windows, all are surrounded by 
buff-colored Burgundy marble. Between these frames all the walls are encrusted with the 
same Italian veined marble as below, and finally, above an entablature varied in detail to the 
one beneath of Portuguese and Burgundy marbles, a ceiling of marble mosaic of original and 
charming design, the first of its kind ever fixed in the United States, produces not only a 
striking effect, but also stamps the building as altogether unique. Marble mosaic pavements 
are on all the floors; that in the light court is designed as a carpet and a very handsome and 
elaborate scroll forms the border. The ceiling in the La Salle street entrance, and, indeed, 
all the ceilings of the ground floor, are marble mosaic. If you take the elevator to the top 
story you will notice that the high wainscoting of every floor is the same Italian veined white 
marble that attracted your attention in the vestibule and you cannot fail to be struck with 
the novel and interesting arrangement thereof, so unlike any other marble wainscoting you 
have seen elsewhere. Blocks of marble with pronounced veining have been chosen, and the 
slabs, after being sawed, have been turned over so that the veining of one face is taken up by 
its neighbor, and the effects differing in every set of slabs produce a series of designs that 
would seem to be the result of an artist uncommonly clever in the use of his pencil. Return- 
ing to the first floor you find the elevators in the space between the marble vestibule and the 
light court. There are eight of them, and the speed and the smoothness and the safeness 
with which they travel up and down have elicited, the highest praise from the tenants in, and 
the visitors to, the building. They ran within bronzed cages, are beautifully finished, and 
make their trips with the regularity of clock work. These elevators carry one so rapidly and 
so safely to and from the upper floors, that offices in the higher stories are even more desir- 
able than those lower down. 

The advantages of the altitude as regards fresh air, freedom from the noise of the streets 
and practical exemption from smoke, are so well known and thoroughly appreciated that it is 
unnecessary to comment upon them here. That the demand for high offices is increasing, 
however, is a well-known fact, and the probabilities are that the old way of calculating rents 
will be reversed. It looks now as though the higher up in the future, the higher rents will 
lie. A freight elevator (entrance on Galhoun place) also runs from the first floor. This is 
located at the south side of the building. The passenger elevators are operated by hydraulic 
power, the freight elevator by steam. 

Standing upon the mosaic floor of the first story in the center of the building, throwing 
back your head and looking up, you will see twelve balconies with their bronzed railings rising 
in perfect symmetry above you. Away at. the to]), one hundred and ninety-eight feet, and 
crowning this grand central court is probably the largest skylight in the world. It is a plate- 
glass arch, thirty feet wide and one hundred and eight feet long, and its weight is supported 



2(1(1 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

on iron and copper frames which rest upon iron trusses. The frame is bronzed ;md finished 
handsomely. Through this mammoth window in the roof a perfect flood of light penetrates 
the central court, so that the interior of the building is almost as brightly illuminated as the 
exterior during the day. As you look up, if your neck will bear the strain, you will notice 
that not a post or a pillar is visible along the sides or between the twelve balconies other than 
those at the north and south ends, the intervening stretch being perfectly clear and free from 
obstruction. Those twelve balconies or galleries are self -siipport ing, or rather they are sus- 
tained by one hundred and twenty cantalevers, which are anchored beyond the beams that sur- 
mount the central columns which form the interior foundations. These cantalevers are 
assisted in the performance of their functions by one hundred and twenty brackets, which, 
in addition to being useful, are highly ornamental. From the end of every one of these 
cantalevers there hangs a group of electric lamps. There are nine hundred and fifty of 
these in all. It is when these lights are blazing at night that the marble wainscoting, the 
mosaic flooring, the bronzed railing, the polished wood-work and the chipped glass of the 
interior produce their grandest effects; but even in prosaic daylight there is an air of 
elegance about this grand central court that, extorts from the coldest of observers the warmest 
encomium. 

As before remarked, the floors are supported upon arches which are composed of porous 
terra cotta tile and cement. The top floor of hard wood is seven-eighths of an inch thick, and 
with the doors, and door and window frames, composes all the combustible mate-rial in the 
building. The wood work is finished in the finest red oak, of an enduring and handsome 
character. Three kinds of finish for iron work enter into construction the electro -plated, the 
bower-baffled, and the duplex copper-plated. The ornamental iron work adds greatly to the 
appearance of the building. It is excellently finished and substantial throughout, all of the 
designs being new. The workmanship in every department ranks with the very best ever 
done in the city. Every detail has been attended to, from the magnesia covering of the 
steam pipes to the insulation of the electric wires, from the heating apparatus to the ven- 
tilating devices, from the illumination of the rooms to the sanitary appliances in the base- 
ment. 

The steam-heating apparatus is something that cost a great deal of time and anxiety in 
this part of the building. A number of devices were treated before the system finally 
accepted was chosen. It is believed to be the best in existence. The registers art 1 novel in 
design, and the work has been done in a most commendable manner by the firm which had 
charge of it. The hardware also, even to the door locks and knobs, especially designed for 
this building, bespeak the work of a careful house, and one that takes pride in its business. 
The glass in the exterior, all plate, and the glass in the interior, all chipped, is of a superior 
make and costly. The pumping is as perfect as it was possible to make it, every pipe in the 
building being within easy access at all times. Shafts extend from basement to roof, through 
which are conveyed the water, steam and drainage pipes. In the basement, which is paved 
with marble tiling, is the machinery wherewith the elevators are run, the water pumped, the 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. -Jill 

electric light produced and the heat furnished. Here there are two engines of one hundred 
and seventy-five horse power each, and four dynamos of eight hundred lights each: there are 
nine steam boilers, the shell of each of which is made of two plates, of the best Otis steel, all 
set with Murphy's smokeless furnaces, which cost fully as much if not more than the boilers 
themselves. Then there are seven pumps, two for house service and three for elevators, two 
of which are for boiler feed. The two elevator standpipes are twelve inches in diameter. 
The heating is done on the exhaust system, all heat being first carried to the attic. The 
water for general use is pumped into six immense tanks in the attic, the combined capacity of 
which is nineteen thousand gallons. Two of theso tanks are for house service and four for 
the hydraulic passenger elevators. There is one thing that strikes one as being remarkable 
in the Chamber of Commerce building. This is the entire absence of vibration. Notwith- 
standing the constant operation of the elevators and the machinery in the basement, not the 
slightest tremor is manifest. The building rests so firmly on its interior and exterior founda- 
tions and is so perfectly balanced in all its parts, that vibration is impossible. In the fore- 
going pages an endeavor has been made to point out the main features of a structure that is 
destined for many years to come to be one of the leading buildings of the times. Every day 
hundreds of strangers visit it and are amazed at its hight, dazzled by its beauty and awe- 
stricken by its magnitude. Certainly, those who have contributed by their handiwork toward 
raising this ornament for the present and future generations are entitled to credit. The 
structural work was furnished throughout by Vierling, McDowell & Co., Iron Works. All 
the facings for the entire fronts above and between the old stone piers are terra cotta, manu- 
factured and set by the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company. In order to change the old 
facades so as to conform with the new and larger design, and admit more light into the build- 
ing, much of the old stone work had to be cut out, and what was left had to be recut into 
new forms. This part of the work, involving great care and engineering skill as well as 
much danger, was carried through by the Young & Farrel Diamond Sawing Co., with entire 
success and without accident. The same company also furnished the planed stone sidewalk 
surrounding the building, including the unusually large stones in front of the main entrance. 
The foundations of the mammoth pile rest upon one hundred and sixteen cords or one 
million five hundred and eight thousand pounds of crushed stone concrete. This was fur- 
nished by Dolese & Shepard, manufacturers of, and dealers in. crushed stone, concrete 
stone, limestone for ftux, slag and cinders. The skylight, which is, so far as known, the 
largest in the world, being 108 feet long by 35 feet wide, is made in the shape of a 
pointed arch from glass which was manufactured for the purpose by the Chicago Window 
Glass Company. The glass of which this huge roof is composed, is known as " rough glass," 
and is three eighths of an inch in thickness. Throughout the entire building are wires and 
pipes for the Johnson system of heat regulation put in by the Chicago Electric Service Com- 
pany, so that by application to this company, any office or suite of offices can be supplied with 
automatic temperature regulation at a nominal rental for the apparatus. This company also 
applied their system to the ventilators in the skylight over the large central court of the 



202 INDUSTRIAL (HIICAdO: 

building, so that they will open or close automatically, according to the temperature of the 
court, or can be operated by touching a convenient button. The mosaic and marble work 
was supplied, laid and fixed by Burke & Co., whose offices are in this building. The 
plumbing work was done by E. Baggot, 10',) and 171 Adams street, proprietor of the 
celebrated Durham system of house drainage. Meacham & Wright, furnished the five 
thousand barrels of TJticr. cement, which was largely used in the construction of the inner 
walls, and the greater part of the interior cemented work, of which there is a large quantity 
in the building. Dickinson Bros. & King furnished the Portland cement used in the actual 
construction of the foundation and walls. Two thousand five hundred barrels were used in 
the foundation alone, and four thousand Milwaukee barrels were used in the laying of the 
terra cotta in the construction of the walls and placing of the marble. The steam-heating 
apparatus of the building was furnished and put in place by F. W. Land & Co. It is the 
largest apparatus of the kind hitherto erected in the West. When it is remembered that the 
steam is distributed from the attic, and that every one of the hall and offices in the building 
has a radiator with its attendant pipes, some idea may be formed of the quantity of material 
required to construct the apparatus. The nine huge boilers which supply the steam for the 
various engines of this building were made and put in place by Mohr & Son. These boilers 
are made of Otis steel, and are cast in two parts or shells which are then joined. This firm 
is the only one in the city which is capable of making boilers in this manner, which is now 
conceded the best way of constructing them. 

Every inch of the iron used in the construction of the- building is covered with porous 
fireproofing, furnished by the Illinois Terra Cotta Lumber Company. This company put 
into the interior of the building about eight thousand tons of porous terra cotta, at a cost of 
about $75,000. It is used in the partition, floor-arches and column covering, rendering the 
structure absolutely impregnable to fire. The artistic manner in which the work of fire 
proofing is done has called forth the highest praise from builders and visitors. There is 
nothing clumsy or heavy aboiit it. The iron joists which siipport the floor are flat- arched, 
with terra cotta work, which, in addition to making a noiseless ceiling, forms a span between 
the walls as solid as if carved out of granite. Sound cannot penetrate from one floor to 
another, and the entire absence of vibration is due in great part to the firmness with which 
the floor, resting upon these flat arches, is supported. All the columns, other than those of 
an ornamental character, are encased in porous terra cotta, so that they are entirely insulated, 
as it were, and could not by any possibility be exposed to the heat of a conflagration, were 
one possible inside this building. The thirteen stories of balcony guards and stair rails, with 
their bronzed top rails, the cages of the eight elevators, and all the stairs are of iron, fur- 
nished, as well as all other ornamental iron work in the building, by the Winslow Brothers' 
company. The chaste and beautiful designs were made and patterns executed especially for 
this building, and they are harmonious throughout. The artistic effect of this ornamental 
iron work is chiefly due to the appropriateness of the designs and the first-class workmanship 
exhibited, all the work throughout the building being finished in either Duplex Electro 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 208 

Bronze Plating, or the Bower Barff rustless process. The Duplex system of plating is one 
of the recent inventions of the Winslows. Hall's Safe & Lock Company has furnished the 
vault work for the building. This firm is the largest manufactory of this kind in the world, and 
their work is used in all the first-class buildings. The firm of P. & F. Corbin furnished all 
the hardware, such as hinges, knobs, escutcheons, locks and the like, which were used in the 
building. The patterns made from designs especially for this building, carry out the general 
design of the interior ornamental copper work. The eight immense tanks which are used for 
storing the water used in running the elevators, and for other purposes, were made in the 
building by G. L. McGregor & Co. The electrical apparatus for this huge structure was 
supplied by the Mather Electric Company. The Link Belt Machinery Company erected the 
rope transmission plant for driving the dynamos which supply the electric light for the build- 
ing. These two dynamos, each of which supplies a current which feeds three hundred 
electric lights, are driven by two Corliss engines of one hundred and fifty horse power each, 
driving independent jack shafts. The sheaves that drive the dynamos are provided with disk 
friction clutches, and either of the dynamos can be operated independently of the other. 
The Link Belt Company has also supplied this building with an ingenious labor-saving 
device, which will commend itself to all who have the management of great office buildings, 
a device for supplying the furnaces with coal automatically, and for automatically removing 
ashes and cinders, and conveying them to the alley. In the equipment of the boilers, the 
Murphy aiitomatic smokeless furnace was used. By means of the Cutler United States 
chute, a tenant in any part of the building from the highest to the lowest story may mail 
his letters without leaving the story in which his office is located. This chute is erected by 
special authorization of the postoffice department, in connection with the United States col- 
lection service. A large quantity of pipe for steam heating purposes was used in this 
building. It was necessary that the pipes should be perfectly insulated from the adjacent 
walls, as well as the atmosphere, by being covered by some material which is absolutely fire 
proof, and non-heat conducting. For this purpose the magnesia sectional pipe covering 
was used, furnished by Alfred G. Kemper. One of the corporations connected with the con- 
struction of this building was that which provided accident insurance for the workmen. 
This was the Employers' Liability Assurance Corporation. Acknowledging the liability of 
accidents to workmen engaged in the construction of such a large edifice, the contractors and 
owners of this building wisely and humanely procured a policy from the above named cor- 
poration, by which any workman engaged in the construction, while on duty, was entitled to 
compensation equal to two-thirds his weekly wages, while disabled. The policy also pro- 
vided a liberal amount in event of death, or accident which resulted in the loss of limbs or 
sight, and premium was a certain percentage of the wages paid. No names of workmen or 
contractors were taken into consideration, so that every man who was employed, whether for 
a day or until the completion of the structure, was protected by the policy. Fortunately 
there were but few men injured in the erection of this large building, but all claims arising 
from injuries were promptly met and cheerfully paid by the Assurance Corporation. 

13 



204 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The Chamber of Commerce presents nearly all the features of the new Commercial style 
and construction. The walls carry themselves, as in the Monadnock, and in this it varies 
from the majority of the modern houses, where the walls are carried, for ornament and shel- 
ter by the network of iron columns, girts and braces. The steel chimney, as in the Fair, 
was scarcely thought of when- the Chamber of Commerce was completed, and certainly not in 
January, 1889, when the work of jackscrews commenced. In the matter of light and live 
air it is superior to all other buildings, and in strength, equipment and decoration equal to 
any of them except the Auditorium. 

McVicker's theatre was reconstructed in 1871, at an expense of $93,000, but in less than 
fifty days after its completion the great fire carried it away. It was rebuilt in 1871-2, recon- 
structed and decorated in 1885 and destroyed by fire August 20, 1890. This theater was 
reconstructed in 1890-9J by a company formed to control and manage it. with a capital of 
half a million dollars. The rebuilding of the theater was committed to Adler & Sullivan, 
and from their hands a structure worthy of the position which it occupies came forth. The 
theater is rebuilt according to the most approved methods of fireproof construction. The 
audience room is spanned by six heavy steel trusses, and over these trusses are built two 
stories of offices, connected with the business building in front. Each of the six trusses is 
supported at the ends by latticed wrought-steel columns, which rise directly from the foun- 
dations and independently of the walls. Thus no weight is thrown upon the old outer walls 
which are retained solely for shelter. It is an axiom of modem construction that no building 
can be called fireproof in which any structural iron or steel work is left exposed to the action 
of flames. Every individual piece therefore of the steel construction surmounting the 
audience room is encased in porous terra cotta tile, and the floors, ceilings, roofs, and parti- 
tions are built of the same material. Twenty-four offices are included within this new 
structure, and an additional elevator is placed in the front building to serve them. These 
offices are very well lighted, and are fitted with all modern conveniences. In the redesign of 
the interior of the theater, the main floor, balcony and gallery are kept siibstautially as before 
in shape, but all else is of a new and beautiful design. The arrangements for heating, light- 
ing and ventilating are very complete, and an opera chair of novel design and mechanism is 
used. The reconstruction and equipment of the scene-house is very complete. The rigging 
loft is raised to a hight of seventy feet above the stage. All of the former scenery and 
properties were consumed in the fire, and a new and complete line was made by the best 
artists, references to which are made in the chapter on painters and decorators. 

The Leiter building, fronting on State, Van Buren and Congress streets, is at once the 
fulfillment of a prophecy made only a few years ago and a testimonial to Chicago enterprise. 
In July, 1889, the hand of progress pointed to the erection of a great commercial temple, the 
plans of which, by W. L. B. Jenney, were then accepted by the owner, Levi Z. Loiter. Work 
was at once entered upon, the great foundations were set. and in IN91 a giant structure, in- 
structive and healthy to look at, lightsome and airy, while substantial, was added to the great 
houses of a great city. A Commercial pile, in a style undreamed of when Buonaroti erected 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 205 

the greatest temple of Christian Koine, was dedicated to commerce in 1891. The building 
fronts four hundred and two- feet on State street and one hundred and forty-four feet on Van 
Buren and on Congress, with an alley along the entire rear. It is eight stories high, ex- 
clusive of basement, its hight being one hundred and thirty-three feet and four inches above 
the sidewalk. Across the alley, nearly opposite the center of the building and fronting on 
Wabash avenue, there is to be a twelve-story building, now in course of construction, in the 
deep basement of which will be located all the boilers and machinery, so as to leave the entire 
basement of the main building free for business purposes. The construction of this house 
is entirely of iron and steel. All the weights, both walls and floors, are carried, story by storv, 
on columns to the foundations. It is the skeleton construction now generally known as "the 
Chicago construction." It is exceedingly substantial, rendering the building proof against 
cyclones and earthquakes, and well adapted to a general business. The stories are high and 
airy, the large plate-glass windows only separated by tire-proofed metal columns. The ex- 
terior of the building is the light, warm grey granite of the Maine & New Hampshire Granite 
Company, from the Kearsarge mountains, near North Conway. New Hampshire. It is smooth- 
dressed and presents a very handsome appearance. The building is arranged to be used as a 
whole for one great establishment or to be divided into nine or a less number of stores, as 
tenants may desire. It is also arranged so that any story can be let independently and bo 
conveniently reached by elevators and staircases from State street. It has been constructed 
with the same science and all the careful inspection and superintendence that would be used 
in the construction of a steel railroad bridge of the first order. The construction of the 
building was under the personal supervision of Charles Busby, whose reputation for ability 
and honesty is well known by every one. The location is one that will now become a second 
great retail center. Situated on the most important retail thoroughfare and at the terminus 
or loop of the South Side elevated railroad, within easy reach of the Illinois Central railroad 
suburban station, the Dearborn station, the Rock Island station, several lines of cable and 
horse~cars and the great cable line of the south side, its facilities are unrivaled. This great 
structure, which is to be one of the finest store buildings in the world, is provided with every 
convenience procurable, and the workmanship throughout is of the very highest order. Pains 
and expense have not been spared that could in any way contribute to the advantage of the 
tenants or to the substantial character of the edifice, it being the intention to make this one 
of the greatest business monuments of the city. The building was designed by W. L. B. 
Jenney, architect, of this city. The severely plain exterior is grand in its proportions. Great 
corner piers of granite, carried upward to a chaste cornice, the central piers of the same 
material, the beautifully capped capitals dividing the windows, the carved granite cornice, all 
are in perfect accord with the Commercial style, neither wanting nor in excess of what such a 
style demands. Designed for space, light, ventilation and security, the Leiter building 
meets the object sought in every particular. The steel chimney of the Leiter building is 
constructed on the same plan as that of the Fair. It is two hundred feet high and ten feet 
and two inches in exterior diameter, or nine inches more than that of the Fair, affording an 



206 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

escape for the smoke from the furnaces of nine seventy-two-inch boilers, each twenty feet 
long. 

The Altgeld building, on the southwest corner of Market and Van Buren streets, was 
completed in the spring of 1890, beyond the southwestern limits of the wholesale district. 
Men well versed in Chicago building values looked aghast at Altgeld's venture, and shook 
their heads, as did the late John Went/worth and Isaac B. Arnold in 1882, when they saw the 
carpenters and masons at work within and without the old limits. This new building claimed 
tenants for one hundred and thirty thousand, out of its total of one hundred and ninety thou- 
sand, square feet of floor space, before May, 1890, and proved the faith of the owner in this 
section of Chicago to be well founded. 

In May, 1890, an eight-story office building was designed by Bamnan & Cady, to be 
erected at 123 and 125 La Salle street, the area being 25x100 feet. It is built of pressed 
brick, terra cotta and iron, with bay windows of brick, and as nearly fireproof as possible. 
The interior finish is of hardwood, marble wainscoting in all the halls, hardwood floors, two 
elevators, electric light, steam heat, plate glass and the latest improvements; cost. ifSO.IXH). 

In June, 1891, the Wolf building, 91 Dearborn street, was designed by Clinton J. Warren, 
for Louis Wolf. It is an eight-story office building, with front of buff-colored pressed brick, 
and terra cotta facings of the same color, modem in interior finish, with mosaic floors and 
wainscoted walls, erected at a cost of $150,000. 

L. J. McCormick's building, 05 to 73 Dearborn, on the southeast corner of Randolph, 
occupies the site of the heavy stone building erected there some years ago. The new house 
was designed in June, 1889, by J. C. Warren, as a sixteen-story building, to cost $000,000, 
fronting one hundred and three feet on Dearborn and eighty feet on Randolph. The walls 
are of pressed brick, with stone base and large hollow steel pillars of great girth and strength. 
There are handsome stone trimmings, ornamental, galvanized iron stairs and ten passenger 
and freight elevators. The building is provided throughout with steam heat, electricity and 
every convenience. The interior finish is of the finest description, with composition roof, 
hardwood, brass work, tile floors and mantels. There are provided fireproof vaults, fire 
escapes and every requirement of safety. 

The seven-story building on the west side of Franklin street near Washington street was 
designed in March, 1889, for warehouse purposes, by J. J. Kouhu. The building is 5(1x147 
feet, with first story of rock-faced Carbondale brown stone and the six upper stories of brown 
pressed brick and terra cotta. The interior is fireproof construction work. 

In April, 1889, the great manufacturing concern on Ellsworth street between Polk and 
Sebor, extending west three hundred and seventy feet to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
railroad and over Mather street, was designed. The structure is fourteen stories high, except- 
ing a unall portion which extends upward but nine stories. The exterior is of pressed brick 
with stone and terra cotta dressings; the walls are made unusually thick and strong. The 
interior construction is of iron and the block ;is a whole and in detail is as fireproof, solid and 
lasting as brick, stone, iron and tile can make it. Power for the whole manufacturing busi- 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 207 

ness is furnished by powerful Corliss engines. Steam-heating service, electric-lighting 
apparatus and modern ventilating and plumbing systems are in use. 

The Western Electric company's building. 227-257 S. Clinton street, is also a modern 
industrial house. In 1890 an addition was erected after plans by Treat & Foltz. 

Havlin's theater, on Wabash avenue south of Eighteenth street, occupies the site of an 
old church building. Built a few years ago after modern ideas, it presents a great Roman- 
esque arch in stone, with tourettes or bartizans in brick and terra cotta, varying only in 
details of front from the Haymarket on West Madison street. 

The George Lehman & Son's building, on the northwest corner of Jackson and Canal 
streets, was commenced in August, 1889, after plans by Marble & Lamson. This shows a 
frontage of pressed brick trimmed with stone and terra cotta. 

The large Pythian hall, on North Clark street, is 157x196 feet. Iron, stone, brick and 
terra cotta are used in the exterior construction, iron for the interior and slate for roof. It 
has several tower projections of terra cotta, which, in connection with the broad, arched 
entrances, windows and ornamental work, give it an attractive and imposing appearance. 
The basement contains a drill room for the Knights of Pythias, barber shop, bath rooms and 
closets. Stores occupy the ground floor. The second floor is used for theatrical purposes, 
the auditorium being !Wxl96 feet in size, thirty-seven feet high, with large stage and a gal- 
lery in horseshoe form. The latest systems of fireproofing and sanitary plumbing were intro- 
duced, and the whole 200,000 building was completed after plans by J. J. Kouhn, made in 
June, 1890. 

The Chicago Cold Storage Exchange warehouse, on West Lake street, is a direct 
departure from conventional methods. The building comprises two ten-story sections, afford- 
ing three large stores, each seventy-six feet deep, fronting on Lake street, and twenty brokers' 
and commission offices, thirty-five feet deep, on the first floor above. The east building is 
70x382 feet; west building, 85x382 feet; Water street arcade, 75x382 feet; Cold Storage place 
arcade, 30x382 feet; building, 10 stories; hight above river level, 127 feet; total number of 
square feet available for offices, 20,628; total number of square feet available for stores, 
95..V.IO; total cubic contents of building, 6,659,622 cubic feet; frontage on Lake street, 'l'l~i 
feet; frontage on Randolph street, 225 feet; frontage on Chicago river and dockage, 382 feet; 
frontage on Cold Storage place, 382 feet; combined frontage of buildings on West Water 
street arcade, 764 feet; combined frontage of buildings on West Water street and side track- 
age operated by six leading railways, 764 feet; total, 3,124 feet, making over one-half mile 
of frontage available for shipping and receiving; total capacity available for storage pur- 
poses, 3.000,000 cubic feet. There will be Sr>0,(HM) feet of pipe used, and the total capacity 
of boiler and machinery plant, 1,600 horse power. Capacity of refrigerating plant equivalent 
to 600 tons of melting ice per day and 200 tons of pure crystal ice. The estimated cost of 
the entire plant and buildings to cover all the property lying between West Lake and West 
Randolph streets, on both sides of West Water street to Cold Storage place, including the 
viaduct and arcade over West Water street, and the purchase, according to the terms of the 



308 INDUSTRTAL CHICAGO: 

lease, of the old warehouse (then operating under the lease and valued at $140,00'.)), accord- 
ing to Adler & Sullivan's estimate, was $1,390,000. The Osborns Engineering Company's 
estimate on steam plant, elevating and electric service, refrigerating and ice plant. 1-75.000; 
total, $1,805,000. A produce exchange hall in connection with the warehouses, is equipped 
with all the latest conveniences for the use of the trade. This is composed of iron and glass, 
and so located as to command a view of West Water street arcade from end to end. The 
arcade is 75 feet wide, and extends between the warehouses for 382 feet, from West Lake to 
West Randolph streets. In May, 1801, six per cent 10-20 gold bonds, to the amount of 
$1,000,000, were floated, and in July, 1891, the property was purchased by an English syndi- 
cate. 

Mailer's warehouse, on the southeast corner of Quincy and Market streets, was designed 
in June, 1891, by Flanders & Zimmerman. The building is a ten-story one with a front of 
forty-two feet on Market street and one of one hundred and fourteen feet on Quincy street. 
The architects provided for a thorough system of fireprooting, heat, light and ventilation. 
The estimated cost is $150,000. 

The Benjamin Machine Company's block or combination shop, warehouse and apartment 
building, extending from State to Dearborn and from Thirty-fourth to Thirty-fifth streets, 
was designed by J. H. Wagner in June, 1890. The idea of this combination building is Chi- 
cagoan, and the plans show a structure of brick, stone and iron, architectural in every line 
without the least indication of the great machine shop in the basement existing. 

The Price factory building on Illinois street, fifty feet west of Cass street, was designed 
by Thomas Hawkos, in April, 1891. A feature of this new industrial house is the steel front 
and mill construction. The size is 50x100 feet, six stories and basement high. Elevators 
and steam heat also distinguish it from similar buildings erected only a few years ago. 

. In April, 1891, plans were completed and work commenced on the $1,000,000 plant which 
Fraser & Chalmers, the manufacturers of mining machinery, erected at Twelfth and Rockwell 
streets. The site of this establishment covers five hundred and fifty thousand eight hundred 
square feet, or over twelve acres, and lies between Fillmore and Twelfth streets on the north 
and south and Rockwell street and Fairfield avenue on the east and west. The plans provide 
for twelve buildings to cover over eight acres. The estimated cost of the entire plant, includ- 
ing equipment, is over $1,000,000. It is intended to erect only four buildings the foundry, 
pattern storage building, boiler shop and power house at present. 

Plans for the Grant locomotive works (Cicero) were completed in May, 1891. A sketch 
of the proposed works shows the buildings grouped along Robinson avenue. Opposite Four- 
teenth street is the two-story brick office building. The shops are one-story high, of truss 
construction. The buildings will represent an outlay of $450,000. and the estimated cost of 
the complete plant is $SOO,000. The works will have railroad communication with two roads. 

In December, 188S, plans for the quarter-niillion-lmshel grain-storage elevator and boiler- 
house of the Gottfried Brewing Company, were made by Griesser & Moritzen. The struct- 
ure is brick and iron; but the great smoke stack is its remarkable feature, being of greater 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 209 

hight than any other in the city at that time. Its foundation, twelve feet beneath the surface 
is thirty feet square; at the surface, sixteen feet, square, and at the top, two hundred and 
fifty feet above ground, nine and a half feet in diameter. This immense chimney is square for 
thirty feet above ground, octagonal for double that hight, and then circular to the top. The 
chimney of the North Clark street cable power-house is about two hundred feet high, and 
that of the sugar refinery near Polk street and the river, two hundred and forty feet. The 
modern electric-light powerhouses have introduced the era of modern smokestacks. Gries- 
ser & Moritzen designed the Fisher Brewing Company's buildings on Dudley and Robey streets 
in March, 1890. In June, 1890, the first pale ale brewery in Chicago was designed for 
the corner of Thirty-fifth street and Stewart avenue. It is two hundred feet square, six 
stories high, constructed of brick, stone and iron, and cost about $175,000. 

Pulawski is the name of a new Polish hall and theater on Ashland avenue near Eight- 
eenth street, built in 1891. The building, 72x130, three stories high, cost 150,000, and was 
paid for by twelve Polish societies. The first story is of Bedford stone, the upper stories of 
pressed brick. Stained-glass windows impart a classical style to the whole interior, while the 
galvanized roof adds to the general appearance. The interior finish is rich if not elaborate. 
The hall is 60x70 in clear; its hight is thirty feet between floor and ceiling, with galleries 
encircling the entire interior midway. The stage is thirty feet wide by thirty deep. Three 
large main entrances and several minor ones amply provide for speedy exit in case of fire. A 
high slate tower surmounts the roof, in which a chimes clock strikes every hour. The 
seating capacity is about 1 ,200. Iron and steel beams and trusses are in use. 

In 1891 the North Side Turngemeinde considered the question of building a f 200,000 
structure on La Salle avenue and Wells street, to take the place of the Turner hall, 255 North 
Clark street, erected in 1872, which took the place of the building of 1803, destroyed in the 
great fire. 

The Pontiac is a fourteen story Commercial building, square from the foundations up- 
ward. Next to the Monadnock-Kearsarge, it is the most severe of the "sky-scrapers." Built 
on the principle of Chicago construction, it is a thing of light and strength, without any pre- 
tensions to beauty. The two gigantic bays, one each side of a tolerable bay, spring from 
corbels on the level of the third floor, or the ceiling of the entresol, and extend to the level of 
the fourteenth floor. It is gigantic, but full of light, yet wild as the chief after whom it 
is named. 

The Alhambra, a Moresque or alhambresqiie building, on State street, Archer avenue, 
Follansbee place and Twentieth street, was designed by G. O. Garnsey in March, 1889, and 
completed in January, 1891, for the owner, A. J. Cooper. A theater to meet the wants of the 
class of people tributary to that location was desired for a long time, and in this building they 
have one. The store and flat block is " L " shaped with a frontage of seventy feet on Archer 
avenue, two hundred and ninety-three feet on State street, one hundred and fifty-one feet on 
Twentieth street and fifty feet on Follansbee place. The ground floor contains twelve stores 
and one flat. Each of the other three stories is divided into ten flats. The interior of those 



210 INDUSTKIAL G'HIVAOO : 

apartments is furnished with steam heat, electric light, marble mantels, and every modern 
convenience. The theater building covers the space inside the L and fronts on Archer ave- 
nue. A twenty-one foot alley at the side, and a sixteen-foot alley at the rear, separate this 
building from the store and flat block. The theater is of Moorish style and measures eighty- 
three feet on Archer avenue, one hundred and sixty feet on Follansbee place, seventy feet on 
rear and two hundred and four feet on side alley. The audience room proper is one hundred 
and fotirteen feet deep and about seventy feet wide. The parquet te and dress circle seat five 
hundred and ninety-six, the balcony four hundred and twenty-four, and the gallery five hun- 
dred and forty. The proscenium arch is forty feet high and thirty-two feet wide, and the 
stage forty feet deep. The highest point of the dome is fifty-eight feet above the floor. The 
lobby measures ninety feet in depth, and above it is located the theater offices and four flats. 
Brick, stone, iron, copper and galvanized iron form the exterior. On the southeast corner 
of the site of this great $200,000 improvement there was a substantial four-story brick build- 
ing, which was remodeled to correspond with the plans. With this exception the remainder 
of the site was occupied by unsightly cabins. 

The Monon is one of the greatest office buildings on Dearborn street. That it presents 
many of the features common to the other great buildings in its district, that it is high and 
huge, lightsome, fireproof, strong as a mountain, capacious, and built for use rather than 
ornament, is all that may be written of it. 

The United States Appraiser's building, on Harrison and Sherman streets, was completed 
in August, 1891, by L. L. Leech & Son, the contractors, who began work in April, 1889. May 
27, 1880, was the date when an act permitting the sale of the south half of block eighty-seven, 
known as the Bridewell lot, for $20o,00l), made possible the erection of the new building. 
August fi, 1888, an additional f 2(X),000 was appropriated and the original designs for the build- 
ing completed. The first plans, drawn by Freret, found little favor with the local appraiser's 
office. Freret was a Southerner and had designed for the Treasury Department many of the 
public buildings in the Southern states. His plans called for one story of brown stone, and 
the structure was to be completed with mani-colored brick. There were red, white, blue, yel- 
low, green, and terra cotta colored brick all to be used in lines and layers with an effect sup- 
posed to be highly artistic. Only the foundations and first story were built on Freret's plans, 
and not a variegated brick found its way into Chicago. The late secretary Windorn tore up 
the plans for the startling brick building and ordered architect Kirch to draw new plans 
making the entire exterior of brown stone. These plans, with the detail by Supervising Archi- 
tect N. E. Bell, are followed in the present structure. The building stands eight stories or 
one hundred and twenty-five feet above basement in hight, and covers an area of TOx'.IO feet. 
On both street fronts there is a vacant space of forty feet on each side of the building. The 
material used throughout is Connecticut brown stone from the Middlesex quarries. The 
inside copings are of cut Bedford stone, and the building approaches, with the interior drive- 
ways, are constructed of granolite. Every window is equipped with rolling steel shutters. 
The heating plant is the new double system of low pressure, return circulation, steam heating 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 211 

and ventilating. The one passenger and two freight elevators are of the newest and most 
improved pattern, and are run by a separate steam plant. A third room in the basement is 
set apart for the dynamos and engine of the incandescent light plant. The three boilers and 
three pumps with the hydraulic machinery for the elevators occupy rooms opening into one 
through iron brick arches. Throughout the building there are no studwalls, and all interior 
partitionment and flooring are on a basis of hollow fireproof tiling. Everything that goes to 
make up the composite parts of the structure is fireproof. Between the floors are broad iron 
staircases with ornamentations in hammered brass. The wainscotiiigs are in polished quar- 
ter-sawn oak. Imported tilings laid in Portland cement form the flooring for the halls and 
areaways in the office stories of the building. The arrangement for receiving goods is in 
every way perfect. Teams can drive in through a handsome brick archway on Harrison street; 
the goods are received at the Sherman street wareroom and the teams drive out at Sherman 
street. The roadway along which the teams are driven is made of granolite, with high curb- 
ing, running the entire distance, of rounded, cut granite. At twelve-foot intervals along the 
roadway electric lights burn. The first, second, third and fourth floors are fitted up for the 
appraiser, with his assistants, storekeepers, inspectors, clerks, etc. The four general apprais- 
ers have separate offices in the second floor. The fifth is the examining floor, and the 
remainder of the building is apportioned among tenants, and some of the federal officers. 
Before it was completed it was found to be too small for the purposes of a United States 
appraiser's building. Within five years the trade of Chicago had outgrown the calculations 
of Congress and the Treasury Department. 

The new Herald building, as designed by Burnham & Root, in May, 1800, is a stone and 
terra cotta structure, 00x181^ feet, six stories in hight, and adapted perfectly to the require- 
ments of a great daily journal. The interior finish shows marble wainscoting and architect- 
ural iron work of the first order. Fireproof material for floors, partition walls and columns 
characterize the whole building. This structure stands on the site of the old City National 
bank building (ir>4-ir>8 Washington street), erected in 1872, which was one of the elegant 
commercial houses of that period. In the sale of the lot for $190, 000 that old-time house 
was not considered. The Herald office is an original mixture of modern building ideas. 
Romanesque below and almost Flemish above, it betrays the race of its designers after 
originality. Even the acroteria varies from all precedents, for it stands out from the apex of 
the gable, supported by a boultel or mimic bartizan. Above is the great bronze herald, cast 
in Chicago, memorializing the growth of local industry in its manufacture here, as well as 
pointing out the material advances of journalism in the success of the Herald. 

The Rand-McNally building, fronting on Adams and Quincy streets, stands on 100x105 
feet, leased by that firm from Marshall Field in 1888, and a fifty-foot strip on the west leased 
from C. De Wolf. The nine-story building was erected in 1889-90, after plans by Buruham 
& Root. The first three stories are of brown stone, and the upper stories of pressed brick 
and terra cotta. Rand. McNally & Co.'s printing plant occupies the space above the third 
floor, while the lower floors are rented as offices or stores. Light is secured in the interior 



212 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

by a court 00x00 feet, with a skylight at the second story covering the space used by Hand, 
McNally & Co. for a countingroom. Mosaic work is very tine, and in all respects the build- 
ing is a monument to progress in the building arts as well as to the owners' enterprise. The 
hight above the sidewalk is 148 feet. It is the pioneer of steel-constructed buildings in 
Chicago, and one of the first where the cantalever system was applied to party walls. 

The old Central Union block, located on the northwest corner of Madison and Market 
streets, was torn down in May, 1 890, to make room for the large store and office building of the 
Central Union Building Company. Architect L. G. Hallberg prepared the plans. The new 
structure fronts 185 feet on Madison street and 200 on Market, and has a depth of seventy 
feet. It rises six stories high above the basement, has fronts of Indiana pressed brick, with 
stone trimmings and iron store fronts. The windows are plate and ground glass, and the 
roof gravel. With the exception of the northwest corner of the building, which is occupied 
as a warehouse, the whole ground floor is used for stores of different sizes. The stores near- 
est the bridge run a hundred feet back to the warehouse, and the others, seventy and eighty 
feet deep, run back to an open court in the center of the building. The second and third 
floors are occupied by offices and sample showrooms, while the remaining three floors are 
used for light manufacturing purposes. All are supplied with steam-power. The building is 
made as nearly fireproof as possible, with partitions of hollow tile and iron columns all 
through. It has marble wainscoting in the first two stories, and marble floors in the hall and 
lavatories. The elevator service consists of four passenger and three freight elevators. The 
building is lighted by gas and electricity and heated by steam. 

The Wisconsin Central depot, on the corner of Harrison street and Fifth avenue, was 
commenced August 10, 1889, after plans by S. S. Beman, and completed in October, 
181(0. The building, with its grand waiting-room and its train shed, can be counted 
among the extraordinary things of the West. The company which planned that depot had 
every sort and condition of men in their mind, and they all were provided for. Everybody, 
from the president of the road, down to the most miserable immigrant, has a suitable place 
set aside for him. The elegance of the waitingroom, with its massive pillars, its frescoes, its 
stained -glass windows, its electric lights and its fountains, ought to satisfy even the most 
fastidious. An open fireplace, with old-fashioned andirons, elegantly furnished rooms for 
ladies, and numberless easy chairs, are a few of the things provided for the comfort of the 
traveling public. 

It is not the ordinary traveler who causes the railroad companies the most trouble. They 
all get along well enough, can manage to get their trains, if the caller yells loud enough, and 
they all can take care of themselves pretty well. The immigrants come under a different 
head altogether, and the accommodations for their comfort are omitted in many depots. The 
immigrant who has just passed through Castle Garden, New York, carrying all sorts of latent 
diseases in his clothes and about his person can sit alongside of anybody m the world at 
many large stations, but not so at the Wisconsin Central depot. At the extreme end of the 
Fifth avenue side is a door opening on a flight of stairs. Up one flight is a long room, well 



THE nUILDING INTERESTS. 213 

lighted and heated and with all the conveniences, set apart exclusively for immigrants. There 
are many depots that pass as first-class, that have not half the accommodations this one 
room will possess when it i* finished. Mary Svorack may have a letter from her brother 
in Sweden that he is coming to see her, and get naturalized as soon as he has been up in the 
Auditorium tower and around town a bit. She will go and meet him, and it is in this room 
where she will find him. Perhaps he is taking a bath in the bathroom provided for the use 
or the immigrants. And this bathroom! A place where the dust of travel, and perhaps the 
dust of years gone by, can be taken off at the expense of the railway company is not to be 
found in every railway depot. Attendants, with brushes, coarse and fine, soap galore, towels, 
water and tubs will be ever ready to give the homeseeker a good send-off before he tackles 
the "woolly West" Such a temptcition to cleanliness may have-the effect to increase the repub- 
lican vote in Dakota in an indirect way. The train containing the immigrants can be pulled 
lip to the entrance, its cargo unloaded, and another taken on without any of its passengers 
rubbing against the travelers of the first-class, and a waitingroom for mothers with children 
is located in the basement At one end is an open fireplace, there are several small tables, 
plenty of chairs, a wash room, and here she will be permitted to stay as long as she wishes. 
The waiting-room will be relieved of another burden, and she will be relieved of the incon- 
veniences of cramped quarters on a hard seat. 

The waitingroom is designed to handle large crowds, and the exits to the train sheds 
are large, as are the doors leading to the street. The pillars are of the same material as those 
in the Auditorium hotel scagliola an imitation of Mexican onyx. The windows are each 
surmounted by a half-circle of colored glass, and incandescent lights are arranged over the 
arches and around the pillars. A mezzanine floor at the soxith end of the waitingroom is 
reserved for the purposes of a restaurant. It is reached by broad marble steps, ascending on 
either side of the passageway leading to the baggageroom. The room is spacious and well 
lighted, and commands a good view of the waitingroom. The kitchen and servingroom are 
connected. The storerooms are in the basement, easily reached by an elevator. 

The ticket office is as commodious as any office in the country. It is of brown Tennessee 
marble, and occupies the northwest corner of the room. There is no woodwork about it 
externally, the three windows having marble sills and polished brass gratings. Inside is an 
inner room, a place for the clerical force, and up above, a storeroom for records and docu- 
ments, reached by a spiral staircase. 

The baggageroom is on the Fifth avenue side, long and narrow, one side opening onto a 
platform, where baggage cars will be unloaded, and the other right onto the street. Eight 
large doors are calculated to be enough to admit all the baggage, and the systematic arrange- 
ment in the apportionment of doors for different classes of baggage will expedite matters. 
A room under the south end of the baggageroom is to be used for unclaimed baggage, and 
a large elevator will do the service of transferring the unclaimed trunks down below, where 
they will stay until they are called for. On the Harrison street side, which has a frontage of 
some two hundred and fifty feet, is the entrance to the elevators and three large archways 



214 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

into the carriage court. This place is paved with a composition called granolithic, made of 
Portland cement and crushed granite. Omnibuses, cabs and private carriages can drive into 
this court and be entirely under cover. It is large enough to accommodate a reasonable 
number of vehicles. Signs will be displayed showing the routes of the transfers, and the 
cabmen will be there to do the rest. A traveler who strays through the gate in the fence that 
separates the court from the train shed will have no difficulty in finding a way to get to a 
hotel or private house. As soon as one cab is filled, its place will be taken by the next one, 
and an endless line will always be on hand ready for business. The train shed is truly a 
large affair, and if not in the world, is the largest train shed in the United States, with, per- 
haps, the exception of the New York Central depot. It is like a huge tent or a conservatory. 
The span is one hundred and fifty-six feet, the keystone seventy-eight feet, from the ground, 
and the entire length is five hundred and fifty-five feet, capable of taking in the longest vesti- 
bule train. The company prides itself on the fact that it is not like other train sheds, dark 
as Egypt, even in day time, but that it is light and airy. Wherever it is available, glass is 
used in the roof, until the inclosed space is almost as light as it is on the street. Six tracks 
are under the arch, and three on the east side next to the baggageroom. The only ways 
that wood is used under the entire shed are as stringers under the tracks, a piece not much 
larger than a 2x4 scantling. Between the track is this granolithic composition, concave, so 
as to allow the water to be drained off. A fancy iron fencing incloses the tracks, as in other 
modern depots. 

The main building, at the corner, consists of six stories and a mezzanine. At the inter 
section of Harrison street and Fifth avenue, so as to split the main building, rises the great 
slender tower, ten stories high and twenty-eight feet square. The exact hight of the clock 
tower is two hundred and twenty-two and one-half feet, and the gilded ball on the flagstaff 
which crowns this pillar-like structure looks far away to the naked eye from the sidewalk. 
Two stories from the top of the tower is the great clock, which will strike the hours upon a 
five thousand-pound bell on the next floor above. The foundations under the tower are 
unusually massive, being forty-five feet square, and two hundred and twenty-five pounds to 
the square foot. The material used in the construction of the tower, the main building, and 
the three-story wings which flank each end of the main building is of Connecticut brown stone, 
brown pressed brick, terra cotta, Tennessee marble, granite and iron. Fireproofing is used 
throughout, and the little hardwood which finishes off the various interior parts is antique 
oak. The entrance to the office portion of the building and the waitingroorn on the corner 
is under three stone arches, fourteen feet high, richly carved and embellished with two small 
highly polished granite pillars. There is a solid marble vestibule between the main building 
entrance and the three elevators which run to the offices. The total frontage on Harrison 
street is two hundred and sixty-eight feet. The office building on Fifth avenue extends two 
hundred and seventy-eight feet, and immediately south are the baggagerooms, express com- 
pany's quarters, etc. 

In February, 1890, plans for the fourteen-story fireproof store and hotel building on the 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 215 

northeast corner of Jackson and Dearborn streets, were made by Burnham & Root, and be- 
fore the close of April, 185)1. this immense $1,000,000 pile of terra cotta, brick and iron, was 
constructed, fourteen stories high, over an area of 100x165 feet. The marble finish, interior 
decoration and six elevators were added during the slimmer, and in May, 181)1, the name 
Northern Hotel Company was adopted by the owners, and the "Chicago" adopted as the name 
of the building. It is proof against fire, and so strongly is this point emphasized, a blaze 
may fill one apartment without injuring its neighbors. The numerous bays, round and 
angular, extend from the level of the second floor to the top of the thirteenth story ; the 
second story becomes an entresol in the southwest quarter of the building, and the windows 
of the fourteenth story differ from those of the second to the thirteenth stories, being in fact 
a series of narrow rectangular openings, wanting only in arches to become an arcade. It 
presents more ornamental features than a first look would credit it, and in this, as well as in 
its enclosed iron exterior, it varies from its severe neighbor on the southwest corner of the 
streets named. There is an attic story on the Chicago, the line of demarkation being the 
terra cotta cornice on the level of the fourteenth floor. The entablature is an ornamental 
miniature of the Egyptian cornice of the Monadnock-Kearsarge. 

The Boston store warehouse on the east side of State street near Fifteenth street, was 
erected by contractor Connolly, in the summer of 1891. The great rock foundations rest on 
layers of T iron imbedded in concrete. The exterior walls are in heavy masonry, the Bed- 
ford stone piers in the first story indicating the strength of such masonry. The interior is 
carried upward on heavy cast columns, and on these rest the great wooden beams which carry 
the heavy joists. This building is 80x101 feet in area, and six stories in hight. It is one of 
the great improvements made on State street during the year; the Weil buildings and the 
large number of rock-faced stone and flat buildings being the other representatives of prog- 
ress north of Fifty-fifth street. South of the boulevard many fine blocks were erected in 
1890-91, and the great buildings for the northeast corner of State and Fifty-fifth streets, and 
for State street and Cloud court were projected. 

In June, 1889, the permit for the sixteen-story Aldis building, known as the Monadnock- 
Kearsarge, on Jackson and Dearborn streets, was issued on plans presented by Burnham & 
Root, the stated cost being $(500,000. It is a gigantic structure without ornament, save the 
Egyptian cornice, but with great bays resting on corbels at the second floor level, ascending 
to within one story of the top. Its great walls and steel interior make it a link between the 
iron pier buildings of the present and the walled structures of the past. The design of the 
architect was to be lavish in interior equipment, merely showing strength in the exterior, and 
in this he has succeeded. 

In 1890 the location and plans of the Woman's Temperance Temple were adopted by 
the Directory, and the Marshall Field property, on the southwest corner of La Salle and 
Monroe streets was secured, the same where the heavy foundations were placed, in 1885, for his 
proposed wholesale house, but abandoned, owing to party-wall troubles. In 1S91 work on 
the new plans, by Burnham & Root, commenced. The building measures ninety-six feet on 



216 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Monroe street and one hundred and ninety feet on La Salle street, up to the second story, 
where it breaks off, and above that point measures one hundred and eighty feet. The thir- 
teen stories, including the steep roofs, rise to a hight of one hundred and ninety- six and one- 
half feet. The first two stories are constructed of granite, while dark burned red brick (to 
harmonize with the stone) and terra cotta form the stories above. The roof is of slate, cover- 
ing two great pavilions. The structure is in the shape of the letter H, with two courts sixty 
feet broad and thirty feet deep, one on La Salle street and the other facing the west. There 
is no lack of variety in the style, the fronts being relieved by handsome bays, capped with 
round turrets and other attractive features. Viewed from any point of the streets, its 
symmetrical proportions and beautiful design attract more attention than any other building 
of its class in the city. Its elegant main entrance on La Salle street, fifty-five feet wide, and 
another entrance for the Memorial hall, on Monroe street, are well designed. The interior is 
handsomely finished with marble wainscoting. The hall and entrance floors are laid in mosaic. 
Eight passenger elevators make access to the upper stories easy. The basement and first 
story are in heavy stone, the succeeding seven stories are carried in one to the projecting 
parapet, and there are three above this, including the attic, giving a beautiful effect and a sky- 
line unequaled here in the great office buildings. Add to this the engaged round towers, 
springing from noble corbels in the first story, battlemented above the cornice and roofed in 
cone shape, then the great gabled dormers between the towers, the lantern, the hip roofs and 
the ornamental terra cotta trimmings, and you have a building worthy of the thirteenth cent- 
ury. The style employed is French Gothic on a Romanesque basis, wanting, of course, in 
the sculptures and carvings of the great French houses erected before the Renaissance. 

The Manhattan, fronting on Dearborn street and Third avenue, south of Van Buren 
street, is the pioneer of the sixteen-story-and-basement buildings of Chicago, being 150x68 
feet ground area and two hundred and four feet in highfc. It was designed in May, 1890, 
by W. L. B. Jenney for C. C. Heissen and completed in the summer of 1891. The architect 
applied to the Manhattan the perfected system, known as " the Chicago construction," first 
introduced by him in the Home Insurance building in 1884. This system enabled him to 
give to each square foot of surface its highest carrying capacity of three thousand pounds, 
while presenting a building giving the appearance of fourteen thousand pounds per square 
foot. The use of iron pillars, resting on heavy foundations of concrete and iron rails, ren- 
dered such a structure possible, for, were stone and brick used in quantity to support more 
than ten stories, a settlement would be inevitable. In the Manhattan, lying between party- 
walls, eight stories high at the north and south, on which no additional weight could be 
placed, the cantalever principal was employed. The floor weights of the north and south 
wings of the building, for nine stories in hight, are carried by heavy fifteen-inch cantalever 
beams. The first row of columns, at either end of the building, being only fifteen feet from the 
party walls, no weights rest upon such walls. Thus, high engineering skill and the close 
calculations implied in such a term, mark the construction. Its architectural features are the 
double fronts, faced with gray granite to the fifth story and with light pressed-brick and 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 217 

terra cotta to the sixteenth story. From the tenth story to the sixteenth the building 
sets back from the substructure fifteen feet on the north and south, showing glazed tile end 
walls, but holds its width east and west. The fact of its extension between two business 
streets afforded the architect an opportunity to give natural light to every room, and he took 
advantage of such opportunity. Copper bays, resting on corbels or artistic rnodillions, and ex- 
tending from the third to the tenth story at each end and to the thirteenth story in the center, 
abolish the undressed appearance peculiar to extraordinarily high houses and give to the Man- 
hattan an airy, lightsome look exteriorly, which the interior upholds. Bronze and antique 
copper embellishments, mosaic floors, ornamental ceilings, polished marble and jasper wains- 
coting, large stairways and all the belongings of a great modern building are found here. 
The basement is devoted to elevator, heating and electric light machinery and to mercantile 
uses. The first floor is given up to the grand entrances, corridors and stores. From the hall 
five swift elevators run to the top, a pneumatic tube connects it with the Board of Trade, the 
possibilities of fire have been conquered, and a tenant of the Manhattan may boast of advant- 
ages undreamed of by the emperors, kings and princelings of Europe. 

The sixteen-story building on the Cobb lot may be credited to 189], when the lot was 
leased for ninety-nine years to the Columbian Vault Company at a rental equal to the interest 
on a valuation of $74 per square foot. This lot fronts 94.0 feet on Dearborn street, with a 
depth of 80.3 feet along Calhoun place. The terms of the lease under which the land has 
been secured are as follows: For the first year the land is to be rent-free; for the next 
two years the annual rental will be $22,000; during the next three years the annual rental 
will be $25,<XX\ and for the balance of the term $28,000. The building, as designed by 
the late John W. Root as his last work, cost $750,000. The first and second stories 
are of quarry-faced or of bush-hammered stone, with an entrance thirty feet wide in 
the center. At the north and south limits of the building, but beginning at the third story, 
rise two slightly projecting curved bay windows, constructed of molded brick and climbing 
upward fourteen stories. At the fourteenth story these bays end in a balcony running across 
the front of the building, surmounted by a delicately carved stone balustrade. Above this 
are two stories, ending in a terra cotta cornice. In the center of the building and over the 
main entrance is a handsome octagonal bay window, extending to the sixth story and sur- 
mounted by a stone balustrade like that crowning the end bays. The piers to the windows 
between the end bays from the sixth to the fourteenth story are of highly ornamented terra 
cotta tracery. The building is of bridge construction on the cantalever plan. Only steel, terra 
cotta, brick and marble are used. No wood entered into its construction except for doors and 
window frames. The floors are laid in mosaic and the walls lined with white marble. There 
are thirty rooms on each fioor, of ample size and well lighted. 

Early in 1891 the property at 100 and 102 Washington street was sold to the Cook 
County Title Guarantee & Trust Co., at $48 per square foot or 525,000. With the twenty 
feet on the east, the lot was originally occupied by a Universalist church, having been ob- 
tained from the canal trustees. In 1850 Orriugton W. Lunt, J. W. Waughop, and Gov. 



218 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Evans bought the property for $32,000. The east twenty feet were sold in 1 800 to Mr. 
Mason, and formed part of the lot on which the Mason building stood. Lunt held his forty 
feet since the original purchase, Waite bought out the Waughop interest in the west twenty 
feet, and had offices at this location for the past thirty years. In April, 189], plans for the new 
building, by Henry I. Cobb, were presented, and preparations made to raze the old structure. 
The plans provide for a sixteen-story building, sixty feet wide, one hundred and eighty-three 1 
feet deep, and 210 feet high, to cost between $600.000 and $700,000. The first four stories 
in rock-faced stone, are Romanesque, the next nine stories are of brick and the three upper 
stories of brick and stone. The unpleasant effect caused by the great hight of the building 
is overcome by band-course, heavy cornice and coping, which are in the upper three stories. 
The basement is entirely devoted to vaults. The main floor will be occupied by the officers 
of the abstract company and by a bank office in the front of the building. Two arched en- 
trances open into the building, one into the abstract office and one directly into the bank. A 
light court, 00x65 feet, is one of its features. A service of six elevators will be established. 
Mosaic floors, marble wainscoting, and all the essentials of a modern office building will be 
introduced. 

A west side building of 1891 is that of Arnold Bros., on the northeast corner of Ran- 
dolph and Union streets. It has a frontage of thirty-eight feet on Randolph and one hun- 
dred and fifty-six feet on Union street. It is seven stories and basement high. The ground 
floor is one large store, with large plate-glass fronts on both Randolph and Union streets. 
There are handsome bay windows from the second story to the top on Randolph street, and 
also bay windows in the center over the main entrance on Union street. One freight and two 
large passenger elevators are placed in the building. The front construction is of iron and 
terra cotta, while the side upon Union street is of the best brown and terra cotta pressed 
brick. The building is modern in all its appointments. The cost of the structure is esti- 
mated at about $80,000. 

The Unity building, on the site of the Rice block, 75 to 81 Dearborn street, was 
commenced in May, 1891, after plans by J. C. Warren. Those plans provided for an office 
building of steel construction with a frontage of eighty feet on Dearborn street, by a depth 
of 120 feet. The building is faced with buff pressed brick, buff terra cotta and stone. Two 
bays extend up through the front of the building from the second to the eleventh story. The 
front above the eleventh story is plain and is surmounted by a terra cotta cornice. The 
interior finish includes mosaic floors and marble wainscoting. The building is furnished with 
eight elevators and an electric light plant, contains six hundred offices, exclusive of the offices 
on the first two floors. The main entrance is sixteen feet wide and twenty-four feet in hight. 
The estimated cost of the building is between $800,000 and $1,000,000. The old Unity, torn 
down in June, 1891, occupied the site of the theater of 1851, built by John B. Rice. Ten 
years later it was remodeled into an office building, which fell in the fire of 1871. The new 
structure is the fourth which has occupied the corner of the alley between Madison and 
Washington streets, since the beginning of Chicago. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 21!) 

The Caxton block, 328-334 Dearborn street, was designed by Holabird & Roche, in 
1889, for Bryan Lathrop and W. C. Reynolds and constructed by George A. Fuller. It is a 
twelve-story pressed brick and terra cotta building, fireproof throughout, fronting eighty feet 
on Dearborn street with a like frontage on Fourth avenue. On each front three bays extend 
from the third to the eleventh story. The second story is divided into offices of good hight 
with broad plate-glass windows and of easy access from the street. The entrance and vesti- 
bule are on the street level and finished with marble wainscoting and encaustic tile. Two 
hydraulic passenger and one steam freight elevator, especially geared for high speed, are 
located at the south entrance, so as not to interfere with the occupancy of the building. 
Every beam, column and girder is of steel. The floors of the first story are on the street 
level. The fireproof vaults, mail chutes, steam heat, etc., low rate of insurance, perfect 
security against the destruction of valuable books, papers, etc., and losses from the interrup- 
tion of business through fire are great advantages. The building was finished in 1890, at a cost 
of about $250,000. 

The Oxford building, 84 and 86 La Salle street, is the old L. J. McCormick building of 
1872, reduced from Athens stone to light red brick and terra cotta. The old building was 
razed in September, 1890, except the two main walls, and an eight-story house, 125x42 feet 
in area, of one hundred and twenty-five rooms, was completed on its site in May, 1891, after 
plans by C. J. Warren, at a cost of $200,000. The entresol is made a feature here, but 
owing to the grand Renaissance structure opposite and the fine old stone buildings each side, 
this feature is now more useful than ornamental. 

The Como building shows the Romanesque entrance under heavy rock-faced arch, the 
second, third and fourth stories in one architectural story, the two bays and recessed triple 
square windows in the fifth and sixth stories, square windows in the seventh and an arcade 
in the eighth story, from the arches of which spring the frieze and cornice. Brown brick 
with brown-stone trimmings are shown in the facade. 

The Central Market building, located on State street, just south of the river, is of inter- 
est, not only from the fact that it is of original construction and design, but also because it is 
the first modern step in establishing public markets in Chicago. This building, which was 
completed in June, 1891, covers an irregular L-shaped lot, fronting both on State and South 
Water streets. It has a main market entrance on State street and extends two hundred and 
twenty feet along the river. The eastern wall, extending from the river to South Water 
street, is one hundred and sixty-five feet long. The building has a frontage of one hundred and 
fourteen feet on South Water street. It covers in all twenty thousand square feet of land and 
is built of brick and stone. The floors, counters and fittings are almost exclusively of marble, 
iron and cement. The roof is chiefly of glass, with suitable means of ventilation, and the 
building is lighted by electricity. The main market floor is divided into stalls to-be rented to 
retail merchants. Under each of these stalls are cold storage vaults in which supplies of all 
kinds may be kept. Over the South Water street extension there is also a cold storage ware- 
house, built on the most approved plans, for the purpose of preserving perishable articles for 






220 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

the use of the market arid its occupauts. The entire construction was planned with an aim 
to use and handsome effect. The State street entrance, with its vestibule of white marble, 
was one of the latest designs of the late John W. Boot. The gold and green glass mosaics 
in spandrels, made in Paris from his drawings, are the finest specimens of such work yet 
introduced here. 

In June, 1891, work on the Doggett Brothers' building on the southeast corner of Harri- 
son court and Wabash avenue, was commenced. The ground, 80x171 feet, was covered with 
venerable old-time frame houses, but their demolition to make way for a five-story stone front 
building, similar to the Kirnball building, was a gracious act. 

The A. J. Stone office building, erected in 1891 on the triangular piece of ground 
bounded by Madison street, Ashland and Ogden avenues, is the most ornamental office build- 
ing in the west division, and one of the finest in the city, and, has street frontages on all 
sides, especially desirable for offices, on account of the direct outside light to every room. It 
has nine finished stories above the basement and cost 1175, (100. It is as thoroughly fire- 
proof as possible to be made; the entire framework, from foundation to roof, being of steel, 
the outside walls, as well as the floors, being supported by steel columns and girders. All 
the interior and exterior columns above the third floor are composed of Z bars, the exterior 
columns below the third floor are box columns of plates and angles. Taken from an engi- 
neer's standpoint and considered structurally, the iron work of this peculiar shaped building 
is, without doubt, the most intricate ever put into an office building of its size. In the third 
story the corner columns disappear and the whole load of the three towers is supported by 
cantalever girders in the walls, from twenty-four to thirty-six feet in length, with the canta- 
lever arms from nine to twelve feet long. On the eighth floor the columns again offset and 
in the ninth story the columns appear to be located entirely regardless of the ones below. 
There are fewer columns in the third story than in the second, and a good many of these are 
not in line with those below being offset several feet and resting on girders. C.-G. Wade, the 
engineer, is the contractor for the main portion of this work on account of the failure of the 
original contractor. 

The striking features of the upper part of this building are the three towers, eight 
dormers and gables, and the high mansard roof, covered with Spanish tile. This structure 
is a practical demonstration that an office building need not be shaped like a dry-goods box 
to be constructed of steel. The architect, Alfred Smith, designed this building for effect 
rather than to suit the convenience of the iron work, and by thus consigning the skeleton of 
the structure to a secondary place in his artistic conception he has so clothed it that all stiff- 
ness, so characteristic of steel buildings, disappears, and in its stead rise grace and repose. 
Incidentally, the construction of the iron work is rendered more difficult by the acute angles 
of the building, one of which is about forty-two degrees and the other about forty-eight 
degrees. A horizontal section through the upper stories would show over ninety per cent of 
the walls to be in the bays overhanging the columns, thereby causing a cantalever strain on 
the floor beams sufficient to allow the interior columns and certain floor beams to be made 




n. ]. STOJVK BUIIiDI]6. 

INDEPENDENT DESIGN OF THE FRENCH STYLE. 



ROMANESQUE ORNAMENT. 



LIBRARY 
OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



THE BUILDING INTKRESTS. 221 

lighter than would have been required had the outside walls been directly over the columns. 
The two lower stories of this building are faced with brown Montello granite, with an impos- 
ing arched entrance of polished and carved granite on the Madison street front. Above 
these two stories and up to the roof the walls are faced with a rich dark brown terra cotta of 
beautiful design, made by the North- Western Terra Cotta Company. The basement floor is 
utilized for burglar and fireproof vaults, which are in connection with the safety deposit 
vaults located in the western half of the main or first floor. They contain five thousand 
boxes of the latest and most approved pattern and construction. The balance of this main 
floor is fitted up as Mr. Stone's private offices. The entire second story is one large banking 
room, and from this floor up to and including the ninth there are twelve fine offices in each 
story. The interior finish throughout the halls, entrance way and stairs in particular is in 
such a style as to surpass many of the most modern and finest office Iraildings in the city, be- 
ing entirely of marble and Italian mosaic with real bronze trimmings. All glass is the finest 
polished plate and all woodwork of quarter-sawed white oak furnished by Badenoch Brothers. 
Cesaire Gareau was the carpenter contractor for this magnificent structure. 

The vaults are three in number: One in the basement for a trunk or storage vault; one 
on the first floor, which is a safe deposit vault, and one on the second floor to be used for 
banking purposes. 

In the construction of these vaults Mr. Stone has made the matter of expense a minor 
consideration, simply seeking to get the best protection procurable. There were several 
designs and specifications submitted for his consideration by firms of vault builders, each 
claiming superiority for its work. After a careful comparison of the different claims set 
forth in the designs and specifications submitted, Mr. Stone decided to reject them all, and 
call in a professional architect and designer of this class of work, and the result is the 
magnificent piece of vault work now in the building. 

The masonry of which the foundation consists is of the most substantial character, and 
so built as to preclude the possibility of settling. The walls are so constructed as to afford 
absolute protection against fire. But it is the burglar-proof qualities of these vaults which 
show masterful skill on the part of the designer and builder. Vault builders are unanimous 
in conceding Brooklyn chrome steel to be the best drill-proof metal made. A fact entirely 
worth considering is, that in all burglar-proof vaults constructed in Chicago in the past, the 
materials have consisted of what is known as "alternate plate work," or one-half steel and 
one-half iron, and this makes a fairly good vault. One of its chiefest merits, however, is 
cheapness, and as large vaults cost large sums of money, it has been customary to award 
the contracts of building vaults to the concern whose construction cost the less. 

The vaults in this building are of a special design, consisting of five-ply Brooklyn .chrome 
sled plates and angles. There being seven thicknesses of material, a thickness of four inches 
is obtained, thus effectually guarding against successful attacks with a drill; but the danger 
of the vault being drilled is not more to be feared than is that of stripping plates apart and 
making a manhole. To provide against this, these vaults have been built with a surface plate 



222 INDUSTKIAL CHICAGO: 

one inch thick, giving great surface strength, and screw-holding power. The screws holding 
the plates together are inserted from the inside of the vault. The plates are put together 
from the outside toward the inside. The screws are located in staggered courses, so that no 
two screws are on a line with each other, and no screw passes through more than two plates. 
The screws being short, the heads of each series, after being countersunk, are backed up by 
the next course of plates. The oilier plates of the work being one inch thick, as stated, the 
points of the first series of screws are covered by a thickness of metal, giving the entire 
oxiter surface an unbroken appearance. 

It will be seen from this description of the construction, that if these plates are properly 
angled, and all caution used in the location of the joints of the plates and angles, that 
displacement of the plates by any stripping process is beyond the ingenuity of the "cracks- 
man," as well as beyond the desperation and anger of a mob, a contingency, by the way, which 
must be borne in mind and guarded against in the construction of burglar-proof vaults. 

Particular attention has been given to the question of securing the doors of these vaults. 
The weak point of all vaults are the doors. Powerful explosives in both dry and liquid form 
can be and have been introduced into vaults considered burglar proof, by means of the hole 
in the doors through which the spindles pass. The doors of these vaults are solid, having no 
spindles, hence no chance to introduce explosives. The doors are of the same material and 
construction as the bodies, and accurately perfect in their fitting to the jambs, and forced 
into close contact therewith by a compound pressiire obtained by a worm gear. The doors 
are all provided with automatic bolt motors of the most perfect and modern make. The five 
time locks used on the doors of the vaults each govern one of the bolt motors in such manner 
that, at the proper time, the bolts will move into position, locking the doors, and at the 
opening hour releasing the bolts, when the doors can be opened. 

An idea of the capacity of the safe deposit vault can be formed when it is stated, that it 
contains 5,000 safe deposit boxes of various sizes, each box being furnished with a lock 
specially_made by the Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company for this particular vault. The 
storage vault has the same cubic capacity as the safe deposit vault, and the bank vault is of 
sufficient size to accommodate any metropolitan banking institution. 

H. A. Shourds, of Chicago, is the gentleman who designed the plans and made the 
specifications for these vaults. Mr. Stone exacted the right from all firms of vault builders 
to whom the specifications were submitted, of allowing Mr. Shourds the freedom of the 
factory securing the contract, during the construction of the work. The several factories 
were visited by Mr. Shourds, and a copy of the specifications left with each, and the bids for 
the work were forwarded to Mr. Stone. After carefully considering them all, the owner 
placed his order for the work with the Mosler Bank Safe Company of Cincinnati. Mr. 
Shourds was at their factory at intervals during the construction of the vaults, and personally 
superintended the tempering of the steel, and fitting of the different parts. On the arrival of 
the material at the building, he superintended the placing of the same in position, and the 
result is a lasting reference to Mr. Stone, the owner, the Mosler Bank Safe Company, the 
vault builders and Mr. Shourds, the vault architect and designer. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 223 

The armory of the Chicago Hussars was designed by C. M. Palmer, in 1891, and in 
April of that year the work of building was commenced. The lot has a frontage of one 
hundred feet on Thirty-fifth street, three hundred feet west of Cottage Grove avenue, and a 
depth of 231 feet. The building covers the entire lot and cost $150,000. Its front, is of 
pressed brick, terra cotta, and rockface stone. The entrance is twenty feet in the clear, which 
is of sufficient width to admit a column of fours. The site was selected because of its near- 
ness to Grand boulevard and the south side parks, so that the horses will not have to travel 
any great distance over the stone pavements before reaching the gravel bridle paths. The 
building has all the appointments of a first-class club, with cafes, reading rooms, officers' 
rooms, committee-rooms, banqueting halls, uniform rooms, and libraries. The banquet hall 
is on the third floor, and is 70x100 feet in size. Adjoining it are dressing and toilet rooms. 
On the ground floor and at the rear of the building are constructed one hundred box stalls 
for the horses of members of the troop. There are also saddlers' quarters with lockers for 
horse equipments. 

The Sheridan club erected their house on the southwest corner of Michigan boulevard 
and Forty-first street, in 1891. The ground, 50x175 feet cost $16,500, and on the two deep 
lots, a building 50x130 feet in area was constructed. 

The plans for the Sons of New York clubhouse and theater were made in January, 
1891. They show the fifth step in local architecture. The arching of the upper windows, 
below the attic story, the string-course corresponding r with that of the sub-story, the mold- 
ings, as capitals or astragals of piers, set off the spring of the arches; while an ornamental 
panel, supported by iron columns, take the place of band-course work in two of the central 
stories. 

The German theater, 103 to 109 Randolph street, was designed by Adler & Sullivan 
early in 1891. The building covers an area of 80x181 feet, is fourteen stories high, and cost 
$600,000. The material for the exterior is a warm, light brown terra cotta. All of the 
ground floor, excepting two small stores, are occupied by a theater, which extends through 
six stories. Here it is covered with heavy steel trusses twenty-five feet in hight, between and 
above which will be eight stories of rooms and halls. The theater itself contains one thou- 
sand three hundred seats. It, as well as the stage, is entirely fireproof in construction. 
There is in the building, above the stage, several rooms for a German down-town club of large 
membership, as also a restaurant, lectureroom and ballroom. In addition to these purposes 
the building will be used as a first-class hotel, conducted on the European plan, contain- 
ing about one hundred and fifty guest rooms, of which fifty have private bathrooms. One 
of the peculiarities of the theater is that there is not within it a single pillar to obstruct the 
view of any one, either on the main floor or in the balcony or gallery. The entrance to the 
main floor of the theater is somewhat after the manner of the entrance to the Auditorium, 
that is, on two levels. The same method of reaching the gallery and balcony is pursued. 
By this means there are created for the use of those attending the theater, four foyers at the 
end of the theater, these being supplemented by corridors on the sides of the same, which 



224 INDUSTRIAL C'HWAOO: 

corridors are so arranged as to pass the stage and communicate directly with the alley in the 
rear of the building. 

The finish of the entire building is in hardwood; halls and corridor floors throughout 
are of mosaic; walls of tile and marble; the structure in every way first-class. The founda- 
tion is on piles, above which are the ordinary modern foundation of concrete and steel beams. 
The framework of the entire structure is of steel pillars and steel beams, riveted together at 
all junctions. A peculiarity of the plan of the building is the lowering of the front in conjunc- 
tion with the light courts of the" same. The body is carried five stories higher than the front- 
walls on the sides of the same. The purpose of this is to admit a profusion of south light 
into the courts, and thereby make every room in it an outside room. Four thousand incan- 
descent lamps furnish the light, and every room is heated by a double radiation system of 
steam heating. The building has artificial ventilation furnished by seven fans driven by 
electric motors. Five hydraulic elevators are used in conjunction with broad stairways for 
the necessary communication between the different stories. The principal contracts for the 
German opera house were awarded June 10, 1891, as follows: Probst Construction company, 
mason work and fireprootmg, for $95,000; Binder & Seifert, iron works, for $122,900; North- 
western Terra Gotta works, terra cotta, for $74,188. 

The Andrews biiilding on Wabasli avenue is a peculiar conception. There it stands, 
eighty feet front, one hundred and seventy-five feet in depth, and seven stories high. The 
seventh story is a wild Gothic and the parapet Venetian. The great bay or rounded center 
shows six windows in each story, with arcade work in the copper bands. Within is found 
a great light court, plenty of light and space and live air, each important and salutary; 
but it is questionable if life is endurable behind such a hideous facade, a front which is 
a veritable wilderness of wildness. 

The Western Bank Note building on the southwest corner of Michigan avenue and 
Madison street, completed in June, 1891, is Romanesque in its entrance and eighth story. 
The great square windows of the first, the entresol, the four sets of rectangular windows 
between the six great piers of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth stories, and these repeated 
above the band, tell of the Commercial element in its style, which is further warranted by the 
grand bay between the central piers. The Chicago construction renders it safe and the interior 
finish elegant. 

The Wheeler building, Nos. f> and 8 Sherman street, is architectural. The first and 
second stories are Palladian and the seventh Romanesque, the Italian details being fairly 
brought out in red sandstone and pressed brick of the same color. 

The Citizens' Brewing Company, which was organized early in 1891 with a capital stock 
of $800,000, with John Sweeney, president; Thomas J. Nerney, secretary, and James Stenson, 
treasurer, began the erection of a brewing plant at the northeast comer of Archer avenue and 
Main street, to cost over >?200,0()0, in July, 1891. They purchased the ground for the site, 
being two hundred and seventy feet on Archer avenue and three hundred and nine feet on 
Main street, in Muy. from Joseph A. Brown for $55,001). The brewing plant will consist of a 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 225 

brew and malt house, ice machine and storehouse and other buildings, for which plans were 
prepared by August Maritzen. 

Plans for the German brewery in the Bridgeport district, were made in June, 1891. The 
main building covers an area of two hundred and eighty feet frontage, and is five stories 
high, with towers in the center and at, each corner. The material is brick, with stone trim- 
mings. All the other buildings necessary to a complete plant elevators, malthouses, ice- 
houses and storehouses are designed upon the most modern and approved basis. The beer 
vaults are constructed above ground, and may be kept at such a temperature as shall best 
conduce to improve the quality of the product. 

The new sixteen-story Fair building, on State, Adams and Dearborn streets, sixteen 
stories in bight, was designed in 1890 by W. L. B. Jenney, and the work of construction 
begun in March, 1891. The building is constructed in four or five sections, the first of these, 
100x105 feet, is located at the northwest corner of the lot, fronting 100 feet on Dearborn 
street and 161 feet on the alley running east and west between Monroe and Adam streets, 
that is the northern boundary of the property. Construction is entirely of steel, fireproof 
material, such as terra cotta, hollow tiling and plate glass. The foundations are of railroad 
iron laid in concrete. This work was completed without disturbing the business of the Fair, 
except where the departments carried on in the northwest quarter had to be moved into the 
basement of the other three quarters, or crowded among the departments on the first floor of 
the east half or of the southwest quarter, and the subsequent transfers of goods to the com- 
pleted sections. When work above the street level commenced, that portion of the old 
building involved was removed, and certain departments discontinued for a time. When two 
or three stories of the first section were completed, a temporary roof was put on and the Fair 
moved in. When one section was finished another was commenced, and so on until the entire 
site was improved. The work cost $3,000,000. On July 6 the first and second floors of the 
northwest quarter of the building were finished and tenanted, and the work of tearing down 
the southwest quarter begun. 

The steel chimney of the Fair is a novel feature in the economy of building, and, indeed, 
in the use of steel. It is 250 feet, high, or seventy-five feet higher than that prince of 
chimneys at the Gottfried brewery, on Archer and Stewart avenues. As described in the 
Economist, the oiitside diameter is nine feet five inches, while the steel varies in thickness 
from five-thirty-seconds at the top to three-eighths of an inch at the bottom. The lower 
seventy five feet of the chimney is lined with fire-brick eight inches deep, formed to fit the 
shell capacity all around. Above this it is lined with hollow tile. This lining is supported 
at intervals of twenty-five feet bv angle iron riveted to the steel shell; in other words, the 
chimney is lined in a manner similar to blast furnaces and foundry cupolas, and no expansion 
by heat can lessen its strength. The joints are all hot riveted. The steel shell is carefully 
protected from corrosion, and from any attacks of the weather, by painting inside and out. 
The weight of the chimney is spread to the foundations in the same general way as that of 
the columns of the building, the base or foundation on which it rests being constructed in the 



226 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

same manner. The ground is first covered with a layer of cement, then two layers of steel 
rails, in cement, and one layer of I-beams, on which the cast-iron shoe which takes the shell 
of the stack rests. The capacity of the chimney is twelve 00-inch boilers, twenty feet in 
length, and the cost about $7,000. 

The Newberry library building was designed by Henry I. Cobb in the summer of 1888, 
but the building contracts were not awarded until May, 1891, nor was the permit issued 
until June. The material selected is Massachusetts brown granite. The building is four 
stories, a basement and an attic story in hight, fronting three hundred feet on Walton place. 
The estimated cost of this structure is $300,000. The new building will constitute only the 
south wing of the quadrangular design of the complete structure; but it is calculated to meet 
the demands of the next twenty-five years and will have a capacity of four hundred thousand 
volumes. The drawings show a massive structure in the Romanesque order of architecture. 
In the main entrance on Walton place are three large and elaborately carved doorways. The 
third story is encircled with a row of panels bearing the names of famous men. 

The Madison hall theater and office building on Madison street, looking north on Union 
street, was erected in 1 890-91 by a company organized for that purpose; represented by Direct- 
ors Thomas C. Mulchay, president; Henry J. Melendy, vice president; Joseph Wright, sec- 
retary, and Samuel Cohn, treasurer. The plans were made by Architect J. E. Scheller, and 
the work of construction entered upon early in the winter of 1890, the total estimate being a 
quarter million dollars. It is certainly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, building enter- 
prises on the West Side, showing the observance of architectural design. It is an index to 
the spirit of the times, which shows the builders' enterprise spreading out in every direction 
and taking immense shapes in locations, which, a year ago did not claim extraordinary merit. 
As described in the company's prospectus, the first story presents a grand theater entrance, 
an entrance to offices, gallery entrance and four store fronts. The second story is an entresol, 
very ornamental; the third, fourth and fifth stories are* compressed into one architectural 
story, by means of pilasters and arches; the sixth story shows large double square windows 
each side of the central pavilion, in which are five arched windows, and in the attic are five 
square windows in pedimental dormers. The spandrels in the fifth story and cornice at attic 
level show ornamental detail. Mahomedan, Romanesque and Gothic forms are all found in 
the Roman pressed brick, carved Bedford stone, iron and glass facade of the Madison Hall. 
The proposed theater, in rear, is to be 88x1 14 feet, thoroughly equipped and richly decorated. 

The foundations of the front building are after the modern idea. The steel rail and bed 
of Portland cement are found there. The interior is carried upward on iron columns and 
steel beams. Iron shoes and fireproof floors and partitions tell of safety. One of the features 
of the first floor is the grand entrances, entirely separate, yet under one arch which riots in 
ornamental iron work and beveled-plate glass. The floor is twenty-three feet wide and inclines 
upward from grade two feet nine inches. In the office entrance are two Crane elevators of 
high speed, and each side of the central halls are two large stores. On the west store level 
is the gallery entrance, leading to the second floor. The second, third and half of the fourth 




MOHAMMEDAN, KOMANES<JUE AMU GOTHIC UNITED. 



ORNAMENT OF SAME STYMJS. 



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*MIVF,R8ITY OF ILLINOIS 



TIIK HUILDINO INTERESTS. 227 

floors are devoted to offices. In the other half of the fourth floor is a large room, 35x<>0 feet, 
exclusive of entrances, anterooms, wardrobes and offices. The fifth floor, which is seventeen feet 
high, contains the finest lodgerooms in the city. It is 40x00 feet, including a movable platform 
1 5x30 feet. In connection with this are the committeerooms, wardrobes, anterooms, parlor 
and offices. The decorations in this hall were designed by the architect and executed in stero 
relief stucco. They are extensive and magnificent. The other half of this floor contains the 
diningroom, kitchen, pantry, ladies' reception, refreshment and anterooms, with roberooms, 
ticket offices and lavatories for the grander pleasure hall on the floor above. This sixth floor 
embraces the entire area, 90x60 feet, including the stage 15x60, with ceiling thirty feet high, and 
a gallery, suspended from the trusses, with a seating capacity of about three hundred. The floor 
of this hall is highly polished, quartersawed maple. Clustered incandescent lights and chande- 
liers, and fair decorations are found in this fine auditorium. The two elevators terminate at the 
fifth floor, leaving the sixth floor uninterrupted. The roof is suspended by truss, and is covered 
with slate and gravel. The building is heated by steam from boilers placed in the open court, 
where live air is plentiful. Gas or incandescent light may be used, as electricity is supplied 
by the company's own power. In the basement is the elevator machinery and dynamos. 
The lighting and heating of the theater and office building is carried out on the most modern 
of systems. The superior decorations aro from original designs by Mr. Scheller. 

The Madison hall theater, 88x114 feet in area and five stories high, will be the second 
in size in Chicago. Leaving the central entrance through the office building, the court is 
entered and its roof of stained glass takes the eye. Entering the theater, the stage opening, 
which is forty feet wide and forty-eight feet high, wins attention. It is flanked on either side 
by eight boxes. First entering the open court are placed the exit gallery stairs, in a large 
foyer containing a large fireplace. On each side of the corners of this theater are silurian 
water fountains, divans, and the main staircases leading to the galleries entirely of iron. The 
bight of the auditorium is sixty-five feet, showing three galleries. The seating capacity is 
two thousand five hundred and the overflow capacity three thousand five hundred persons, or 
half the total capacity of the Auditorium theater. The decorations are in oil colors, upon 
stucco and sheet metal work. The economy apparent in spacing and the beauty of this 
(heater is excellent. It is constructed entirely of fireproof material, the floors of all the 
galleries being solid tile material. The drop-curtain is made of fireproof material, the boxes 
are tile and stucco. The stage is the best equipped and most convenient one that could be 
arranged, containing six principal dressingrooms on each side of the opening and twenty 
rooms in the basement. This basement is twelve feet high, which is the bight of ceiling in 
each dressiiigroom, a minstrelroom, one large dressingroorn and lavatories are under this stage. 
A greenroom, parlor, property, store and dressingrooms are on the stage floor. There are 
three fly-floors on either side of opening and one double paint bridge. The theater is lighted 
by two thousand lamps of various candle power. Fresh air is forced into the auditorium by 
means of fans, and the foul air is drawn into iron ducts and expelled. The three great exits 
form a feature of this house, the value of which cannot be over-estimated. 



228 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The World's Fair Relief company's building, on Wabash avenue and Peck court, was 
designed in April, 181)1. It is two stories high, covering the entire lot and involving Ik- 
expenditure of $40,(X)0. Its construction has some peculiar features, as it is built of iron, 
glass, and the composite material known as " staff." A twenty-foot arched entrance opens into 
the building from Wabash avenue. This entrance extends back sixty feet to the panorama 
proper. It is finished in panels of figurial and molded work, and round it hang valuable 
paintings. The frontage on Peck court, back twenty-four and a half feet, and the Wabash 
avenue frontage are devoted to stores and a cafe. The remainder of the main floor, 85x120 
feet, is occupied by the panorama proper, which is arranged in the center of this space with 
raised floors on all sides for spectators. Jackson park, with its lakes, trees and fountains, and 
all the buildings, railways and towers are to be modeled on a scale of one-eighth of an inch 
to a foot. The work is done in metal, alabaster, and carton pierre. It is made entirely 
realistic. The lakes and fountains are modeled with metal and filled with water. Electric 
fountains are reproduced, buildings lighted from their interiors. Even the trees and 
shrubbery of the improved park rind a place in the panorama. 

The Chicago & South Side Rapid Transit Railroad Company, together with introducing a 
new system of railroad, also introduced a novel style of depot architecture. Up to December 
13, 1890, the structure erected represents 8,196 lineal feet; weight of structure completed, 
7,620,260 pounds; foundations constructed, 480; track completed, 6,141 feet. One hundred 
and fifty buildings were moved off right of way. The track is superior to any heretofore laid in 
this country, the rails being of first quality steel and weighing ninety pounds to the yard. 
The rails are connected with a joint, which gives the top of the rail an even surface for the 
tread of the whe3ls and prevents the clicking sound so frequently heard on surface roads as 
the wheel passes over the joint. The foundations are built of massive brick and stone 
masonry, averaging ten feet in depth below the surface and being not less than seven feet 
square at the bottom, giving a bearing surface of forty-nine square feet. On the date given 
the corner-stone of the first depot building on this road, Thirty-fifth street, was placed. A 
bronze plate sunk in the peachblow stone which formed the ceremonial corner stone bore this 
inscription : 



C. * 8. S. R. T. K. H. CO. 

C. GODDAED, PRESIDENT. 

K. I. SLOAN, CHIEF ENGINEER. 

M. M'DERMOTT, BUILDER. 

DEC. 13, 1890. 



The stations are located on the ground directly under the girders carrying the tracks, 
one building answering for passengers going either way. This is an original improvement on 
the eastern roads. By this plati a great saving in the number of buildings on the entire 
line and in the expense of maintaining them is obtained with absolute benefit. The front 
of the station facing on the street is of Roman brick and peachblow stone, with terra-cotta trim- 
mings, and roof of red slate. There is a news stand in an alcove off the waitingroom. and 



TIIK nuiLDixa /.Y77-;/,'/-;.s7x -',".! 

an enameled tile wainscoting, four fe;-t high, runs round the wait iugrooiu, corridors and toilet 
rooms. The ceilings are of Georgia pine, with the rafters exposed. The exits and entrances 
are kept separate, the passengers leaving the trains not having to pass through the waiting- 
rooms. The incoming passengers pass up the stairway to a covered landing in the rear of the 
station, running across and below the track and passing to the north or south as the passen- 
gers wish to go. These covered platforms run on each side of the track for a length of two 
hundred feet. It is on this platform that the incoming are separated from the outgoing 
passengers by the separate exits and entrances. As the company owns the ground upon 
which the structure is built it is able to introduce this new feature of stations on the ground, 
making them more sightly, durable and convenient. 

The great freight clearing house is a project credited to 1891. A group of one hundred 
and fifty six-story buildings, with a clearing house in the center, will occupy the one-quarter- 
mile tract, fronting on the river, south of Twelfth street. The plans outline houses as ultra- 
Commercial in style, as the idea of such a commodity exchange suggests. 

Tattersall's house was established here in 1891, when the half block or 3(52x1 T>2 feet, 
on the east side of Dearborn street between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets was secured. 
This entire tract will be covered by a substantial three-story block to be devoted to the same 
us;>s as the London housa. The ground floor is to be utilized for horse sales and for a riding 
school for gentlemen. It also will be suitable for exhibitions of various kinds. Accommodations 
for hundreds of horses will be on the floor above, while the topmost story is available for 
storage room. The architecture will be plain, to correspond with the uses to which the structure 
will be put. Perhaps its most novel feature will be the show track on the first floor, running 
the full length of the building and thirty feet wide, so that customers may see the full speed 
capacity of their prospective purchases. 

The Chicago Natatorium, on Milwaukee avenue near Division street, is at once a commer- 
cial, a flat and natatoriuin building, three stories and basement in hight, constructed of pressed 
brick and blue Bedford stone. It has a frontage of fifty-two feet, with a depth of one hun- 
dred feet. The ground floor is used as one large store, the other floors as offices and lodge 
rooms. There is a handsome arcade, thirteen feet wide, with tiling and marble wainscoting, 
leading from the street to the natatorium proper, which is triangular in shape. This is divided 
into two large compartments, one for ladies and children and the other for men. Both basins 
are built of stone and concrete. 

The buildings of the Western Wheel Works Company, on Sigel street, near Wells street 
were designed in 1891 by Henry Sierks. The main building has a frontage of one hundred 
and sixty-eight feet on Sigel street and a depth of one hundred and fourteen feet. It is five 
stories high, with a front of pressed brick and stone. In the rear is a one-story blacksmith 
shop, 79x12(1 feet, also constructed of brick: the cost of the entire plant is SSO.IIOII. 

In July. I Sill I. an office building was designed for Francis Bartlett to cost 4(10.000, to be 
erected at 2(5.") to 271 Dearborn street. The material is stone, brick and terra cotta for the 
exterior and steel for the interior: the size, 73x72 feet, sixteen stories high. Swift running 



230 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

elevators, steam heating, electric lighting, fireproof construction, and good light for every 
office are the recommendations. Work on the foundations was begun in June, 1891. 

The Allen building, 011 the northwest corner of Monroe and Canal streets, was erected in 
1891, at a cost of $250,000. The site was for years known as "Allen's tannery.'' The new 
structure is 160x180 feet in area, eight stories high, and strictly fireproof stone, brick, tile 
and iron being the materials used. It is a Commercial house, wanting in ornament. 

In June, 1891, plans for the Cole building, on the southwest corner of Jackson street 
and Fifth avenue were perfected by H. B. Seeley. This house, of brick and terra cotta, 
shows a frontage of eighty-eight feet on Fifth avenue and one hundred and sixty feet on 
Jackson street. 

The Blair five-story building, on the site of the old house ('202-204 Wabash avenue), 
designed in 1891 by Burling & Whitehouse, is 40x175 feet. The facade presents much 
ornamental work in brick, stone and iron. 

The Inter Ocean building on the northwest corner of Madison and Dearborn, erected in 
1889-UO, is a house of stone and iron, seven stories in hight, well lighted and equipped. 
The corner lot 20x40 feet, which cost $150,000 or $7,500, per front foot, was increased to 
100x70 feet, the Inter Ocean Company purchasing sixty feet on Madison and fifty feet on 
Dearborn street running back ninety-five feet to Calhoun place with the buildings thereon. 
The corner pavilion or tower is seven stories, and the fronts of the ran in building six stories, 
with attic and basement. The two bays in the Madison street front of the pavilion and one 
in the Dearborn street front, with the pretentious blind arcade forming the parapet and heavy 
corner pier, convey an impression of the Commercial style, and this impression is emphasized 
by the first story. Above this, with the exception of the fifth story, the arched keystoned 
window of the Palladian style rules. The clock-tower, with its steep hip-roof, almost a steeple, 
singles out this building from its fellows in the block. 

The remodeling of the old buildings on the southeast corner of State and Madison 
streets, as planned by Adler & Sullivan, will give a building worthy of that corner. The 
firm of Schlesinger & Mayer, having secured two hundred feet frontage on State street, south 
from the corner, resolved to change the various facades into one eight-story building, similar 
in style to the corner building. The main floors will extend from Madison street south of the 
south end of the building, without a partition wall. A grand entrance will be made at the 
south end through the fronts of the buildings now secured. 

In May, 1891, plans were completed for the reconstruction of the six-story house on 
Quincy street, just east of the Temple Court block, into a first-class office building for its 
owner, Frank Bort, at an expense of 1150,000. The building was used for years as a glass 
warehouse. It has a frontage of sixty-nine feet and is eighty feet deep. An entirely new 
front of Roman brick was put in and two stories added. The portico is in the Italian 
style and displays some excellent points. 

The five-story Schloesser block, situated at the northwest corner of La Salle and 
Adams streets, erected in 1872-:!, was remodeled and greatly improved and three stories 







TflK 



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THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 231 

added in 1891. In addition to this the entrance was lowered so as to be on a level with the 
sidewalk, the same as the McCorrnick block, and an extra elevator added. This makes the 
building almost as tall as its neighbors on the opposite corners of the street, the Home Insur- 
ance building, the Rookery and the Insurance exchange, and renders the corner of La Salle 
and Adams streets pre-eminently the corner of high buildings, as the four corners are occu- 
pied by houses, none of which is less than nine stories high. The old Chamber of Com- 
merce, raised to a hight of one hundred and ninety-eight feet, is a street wonder. 

In July, 1891, the Oriental building, one of the great office blocks of La Salle street, 
was leased for ninety-nine years by a syndicate. The land on which it stands has a frontage 
of seventy-eight feet on La Salle street, and extends along the south side of the alley for one 
hundred and twenty feet. The rear of the lot is irregular, as it lacks a strip 26x40 feet at the 
southwest corner. The lessees propose to raze this live story house and erect on the site a 
$500,01)0 fourteen-story modern structure after plans by Adler & Sullivan. 

The remodeling of the Freer five-story block on the northwest corner of Randolph street 
and Fifth avenue was carried out in 1891, when two stories were added and the interior 
modernized. 

The question of tearing down the old Ashland block, erected in 1872, at a cost of $200,- 
000, was considered in February, 1890, when A. J. Alexander purchased that property for 
$500,000. The land formed a part of the J. K. Kingsbury lots, bought in 1834, at $60 per 
front foot, or $4,800. His daughter, Mrs. Buckner, inherited it, and only in 1891 did the 
property come out of the lawyers' hands'. In May, 1891, the permit for the new Ashland 
block was granted, and the material of the old building sold to E. J. Hopson, to be used in 
the hotel building on the southeast corner of Michigan avenue and Twelfth streets. The 
block, unlike most of those built just after the fire, was constructed of the best materials 
and was as solid, in May, 1891 , as it was nineteen years ago. The partition walls were of 
brick clear to the roof, and there was not a check or crack to be found anywhere in the plaster- 
ing. The plans for the new Ashland were prepared by D. H. Burnham. It has a frontage of 
one hundred and forty feet on Clark street by eighty feet on Randolph street, sixteen stories 
high, of steel construction, and thoroughly fireproof. The building is faced with light gray 
stone, brick and terra cotta. The main entrance, on Clark street, is twenty-one feet wide, 
the windows of the lower stories are arched at the third story. From the third story seven 
bays extend up through both fronts to the sixteenth story. The building is surmounted by a 
full Corinthian cornice. All the exterior details are classical. The main entrance and the 
entrance from Randolph street open on a vestibule which is floored with mosaic and finished 
in marble. Seven elevators are arranged in a semicircle, with a provision for adding two 
elevators to this service. The building contains three hundred and fifty offices above the 
hank floor. A light court 28x56 feet, extends through the rear of the building. 

Work on the Masonic Temple was begun in January, 1891. It is twenty stories (two 
hundred and seventy-four feet) high, including basement and attic, has one hundred and ninety 
feet frontage on both streets, and is as nearly fireproof as modern art can make it. The cost of 



>> INDUXTltlAl. (! Jf re AGO: 

the building is estimated at $2,000,000, making the total investment, including the land, 
about $3,100,000. This great work was undertaken with the purpose of giving the Masons 
of this city a mammoth lodge room at a nominal rental. This is secured by a number of 
ingenious business devices. The cost was assumed by a syndicate of Masons, at the head of 
whom was the late Norman T. Gassette. In the basement is a cafe, finished in onyx, alabaster 
and plate glass, large enough to seat 2,000 people. On the ground floor, opening from the 
grand rotunda are waiting and toilet rooms for lady visitors. Foiirteen elevators, ranged 
in a circle round the rotunda, carry people up and down, making the trip to the top floor, 
including stops, in about live minutes. Three of these elevators are of the " express " order, 
and make through trips to the top story. On the roof is a handsome summer concert garden, 
fitted up with shrubbery, walks, flower beds and fountains. As an instance of its solidity 
and the desire of the projectors of the enterprise to make the work of the best possible nature, 
it may be stated that the cost of construction is about thirty-five cents a cubic foot. The 
best constructed and most expensive building previously erected in Chicago is the Rookery, the 
cost of which was thirty-one cents a cubical foot. The Masonic Temple is a solid steel frame, 
with outside facings of brown pressed brick and terra cotta, and interior columns and 
beams enclosed in fireproof material. The vertical* is given prominence in the west and 
south facades, but the first story is llomanesque, and, though the voisseurs are Roman, the 
roof belongs to that style. From the level of the fifth floor, twelve stories are carried on im- 
mense pilasters, bearing arches over the windows of the sixteenth floor. The great bays, 
springing from corbels in the first story above the arches of the mezzanine story or entresol, 
extend to the level of the sixteenth floor, but do not for a moment disguise the pilasters which 
only receive the arches a point above. The seventeenth story shows the double square win- 
dow, the eighteenth, Venetian windows, and the attic, dormers between the gables or pedi- 
ments of the pavilions. Those gables are richly decorated, showing some of the chateau 
designs of the thirteenth century in alto relievo work. 

The Smyth building, erected in 18'Jl on the site of his six-story business block, destroyed 
in the fire of April 12, 1891, is one of the great modern Commercial houses. John M. Smyth 
instructed his architect, William Strippelnian, to draw plans for an eight -story- and-basement 
business building covering the entire ground, two hundred and five feet front on West Madi- 
son street, east of Halsted street, by a depth of one hundred and eighty feet to School street. 
The building is designed in the Romanesque style of architecture, the front being of blue 
Bedford stone entirely. Eleven massive carved-stone piers in the first story carry the weight 
of the remaining seven upper stories. The three center piers projecting out from the main 
building line receive two large arches highly carved, forming the only and grand entrances. 
The plate glass used is the largest size ever used in Chicago, there being eight lights, P20xl '.('> 
inches each, with ornamental electro-bronze-set beveled transoms overhead. The grand 
vestibule, 12x40 feet, is finished in marble and mosaic. The center part of building, one room 
1 20x1 2") feet, contains the main office, vaults, two passenger elevators and two grand stairways; 
toilet rooms for customers and employes and lockers for all employes are conveniently located 




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LIBRARY 
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THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 233 

on each floor. The east and west wings being 40x180 feet each, and being divided by fire 
walls from the center portion, but connected by large fireproof door openings, form a court in 
the rear of center part, which is covered with an iron truss glass roof, under which the ship- 
ping is done. Four freight elevators are facing directly on this court. The fireproof boiler- 
room, 30x40x24 feet, located at the rear end of the east wing, contains two Heine Safety 
boilers of five hundred horse power. The electric plant room adjoins the boiler-room, 40x70 
feet, and contains a fully equipped plant for electric lighting, furnished by the Chicago 
Edison Company, to light two hundred arc and six hundred incandescent lamps. The build- 
ing is heated by steam in the most approved manner. The first, second and third floors are 
at present used for sale or show rooms, and are finished in Georgia pine. The mode of con- 
struction is what is commonly called "mill construction," long-leaf southern pine and iron 
being used exclusively. The floors are four inches thick, the finishing floor being of a fine 
quality of white maple. The foundations, consisting of best quality of concrete, are made 
sufficiently strong to carry several more stories. The actual floor area of the entire house is 
about seven acres. 

The central depot of the South Side Rapid Transit Railroad is to be in keeping with 
their road and local depots. In May, 1891, this railroad company decided upon the erection of 
a seven-story building on the grounds adjacent to and directly in the rear of the Leiter build- 
ing, on Van Buren street. The new passenger depot, when built, will occupy similar space. 
Though disconnected from the Leiter building, it will appear as an integral part of that 
magnificent structure. But little is known as to details, those immediately interested ap- 
pearing rather reticent as to their intentions. It is known, however, that the building will 
be creditable in design and finish and fitted up with all modern conveniences for the speedy 
transaction of business. 

Many other buildings for the central business district are projected. Of the total many 
will be carried to completion. The reports of remodeling are even more numerous than 
those of new building projects, so that the future promises, for the business center at least, 
blocks of houses from eight to eighteen stories in hight. 

The first housemoving recorded was made in December, 1833, when a house erected on 
the southwest corner of Lake and Clark streets was hauled down Lake street by some angry 
members of the First Presbyterian society. It appears the society had purchased this lot, 
No. 1, block 34, on which to erect a church, but one winter's night a new citizen raised the 
frame of a storehouse thereon and the following day attached the siding or clapboards. 
The next night a number of men, oxen and chains were seen in front of the new house and 
instantly the chains were attached to the sills and the oxen to the chains. The house began 
to move, and, early the second morning, the owner found it, near the fort on No Man's land. 
The workers of the night did not dream of jack screws or rollers. They left the hauling to 
the oxen and contented themselves with directing the movements of the dumb brutes. Six 
years later the house mover WHS a regular institution here. Henry Bailey and Chester Tup- 
per had an office at 40 Dearborn street; John Boes established himself at the corner of River 



234 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

and South Water street, and Noyes Oakes on Clark street. In 1843 John Robinson estab- 
lished himself as a house-mover. Some time after the tower of the water works of 1852-3, one 
hundred and thirty-six feet square, was completed and the water introduced into the stand 
pipe, its settlement was observed. Although the foundation sprung from a compact bed of 
sand, six feet below the original surface of the ground where the water- works building of 
the present stands, the soil was still compressible enough to yield to extraordinary weight, 
for in a short time the tower leaned forward fourteen inches, but the house-raiser had then 
established himself here, and the leaning tower of Chicago was made straight again. 

Prior to June 0, 1883, house-moving on the owner's premises was carried on generally 
without a permit. On the date given an ordinance was passed providing for house-moving; 
but the thirty-live professional house-movers opposed it so effectually that the Department of 
Public Works resorted to stringent measures and heavy fines to bring non-observers of the 
ordinance to terms. From June to December 31 that year permits were issued to move 
three hundred and fifty-seven frame and seventeen brick houses, representing a frontage of 
seven thousand three hundred and forty-three feet. Prior to the transfer of this business to 
the street department, or from January 1 to June 6, 1883, there were only two hundred and 
sixty-five permits issued. The raising of the Marine bank block was one of the extraordinary 
feats of the house-mover, being nothing less than the uplifting of ten buildings simultane- 
ously, without damage to either one, by Holliugsworth & Coughlans. 

In 1889 the property at the southeast corner of State and Twelfth streets was condemned 
for city purposes, and the large four-story stone-front building, one hundred and fifteen feet 
frontage, had to be torn down or moved to make way for the new viaduct. The latter course 
was adopted, and it stands to-day fifty feet south of its original north line. A three-story 
building, 58x5 ( J feet, fronting on Twelfth street, was moved seventy-four feet south and sev- 
enty-eight feet west, and a two-story barn, 63x113 feet, on Twelfth street, was moved two 
hundred and fifty feet south. The contractors were Hollingsworth & Coughlans; the archi- 
tect, Alfred Smith, and the contractor for mason work, John Griffiths. The total cost of 
moving was about $13,000, and of mason work, in building new foundation, walls, etc., alxnit 
12,000. One pane of glass was broken by a workman, so that the building was pushed south 
without the slightest injury. 

In 1841) Henry Bailey was an established house-mover, with home and office on Edina 
place, between Jackson and Van Buren streets. Richard Lappin resided on Chicago avenue 
and Wolcott streets, and Patrick McCally " boarded round." The grade established by the 
city in 1855 made it necessary to build stone walls around each block to retain the filling of 
the streets. These walls, under the outer edge of sidewalks, are known as curb-walls. 
Temporary sidewalks of plank were arranged on these walls, with rude stairs leading down 
to the stores. The public square had to be elevated to grade by earth dredged from the 
river, but as the jail was in the basement of the K>4xl32-feet courthouse, a circular area 
wall one hundred and eighty feet in diameter was built to give air and light to the prison- 
ers. This wall was raised three feet above grade, was coped with heavy cut stone, from 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. :>:!;> 

which sprung a heavy iron railing. With this improvement the system of house-raising and 
house-moving was inaugurated. The Tremont house, a brick structure 100x180 feot, was 
raised eight feet to grade, live hundred men and five thousand screws being engaged in the 
work. This work was successfully accomplished, and may be said to be the introduction to 
the elevation or removal of the large buildings. In 1857 James Brown, of Boston, and John 
Coughlan contracted to raise the J. D. Jennings' store building, on the northeast corner of 
Dearborn and Randolph streets. Two years after an entire block of heavy buildings, form- 
ing tht' north side of Lake street, between Clark and La Salle streets, was raised; the whole 
block, raised simultaneously, was moved to State and Twelfth streets. 

Mr. Walshe, now residing on Ogden avenue, near Randolph street, was here at an early 
date. The house-movers in 1859 were Sam. B. Abbott, 299 South Halsted street; Henry 
Bailey, 22 Edina Place; Ed. F. Bosley, 117 West Washington street, now residing in Chicago; 
Brown & Hollingsworth, 71 Adams street; Cook & Chamberlin, 198 Milwaukee avenue; James 
Crowe, 154 North Peoria street, now of Crowe & Sons; J. & J. Gleason, 149 Harrison street; 
Richard Lappin, 315 Chiciigo avenue; William P. Lappin, 827 Chicago avenue, and John 
Mclntyre, 248 Ohio street, now residing in Chicago. The firm of E. G. Hall & Co., 100 
Washington street, dealt in jack-screws. 

Friestadt & Sou may be named among the old house- movers; but amid them all the 
Coughlans have accomplished the greatest work. Among the houses moved or raised may be 
named the Briggs, Tremont, the iron front on the southeast comer of Lake and Fifth avenue, 
the old armory, on the southwest corner of Adams and Franklin streets, raised a few days 
before the fire; the east side of State street, from Twelfth street to Thirty-ninth; a prtrt of 
the Studebaker was raised in 1891; St. Patrick's church and Hotel Dieu, at New Orleans, 
were restored, and throughout the country remarkable work was accomplished. 

The house-movers and raisers in 1879 were Joseph Bauer, Jacob Becker, Peter Boucher, 
A. Bjornson, E. F. Bosley, Peter Brost, William Brown, James Crowe, Michael Crowe, 
William Dunlap, Hans Feltmau, Aug. Hinzs, Hollingsworth & Coughlans, J. Jaman, Charles 
Krueger, Nicholas Kuhn, Matthias Martin, Robert McAuley, William Neimann, D. Pagel, 
Thomas Phillips, H. J. Sheeler and William Starkey. 

Notwithstanding the perfection arrived at by the regular house-movers, some novel, 
exciting and disastnras failures are recorded. The attempt at moving the two-story frame 
house, 158 West Van Buren street, on February 1, 1891, was practically a failure. The 
building was leased by Simon King, eighty years old. He occupied the first floor of the 
house, and with his wife managed to make a living by doing laundry work. Mr. King sublet 
to Richard Ott, an employe of the City Storage Company. Mr. Ott occupied the second floor 
with his wife, a baby one month old, and his wife's brother and sister. Early in the after- 
noon of the day named the house-mover and five Swede workmen began to dig beneath the 
building. Mr. King protested, and the feeble old man was compelled to retire to the house 
in order to escape a thrashing. Mr. Ott demanded to see Nichols' permit, but was told to 
mind his own business. At two o'clock every one in the building was startled by u loud, 



236 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

cracking sound. Pictures fell from the walls, and the furniture slid from one side of the 
building to the other. Mr. King's- stove was overturned, and the pipe fell to the floor. 
Clothes which were drying close at hand caught fire, and for a moment it looked as if the 
building would be destroyed. Mrs. King caught up a tub of water and dashed it on the 
blaze. The building swayed and trembled, the windows were broken, and great cracks 
appeared in the walls. It was prevented from toppling over by a large brick building on the 
east side, against which it fell. Nichols saw the danger and yelled to his men : " Jack her up 
on the other side!" The men rushed to the east side of the building and began to turn the 
screws. They worked with might and mainland in their desire to save the building from 
toppling to the east they turned the screws too far, and with another loud crack the structure 
raised in an upright position for a moment and then fell toward the west. Terribly frightened, 
Mrs. Ott rushed to the front door. The steps leading to the street had been removed, and she 
fell eight feet to the ground below. At this juncture Burke arrived, accompanied by Officer 
Carpenter of the Pinkerton agency. Carpenter made some inquiries, but Nichols refused to 
recognize his authority, go, after carrying Mr. King back into the house, he went away. Nichols 
ordered his men to proceed. Officer Boss arrived on the scene shortly after six o'clock, and 
asked Nichols to show him his permit. Nichols claimed that he had left it at home, and 
when the officer insisted upon seeing it or stopping his work, he used such abusive language 
that he was arrested. 

In 1873 the Western "Union Telegraph Company erected a high building in New York City, 
which suggested the consolidation of capital toward the construction of others. In 18S2 the 
idea was carried westward, and the Moutauk building resulted. Writing in April, 1891, to the 
Tribune, the following statement was made in discussing the relation of building syndicates to 
leased grounds and "skyscrapers:" 

"There is a class of valuable securities growing up in Chicago which has already 
become of great interest and importance. From present indications its importance is to be 
enhanced rapidly. These securities are the stocks and bonds of building companies erecting 
large buildings for offices or other purposes. The stock issued by such companies already 
aggregates over $15,000,000, and the bonds more than one-third that amount. With an 
aggregate capitalization so great as that, the secxirity that such investment offers becomes a 
matter of wide interest. The issuing of bonds secured by a building standing upon leased 
ground is a comparatively recent scheme in financiering. A few years ago investors said that 
such a security was at best based on nothing firmer than fire-insurance, and the plan was not' 
regarded with favor. There has been progress in the methods of building since then. 
Buildings are now put up that are about as substantial as the ground they stand upon, and 
offer as good a basis for security. A list of the principal building companies in Chicago, 
with the amount of their stock and bonds outstanding, is given as follows: 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 237 



Stock. Bonds. 

Commercial Safe Deposit Co $300,000 $ 

Commerce Vault Co 200,000 75,000 

Chicago Deposit Vault Co 600,000 200,000 

Central Safety Deposit Co 1,000,000 600,000 

Tacoma Safety Deposit Co. 1,500,000 500,000 

Northwestern Safe & Trust Co 250,000 175,000 

National Safe Deposit Co 500,000 

Imperial Building Co 300,000 100,000 

Merchants' Safe Deposit Co 50,000 

Union Cold Storage & Warehouse Co ! 300,000 100,000 

Abstract Safety Vault Co 150,000 100,000 

Central Music Hall Co 180,000 

Chamber of Commerce Safety Deposit Co 700,000 650,000 

Chicago Warehouse & Manufacturing Co 125,000 125,000 

Chicago Opera House Co 350,000 250,000 

( 'hie-ago Auditorium Association 2,000,000 900,000 

( 'iti/ens' Bank Vault Co 50,000 

Central Market Co 200,000 100,000 

Traders' Safe & Trust Co 300,000 100,000 

Masonic Temple Association 2,000,000 1,500,000 

Cook County Abstract Co 1,500,000 ....... 

Chicago Cold Storage Exchange 3,000,000 1,000,000 



Total $15,555,000 $6,475,000 

"These companies have had a varied history, but, as a rule, they are now decidedly pros- 
perous. There are but few exceptions in the way of non-dividend payers. In some cases the 
property has proved remarkably remunerative, and dividends of such high rates are paid that 
the stock is locked up by investors, and has no quotable market value. The stock of several 
of the above companies is owned by a few men, the corporation being a close one, amounting 
practically to a partnership. A few of the stocks are listed on the exchange, but they are not 
an active trading security. The bonds are mostly quoted at about par. They have had some 
disadvantages to work against, which have handicapped transactions seriously. Among the 
chief customers of bonds are Eastern savings banks, insurance companies, and other trust 
organizations. Most state legislatures have definitely laid down a limit regarding such 
investments, and the institutions cannot go outside of those lines. These laws nearly all say 
that an investment cannot be made in a bond which is a second lien upon the property which 
secures it. A building bond secured on a structure standing 011 leased ground is a second 
lien, the lease being the first lien. This has shut off a large market for the securities. As it 
is the bonds have been placed in small amounts with local investors, and are now well 
scattered. 

"The first of these companies was organized almost twenty years ago; so they have been 
in operation long enough to give some idea of the character of the securities. So far as the 
bonds are concerned, they are, with few if any exceptions, eminently satisfactory securities. 
They have tangible assets behind them, worth considerably more than the bond issue, and the 
earnings of the properties are far in excess of interest requirements. The stock, too, is prov- 
ing a decidedly satisfactory investment. 



238 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

" The most notable building so far constructed on this plan is the Auditorium. In that 
affair there was more patriotism than business shrewdness, and the stock has not yet become 
a profitable security. The bonds, however, are in good favor, and command a premium in 
the market. In the case of this building, as with several others, the fact that there is a 
revaluation clause in the lease operates decidedly to the disadvantage of the securities. The 
Grand Pacific hotel some time ago furnished an extreme illustration of the disadvantages 
of revaluation clauses, a revaluation entirely wiping out the equity in the building. The 
Chicago opera house has also suffered from the same clause. 

' One of the most notably successful enterprises of this kind is the Rookery building, 
owned by the Central Safe Deposit Company. Dividends are now paid on the stock amount- 
ing to some fourteen or fifteen per cent. It is hardly fair to say that the investment returns 
that rate, however, because for three or four years all net earnings were devoted to extin- 
guishing a floating debt, which was incurred in the construction of the building, in excess of 

the company's capitalization. Central Music hall is another decided success. Stockholders 

/ 

received twenty per cent dividends, and the stock is quoted at $875. As a rule these com- 
panies are paying from eight to ten per cent, some of them on a capitalization that contains 
considerable water. In all cases the bonds seem to have been issued in moderate amounts. 

" There are now a number of new enterprises of this kind under way. Some are just 
being started, and others are nearly completed. The Masonic Temple Association, with its 
issue of $1,500,000 bonds, takes a prominent place among the new enterprises. In this case 
the company owns absolutely the ground upon which the building is to stand, so that its 
bonds become a suitable investment for trust funds. Estimates of the earning capacity of the 
eighteen-story building which is being erected show total receipts of $640,000. The interest 
on the bonds will be $75,000, and running expenses, taxes, etc., $100,000; so it is expected 
that there will be an annual surplus applicable to dividends and to retiring bonds of some 
$465,000. The Central Market Company is another one of the newcomers. It is a market- 
house with stalls to rent to butchers, green-grocers, and the like, and in connection with that 
a cold storage plant, for the use of the renters of the stalls and for South Water street mer- 
chants. Estimated earnings show immense profits, and the securities are already held far 
above par. On something of the same plan, and on a vastly larger scale, is the Chicago Cold 
Storage Exchange, which is erecting an immense building on Lake street, just west of the 
river. 

"These building securities, both the bonds and the stocks, seem to be one of the safest, 
as well as frequently one of the most profitable, of all local securities. The security offered 
by the bonds seems almost beyond question. It has many advantages over an ordinary 
mortgage. It is easily transferable, without tedious legal proceedings; it is a good collateral 
to borrow on. There are of course more chances with the stock, but the chances so far have 
been more frequently in the direction of paying more than the ordinary rate of interest than 
less." 

'' The opposition to high buildings and the threat to invoke the power of municipal and 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 239 

state legislatures against them, has, to a certain degree, cooled the enthusiasm of syndicates. 
The Chicago journals point out how unnecessary such legislation is, and one of them, citing 
the Abstract Company's building, states that, "the company considered over twenty different 
sites before it could obtain available ground, anywhere near the center of business, upon which 
to build. As things went it did not secure a corner and was forced to pay $8,000 a front foot 
for its ground. Of course this price represents something of a bonus which the company was 
compelled to give because circumstances compelled it to build near the court house. Diversity 
of ownership is one of the great obstacles in the way of securing land. Some down-town 
property fit for high buildings has three or four owners to fifty feet of frontage. Often these 
owners are jealous, and if two are willing to sell the third thinks that they are plotting 
against him, and refuses to unite with them. The most recent argument against high build- 
ings is that they raise the price of real estate near them to such a figure that all owners must, 
in self-defense, proceed to erect high buildings in order to meet taxes upon the increased 
valuation. It is further urged that men of comparatively small means are unable to do this, 
and are thus forced, against their will, to sell their property. In the first place, notwith- 
standing the fact that Chicago will continue to grow rapidly, there is a limit to the number 
of high buildings which its business will profitably support. At the present rate of building 
the statement is not overconservative that the time is not far off when that limit will be 
reached, for high buildings to-day are increasing more rapidly than the demand for them is 
increasing. When this demand is exceeded, profits will be lowered and property near high 
buildings will not be worth what was at one time paid for the ground upon which the build- 
ings in question stand. That ground was, at the time of the erection of the building, of 
especial value for the purpose for which it was utilized. With the supply of the demand for 
high buildings that especial value will no longer exist. Assessors will be fair enough to see 
this, and there will be proper discrimination in the amount of tax. The only valid ground 
upon which the wisdom of the erection of high structures can be questioned from the stand- 
point of the city is upon the ground of the public health and convenience. The complaint 
about the congestion of streets will be disposed of by additional transportation facilities. If 
the advocates of tall buildings can demonstrate beyond reasonable question that they can be 
made safe in construction, and that they do not materially affect public health by shutting 
out light and air or otherwise, there is no sound argument which can be raised by any one 
against their construction up to the limit at which the demand for them is met" 

The amount of money ready for safe investment is, of course, one of the primary causes 
for the existence of the high buildings. Without the elevator the moneyed interests would 
not dream of even a ten-story building, and without the light and safe system, known as 
"Chicago construction,'' the architect and engineer would scarcely dare to plan a high 
structure of brick or stone walls to be reared on the highly compressible clay of Chicago. 
Therefore, to bring forth the New Chicago, money, enterprise, the genius of the material 
inventor, and the science of building high and strong, were all requisitioned. Each was 
necessary, and necessity raised up one to aid the other. 



240 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 




MODERN FLATS AND RESIDENCES. 

' S outlined in the last two chapters, the changes of a decade were not confined to com- 
mercial houses. They extended to dwellings and communal houses. The reverses 
-of 1873 banished the idea of a permanent home from many hearts, and the specu- 
lators, knowing the tendency of the public mind, prepared to provide for it. The flat was to 
take the place of the small house by grouping ten, twenty, thirty or forty small houses under 
one roof, gathering so many families together, and working out in a measure a social problem 
of no small importance. What if the flat would destroy home life? Who would take the trpuble 
of a home and servants and taxes and neighbors' hens and children and cows in the presence of 
the flat? No one. The same elevators, the same servants, the same steam, and the same 
light are as much at the call of the tenants of No. 40 flat as they are of those of No. 1, and 
the total expense is a known quantity. Who cared for the status and independence of home 
compared with the sweets and deceptions of the French flat. Dolce cose a vedere, e dolci 
inganni expresses the experiences of the thinking habitant; but he has been inoculated with 
its sweet deceptions and he is found there to-day as he could be found in 1881. The French 
flat or apartment house has been perfected here according to all present lights, and it has 
come not only to stay, but to increase in number, size and elegance. 

The flat is the product, in fact, of the elevator. The elevator reached its highest 
development in Chicago, because the Chicagoan would not climb stairs were he inclined to 
lose time in that disagreeable and hurtful exercise. Therefore, without the elevator, the enter- 
prise of apartmont-house builders would be set at naught, for they could not pay the tenants, 
for whom they seek, to walk above the second story by means of the stairway. Conceding 
that the existence of the great apartment house is primarily due to the elevator, that vehicle 
of interior travel is not the only thing which makes it habitable. The arrangement of the 
interior, giving light and air; the equipment of the interior, giving hot and cold water, gas 
or electric lights, steam, hot water or furnace heat, call-bells and telephone comnmnicatkm; the 
decoration of the interior in mosaics, marble, frescoes and great mantels, and the pretentious, 
architectural exterior, with its bays, balconies and balconettes all are present to contribute 
to the happiness of human life, to render the pilgrimage of life in Chicago not alone durable 
but also pleasant. They present inducements to the renter, which cannot be and are not 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 341 

overlooked, and form the only means of providing business men who have no houses of their 
own with homes near the business center, where persons of their own class may congregate, 
as in a select residence neighborhood. 

The modern apartment house is almost a contemporary of the great office buildings. 
While the Mont auk and its imitators were lifting themselves above the old commercial houses, 
the Mentone was rising alxrve the quaint hall of the Chicago Historical Society and its 
neighboring regulation residence of older days. Then followed others: The Calumet, Bean- 
rivage, Belvidere, Benton, Cambridge, Charlevoix, Dakota, Hotel de Lincoln, Hotel Rutland, 
Hotel Vendome, Geneva, Houghton, Ingleside, Ivanhoe, Ivar, Kenilworth, La Fayette, 
La Salle, Locust, Marquette, Morton, Ontario, Palermo, Prairie, St. Benedict, Seville, 
Victoria, Oakland and Coronado and Ramona, all sprung up as if by magic, and a thousand 
less notable stone-faced, pressed-brick structures, for store and residence purposes, appeared 
throughout-the city, taking the place of ancient frame or brick houses or of ruins. 

Many forms are observed, but the Romanesque and Renaissance prevail, the Byzantine 
sometimes creeping in in the lantern or dome, and sometimes the Moresque in the entrances 
or pinnacles. The older apartment houses, such as the Mentone, on Dearborn avenue, and 
the Cambridge, on Thirty-ninth street, have been enlarged horizontally or laterally, and 
decorated with the copper bay. 

The Moresque blocks on Oak street and on Ogden avenue were designed in 1883 by ' 
Silsbee & Kent for B. F. Norris. Pressed brick, with brown-stone facings, bring out the 
alhambresque design. 

The Geneva, erected in 1884, at 49 and 51 Rush street, for L. P. Hansen, after plans by 
John Addison, is 50x84 feet in area and three stories and basement in hight. The exterior 
walls show rock-faced buff Bedford stone, with blue Bedford courses. 

The apartment houses, known as the Hotel Charlevoix, on the comer of Rush and Ohio 
streets, were completed in July, 1883, at a cost of $150,(XH). 

In 1880 plans for the Lafayette apartment house were made by \V. W. Clay, for U. P. 
Smith, of the Lafayette Square Company. The plans called for a seven-story house, two 
hundred and thirteen feet frontage on Dearborn street, two hundred and thirteen feet on 
Clark street and three hundred and eighteen feet on Oak street and Lafayette place, divided 
into four distinct parts, with four main entrances, and a court 60x170 feet in the center. 
The fronts show brown stone in the first and pressed brick in the six upper stories, between 
ornamental copper bays. The Clark street facade shows ten store fronts on the first floor, 
Hie upper floors being fitted for offices. In the other parts of the house are eighteen flats of 
eight rooms, twenty-six flats of seven rooms, twenty flats of six rooms; thirty flats of five 
rooms, forty bachelor apartments and forty-eight flats of three rooms. The total cost was 
.Miniated at $S<X).uuo. 

In the fall of 1888 plans for the apartment house on Michigan boulevard and Eighteenth 
street were prepared by Wilson. Marble & Lamson for the Morton heirs. A six-story 
Romanesque structure, 60x70 in area and one hundred feet to finial of cupola was contein- 



242 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

plated. Polished marble entrances, the twelve granite columns supporting the cupola and ex- 
cellent work in St. Louis brick and Bedford stone give tone to the facade. The marble 
wainscoting and general finish and equipment of the interior render it a modern flat in every 
respect. 

The Parker flats, on Thirty-first street, near Cottage Grove avenue, were designed in 
October, 1888, by J. J. Koiilm. The fronts are constructed of pressed brick, with brown- 
stone trimmings. The woodwork is of antique oak, with bevel glass doors and tiled floors for 
the entrance. The building has one passenger elevator, steam heat arid modern sanitary im- 
provements. The same architect planned a nine-story-and-basement hotel, of pressed brick, 
with cut-stone trimmings, to contain about four hundred rooms, heated by steam and lighted 
with combination lights. The ninth story is a small tower, divided into rooms, which over- 
look State street. 

The seven-story apartment building on the southeast corner of Michigan avenue and 
Thirtieth street, 75x120 feet, was designed in October, 1888, to cost $200,000. The build- 
ing contains forty-two flats. The exterior walls are dark red Anderson pressed brick, with 
terra-cotta trimming. 

The Newberry & Darby apartment building, fronting west one hundred feet on Dear- 
born street, extending ninety-seven feet to alley between Chicago avenue and Chestnut street, 
was designed in 1888 by Thomas Hawks. It is a six-story, fireproof structure, with fronts 
of pressed brick, stone and terra cotta. This building cost $150,000, and it shows itself to 
represent this large sum. 

The erection of a four-story apartment house on the southwest corner of Indiana avenue 
and Twenty-third streat was first considered in 1888, and plans for such a building were 
made by Cobb & Frost. Anderson pressed brick, with buff Bedford stone trimmings, formed 
the exterior front walls. Steam heat and electric bells were demanded; but the elevator, 
common in latter-day apartment houses, was forgotten, or deemed unnecessary for this flat of 
1888. 

The Palermo is a five-story-and-basement apartment house, completed in December, 
1888, on Ashland avenue and Monroe street. It is 47x1 54 feet in area, and contains twenty- 
five flats, janitor's rooms, laundry, steam dryers, steam heat apparatus, gas engine, hydraulic 
passenger and freight elevators, etc. A new departure is that there is no coal used in any of 
the flats, the kitchen even is heated by steam, and a new gas stove, with perfect water back 
attached, is put up in each kitchen for cooking and heating of water for bath and cleaning 
purposes. The basement and first story are of Rockford-Bayfield brown stone, while the 
superstructure is of Anderson's pressed obsidian brick. Three octagon, one circular and two 
square copper bays relieve the fronts. The building is wired for electric lighting: has direct 
entrances from elevator to diningroorn in each flat, gas logs or asbestos fire to each fireplace 
and speaking tubes from each flat to janitor's rooms. It was designed by "William Stripple- 
man, and cost about 75,000. 

The apartment hoxise designed in Jamiary, 18SU, by C. J, Warren, for Leander J. MeCor- 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 248 

mick, cost about a quarter of a million. This fireproof building is 150xl(H( feet, with first 
story of cut brown stone, and the remaining stories of pressed brick, terra cotta and brown 
stone. All the modern improvements are found in this building, but the peculiar character- 
istics are the laundryrooms on the top floor and the dining and billiardrooms in the base- 
ment. Simplicity is the prevailing feature of the design, while the immense proportions of 
the structure are relied upon for effect. Two courts, sixteen feet wide, open to the south, and 
provide the six flats on each floor with east, south and w^st sunlight. The flats are divided 
into parlor, library and diningroom, and are so arranged that they can be made into one 
room. The kitchen is supplied with gas range, slate sinks and slabs, and connects directly 
with the freight service. The woodwork is in mahogany, and the building is heated by 
steam and lighted by incandescent light. There are commodious entrances on Ohio and Rush 
streets, meeting at the two passenger elevators. In the basement are a billiardroom, bowl- 
ing alley, barber shop and telephone. 

An apartment house for the same owner was designed by the same architect, at the same 
time, to be erected on Rush and Ontario streets. 

A mammoth apartment house was planned in April, 1889, to be erected on the northwest 
corner of Hill and Wells streets. Excepting the small coal office, which was then removed, 
the ground was wholly unimproved since the great fire. The building is twelve stories high 
with pressed-brick fronts, brown-stone dressings and eleven copper bays. The interior is 
finished in hardwooil with marble wainscotino 1 and tiled floors for entrances and main halls. 

O 

A central inside court, 20x32 feet in size, extends from the ground floor to the roof, is finely 
decorated and has a fountain as its base. Two passenger and one freight elevator are in use. 
The building is thoroughly fireproof with iron stairways, and steam heating and electric lighting 
service. The ground floor contains stores and quarters for the engineer and janitor. The 
next ten floors are divided into ten apartments each. On the twelfth floor are located dining- 
room and kitchen and also quarters for the help. 

Plans for the W. W. Henderson apartment building, on southwest corner of Michigan 
boulevard and Thirtieth street, were completed in March, 1889, by W. A. Furber. This seven- 
story building has seventy-five feet east frontage on the avenue and one hundred and twenty 
feet north frontage on Thirtieth street. The basement and first story of the two fronts and 
the window trimmings for all the upper stories are of brown stone; the front above the first 
story is faced with best quality of Anderson brown pressed brick; the cornices and balus- 
trades are of terra cotta and the bays on the two fronts and corner of copper. The girders 
supporting floor joists are wrought-iron beams, supported by cast-iron columns; the seven 
stairways are of iron; the light shafts are inclosed within hollow tile fire brick. The first- 
story hall and elevator vestibules have tile floors and marble wainscoting. The interior 
finishing is of oak, maple and cherry; the private halls and diningrooms are wainscoted with 
Lincrusta Walton, finished in bronze: the walls of the parlors, sitting and diningrooms are 
tinted and finished with stencil borders and the ceilings frescoed. Sideboards are built in the 
walls of the diningroDin-i, and they and the wardrobes have beveled plate mirrors. The 



244 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

entrance, parlor and sittingroom doors have cut-glass panels above the lock rails. All glass 
for the two fronts is French plate, and the balance of the glazing done with the best American 
double-thick glass. Iron, porcelain-finished bath tubs and sinks, slate-water trays and best 
quality of plumbing are in use. The basement has a finished stone floor and is used for 
boiler, machinery and liiundryrooms. The seven stories each contain six apartments of six 
or seven rooms. Two passenger elevators, steam -heating and electric-lighting service are 
given this block. 

The Ogden flats, completed in 1889, were sold in January, 1 890, to H. Francisco, for 
$140,000. The block is located in the angle formed by Ogden and Warren avenues, having 
a frontage of one hundred and fifty feet on the former and one hundred and eighty-five feet on 
the latter thoroughfare. It was the handsomest apartment building on the west side up to 
that date. The walls of the basement and first story are of rock-faced grey stone, and those 
of the remaining three stories and tower attic are of deep-red pressed brick, with stone dress- 
ings. The main entrances, opening on either street, are finished in tile and hard wood, and 
the approaches and sidewalks are of stone. The largo court in the rear is paved with asphalt, 
and plate glass is used throughout the building. The interior is divided into thirty apart- 
ments, containing from six to eight rooms each. There is a bay window for each apartment. 
Steam-heating apparatus, elevators and other modern conveniences are included in the pres- 
ent interior improvements. 

The southwest corner of Indiana avenue and thirtieth street was improved in 1889 with 
a five-story apartment building, covering 51x119 feet, atacost of over $100,000. This build- 
ing, like that on the corresponding corner of Michigan avenue and Thirtieth street, is the 
property of W. W. Henderson. 

The apartment house on Michigan avenue near Twenty-fifth street was designed in 
May, 1889, by W. A. Otis, for the Berkshire House Company. It is built of brick, with stone 
front, is six stones and basement in hight, with two copper bays, overhanging and extending 
from the second to the fifth stories inclusive. The windows are of plate glass. The house is 
heated by steam, has water supply, gas ranges, refrigerators, sideboards, and is supplied 
with elevators run by gas engines. There are two suites or apartments on each floor. 

The brown-stone block of two buildings on Ohio street was designed by Architect War- 
ren in August, 1889. The corner building, 50x125 feet, is seven stories in hight and the 
adjoining building six stories. 

The Gross apartment house, on La Salle avenue and Eugenie street, was designed in 
1889 by L. G. Hallberg. This building is 115x100 feet, four stories high, with stone front 
and galvanized iron bay windows. The cost was about $60,000. 

In October, 1889, Hyde Park witnessed the beginning of the era of large apartment 
houses. Within two blocks of Fifty-third street depot a six-story building, one hundred and 
fifty feet square and containing sixty-four apartments was conceived, the cost being about 
$200,000. It is a little brick, stone and terra cotta village in itself, with its own electric light 
and steam-heating and power plants and restaurant. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 245 

The apartment building on the corner of Eighteenth street and Indiana avenue was 
designed in April, 1891), by C. S. Frost. The style is an adaptation, of the Florentine- 
Renaissance. The building is 178x121 feet, seven stories high, with basement and first story 
of stone and upper walls of pressed brick and terra cotta. The copper bays and heavy cor- 
nices form a special feature of this building. 

In December, 1890, the name Campbell flats, as formerly applied to the new building 
on Cottage Grove avenue, was changed to the Marathon. At that time the purchase of the 
building from Lyman & Lowell, of Boston, for 100,01)0, by M. A. Loring and others, was 
effected. It contains thirty-nine flats and thirteen storerooms. Rock-faced brick and 
polished granite pillars are used with effect in the first story. A series of bays extend from 
the second floor level to the top. 

The Kenilworth flats, on Ellis avenue and Thirty-sixth street, were designed by the 
owner, C. P. Thomas. The building is 158x23. feet, and is divided up into four flats on a 
floor, giving each flat about forty feet of south frontage, with two and three bay windows to 
each. This arrangement gives an abundance of light and air to every room, and has no in- 
terior courts or light shafts or dark rooms. The building is a new departure of interest to 
architects as well as tenants. It points out, in itself, the defects of lighting and ventilating 
existing in many of the modern flat buildings erected prior to August, 1889, when the Ken- 
ilworth was completed. 

The apartment building on Rush street near Ohio street was designed in March, 1890, 
by C. J. Warren, to cost 875,000. This is a seven-story house, 50x90 feet, with front of 
pressed brick and brick columns for bay windows. The interior arrangement and decoration 
are modern. 

The Henry I. Cobb store and apartment building, on North Clark street, was designed 
by himself in March, 1890. It is 124x70 feet, four stories high, constructed of brick, stone 
and iron. This building presents material features well worth studying. 

The Monaghan apartment building on the southwest corner of Harrison and Halsted 
streets, was begun in 1890, 011 plans by Architects Lamson and Newman. It is 100x175 feet, 
four stories high, with two towers. Bedford stone, iron and Anderson enameled brick are 
extensively used in this structure. 

The southeast corner of Michigan avenue and Thirty-fifth street, 127ix254i feet, was 
purchased in October, 1890, and in 1891 work on a ten-story apartment building was begun. 

The seven-story apartment building on Michigan avenue and Twelfth street was 
designed in the fall of 1890 by Bauman & Cady. This pressed brick, stone and terra cotta 
structure shows a frontage of fifty feet on Michigan avenue. 

The apartment building designed for Eiigels & Co., in March, 1890, by Henry Meissner 
and built 011 Calumet avenue and Twenty-sixth street, cost abont $150,(HK). The frontage is 
one hundred and thirty-one feet and the depth seventy feet. The exterior is constructed of 
blue Bedford stone for the first story and Anderson pressed brick for the remaining five 
stories. There are tiers of galvanized-iron bays, developing at the roof into low turrets all 



246 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

around the building, and these, with other ornamental work, make the front elevations unusu- 
ally attractive. It has iron store fronts and plate-glass windows. The building is well 
lighted, having an open court in the center, besides three large and four small skylights. 
There are several attractive porticoes, and a large porch in the rear. It is finished inside in 
hardwood, has marble wainscoting, tile floors in vestibules, staircases of ornamental iron 
work, with marble steps, ornamental ceilings, porcelain water closets, artistic mantels and 
sanitary plumbing; all tenants are supplied with hot and cold water. The whole building is 
heated by steam, lighted by gas and electricity, contains three passenger elevators, and is in 
every respect made a first-class apartment house. 

The property fronting Michigan avenue, just north of Twelfth street, was sold for E. O. 
Russell, by Owen F. Aldis, to the Brooks estate and others for $50,000 in May, 1890. Mr. 
Eussell immediately leased it back for one hundred and ninety-eight years at a rental of 
$2,500 a year without revaluation. The size of the lot is 50x171 feet, and on it the lessee 
erected a fireproof bachelors' apartment building, seven stories high, the full width of the 
lot and eighty-three feet deep. The front is of brown brick and terra cotta and the interior 
finished in hardwoods, with steam heat, hot and cold water, electric light, elevator and all 
other modern conveniences. The engines and apparatus for heating and lighting are in a sep- 
arate building at the rear of the lot. In the basement of this building is a bar and on the 
ground floor a restaurant. The second and third floors together contain only two flats, that 
is the entire space on each of these two floors is used for a single flat. On the fourth floor in 
front is a large center room, off which two rooms on either side open. A diningroom, kitchen 
and servants' quarters occupy the rear space of this floor. The remaining three floors are 
divided into suites of two rooms and bathroom or one bedroom and bathroom. The bath- 
rooms are especially fine in this building; they are largo sized with mosaic floors, brass and 
nickel-plated pipes and other expensive furnishings. The special feature of this building is 
the comfortable and attractive bachelors' quarters. 

In May, 1890, Architect H. B. Seely designed the apartment house at Forty-seventh 
street and Kenwood avenue. This house is 100x150 feet, six and seven stories in hight, con- 
structed of stone, burned clay and iron, and is the result of the judicious expenditure of 
$80,000. The exterior is ornamental, having four front elevations of original designs. The 
interior is correspondingly handsome. The floors are laid in marble or tile. Two passenger 
and four freight elevators are in use. The projectors made this hotel entirely different from 
the usual apartment building, using nothing but hard coal for fuel, to avoid the smoke 
nuisance. 

The apartment building on Grand boulevard and Forty-first, as designed by the same 
architect, is a six-story, brown-brick, terra-cotta and iron building, constructed at a cost of 
about $150,000. 

The Groveland is the name of an elegant apartment building, erected at the corner of 
Cottage Grove avenue and College place. The dimensions are 150x115 feet, and eight stories 
high. It has front elevations of serpentine Pennsylvania green stone, rock faced, with bays 



TEE BUILDING INTERESTS. 247 

of brick, and elegant entrances and balconies. The style is rather odd, but very handsome, 
and the building presents an attractive appearance. It is finished inside in hardwood, has 
tile and marble work, art glass, best sanitary plumbing, and every modern convenience. The 
building is heated by steam and lighted by electricity. It is provided with four passenger 
elevators, arranged to serve each suite of apartments privately. There is a cafe on the ground 
floor, from which each suite can be served with food by means of dumb waiters. It has a 
promenade and garden on the roof, overlooking Groveland park and the lake, and is divided 
by fire walls and made fireproof. The plans were made by F. B. Abbott, for John Wain, in 
June, 1890. 

The Auburn Park hotel, on Seventy-ninth street, Winnecouna and Goldsmith avenues, 
was designed in June, 1890, for the owners Case & Kellogg. The exterior of this three - 
story, attic-aud- basement structure is of brick and stone, with stone carvings, copper bay 
windows and plate and ornamental glass windows. Its imposing fronts, with the attractive 
and harmonious architectural details, make it an exceedingly handsome building. There are 
three front elevations, thus giving the building plenty of light from the outside, and the 
interior is provided with light by a skylight, twenty -five feet square. The ground floor con- 
tains three stores, hotel office and ladies' waitingroom; on the second floor are the main 
diningroom and guest rooms, aud the third floor is occupied by guests' rooms and the 
kitchen; the attic is used for servants' rooms, and the basement for laundries, dryrooms, etc. 
It is handsomely finished inside in hardwood, heated by steam, lighted by electricity, has 
sanitary plumbing, freight elevator, wood mantels, and contains all modern conveniences. 

In March, 1889, Architect Duncan made plans for a summer hotel building and cottages 
at the beach, near Eighty-fourth street, to cost $200,000. 

The Geofrey brothers' hotel building, on Sixty-third street, near the Illinois Central 
railroad depot, was designed in June, 1890, by W. L. Carroll, to cost $70,000. The ground, 
r>0\SO feet, is covered with a five-story-and-basement, stone-front building, the interior of 
which is well finished and equipped for hotel purposes. 

The Waite office building, on the northwest corner of Fifty-third street and Lake avenue, 
was designed by the Doerrs, in July, 1890, to cost about $75,000. It is built of brick and 
stone, adorned with bay windows, and has large entrances. On the top floor is a large dining- 
room. The building is occupied by offices, but has been arranged so that the lower part of it 
can be used for hotel purposes. The interior is finished in hardwood, and is provided with 
elevator sen-ice, heated by steam, thoroughly ventilated, has best sanitary plumbing and the 
latest improvements. The fire of March 13, 1891, destroyed the Flood block, 108 to 114 
Fifty-third street, near the Illinois Central railroad tracks. It was erected in 1874 at a cost 
of $v>0,000. That two-story-aud-baseinent brick structure, 80x76 feet, was the pioneer of 
large structures in Hyde park. It contained two public halls on the upper story, and in the 
early days of Hyde Park Center was the headquarters for political conventions, dancing 
parties, fairs and social gatherings. 

E. E. Prussing erected an apartment building on the southwest corner of Pine street and 



248 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

Chicago avenue, according to plans by Architect H. I. Cobb, in 1890. It has a frontage of 
sixty feet on Chicago avenue and ninety feet on Pine street, is constructed of pressed brick 
and stone, and finished inside in hardwood. There are marble floors in halls and vestibule, 
marble -wainscoting, and the building is heated by steam. A large skylight provides light 
for the interior. It is supplied with freight and passenger elevators and all the latest im- 
provements. The site was occupied by two old houses which were torn down in July, iSltO. 

The Pullman hotel, near Fifty-third street and the lake shore, was designed in October, 
1890, by S. S. Beman, for George M. Pullman, to cost $1,000,000. 

The Ozark, on the southeast corner of Wabash avenue and Thirty-fifth street, was com- 
pleted early in 1891, after plans by J. J. Kouhn. It is said to be the peer of the finest apart- 
ment house in the world. A tyranny of bays with Byzantine domes or cupolas, a Moresque 
entrance and elaborate work in terra-cotta bands and panels distinguish the Ozark from other 
modern flats. 

The Goodall, situated at the southwest corner of Cottage Grove and Bowen avenues, a 
creation of 1890, is a magnificent seven-story fireproof edifice, which, for beauty of construc- 
tion and appointments, will vie with any similar structure in the city. Pressed brick of the 
finest quality, with Bedford stone and terra-cotta trimmings, compose the shell, the interior 
finishing of red oak being the tasteful result of the most careful workmanship. The two main 
entrances are treated in Georgia marble in two colors and imported tile in an effective manner, 
the tout ensemble being an admixture of refinement and grandeur. A very material factor in 
the comfort of the tenants of the Goodall will be found in the deadened walls and floors, 
which have been rendered so perfectly impervious to sound that the loudest noises in one flat 
cannot possibly penetrate to that above it. The building has a capacity of forty-three fiats 
inconvenient suites of from three to ten rooms. Steam heat, gas and electric light pervade 
the entire building, while among the most modern conveniences may be mentioned excellent 
passenger and freight service, hot and cold water throughout, as well as ample bath and 
storage rooms. The kitchens and other offices are thoroughly equipped with the latest ap- 
pliances. The large and lofty dwellingrooms, perfectly light and airy as they are, absolutely 
lack nothing in the way of appointments and conveniences. This building can have no better 
recommendation than that which lies in the fact of the work upon it having been carried on 
under the immediate supervision of the owner, George B. Goodall, who has been so closely 
identified with the building interests of Chicago. An imjwrtant and novel feature of this 
new apartment building is the Oakland safety deposit vaults, put in at a cost of $60,000, 
which occupy the basement. The Papilo Novi was used in mural decoration in this building. 
It is a composition of cement, coarse burlap and mineral wool, cast in molds, manufactured 
in sheets and fastened to the brick walls. What, with glazed tile wainscoting, French 
tile floors, metallic ceilings, and all the modern conveniences which belong to this great apart- 
ment house, the Goodall is a veritable paradise. Near the cable cars and the Illinois 
Central railroad it is within easy distance of the central business district, and yet almost over- 
looks the system of southern parks and boulevards, a rua in urbe village of forty-three houses 
within four walls. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 24!) 

The Grand Sheridan hotel at South Evanston, on the Sheridan road, was designed in the 
fall of 1890 by R. G. Pentecost. From the original description the following is taken: "The 
hotel itself will cover a site lSUx'250 feet, the large area additional to this to be laid out in 
ornamental grounds. The building will be five stories in hight, constructed of pressed brick 
and trimmed with stone; it will contain 160 rooms exclusive of servants' apartments and a 
dancing hall which is to be on the top floor. The building is intended to be fireproof through- 
out. With this purpose in view, steel beams and tile partitions and floors will be predominat- 
ing features. The roof will be of slate, terra cotta trimmed. Two passenger and one freight 
elevator will be in use, and the furnishings will be both stylish and massive. The main floor 
will be of marble. One of the strong and pleasing features of the Grand Sheridan hotel will 
be a wide porch, estimated at twenty feet, which will surround the entire structure. Its slop- 
ing roof will be of slate, trimmed with terra cotta and galvanized iron, the whole to be sup- 
ported on steel posts. Three large entrances are designed which will admit of rapid exit in 
case of fire." 

In November, 1890, Cady & Bauman designed an apartment house for Eichard Peck, to 
occupy the northeast corner of Dearborn avenue and Goethe street. The plans called for a 
four-story building, 50x130 feet, with Roman pressed-brick and brown-stone facades, modern 
interior decoration and equipment. 

In November, 1890, plans were prepared by Clinton J. Warren for the N. K. Fairbanks 
hotel building on Michigan avenue and Twenty-first street. Such plans called for a structure 
ten stories and basement high, fronting seventy-three feet on Michigan avenue and one hundred 
and seventy-one feet on Twenty-first street. The first two stories are constructed of blue Bedford 
stone and the remaining eight stories of buff Roman brick, with buff terra cotta trimmings. 
Plate glass is used throughout, and the interior is finished entirely in hardwood, with tile and 
marble work in the entrance, office and halls. The first floor is occupied by the office, 
lobbies, readingrooms, billiardhall and restaurant, the second floor by the diningroorus. 
The floors above are so constructed that two or three rooms may be thrown together or may 
be used separately. There is a bathroom for every two rooms in the house. It is heated by 
steam, has elevators, electric light and all improvements. 

Plans by W. T. Lesher for W. B. Charles' apartment house on Michigan avenue south of 
Thirtieth street were accepted in December, 1890. The first story and basement are of 
granite, and above of pressed brick, with terra cotta. The interior is finished in hardwood, 
with mosaic and tile floors and wainscoting. There are two passenger elevators, steam heat, 
electric light, and the best of sanitary and modern conveniences. 

The old Leiter building, situated on the corner of Twentieth and State streets, was 
removed and a modern store-and-flat building, erected according to plans by Architect George 
O. Garnsey. in the spring of 1891. It covers an area of 155x151 feet, and is four stories high. 
The exterior is constructed of brick and stone, with iron store front, and the facade adorned with 
bay windows of copper and other attractive features. It is covered with a composition roof. 
The interior is finished in hardwood, marble wainscoting, tile floors, and supplied with all the 



250 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

latest improvements. The upper floors are reached by means of elevators and roomy stair- 
ways. It is provided with improved sanitary appliances, steam heat and electric light, and 
special attention is given. to the proper ventilation of the building. The cost was $100,000. 
In June, 1891, the Chicago City Railway Company completed a new office building, between 
the Cooper flats, just noticed, and their power house. 

The Stebbins & Cozzins apartment building, on Indiana avenue and Twenty-fourth 
street, was designed by H. W. Wheelock, in November, 1890. It is a six-story-and-basement 
building, 127x121 feet, with the first story of rock-faced brown stone, and the upper stories 
of pressed brick. All that the judicious expenditure of $200,000 could furnish toward 
giving a perfect apartment house, was accomplished. 

The material in the Ashland block was purchased in May, 1891, by E. J. Hopson, who 
will utilize it in the erection of a hotel, at the southeast corner of Twelfth street and Michi- 
gan avenue. Mr. Hopson has owned the property adjoining this corner for a number of 
years. The widening of Twelfth street will bring out his holding to a corner suitable for a 
hotel site. The stone, cornices, and some of the frames of the Ashland block, can be used in 
the new building. 

In May, 1891, Robert Rae, Jr., completed drawings for an apartment building to be 
erected on Wentworth avenue, Eggleston, for J. Ingraham, to be 50x115 feet, three-story and 
basement. The basement is of rock- faced Bedford stone, the superstructure of St. Louis 
pressed brick, with cut-stone and terra-cotta trimmings, copper bays and cornice. The inte- 
rior is finished in hardwood, much of the work being according to special designs. The ves- 
tibule has mosaic floor, electric bells, speaking tubes and dumb waiters. The six- story apart- 
ment house on Wabash avenue near Fourteenth street was designed in May, 1891, by Robert 
Rae, to cost $60,000. A rock-faced first story with brick and stone superstructure, ornamented 
by copper bays, marks the style. 

Plans for a block of eighteen three-story stores and flats to be erected on Thirty-first 
street were made by J. J. Kouhn in May, 1891. They have pressed brick and stone fronts, 
and are fitted up with all the improvements. There are eighteen stores and fifty-four suites 
of apartments. The same architect designed a three-story-and-basement apartment house 
with three fronts, respectively one hundred and twenty-seven, one hundred and twenty, and 
one hundred and thirty-six feet in size, to be erected at Auburn Park at a cost of $200.000. 
It will be in the Queen Anne style of architecture, of pressed brick and stone, with marble and 
onyx wainscoting, copper and terra-cotta bays, red slate roof, and the best of improvements. 
He also planned a four- story stone and flat building of pressed brick and stone construction, 
to be erected at Auburn Park. 

A new flat building on Cottage Grove avenue, north of Thirty-ninth street, was designed 
in 1891 by Jaffray & Ohrenstein. It is a five-story pressed-brick building, one hundred and 
seventy-five feet front and eighty-four feet in depth. The first story is divided into nine 
stores, and the upper stories into sixty-four apartments. Copper bays are numerous in the 
facade. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 251 

The H. B. Smith four-story apartment house on the southeast corner of Vincennes ave- 
nue and Fortieth street is 51x116 feet in area, is constructed of pressed brick and trimmed with 
brown stone and terra cotta. It was designed by Thomas & Kapp for sixteen apartments of 
seven rooms each. 

W. G. Barfield completed plans in May, 1801, for a nine-story, basement-and-attic apart- 
ment building to be erected by Dr. F. D. Clark on Michigan avenue, opposite Park row. 
They provide for a strictly fireproof structure, to cost 1135,000. The fronts of the lower 
two stories are of gray granite, while the upper stories have front of Kasota stone. Two 
bay windows extend up through the front bearing cone-like roofs. The entrance is in granite, 
with walls and floor of marble and mosaic. Though the first story is Romanesque, the ver- 
tical character of the superstructure, undisguised by the great bays, undoes the style, leaving 
it anything or everything. 

The Price ten-story apartment house on Dearborn avenue and Division street was de- 
signed by Thomas Hawkes in May, 1891. It has two fronts. Balconies connect the bavs, 
forming a fire escape. On the corner is a circular bay window, surmounted by a tower one 
hundred and sixty-two feet high. There are three entrances, finished in marble, and eleva- 
tors at each. On the northeast corner of the lot there is a steel-and-glass building for the 
freight elevator, engines and dynamo, connected by iron bridges at the different floors. There 
is a common readingroom, a ladies' parlor, a smokingroom, a ballroom, and on the top floor 
a kitchen. Dumb waiters connect the kitchen with each apartment. On the roof is a garden 
and pavilion. The interior is finished in hardwood, mosaic floors, marble wainscoting, steam 
heat and electric light. 

A large hotel building was designed in May, 1891. The projectors are Fairburn & Son, 
and the site selected is the lot at Nos. 34 and 36 Washington street, which is now improved 
with an eight-story brick building, erected a short time after the fire. The new hotel will 
have a frontage of fifty feet on Washington street and a depth of one hundred and seventy 
feet to the alley. It will be fourteen stories high. The front will be of terra cotta and stone, 
with a double row of bays extending from the second story to the thirteenth. The interior 
will be of iron and tile construction, making the building practically fireproof. The finishing 
will be of marble and hardwoods. The estimated total cost specified in the building permit 
is $300,000. 

Plans for the five-story apartment house on the site of the old synagogue, between Four- 
teenth and Fifteenth streets, on Michigan boulevard, were made in Jv~ >, 1891, by Edward 
White & Co. The building is 75x171 feet, arranged in twenty-four suites, and erected at a 
cost of ?KX),0<)0. 

The Lexington hotel, on the northeast corner of Michigan boulevard and Twenty -second 
street, was begun in May. 1891, when several frame houses, which had occupied the site for 
years were removed. This new ten-story hotel shows a frontage of one hundred and twenty 
five feet on the boulevard, and one hundred and sixty -one feet on Twenty-second street. The 
plans by C. J. Warren provide for a building of steel construction, faced with brown brick 

16 



202 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

and terra cotta. The main entrance on the boulevard leads to a rotunda 50x68 feet. Over 
the main entrance is built a balcony, forty feet wide, overlooking the boulevard. This balcony 
is eighteen feet deep and projects seven feet from the main walls. The hotel proper contains 
three hundred and seventy rooms, arranged in suites. Eleven tiers of bay windows extend 
up through the building from the second story. On the Twenty- second street frontage are 
nine stores. The corner is devoted to a tower which receives a corona above the cornice of 
the main building. In July, 1891, the contract for construction was awarded to Wells Bros., 
the total cost being estimated at $050,000. 

The Fitch apartment house, on Wabash avenue and Thirty-seventh street, was designed 
in July, 1891, by F. J. Norton. It is 50x85 feet, six stories in hight, with fronts of pressed 
brick and terra cotta. Two metal bays, springing from corbels above the rock-faced Roman- 
esque first story, receive Byzantine domes above the parapet. 

The Kramer flats, on the northeast corner of Madison street and Hoyne avenue, was 
designed in 1891 by Wilson & Marble. The house is 13P>x70 feet. The first story is devoted 
to stores, and the three stories above to eighteen flats or apartments. 

The Hawkins apartment house on Michigan boulevard and Forty-second street was 
designed by T. W. Wing, in May, 1891. It is a five-story pressed-brick structure, showing 
some attention to architectural detail. 

The Spencer apartment house on Oakeuwald avenue and Forty-third street was designed 
in June, 1891, by J. E. O. Pridmore. It has street fronts of buff Bedford stone and Tiffany 
pressed brick. The two main entrances are enriched with carving and Italian marble wains- 
coting floors and steps. The' apartments are heated by steam and lighted by gas and electric- 
ity. They have gas ranges and logs. Special features of the building are a continuous 
supply of hot water to every apartment, and live-steam supply in all wash-trays to boil 
clothes. 

The Pelham apartment house, on the northwest corner of Garfield avenue and North 
Clark street, completed prior to 1891, was sold in May of this year for $110,000, to Angus, 
Gindele & Seely. The property has a frontage of ninety-nine and one-half feet on North 
Clark street, and a depth of one hundred and thirty feet on Garfield avenue, running back to 
an alley. It is a handsome building, being constructed something on the plan of the Pull- 
man building, is four stories high, and contains twenty-eight apartments and five stores. 
The gross rental is $13,1)40. 

Plans were made in April, 1891, by C. S. Frost, for a block of four-story-and-basement 
stores and apartment houses combined, at Clark street and Belmont avenue. The material is 
Anderson pressed brick, brown stone and terra cotta. The design is in the Flemish style, 
with a high broken gable in the center. The frontage on Belmont avenue is one hundred 
and fifty-eight feet, and on Clark street ninety-two feet. It contains three stores and twenty- 
eight suites of apartments. The interior is finished in hardwoods, has steam heat and hot 
wiitcr. besides an independent water supply. 

The Hammond & Archer apartment house, on Dearborn avenue and Division street, was 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 253 

designed in July, 1891, by Francis J. Norton. It is six stories bigh and has a frontage of 
thirty-three feet on Dearborn avenue and one hundred and twenty-five feet on Division street. 
The fronts of the building are of brick, stone, and terra cotta, with metal bays and two pro- 
jecting corner towers. The interior finish of the building is in oak, with halls floored in tile 
and wainscoted in marble. The building complete represents an outlay of $100,000. Many 
architectural forms are shown, but they are so intermingled with the tyrannous bay and 
corner tower, there is some difficulty in locating them. 

The trustees of St. Luke's hospital began the construction of the six-story store-and- 
apartment house, on the grounds owned by the hospital at Nos. 1423 and 1429 Michigan 
avenue, at a cost of 140,000. The building was designed by S. S. Beman. It has a front- 
age of one hundred and twenty and a depth of one hundred feet, built in the Renaissance 
style of architecture, the first story being constructed of dressed blue stone. Pressed brick, 
relieved at intervals by a five-inch band of terra cotta, completes the upper stories. The 
building contains four stores in the first story, and twenty apartments of eight rooms each. 
It is heated by steam and lighted by electricity. 

With all that is accomplished toward the multiplication of the French flat, a beginning 
has only been made. Were all the new apartment houses, now on paper, converted into 
stone, brick and iron, many miles of frontage would be under roof before the close of the year 
1891. Many of the projected buildings will be erected certainly, and greater numbers, yet 
unmc-ntioned, will be raised to fill up broad gaps on the prairie, within the city, before 1898. 
Two tower buildings or hotels with towers have already been designed for the neighborhood 
of Jackson park. Plans suggested by E. W. Allen and worked out by Perley Hale have been 
accepted by the Park View Hotel & Tower Company. The observation tower is to reach a 
hight of five hundred and thirty-three feet, divided into four sections. At each section there 
will be balconies, some of which are to be inclosed in glass, the remainder to be separated 
from the surrounding space only by iron railings. There will be a full service of elevators 
for sightseers, two sets running only to the first balconies, where there will bo a restaurant 
and comfortable seats, according to the present plans. A charge will be made for going to 
the first balconies, and an additional fee for going to the balconies above. All the details of 
the structure have not been decided upon: but the present plan is to surmount the tower with 
a huge globe of structural steel, inclosed in glass, and with the countries of the world marked 
out on the surface. This is to be lighted by electricity, and the great hight would cause it 
to show up prominently for many miles around, especially from the lake, taking the place of 
government lighthouses in guiding ships in a storm. The hotel to be built in connection with 
the tower will be modern in every respect. It is to be seven stories and built of steel, as the 
tower will be, but is to have a pressed brick and stone exterior of sightly appearance. The 
company baa an option on a lot, 1(50x17") feet, on Stony Island avenue, near Sixty-third 
street, and the building is to cover the entire lot. It will be fitted with all modern conven- 
iences, and will be opened in time for the accommodation of the World's Fair visitors. 

The Bird's Eye View Tower Company have the designs of Architect Deam for a house of 



254 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

the same character. Upon the roof of the hotel will be a garden and restaurant. The hotel 
itself will bo 100x122 feet and six stories high. It will be of steel, terra cotta and hollow 
tile construction and fireproof throughout. The ground floor will contain six stores, each 
18x40 feet. The entrances to the hotel and tower will be upon the same frontage on Stony 
Island avenue, but will be separate. The diningroom of the hotel will seat two hundred 
people, and the structure itself will have one hundred rooms, each one of which will open 
directly to the outside light and air. The hight of the building will be seventy-five feet. 
The tower will be built upon a special and separate foundation of special steel construction 
and will be three hundred feet high. It will be furnished with three balconies, each with an 
amphitheater floor, overlooking the exposition grounds. Each balcony will be roofed with a 
steel-canopy top. The total standing capacity of these three balconies will be seven hundred 
and seventy-five. The first will be built one hundred, the second two hundred and the third 
three hundred feet from the ground. The four elevators, which will furnish transportation, 
will be inclosed and will furnish the only wind obstruction that there is in connection with 
the tower. 

The Vickery flats, 120(5 Wabash avenue, were designed in 1891, byH. B. Wheelock; the 
La Berge flats, 153 Madison street; the Bayor flats, 1433 and 1435 Wabash avenue; the Sul- 
livan apartment house, on Sedgwick street; the Stevenson, Barker & Betz hotel, on Stony 
Island avenue and Seventy-first street; the Peter Mueller flats, 086 and 688 North avenue: 
the B. F. Tobin apartment house, 3301 to 3311 Cottage Grove avenue (cost $125,000); the 
Columbian flats, on Wentworth avenue and Sixty-ninth street, and the Auburn flats, on Cot- 
tage Grove avenue, near Twenty-ninth street, all show the development of the French apart- 
ment house. A hundred buildings of the same character might be named, and still the list 
would not be complete, for as each day dawns, the news of new apartment houses designed, 
and reports of greater projects in the same direction, appear, demonstrating that the begin- 
nings of flat buildings in Chicago have only been made, and that it is only possible to record 
what has been accomplished. 

The seven-story Hotel Metropole on Michigan boulevard and Twenty-third street, 
designed by C. J. Warren, cost $425,000. The ten-story Virginia on Ohio and Kush streets 
cost a half million of dollars; the seven-story Aldrich on Lake avenue and Forty-second street 
cost $300,000, and the ten-story Kerr building on Washington avenue and Sixty-first street 
cost $400,000. They are all elegant apartment houses, showing the hand of the modernizer 
on the exterior and interior. The Kadish, on Wabash avenue near Twenty-fourth street, was 
completed in 1891 at a cost of f 100,000, and the Waite building, in that vicinity, at a cost of 
about $4(1,0(10. The Eicardi apartment house was designed by Mr. Wheelock. 

The modern flat is the palace of those who wish to be relieved of house owning and its 
cares. It requires a more minute description than that given in former pages, and, to answer 
this requirement, the owners of one of these structures are quoted as follows: " The Hyde Park 
hotel, or Hotel Hyde Park, as it is sometimes called, is already a widely known house, and 
even where not known, the name would be sufficient to suggest its location and comparative 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 255 

standing, for Hyde Park is too well and favorably known as a rural residence district to 
need description of any kind. Situated on the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago, only six 
miles from the very center of the city, it contains the finest and most costly residences of Chi- 
cago's wealthy men. In the very midst of the best portion of this district, the Hyde Park 
hotel is located, commanding a view on one side of the broad expanse of lake, only three hun- 
dred feet away, and on the other a myriad of handsome houses studding the almost endless 
groves of trees. Fifty-first street boulevard, one hundred feet in width, connecting the two 
divisions of the South park system, and forming, with Midway Plaisance, a circular boulevard 
drive passes in front of the house, and a constant stream of carriages can be seen almost at 
any time from the broad balconies of the house. The building of itself would be an orna- 
ment to any neighborhood. It is eight stories high, with a basement, and the general trend 
of its architecture is Romanesque. The main entrance is on the boulevard, and by its artistic 
design invites an inspection of the interior. The material principally employed in the con- 
struction of the building is the celebrated Tiffany pressed brick, with trimmings of Portage 
brown sandstone, a combination which secures an ornate as well as light and pleasing effect. 
The building has large windows, oval shape, and at the summit, directly over the main 
entrance, is an observation tower, surmounted by a twelve-foot flagstaff. The house is mag- 
nificently equipped as to verandas, as any hotel designed to enjoy a heavy summer patronage 
should be. There is a large veranda extending entirely around the building at the second 
story, and over the main entrance as high as the fifth story are verandas of substantial con- 
struction and elegant design, while on the Jefferson avenue side is a vast piazza, on a level 
with the grand floor, entered from a hall to the right of the rotunda. Verandas also go as 
high as the fifth story on this side, so that if any guest fails to secure a sufficient supply of 
fresh air it is because he prefers to stay indoors, and not because of a lack of facilities. 
The building is absolutely fireproof from cellar to garret, the floors and partition walls 
being constructed of solid terra cotta masonry. The systems of heating and of ventilation are 
of the most approved modern pattern, and the lighting is done by electricity. 

" The extent of the investment may be realized when it is stated that the total cost of 
the building and ground is in the neighborhood of |350,(XX), with an additional >C>().Otl() for 
furnishing. It took two years to complete the hotel, the work being performed under the 
supervision of Theodore Starrett and George A. Fuller, a Chicago firm of general builders 
iind contractors, of which everything that is complimentary may be said. 

"Having described in a general way the appearance of the hotel, as viewed from tin- 
exterior, one may step inside and examine the interior at his leisure. Passing through the 
main entrance before mentioned, the grand rotunda, the dimensions of which are 50x100 
feet, is reached. The floor is laid in fine mosaic marble; the walls and the six Corinthian 
columns being wainscoted to a liberal hight with line Italian marble, which secures a singu- 
larly chaste effect. The office stands to the rear, and its furnishings are very rich. There is 
a highly polished counter; and a dome-shaped skylight of cathedral glass in gorgeous designs 
sends down a soft and agreeable light, and adds materially to the general harmony of the 



256 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 

effect. Handsome desks and other furniture complete the office equipment. Passing to the 
right of the office the grand staircase of iron and marble, which is of generous width is seen. 
Light is thrown on the stairway by a handsome chandelier, composed of sixteen electric 
incandescent lamps. To the left of the office is an ice-water fountain of marble construction, 
and with nickel-plated trimmings, and beyond this is found the way to the washroom. The 
latter apartment, like the rotunda, is wainscoted in marble, the stationary wash basins being 
of the same material. The gentlemen's toilet, adjoining, is furnished entirely in marble, and 
all its furnishings are of the most approved modern style. Opposite, and to the right of the 
office, facing on the boulevard, is the reading and writingrooin, also wainscoted in marble 
and equipped with the handsomest of chairs and tables, and the iisual writing materials. 
Three hundred incandescent lights are employed in the lighting of the writingroom and 
rotunda, and the splendor of the effect may be imagined. The fittings are in quarter-sawed 
oak. To the right and the left are the commodious passenger elevators. The office and 
elevators communicate with the ladies' entrance, which fronts on the boulevard, to the left of 
the main entrance, and leads to a handsomely furnished receptionroom, and an extra room 
for the use of the nurses of the guests' children, for whose especial benefit it was designed. 
The diningroom deserves special mention. The entrance to it is at the foot of the grand 
staircase, to the right of the office. It is 5l)xl (X) feet in floor space, and fronts on Jefferson 
avenue. The ceiling is 22 J feet high. The walls are wainscoted in Italian marble, the wains- 
coting being siirmounted by splendid beveled French mirrors. The woodwork is of quarter- 
sawed oak, carved in intricate designs, and the floor is of mosaic marble. A magnificent sky- 
light of stained glass set with many jewels lends a mellow light to the room by day, and at night 
the electric light is again brought into play. Powerful arc lights placed above the stained 
glass, cast a rich glow from above, and, in addition, two hundred and six incandescent elec- 
tric lights are ranged along the walls near the ceiling. A fine view of Jefferson avenue may 
be had from the diningroom, through six large windows of plate glass. The trimmings are 
on the customary scale of richness. The tables and chairs are of oak of unique design, and 
the silverware and other table appointments leave nothing to be desired in point of elegance. 
The room is cool in summer, and its perfect system of steam-heating will make it hard to beat 
for comfort in winter. It must be remembered in this connection that, when occasion 
demands it, the diningroom can be transformed into as desirable a ballroom as the most 
inveterate devotee of the pastime of dancing could wisli for. From the dinningroom the 
guest naturally turns to the parlors. The three parlors and assemblyroom are situated on 
the second floor, fronting on the boulevard, and are readied by the elevators or stairway. 
The parlors are 50x100 feet, and are tastefully finished in birch wood. Handsome mantels, 
costly beveled mirrors, soft Wilton carpets, luxurious oak wood settees, inviting arm-chairs, 
and a splendid upright piano, cased in cherry, are some of the sights which greet the visitor 
and convey an instant impression of combined elegance, luxury and good taste. No pleasantor 
place for reading or for a quiet chat with a congenial companion could bo wished for. The 
parlors are at all times well lighted, and have an effect of general cheerfulness. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. -:,7 

" The hotel has three hundred rooms, furnished in suites of two to five apartments. Of 
tin-so, fifty suites are furnished with wood mantels, fire grates with fancy tiles, and private 
baths, and are handsomely lighted with incandescent lamps. All the rooms are connected 
with the office by electric call and return bells, and each room is supplied with a large closet, 
and is heated by steam when desired. The majority of the rooms command a' view of Lake 
Michigan, and while on this branch of the subject it may not be amiss to repeat the asser- 
tion that the hotel is fireproof throughout. The hallways of the hotel are wide and 
airy to the highest degree. Fine brussels and Wilton carpets make them soft and easy to 
the tread. To make assurance doubly sure, where the safety of the guests is concerned, fire- 
escapes have been placed at the ends of the hallways, thus affording another means of egress 
if such should ever be needed. The chandeliers that diffuse their soft rays through the 
hallways are a combination of gas and electric lights, and are richly finished in brass. No 
hotel would be complete without a billiardroom, and in this respect the Hyde Park hotel can 
challenge comparison with any rival establishment. The billiardroom is located in the 
basement, directly beneath the diningroom, and is entered either from the rotunda or Jeffer- 
son avenue. It contains six tables of the best make. The tables are all finished in oak, 
which harmonizes with the quarter-sawed oak finishing of the room. Near the room are 
located the handsomely-appointed barber shop and public bathrooms a whole institution in 
themselves." This description will apply generally to the other great apartment houses of 
the city. In each of them is found every convenience and equipment which the light of our 
present civilization suggests. 

The modern residence is very far removed from the city or manor house of eveii thirty 
years ago. It is opposed in Mo to ancient ideas, and cannot be associated, in the minds of 
grandmothers, with domestic life as they understood it in the summer of their youth. It is 
a palace in miniature, smaller of course, than the homes of European or Asiatic princes: but 
healthier, better equipped with the conveniences of life, cleaner, more like civilization, and 
certainly purer than the homes of the persons just referred to. All the past appears to 
be forgotten in the erection of the modern dwelling. The late John W. Root, in his last 
contribution to Scribner's Magazine, speaks as follows of domestic architecture, having in 
mind the Chicago dwelling house. "The conditions attending the development of architecture 
in the West have been in almost every respect without precedent. Up to a time twenty years 
ago every energy of the hardy pioneers who were opening the vast district now called "the 
\\Vst " was expended in the most rudimentary work that demanded by self-protection and 
self -sup}>ort. During this period of ceaseless struggle, architecture, as we understand it, was 
not thought of, and the most primitive log but served for shelter. But as cities began to 
spring up, the " balloon-framed" wood house was evolved. This early type of dwelling has 
made the growth of the West possible. Even to-day many western cities, not only like 
Chicago, whose earliest growth datos back fifty years, but like Duluth, Minneapolis, Omaha 
and others of later growth, are more than half made up of these frame houses. In Chicago 
the great west side contains thousands of them. Their life, however, is now nearly finished. 



258 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

for in nearly every western city of more than one hundred thousand inhabitants the law is 
passed that within city limits no wood house may be built, so that the next five years will see 
their total disappearance in favor of more or less substantial structures of masonry. Thus 
these hardy pioneers of architecture, in their very disappearance, do architecture some serv- 
ice, for because of them every old western city must be almost entirely rebuilt, and this 
under modern and enlightened auspices. In Chicago, previous to the great fire of 1871, the 
typical city house, whether of wood or stone, or of both combined (for often a stone front was 
a mask covering a structure in every other respect of wood), was in general arrangement not 
unlike the corresponding house in New York. Chicago possessed a few interesting souvenirs 
of its early history, but these, alas! went with the great fire of 1871, and scarcely a remnant 
remains; and of these few not one has been spared. 

From the early and meager architectural development of this and other western cities the 
present state is vastly removed. Indeed, modern western dwellings seem to have scarcely a 
visible trace of relationship to these earlier types. First, let it be noted that there is in 
western cities a notable absence, compared with cities in the East, of houses built in blocks. 
The reason for this is obvious. Eastern cities being older, were begun and their traditions 
established at a time when their citizens were more interdependent and facilities for trans 
portation were less complete than now. For this reason they are not only more compactly 
built, but ground has become dearer than in the West. The reverse is true of western cities, 
and the result is that residences much more frequently occupy considerable space, being 
entirely detached from other houses and surrounded by their own trees and lawns. This 
suburban effect is also enhanced by the extraordinary increase in the variety of building 
materials, which, coupled with the characteristic western love of novelty, often leads to the 
erection of houses as different in material, color and treatment as is possible to conceive, 
different dwellings in the same street being as independent of each other often as appar- 
ently hostile as if separated by wide stretches of open country. Nevertheless, many streets 
thus built up present a superb air of space, comfort, and even luxury. In driving through 
the streets the eye is at no time wearied with the monotony which is so tiresome in Fifth 
avenue or other similar streets in eastern cities, but is everywhere delighted with the constant 
change, constant appeal to new. sentiment, and that delightful sense of the picturesque, 
which to the stranger is so inspiriting. Notable among such streets are Euclid avenue in 
Cleveland, where the splendid residences which line it are often set back as much as two 
hundred or three hundred feet from the street; Michigan boulevard and the lake shore 
drive in Chicago, superbly paved streets, with great variety of interesting outlook; Prospect 
and Grand avenues in Milwaukee, the first overlooking the lake from a bluff one hundred 
feet high, the second a magnificently wooded avemie two hundred feet wide, and several 
avenues in St. Paul, Minneapolis and other cities. lu the growth of their plans, western city 
houses have tended toward greater enlargement and importance of the living and dining 
rooms, at the expense of the parlor and reception rooms. One feature in the plans of these 
dwellings must be clearly defined. This is their openness. Not only are windows UJKHI the 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 259 

average larger than in the East, but they are more frequent, as are also bay-windows, oriels, 
etc. Fireplaces have steadily grown in dignity and beauty. Take the subject of western 
house plans altogether, it will be found that from 1874 to within a few years back there was 
a tendency toward all sorts of ingenious arrangements producing odd and startling effects; 
but since then a reaction has set in toward simpler and more practical plans, in which space, 
light and utility supplant mere eccentricity. The typical western dwellings are better 
finished within than their exterior would seein to indicate. The reverse of this is seldom 
true, and this is a good deal to say for the certain honesty in western cities, where the occu- 
pant of the house is less interested in making a spacious display to his neighbors, than in 
"acquiring a solid and enduring comfort for himself. Architectural tradition in the West, there 
is none. Even from such practices as may exist in the East, the West will often hesitate 
to borrow. The dwelling houses now erected in Chicago have marked peculiarities, not to be 
found in other cities. That this western architecture is vital, cannot be denied. With all its 
crudity, begotten of ignorance, but more often begotten of haste, domestic architecture in the 
West is certainly vigorous. There can be no question upon its insistence of the right to live. 
And with this vitality there will not be wanting material with which to work." 

Jean Berand in his new painting " Magdalen and the Pharisees " introduces an old idea in 
a new dress. There is Christ at the banquet table; Magdalen, dressed in modern widow's 
costume, sits recumbent at his feet, and, looking on the scene, are men dressed like members of 
a leading Parisian club. Strange to behold the Hero of the New Testament seated among 
Parisians of the nineteenth century. The artist expressed the particular quality of Christ, 
which is unity, goodness and peace in all climes and nations. He simply points out Christ 
adapting himself to the nineteenth century ideas, and conveys the architectural fact that art 
is concrete and abstract. It can be adapted, but there is only one original. From this 
original there are many departures. Some are beautiful, independent ideas, some are the 
opposite; but group them all and the ensemble is pleasing. A walk or drive along the south- 
ern boulevards or the leading north side residence streets will confirm this and further deter- 
mine that what Berand conceived in 1891, Chicago architects had been executing for a decade. 
They revived old forms, dressed them anew and mixed them up so thoroughly that they 
appear beautiful and picturesque in a group or in lines, where alone one of them would hurt 
the eye and heart. 

The Elizabethan, the Jacobean, the Queen Anne and the neo-American styles are poor 
mixtures of the poorer parts of the Greek, Italian and French schools. To draw an artless 
simile they bear the same relation to architecture that oleomargarine does to the finest 
Elgin butter. The Elizabethan architects mixed the Italian and Gothic, the Jacobean or the 
architects of James I., the Norman, Italian and Gothic, and the Queen Anne architects 
placed every monstrosity they could imagine under roof. All these styles and more, the 
Chicago architect tamed down, robbed them of the rubbish and made an alloy of the little 
worth that was in them, with what was beautiful and adaptable in the classic forms. It is 
not just however to confine architectural effort in the domestic field to the decade just end- 
ing. A few very elegant mansions were erected here prior to 1880. 



260 INDUSTKIAI. ('11 1C .\<l(l : 

The Medill dwelling on Cass street, built within the half decade ending in 1875, is the 
finest specimen of house-building known to that period. The Marquette brown stone walls, 
central doorway, large plate-glass windows and general substantial air give to the home of 
the veteran editor an appearance of solid grandeur and warmth all its own. Another and 
another exception might be made, but one such building is sufficient to rescue the domestic 
architecture of the seventies from oblivion. 

The erection of the Storey palace, on Grand boulevard, was an era in the history of the 
building up of the great South Side. The five and a-fraction acres in the Storey tract 
were boiight by W. F. Storey, of the Times, for something like $1.600 an acre in 1807 or 
about two years before the parks were located. Five adjoining acres were sold the same 
year for $1 ,000, which was one hundred per cent in advance of what the owners offered them for 
the year previous. The panic of 1873 did not effect prices here materially, and when the 
great marble pile was erected, the advance began. In September, 1889, the palace and 
grounds were sold for $225,000, the marble building, which cost about $250,000, being 
appraised for $75,000; 350x180 feet on Grand boulevard at $70,000; 350x180 feet on Vin- 
cennes avenue at $50,000 and two hundred and forty feet on Forty-third street at $80,000, 
or $150,000 for a fraction of a tract which cost $1,000 twenty-two years before. The Storey 
palace is a three-story, attic-and-basement structure in the Italian Gothic style, with Norman 
and early English windows thrown in. The principal facade shows the square six-story, base- 
ment-and-attic tower in the center, the veranda on each side, the portico, the balconies, bal- 
conette and the upper bracketed gallery on the attic level. The tower assumes its square form 
midway in the mansard roof, ascends two stories to the cornice and then receives the lantern. This 
is not altogether for ornament, as a chimney is carried above the level of the lookout chamber or 
lantern. The side elevations present a tourette, a great bay with roof slanting from the first 
dormer, a round tower with cone roof and a circular conservatory. The richly capped pillars 
in the portico and veranda, the pilasters and engaged columns, the balustrades, the band- 
courses and even the chimneys speak of exhaustive design. 

The residence for the priests of the Cathedral of the Holy Name was completed in 1881, 
at an expense of $75,000. It conforms in style to the cathedral and is one of the very first of 
the great stone residence structures given to Chicago after the revival of business. 

The Kent residence, on Michigan avenue and Twenty-ninth street, was designed by 
Burnham & Root in October, 1882. It is 00x100 in ground area, three stories high, con- 
structed entirely of pressed brick, with molded jambs and bands in terra cotta, bringing out 
some of the details of the French Renaissance of Francis I., such as carving in terra-cotta 
panels and enriched friezes. Two great bays, flanking the entrance, are united in the second 
story, their outside lines being corbeled out to the main wall so as to come under one roof. 
By this means the entrance is in a deep loggia in which are windows opening into the bays. 
The only windows in the third story appear in the elaborate tympanum, formed of terra cotta. 
The sides of the building are also ornamental and the interior decorations superb. 

The residences of C. B. and J. V. Farwell, on the north lake shore drive; the Union 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 201 

clubhouse, on Washington place and Dearborn avenue; M. D. Wells' residents on Michigan 
avenue and Twenty-sixth street, each one costing over $100.000 wore all projected in April, 
1882. 

The plans by Cobb & Frost for the Palmer residence on the lake shore drive were 
approved by the owner in April, 1882. The architect's description of the house credits it to 
the early Egyptian embattled style, with modern dressing such as large bays. The east front 
is eighty-two feet and the depth one hundred and eight feet. Two windowed projections sur- 
mounted by balconies rise to a hight of three stories, and with the stone balcony on the south- 
east corner give prominence to the east facade. The north facade shows a heavy bay and a 
square tower, with turret on its northeast corner, the finial of which is eighty feet from 
ground level. Petit tourettes mark the upper corners of the roof outline on the east front 
and other parts. The square tower appears more imposing than it really is, owing to the 
architectural aims toward this end in the northeast corner. The ordinary arch of the pointed 
style is not visible, but the early style is liberally endowed with pillars of the Gothic period. 
The porte-cochere, on the northeast corner, and the conservatory, 60x40 feet, on the south 
side, are well brought out. The main entrance is in the northeast corner. From the porte- 
cochere a large vestibule is entered, and then a hall, 80x88 feet, the hight of two stories, with 
gallery on the level of first floor. The main stairway with its marble dados and rich furnish- 
ings is found here. The library, 20x42 feet, lighted by two bays, occupies the southeast cor- 
ner. The morningroom, 20x24 feet, the diningroom, 22x32 feet, with its old-fashioned fire- 
place, and the receptionroom in the tower, 15x18 feet, open on corridors. In the northeast 
corner is the drawingroom, 22x51 feet, lighted by a bay 22x7 feet. The statuary alcove at 
the west side of this room is lighted from the ceiling. The kitchen is in the basement, and 
the servants' rooms in that section of the building carrying a third story. Canada gray lime- 
stone, laid in six-inch courses, and trimmings, moldings, carvings and cornices in Ohio sand- 
stone, shown in the exterior, were all cut and furnished by Young & Farrell. 

The Franklin McVeagh residence, designed by Richardson, is a two-story, attic-arid-base- 
ment house, constructed of rock-faced stone. The arcade of three arches on the first story, 
the arcade of six arches on the second story, convey to the building the Romanesque. A 
round corner tower with conelike roof, and transomed windows, with casemates in basement, 
portray the ideas of Richardson and his desire to be original. ' The Roman strength is given 
full swing, but Roman beauty is sacrificed. The J. J. Glessner dwelling is one of Richard- 
son's strange fancies, constructed to stand anything from the fire of a mortar battery to an 
earthquake. 

The J. H. Wrenn residence, designed by Burnham & Root, was completed in May, ] 883. 
It is a brick house on stone basement with terra cotta ornamentation. The style is a mixture 
of Romanesque, Gothic and Colonial. The attic story is a gabled affair, formed far above 
the grand cornice. 

The Lambert Tree residence on Cass and Ontario streets, designed by Peabody & 
Stearns, of Boston, was erected in 18834. It is a two-story, basement-and-attic building. 



262 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

7dx(>'2 feet in area, with fronts of Long Meadow rock-faced brown stone arranged in the 
Romanesque style. 

Early in 1884 the B. D. Arrington residence on the Lake Shore drive, north of Potter 
Palmer's castle, was commenced. It is a three-story-and-basemeut building, with fronts of 
Vermont marble. A central pavilion dome, carved in open work marks the facade. This is 
the first residence in the city to which the Moresque style was applied. 

Architect Whitehouse is credited with the Cudahy, the Higginbotham. the Hutchinson, 
the Yerkes, the George Armour and the Loomis residences. The first and last named are 
considered the best works of Burling & Whitehouse, in the field of domestic architecture. 

The Cudahy residence, on Michigan boulevard and Thirty- third street, was designed in 
1885. It is a three-story, basement -and- at tic building, in the Flemish-Gothic style, con- 
structed of Connecticut Longnieadow stone. The Belvidere corner tower, the porte-cochere 
on the north side, the Roman arched entrance, with its abridged columns, the stone balconies, 
stone tower and grand Marat turret, springing from a beautiful corbel, all mark this house 
as the product of art. The cost of the building was $125,000. 

The Hinchley residence, on Michigan avenue south of Twenty-sixth street, was designed 
in April, 1888, by Perley Hale, to cost $125,000. Stone is the sole building material. 

The Williams residence on Drexel boulevard, south of Forty-eighth street, was designed 
early in 1889, by W. M. Walter. This building is 00x110 feet, with stone exteriors. The 
total cost was S70.000. 

The Keeney residence on Michigan avenue near Twenty-sixth street was designed in 
August, 1889, by C. J. Warren, and cost $50,000. 

The R. T. Crane residence on Michigan boulevard, two hundred feet north of twenty-sixth 
street, presents large gables, on the north and south. Light gray granite, relieved by cut 
and carved bands, appears in the outer walls, while the roof is Spanish tile. The main 
entrance is on the north side, thus leaving the entire front for library and parlor uses. The 
main entrance leads through the vestibule into a large square hall, with a staircase hall to the 
left. Opening from the hall to the west is the parlor or receptionroom ; south of the parlor 
is the library or livingroom. The diningroom occupies the south-central portion of the 
house, with a conservatory at the south end; east of the main hall is the billiardroom, while 
the remainder of the first floor is occupied by the service portion of the house. The heating 
apparatus is a combination of steam and hot water. 

The residence of Thomas Mackin, on Diversey avenue north of Lincoln park, was 
designed in May, 1889, by W. L. Carroll. It is a two-story, attic and high-basement structure, 
vJx-YJ feet, built of rock-faced stone and roofed with slate. Plate glass windows aid the 
architectural features in rendering the house one of the best class of modern dwellings. 

The Heiseu residence on the Lake Shore drive was designed in June, 1890, by F. B. 
Abbott. It is 40x70 feet in size, three stories and basement high, constructed of quarry- 
faced red granite, witli tile roof. The interior is finished in foreign and domestic hardwood; 
it has mosaic floors in bathrooms, plate and beveled glass, mantels, fireproofing, hot -water 
heating, electric light, and all the latest improvements. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 2(53 

The Niblock dwelling at Kenwood was designed in 1890, by S. S. Bemau. This three- 
story house, 35x75 feet, shows the shingle used with the same nonchalance as in the days of 
the Chicago Queen Anne. Within the hardwood finishing is elegant. 

The Pardridge residence on Prairie avenue, the Wilson and the Fuller residences, on 
Michigan boulevard, the Hammer residence, on Grand boulevard, and that study in St. Law- 
rence marble, known as Woodward's residence, on Michigan boulevard, are all clever works, 
credited to Architect Clay, of Wheelock & Clay. 

The Moulton dwelling, on Prairie avenue and Twentieth street, the Libby dwelling, on 
the northwest corner of Michigan boulevard and Thirty-fourth street, and Martin Byerson's, 
on Drexel boulevard, jxjint out the prevailing ideas of Treat & Foltz. 

An ideal of simplicity, as expressed in St. Lawrence marble, is found on Lake Park avenue. 
It is certainly an extreme one. The Q'appele style may be appropriate for it. It is the first 
expensive building erected in that peculiar form here, and there is hope that it will be the 
last. Interiorly, the house is elegant exteriorly, it belongs to the age of the mound builders. 
Fortunately, the architect has many buildings to his credit, worthy of an older and wealthier 
city than this is. 

The Cable and Tansill dwellings, constructed after designs by Cobb, show some indi- 
vidual independence, and the same may be said of Irving Pond's Coonley house, on the Lake 
Shore drive and Division street. 

The Martin residence, on Michigan boulevard and Twenty-sixth street, constructed of 
St. Lawrence marble, after designs by J. A. Thain, is very creditable to architect and build- 
ers. It presents many parts of the ideal French chateau, with its fine corner tower and bay 
window, giving a recessed center, with projecting steps. The gables in the attic are, in 
fact, grand dormers, shared equally by square and Norman windows. An oriel over the j>orte- 
cochere and the triple pilastered window in the gable above, confer a Flemish idea, which is 
overmastered by the surroundings. 

The A. P. Smith dwelling, at 4427 Drexel boulevard, designed by Wilson & Marble, is 
Romanesque in general, the fronting gable showing the variation. It is a style which became 
popular in 1889-90, and one which continues to grow in popularity. It is, in fact, a mixture 
of the Dutch idea, with the Renaissance and Romanesque carried out in St. Lawrence marble. 
A hundred of such buildings have been erected within the last year, but they are better 
adapted to semi-detached block residences than to large grounds. 

The dual building of St. Lawrence marble, at 3978 and 3980 Lake Park avenue, designed 
by L. B. Dixon, shows an adaptation of the Tudor gable to the Hamburg frontal. The idea of 
attachment for such a style is well conceived and faithfully carried out, but such a gable 
never can be in accord with a level city. It is out of place between the Alleghanies and the 
Rocky mountains. 

The Bartlett residence, in rock-fiiced stone, is a building of the Romanesque and 
Venetian. The square tower or pavilion, under hip roof, the entrance and loggia, are all 
from Italy. 

The Hill residence, with its front gable and the mimic tower, incorporated with bay, all 



264 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

in rock-faced stone, with stone transoms in the doors and windows of one and two stories, is an 
independent ideal. 

The Loomis residence, on Lake Shore drive, designed by Burling & Whitehouse, in June, 

1890, is constructed of pressed-brick, Bedford rock and Eoraan tile. It shares with the 
Mackin residence in the finer architectural details, and by some architects is considered 
superior to the older house referred to. 

The f 1(K),000 residence of Nelson Morris, on Michigan boulevard, was designed in May, 

1891, by L. B. Dixon, after Renaissance forms. It will be of granite or marble and have 
carved ornaments. The interior will be finished in mahogany, quarter-sawed oak, cherry, 
bird's eye maple, marble wainscoting, mosaic floors, and will have electric light and steam heat. 

Plans for a three-story-and-basement house on Michigan boulevard, for A. M. Eothschild, 
were made in June, 1891, by L. B. Dixon. It will be of St. Lawrence marble, with red slate 
roof, and have hardwood interior finish, marble wainscoting and mosaic floors. The cost is 
estimated at $00,000. 

The John Griffith residence, on Michigan boulevard near Twenty-sixth street, was designed 
in June, 1891, by S. S. Beman. The facade is to be in stone. The same architect prepared 
plans for a house to be built on Michigan boulevard, near Eighteenth street, at a cost of 
$35,000. The front will be of cut stone, while the interior will be designed and finished on a 
scale of elegance in keeping with that of the many fine houses now being erected in this city. 

Edbrooke & Burnhani prepared plans for a $30,000 residence, to be erected by W. B. 
White, at the northeast corner of Grand boulevard and Boulevard place. They also prepared 
plans for a residence for G. F. Gosman, to be erected in Kenilworth. 

The Condit residence, on the Sheridan drive, was designed in 1891, by Wilson & Marble, 
to be an exponent of the classic Renaissance. It is a two-story, attic-aud-basemeut house, 
OOxfiO feet in area, constructed of red Portage stone. The projecting porch, grand stoop, 
corner tower and oriel are all well conceived. The interior finish shows hardwoods, mosaics, 
and marbles. 

But why continue the list. Residence after residence on the boulevards afford a study- 
in domestic architecture, which would have to be noted on the spot or forgotten forever. 
Ideas of architecture, from the days of the Ptolemies to 1891, are outlined in those fine 
homes, and a good deal of what is original in the circle of Chicago architects manifested. 
Begin at Jaakson street, ride south to Thirty-ninth street on the boulevard, thence east to Cot- 
tage Grove avenue and south on Drexel boulevard to Fifty-first street, and you are in posses 
sion of a first knowledge of the city's architectural dwellings. Another day or two devoted 
to the North Side as far as Evanston strengthens this knowledge, and then you are prepared 
for study. A year might be devoted to noting the varied details of the houses before writing 
a description of each, and even then many special trips would be necessary to confirm or refute 
the record of former travels among them. Enough to say that they show the independence 
of Chicagoans in home building. Each one is, in or about, what the owner desired and as such 
is the expression of his conception of architecture just so close as the architect might permit 
his fancy to wander. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 205 



UIII. 



MODERN MISCELLANEOUS ARCHITECTURE. 

rier great city of the world exhibits the Commercial style of building carried to such 
extremes as in Chicago, and nowhere else has it overshadowed the ecclesiastical 
idea so completely. It lias been stated, time and time again, that this city has lit- 
tle or nothing of which to boast in the form of church buildings. The statement has been 
emphasized by the press of rival cities. It is erroneous generally. Chicago can now boast of 
many churches as architecturally correct, and as well constructed as the great majority of 
those of the rival American cities to which her critics point. The condition of ecclesiastical 
architecture here has been related in the first chapter. It is not wholly in keeping with Chi- 
cago, but it is all that the misfortunes of youth and fire permit. To make this clearer the 
following reminiscence is related: In 1873 or 1874 E. Wellby Pugin, the English architect, 
waited on the late Bishop Foley and presented plans for his proposed cathedral. While the 
bishop was considering the question of reproducing here one of the great works of the Nor- 
mans in England, Henry L. Gay inquired of him if he intended to accept such plans. The 
bishop's response was prompt and emphatic. He said, " Were some one to present a California 
gold mine to me I would not hesitate a moment in adopting them." 

In this chapter a description of each important church and a few of the smaller hoiises, 
completed since 187D, is given. 

St. James' original church' was erected in 1858, under the supervision of William 
Donohue, at a cost of $3,000. At that time it was considered a great improvement to the 
prairie between Twenty sixth and Twenty-seventh streets on the east side of Prairie avenue. 
Immediately after the fire the present bishop of San Francisco determined to raise a building 
which would reflect credit on western architecture, and in 1880 did complete a pure Gothic 
stone house on \\abash avenue at an expense of over 1 10.1100. leaving the spire to be con- 
structed by others. The school Imilding adjoining on the north cost about $23,000, and the 
residence on the south about $10,000. 

In 1881 a church for the Swedenborgians was begun on Van Buren street east of 
\V abash avenue, and in 1SS2 completed at a cost of 00,000. The heavy stone front shows 
some attention to architectural form, and appears to be the only part of the house where art 
was introduced. The interior is arranged after the form of an ancient basilica. 



-'"i! INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The corner stone of St. John's church on Eighteenth and Clark streets was placed Octo- 
ber 7, 1877, and on October 2, ]881, the building was completed. It was one of the very 
first of the great modern stone churches of the south side, and, except St. Bridget's 
to the southwest, was the first true monument to thirteenth century architectural design in 
that section of the city. The building spirit was Rev. John Waldron, who saved Clark street 
from the rapacious Michigan Southern railroad depot company. The old church of 1859 
and the frame school building of 1864 disappeared to make way for the great buildings of this 
parish. 

The Sixth Presbyterian church, a consolidation of the Ninth and Grace societies, built a 
neat stone house on Vincennes avenue in 1879-80, at a cost of ?1S.(KH). 

The present $12,000 Lincoln Street Methodist Episcopal building was erected in 1881 
on the southeast corner of Ambrose and Lincoln streets, and the older building sold to the 
Swedish Evangelical Lutherans. 

The Church of St. Procopius on Eighteenth street and Allport avenue is a large brick 
building erected in 1882 at a cost of 4.'>,0< X t. An old house was moved to this site in 
1877 from Halsted street near Nineteenth. This was transformed into a schoolhouse on the 
completion of the, brick building. The building ou Illinois street near North Market street 
was erected in 1882-3 by the Italian congregation of Assumption parish. Milwaukee bricks 
with courses of colored bricks are shown in gable and tower. The style is Gothic, shorn of its 
superfluities and modified to take its place in a city block. 

The Salem Evangelical church erected a 14,000 brick structure in 1880. German 
United Evangelical (St. Peter's) society improved their house in 1883 so as to present some 
sign of an architect having dealt with it. 

The Portland Avenue German Methodist Episcopal society built a two-story brick house 
on the southeast corner of Portland avenue and Twenty-eighth streets in INN:} at a cost of 
$17,000. 

The Central Baptist church has risen from very humble beginnings. In 18&t-r> their 
first building to which the name church could be given was erected on Belden avenue and 
Hnlsted street. It presents novel architectural forms and partakes in a large degree of the 
Queen Anne style. The First German Baptist society erected a brick building in 1SS4. at a 
cost of SlU.IIlM), on Burling and Willow streets. The La Salle Avenue Baptist society erected 
a brick house for worship in 18845, having sold their building and lots on Division and 
Sedgwick streets for $70.1 MM). 

The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Salem church sold their little frame house of I Mill 
on Bushnell street in 1SNJ.. and erected a large brick house on Portland avenue south of 
Twenty-eighth street in 1884-."). This building cost about $33,000. 

St. Clement's Gothic church, near the corner of State and Twentieth streets, was built in 
18N4 for George A. Armour. It is an Ornamental frame house with metallic shingle sheath- 
ing, showing many original j>oints of design. In 1891 the structure was moved westward 
twenty five or thirty feet, out of the right-of-way of the elevated railroad. 




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THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 207 

St. Malachy's church, a large, rock-faced stone building, Gothic in form, on Western 
avenue and Walnut street, was completed in December, 1884, and shortly after a stone school 
building was erected, the cost of both houses exceeding $1 00,000. In 1882 the frame building, 
then known as "the Ark," was raised. The department of buildings gave the permission, but 
the fire department objected to the erection of a frame house there, and to anticipate injunction 
proceedings, Rev. T. P. Hodnett summoned two hundred men and fifty boys, who, within seven 
hours, on July 3, 1882, completed the building. The new building presents many of the 
details of the Norman-Irish style of the twelfth century. The linteled gateway between the 
buttresses in center of front gable, the dwarf lancets in broach and the peculiar bell tower 
and spire point out its origin. The central window is flamboyant, as opposed to the perpen- 
dicular. The ivy covering gives to the Illinois rock-faced walls the appearance of age, and 
the whole exterior is that of a modern, parish church in the Irish provinces. 

The Church of the Epiphany erected a house of worship on Throop street in 1808. In 
1885 the ornamental, rock-faced brown stone building was erected, on the southeast corner of 
Ashland avenue and Adams street. Some of the features of Norman form are well brought, 
out, such as the low side walls, the high gables, tiers of arched windows or arcades and com- 
pact tower, belfry and spire. The heavy batter brown stone walls of the basement, the round 
and square buttresses, the round and square windows, heavily transomed, are all Norman- 
Romanescjue, well designed and well constructed. 

Zion Hebrew congregation's temple, on Washington street and Ogden avenue, was erected 
in 1884-5, at a cost of $00,000. The Moresque style was adopted for this building, and the 
contractor, with the aid of Adler & Sullivan and of the pressed brick and terra cotta manu- 
facturer, gave to that section of the city its best specimen of Spanish architecture, as it was 
known in the day's of the occupation of Spain by the Moors. The temple is 05x120 feet in 
area. 

The Western Avenue Methodist church was erected in 1884-5, at a cost of $40,000. In 
1871 the first house of this society was moved to the corner of Western avenue and Monroe 
street. On its site, the painted red brick building of 1884-5 stands its square, pinnacled 
tower, nineteenth century Gothic dress, hip roof and stained-glass windows telling of the 
attempts of the period in the far western sections of the city. Marie chapel (Methodist), on 
Wentworth avenue and Twenty-fourth street, was erected in 1885, at a cost of $40,000, as a 
memorial of Marie, the daughter of H. N. Higginbothain. 

The house of the First Presbyterian society, Lake View, was designed by J. C. Cochrane, 
in 1885. Pressed brick and terra cotta were used in the exterior walls. The auditorium is 
00x85 feet and fifty-two feet high, the roof being carried on two trusses, supported by two 
columns, while the tower, twenty-two feet square, rises one hundred aud thirty-five feet. 

The Leavitt Street Congregational church, a building in the Norman-Gothic style, was 
designed in September, 18SO, by Edbrooke & Burnham, to cost $20,000. The rock faced 
Leniont stone exterior and wainscoted interior of this house show substantial workmanship, 
and the architectural ideas well brought out. The clrurch was completed in 1891. 



268 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The Second Universalist church was erected on Robey street and Warren avenue in 
1885-6 at a cost of $50,000. 

The Grant Place Methodist Episcopal building, on Halsted street, was erected in 1880 
at a cost of about $50,000. 

St. Paul's church, on Prairie avenue and Thirtieth street, designed in 1886 by Burling 
& Whitehouse, is one of the latest exponents of Norman ecclesiastical architecture. Access is 
had to the building through two porches opening into a loggia or vestibule, semicircular in 
form, lighted by a series of small windows pierced in the stone-work. This porch is con- 
nected with the church by a glass screen in the wall, producing a rich effect of coloring. The 
cloister on the north side forms a pretty effect and gives convenient access to the transept 
entrances of the church. The building is cruciform in shape and at the intersection of the 
nave and transepts is surmounted with a lantern forty feet wide, which is so formed as to be 
octagon in shape and pierced with many small windows. This gives a pleasing effect of light 
in the church. The interior is well treated with terra cotta, tile and marble and some plaster 
for decoration. Four large arches supported on dwarf stone columns form the base to the 
lantern. 

The Congregational church on Drexel boulevard and Fortieth street presents archi- 
tectural and structural features as uncommon as they are modern. Well-stone is used in the 
fronts with effect. A round tower with conical roof, a square tower with open belfry, 
a recessed balustrade extending from pillar to pillar, columns in the portico or parvis, 
and yet far removed from the Second Pointed style as adopted by the Congregationalists. 
rose windows and pointed arches point it out as Gothic, too ornamental for the Scotch school, 
The exterior is pretty and takes the eye of the boulevardier. where massiveness or mag- 
nificence would fail to attract, attention. In 1886 the new church building was commenced 
for the French congregation of Notre Dame parish. Thebuilding is architecturally excellent, 
but the interior is the repository of decorative art. 

The pressed brick structure on the southwest corner of Elm and Milton streets, 52x79 
feet, was designed for the Baptists by Ostling Brothers, in May, 1888, to cost $20,000. 

In 1886-7 the Church of the Holy Angels, on Oakwood boulevard, was commenced 
for Rev. D. A. Tighe. In August, 1888, plans for its completion were furnished by J. J. 
Egan, which provided for the conversion of the upper part into an auditorium for the pur- 
poses of worship, pending the erection of a new church building. 

In August, 1888. plans for the building of the Second Methodist Episcopal church at 
325 Center street were made by C. M. Palmer. It is built of Wisconsin variegated sandstone. 
The Methodist Episcopal church on the southeast corner of Park avenue and Robey street 
was designed by J. A. Woollacott & Son. This house is 57x120 feet, with spire rising to a 
hight of 180 feet. The exterior walls are of brown stone. 

In August, 1888, (he Catholic congregation of Englewood on the Hill purchased for 
$16,000 from the Baptist association, a frame church which cost originally !?SO.COO. This 
house was moved to the corner of Sixty -seventh and Bishop street. 



THE BUILDING INTEREST*. 269 

The Evangelical Lutheran Emmatis society erected a temporary building in 1888, pend- 
ing the construction of a $40,000 brick-and-stone building in 1888-9, after plans by Archi- 
tect Kley. The tower and spire provided for in the plans, rise to a bight of 130 feet. 

The Normal Park Baptist church was designed in 1888 by J. T. Long. It is a Roman - 
esque structure in Tiffany pressed brick and Bedford stone trimmings. The auditorium has 
a seating capacity of five hundred and the class-room of three hundred. The interior finish 
is in red oak. 

In June, 1888, plans for the church on Forty -fifth and Atlantic streets were made 
by L. J. B. Bourgeois. This is a $50,000, Romanesque-Byzantine octagonal building, eighty- 
five feet in diameter, constructed of Indiana pressed brick (yellow), with Michigan sandstone 
facings. The roof or dome is a model of engineering skill. From the floor to the roof is 
one hundred and twenty-one feet, and obstructions, such as pillars, are obviated by the use of 
iron trusses designed by the architect. 

The Church of Our Savior society erected a house on Fullerton avenue, near Larrabee 
street in 1888-9 at a cost of 140,000. The building as designed by C. J. Warren, is 80x170 
feet with tower one hundred and sixty feet high. White stone glass, electric lights and fur- 
nace heat are features of this house. 

The Universalist church on Stewart avenue and Sixty-fifth street is a brick- veneer struct- 
ure, designed by T. N. Bell, in May, 1889, erected at a cost of $17,000. An auditorium with 
a seating capacity of four hundred, parlors, schoolrooms, kitchens, etc., occupy the floor space 
which is 72x118 feet. The stained glass windows of this house are very much superior to 
what its style and construction merit. 

St. Alphonsus' church, on South port and Wellington avenues, was designed in 1889, by 
A. F. Boos. It is a pressed brick house with Bedford stone trimmings, erected at a cost of 
$40,000: 

The First Presbyterian society of Hyde Park demolished their old church in 1888, and 
in August, 1889, placed the comer stone of their present house on that site (southeast corner 
of Washington avenue and Fifty-third street). The original plans by Gregory Vigeant, show 
the church proper to be 80x92 feet, and the whole structure 95x135 feet, with a seating 
capacity of one thousand and fifty persons in the auditorium, two hundred and fifty in the 
gallery over the vestibule, and five hundred in the schoolroom. The architectural treatment 
is mainly Gothic, or rather a very wide interpretation of Romanesque forms. The two fronts 
show rock-faced buff Bedford stone, and this material is used in the square tower and pillars 
of the open belfry with effect. The interior finish is in hardwood, and stained glass is used 
in the principal windows. 

The Congregational church on Paulina street, south of Taylor street, was designed 
by William Thomas, in November, 1890, to cost $12,000. It is a 60x96 foot gabled structure 
of brick with Rockford stone facings and slate roof. 

In the full of 1890 G. Isaacson made plans for St. Paul's Norwegian Evangelical 
church 011 North avenue, near Leavitt street, The estimated cost of this brick .structure 



270 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

was $25,000. The building is pushed forward to the sidewalk line, and this idea of crowd- 
ing is carried into all its parts. The style is a modification of Gothic and Romanesque, 
rendered in red pressed brick. 

In November, 1890, the beginnings of the new railroad chapel, on the east side ot Dear- 
born, south of Twenty-eighth street, were made. It was completed in May, 1891. 

St. Monico's church, on Dearborn and Twenty-fifth streets, was designed by architect 
Wegeman, in November, 1890. Exterior ornamentation is avoided, but plainness of the struct- 
ure is architectural. In March, 1890, plans for the massive church building on Jackson 
street and Albany avenue, were made by Julius Speyer, for the Servite fathers. The exterior 
walls of cut stone, pressed brick and terra cotta, embrace an area 272x145 feet. Two great 
towers, each two hundred and ten feet high, and a massive dome, two hundred and sixty feet 
high, and seventy-five feet in diameter, are the leading architectural features, rendering the 
structure a fine specimen of the Byzantine. The cost of this magnificent structure is estimated 
to be over a half million of dollars. 

The new Catholic church building at Pullman, 70x125 feet, with tower one hundred and 
thirty feet high, was designed by S. S. Beman, in December, 1889. The estimated cost is 
$50,000. In August, 1891), plans for the large brick- and-stone house of St. Boniface Ger- 
man Catholic congregation were presented, and work on the new building commenced. 

The present church of St. Elizabeth claims very humble beginnings. In 1881 the frame 
church building of St. Anne's parish was moved from the corner of Fifty-fifth street and 
Wentworth avenue, to a point on Dearborn street near Forty-first. In the summer and fall 
of 1884, a large brick house was erected on the northeast corner of State and Forty -first streets, 
for school and church purposes, at a cost of $25,000, and in November the old building was 
abandoned. The new building on Wabash avenue and Forty-first street was commenced in 
1890, from plans by J. J. Egan. Bock-faced stone is used in the exterior and in the two 
towers, which are carried upward one hundred and forty feet. The building has a frontage 
of seventy feet on Forty-third street. It is one hundred and fifty feet deep, and forty-two 
feet from the floor to roof. The Romanesque style of architecture is observed throughout; 
but looking at the exterior walls, as completed in 1891, they are heavy and symmetrical 
enough to warrant the title Roman style. 

The African Methodist Episcopal church, on Dearborn mid Thirtieth streets, was com- 
pleted in the summer of 1891. It covers 59x1 10 feet, and is adorned with a corner tower 
that rises one hundred and thirty feet high. The exterior is constructed of pressed brick and 
buff Bedford stone, with slate roof, and windows of stained and cathedral glass. The large 
ornamental windows, in connection with the other attractive features of the structure, give it 
an ecclesiastical appearance. The main auditorium is thirteen feet above the sidewalk, and 
has a seating capacity, including the gallery, of 1,000; on the same floor is the pastor's study. 
Level with the gallery on the third floor is a lyceuni 25x40 feet. The lower floor is occupied 
by Sunday-school rooms, twelve classrooms, library, diningroom and kitchen, which have 
been so arranged with sliding shutters that they can be made into one room. The building 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 271 

is heated by steam, has gas fixtures, pipe organ, and contains the latest improvements. It 
cost $30,000. 

The Methodist Episcopal church of Montrose was completed May 18, 1891. It is 
Gothic in form, with broach, is finished in Georgia pine and Louisiana red cypress, with fur- 
niture in quarter-sawed oak trimmed with black walnut. The Emmanuel Methodist Episcopal 
house, on Oak avenue and Greenwood boulevard, Evanston, was commenced May 16, 1891. 
As designed it is to be a $60,000 building, constructed of red sandstone. 

The church erected by the Bohemian congregation (Catholic) near Douglas park, was 
designed in May, 1891, by A. Druiding. 

An interesting building, for Baptist worship, was erected on the southeast corner of 
Wabash avenue and Twenty-eighth street, in 1890-91, after plans by William \V. Meyers. 
The stone for this structure was quarried years ago, and used in the Douglas or Baptist 
university, until the demolition of that peculiar pile of masonry. The new building is 49x150 
feet, with flanking tower. The auditorium is 44x102 feet, and the school, reading and lecture- 
rooms large and airy. 

The Kehilath Anshe Maariv, or synagogue, on Thirty-first street and Indiana avenue, 
was completed in June, 1891, at a cost of about $110,000. The Romanesque arch marks the 
entrance and third story. In fact below the entablature the building is Romanesque, and 
presents some adherence to recognized form; but above, in the attic, a hip-roofed box, pierced 
by sets of triple windows, appear. This section partakes somewhat of the Venetian, and is 
supposed to supply the place of a dome. Never before was a Venetian form so out of place. 

The Fourth Baptist church, on Ashland avenue, is a Norman-Gothic structure, in rock- 
faced red sandstone, with hip-roofed tower, bartizan and arcade. In the gable are three 
Norman windows, with four attached pillars each side of the high central window. The 
architect. C. F. Whittlesey, shows independence in its treatment within and without. While 
doing wonders in a small space, and in rustic stone, he has not overlooked proportion. It is 
a building creditable to the congregation and the architect. 

Plans for St. George's church on Thirty-ninth street and Wentworth avenue were per- 
fected in July, 1891, by A. Druiding. The building has a frontage of seventy-two feet and 
is one hundred and forty-seven feet deep. The front, of pressed brick with blue Bedford 
stone trimmings, shows three entrances. The roof is covered with slate.- The main tower is 
one hundred and sixty-five feet and the second tower one hundred and ten feet in hight. The 
interior is finished in oak, with a rich grained ceiling. The nave is forty-six feet high, while 
the aisles are thirty-four feet. Such is a statistical description of a grand Gothic building 
which the people of this parish have given to the city. 

The Byzantine-Romanesque church, St. Mary's of Perpetual Help, the erection of which 
was commenced in 1890-91 on West Thirty-second near Ullman street, was designed by 
Henry Engelbert, of Detroit, Mich., to cost $ir>0,000. The extreme length is one hundred 
and seventy-five feet, width through the transepts one hundred and six feet, forming in the 
floor plan a Latin cross with circular apsis of forty feet in diameter for the sanctuary in the 



272 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

rear with two sacristies adjoining. In front it has two towers for the bells, fifteen feet square 
and one hundred and forty-eight feet high to the top of the cross. The floor plan is divided 
into a nave forty feet wide and two aisles twenty feet wide; the nave is divided lengthways 
into three squares of forty feet each, and at the intersections of the middle square are 
columns two feet in diameter, so that there are only four columns carrying the roof. Over 
these squares are three circular domes forty feet in diameter; the two at the ends are inside 
the roof, sixty-four feet high, lighted from the top, and the center dome extends thnragh 
the roof, ninety-four feet high to the ceiling, and forms above the roof a dome and cupola 
forty-four feet in diameter, with sixteen windows. It is one hundred and sixty-two feet high 
to the top of the cross. The foundations are built of concrete, iron beams and limestone, 
and the superstructure of buff-colored brick, with Ohio sandstone trimmings. The roofs are 
covered with Pennsylvania black slate, and the finish of dome, cupolas and turrets is done 
with heavy galvanized sheet iron, all painted in imitation of stone. The inside is richly fin- 
ished with ornamental stucco work, richly molded cornices, caps and bases, ribs, spandrels, 
etc., with a view to future fresco painting. The interior woodwork is mostly done in hard- 
wood and finished in hard oil. All the windows, of which there are ninety-two, are filled in 
with rich stained glass, the larger ones with life-size figures, emblems, monograms, and other 
ecclesiastical subjects in a superior manner. The seating capacity is twenty-five hundred 
on the floor and four hundred in the gallery. The heating is accomplished by hot- water 
system and the lighting by electricity. This house opens a new field for the architects of the 
city and points to the continued growth of ecclesiastical architecture here. In 1885 an old 
frame church building was moved to the site of this grand building by the Polish congrega- 
tion as their initial attempt. The present temple tells of a half decade's progress. 

There were two hundred and twenty-one common school buildings owned by the city at 
the beginning of 1891 ; the greater number of which were erected within the last decade. 
One of the latest of such buildings, that on Perry avenue, south of Sixty-fifth street, points 
out the transition from the old style. Formerly common brick or pressed brick with stone 
trimmings, were piled up in regulation shape, a little variation being observable in buildings 
close by. Thus, in a school building on Wabash avenue and Sixty-first street a Tudor gable 
is found, while farther north on Prairie avenue a Gothic or pavilion roof appears. In the 
new structure, referred to above, pressed brick and terra cotta are used with effect. The area 
of this two-story, basement-and-attic house is 65x149 feet. It is divided into fourteen rooms, 
finished in sycamore and red oak and eqiiipped with sanitary appliances. A small gabled 
red-brick schoolhouse stood on the site for some years. In 1 883 it became too small, and a 
long frame house, biiilt on posts in the swamp, was erected. In 1889 both buildings disap- 
peared to make way for the present $40.000 house. Another modern house was erected in 
1891 on North Fifty-ninth street and Winthrop avenue, at a cost of $00.000, and in and round 
the old city limits this work of school building has been carried on unceasingly. 

In April, 1891, plans for the Northwest Division high school building were completed by 
Flanders & Zimmerman. This $100,000 pile of pressed brick is the pioneer of large secular 



THE BUILDINO INTERESTS. 273 

buildings in the district, the center of which is the corner of Potomac avenue and Davis 
street. 

Enterprise in this direction is not confined to the common-school authorities, it extends 
to the denominationalists. In former pages their efforts of 1843 and later years are related, 
and now, looking round the city, the buildings of denominationalists at Evanston, Morgan Park, 
and within the limits are architecturally suparior to those of the common-school authorities. 
One great stone building on Wabash avenue is completed; work on another group of build- 
ings on Lexington and Ellis avenues has just been commenced. 

The modern granite and Bedford stone building on the northeast corner of Wabash 
avenue and Thirty-fifth street, known as the La Salle institute, was completed in May, 1891, 
in all its parts, except the upper structure of the central tower. This grand building, 
100x163 feet, was designed by J. J. Egan, and erected by McDermott & O'Brien at a cost ex- 
ceeding 125,000. There are sixteen large classrooms, with study halls, lecturerooms, 
chapel dormitories and livingrooms for the faculty. The finish and equipment of the interior 
is modern. 

The plans for the new Baptist university were completed in June, 1891, and presented 
to Secretary T. W. Goodspeed by the architect, Henry I. Cobb. A combination of the Venetian 
and Romanesque is manifested in the dormitories and recitation hall. He suggested granite as 
the material, and iu the plan for the lecture hall, provided for a four-story structure, massive 
in its general features, with heavy square windows in three stories and arcades in the fourth 
story and high halls. The roof is of tile, with a heavy carved cornice. The total length is 
two hundred and seventy feet and the average width sixty feet. On the first floor provision 
is made for a receptionroom, general offices and the offices of the faculty and board and of 
the executive offices of the university. There are six lecturerooms, and a large lectureroom, 
30x61 feet, with a seating capacity of two hundred and fifty. In the rear of the building 
there is a wiug, 54x80 feet, to be used as a chapel. The second, third and fourth floors of 
the main building and of the wing are to be cut up into recitation rooms. The university 
dormitory is of granite, with tiled roof, corresponding to the lecture hall. The length is 
three hundred and fifty feet and the width thirty-two feet, except at the center and at the 
ends, where the building is widened to forty feet, to break the lines. It is four stories, 
divided into bedrooms and studies, and will accommodate one hundred and fifty-six students. 
Mr. Cobb's divinity dormitory is similar in plan to the first, except that it has a total length 
of two hundred and eighty-eight feet. In the university dormitory the building is divided by 
six fire walls, practically cutting it into so many separate buildings. In the divinity dormi- 
tory the corridors on each floor run from end to end. The university hall, the chapel, the 
observatory, library, gymnasium, women's dormitory and other buildings all find a place in 
the general plan. The site is bounded by Fifty-seventh street, Midway Plaisance, Ellis 
avenue and Lexington avenue. 

The school building on Oakley avenue and Thompson street is a large substantial struct- 
ure, five stories high, with square tower seven stories high. It was completed in September, 



274 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

1890, to accommodate eighty-five boarders and the community known as the Sisters of Chris- 
tian Charity, for whom it was designed and built. 

The Baptist Union Theological seminary at Morgan Park, the Chicago Manual Training 
school, the Chicago Theological seminary, the Garrett Biblical institute, the German 

O J I 

Lutheran Theological seminary, the McCormick Theological seminary, the Northwestern uni- 
versity, Western Theological seminary, St. Ignatius college, have each a building or collection 
of buildings devoted to education. 

The convent buildings of the city, devoted to educational and philanthropic purposes, 
present the monastic-Gothic forms generally. The Sacred Heart buildings on Taylor 
and North State streets are large and well proportioned. Tho Sisters of Mercy have great 
buildings on Wabash avenue, Oakley avenue, Belmont avenue, Brighton park, Wallace street, 
South Chicago, Oakwood boulevard and Wallace street and Twenty-fifth place. The Sis- 
ters of Notre Dame erected an architectural house on Sibley street and Vernon park place in 
1885-0. They have convents also on Lincoln and South port avenues, Hudson avenue, Went- 
worth avenue, Twenty-fourth place and Noble street. The convents of the Third Order of 
St. Dominic are located on North Franklin street, corner of Hermitage avenue and Jackson 
street and on Kimbark avenue. The Little Sisters of the Poor have a number of large build- 
ings; the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the Franciscan Sisters, the Poor Handmaids, the Ser- 
vite Sisters, the Sisters of Charity (B. V. M.), the Sisters of the Holy Nazareth, the Sisters of 
St. Dominic, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, the lleligious of the 
Holy Heart, the Sisters of St. Benedict, and the convent at Washington Heights, each have 
one or more large buildings devoted to education, while many other of their buildings are 
devoted to charitable uses. The new sisterhood of the Protestant Episcopal church, known 
as the Sisters of St. Mary, have an establishment at 2406 Dearborn street. 

The St. Ignatius college building, on Twelfth street near Blue Island avenue, is a mon- 
ument to the educational enterprise of the builders. Going southwest from the modern sec- 
tion of the city, and standing on the northwest corner of the streets named, one must admire the 
chaste outline of that largo house, raised above the prairie almost twenty-five years ago, and 
ask himself whether the projectors and designer were not prophets in their own land and 
their own days. 

The College of Pharmacy building at 405 State street, though erected in 1884 and com- 
pleted within the last few years, partakes something of the character of houses erected south 
of Van Buren street in 1872-4. Tho old building was destroyed in 1871. 

The building of the College of Physicians and Surgeons on Honore and Harrison streets 
presents features foreign to the other medical college buildings of the city. A tower one 
hundred feet high, and a stately stone front rising four stories, point to that erratic period early 
in the eighties when ths so-called Queen Anne craze took possession of physicians as well as 
others. It is one of the best specimens of the so-called style. 

The Woman's Medical college on Lincoln street opposite the county hospital, the Chi- 
cago Dental callega, in cjnnaction with the Dental infirmary, 22 and 24 Adams street, and 
thi Horn BDpnthic college on Wco! and York streets are small buildings. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 275 

The Athenaeum building adjoins the Art institute with front on Van Buren street. As 
remodeled, it is a seven-story brick house, 91x97 feet, with an eighteen-foot alley on the east 
and south sides. Light rather than architecture appears to have been the object of the builders 
or remodelers, and they attained this object. The interior is well arranged for the purposes 
of the athenseum. It was designed in August, 1890, by Thomas Wing, to cost $85,000, and 
completed May 1, 1891. 

There are twenty-one hospitals in the city, the great ones being large buildings. The 
buildings of the Alexian Brothers, the Marine hospital, the Bennett hospital and the Mercy 
hospital, are hitherto noticed. The Hahueniann hospital was erected in 1884, opposite the 
site of the amphitheater destroyed by fire October 21, 1883. The Augustana, the Emer- 
gency, the Homoeopathic, the German, the Eye and Ear infirmary, the Porter Memorial, the 
National Temperance, St. Joseph's and the Woman's hospitals, are comparatively modern 
institutions. The Cook county hospital, fronting on Harrison street, occupies the square 
bounded by Wood, Lincoln, Polk and Harrison. The buildings are constructed of pressed 
brick with stone trimmings, show four main structures or grand pavilions, with attic stories 
and high basements. The addition, or the five-story front building, completed in 1884-5, 
shows a heavy tower or parvis turret. The Cook county infirmary, at Norwood Park, a large 
brick house in Gothic form, was built in 1881-2, and the Insane asylum, at Jefferson, in 
1870-73. The Cook county infirmary was completed in 1883, at a cost of $150,000, after 
plans by J. C. Cochrane. McGraw & Downey were the builders. In May, 1891, Julius 
Wegeman completed plans for the new Detention hospital, which the board of county com- 
missioners decided to build. It stands on the county hospital grounds, at the corner of 
Wood and Polk streets, and conforms architecturally to that building. It has a frontage on 
Wood street of one hundred and on Polk of eighty feet. It is two stories high, constructed 
of pressed brick with cut-stone trimmings, at a cost of $35,000. 

The Michael Reese hospital (Hebrew) was first established in 1866, in a building on the 
corner of La Salle avenue and Chili street. That house was burned in October, 1871, and 
ten years later the large structure on Twenty-ninth street and Groveland avenue was erected, 
at a cost of 140,000. In May, 1891, plans for the new pressed- brick, three-story-attic-and- 
basement building, at the foot of Twenty-ninth street, were made by S. B. Eisendrath. 

St. Luke's hospital (Protestant Episcopal) was established in May. 1871. at 143-4 Indiana 
avenue. In 1872 the Chicago Relief and Aid society donated grounds for a building on State 
st reet, near Thirty-seventh. Nine years later N. K. Fairbank donated one hundred feet on 
Indiana avenue, and in 1885 the four buildings were erected thereon. 

The third Protestant hospital established here was that by the Presbyterians. In 1883 
a location was presented, and plans for a building made. S. V. Shipman, the architect, com- 
menced work thereon in 1884. and on August 20, that year, a portion of the building (the 
two wings) was completed. As completed, later, the red pressed-brick, four-story-attic-and- 
baseincnt building was connected with Rush Medical college. It presents some pleasing 
architectural features, and is ;i study in the arrangement of heating and ventilating apparatus. 



276 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

In June, 1888, plans were made for n six-story-and-basement building. The Renaissance 
style was observed, and a tower and spire, one hundred and twenty-eight feet high, outlined. 
The first floor is devoted to a grand hallway, lined with marble, reception, managers' and 
officers' rooms. The fifth floor has a large hall, capable of holding four hundred people. 
The rest of the floors, with the exception of the sixth, are used for patients, and the sixth 
floor for dissecting purposes. 

The Wesley hospital is the fourth Protestant house erected for hospital purposes in 
Chicago. This building was erected in 1891, on the northeast corner of Dearborn and 
Twenty-fifth streets. It is five stories in bight, 225x106 feet, constructed of brick, with 
fronts of pressed brick and terra-cotta facings. Each of the three wings has a row of bay 
windows on the west front, resting on terra-cotta brackets, and extending to the spring of 
the roof. Two are steeple gabled, and the north wing has an octagonal tower. 

The hospital for women and children, on Adams and Paulina streets, was designed by 
Otto H. Matz. It is a five-story-and-basement building, 150x44 feet in area, constructed of 
St. Louis hydraulic brick with red sandstone and terra-cotta trimmings. A mansard roof, 
in slate, with great pedimental dormers, a central pavilion, corner towers, octagonal in shape, 
with pointed roofs and ornamental finials tell how far French art controlled the architect. A 
Norman doorway, with a window each side and a balcony above, holds the principal place in 
the pavilion. The house was completed early in 1880. 

St. Elizabeth's hospital building, on the southeast corner of Davis and Thompson streets, 
is one of the great works of charity. In 1 890 Bauer & Hill designed the chapel and awarded 
contracts for completing the north wing. The building is a massive architectural one, a 
marvel of the enterprise of religion and charity. The Convent of the Poor Handmaids, close 
by, is another massive building. 

The Home for Unemployed Girls, on Market and Elm streets; the Guardian Angel 
Orphan asylum, at Rose Hill; the Holy Family Orphan asylum, on Holt and Division streets; 
the Home for the Aged, on Harrison and Throop streets; the House of Providence, adjoining 
Mercy hospital; the House of the Good Shepherd, on Market and Hill streets; the Servite 
Sisters' Industrial Home for Girls, 1390 West Van Buren street; St. Joseph's Asylum for 
Boys, Crawford avenue, near Diversey street; St. Joseph's Home for the Friendless, 409 
South May street; St. Joseph's Orphan asylum, Thirty-fifth street and Lake avenue; School 
for Deaf and Dumb, May and Twelfth streets; St. Vincent's Infant asylum and Maternity 
hospital, 191 La Salle avenue, and St. Mary's Training school, at Feehanville, are all im- 
portant buildings, and a few of them, such as the last named, may be classed among the 
greatest buildings devoted to charity in the Union. The Chicago Industrial school, on 
Forty-ninth street and Indiana avenue, a large pressed-brick building, was completed in 
1891, from plans made by J. J. Egan, in July, 1890. 

In October, 1890, plans for an addition to the House of Providence, Elm and Market 
streets, were made by Bauer & Hill. The corner building, erected four years ago, adjoins 
the new structure, which is a fcmr-story-and-basement house, with atrium and chapel. The 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 277 

material is rock-faced Bedford stone and Indiana pressed brick for the fronts. The chapel is 
Romanesque, with groined ceilings. It seats four hundred and cost $30,000. Three or four 
other buildings, such as St. Paul's Home for Working Boys, might be included in this list. 

The Erring Women's Refuge, on Indiana avenue, south of Fiftieth street, was completed 
and dedicated November 20, 1890. The new building is of brick and accommodates one 
hundred women. The rotunda in the center of the building is four stories high. From this 
there are four wings, three stories high. This home has been erected at an expense of $60,000. 
The revenue which helps the trustees and ladies to keep the institution running is the rental 
from their buildings at Indiana avenue and Thirty-first street (erected in 1870, on the site of 
the old buildings purchased in 1805), one-half of the fines taken in by the city for disorderly 
conduct in places of a disreputable character, and what little is derived from the sewing of 
the girls. All the inmates are taught to sew, and some of them study music. 

The Chicago Orphan asylum, 2'228 Michigan avenue; Chicago Nursery and Half Orphan 
asylum, 175 Burling street, the Danish Lutheran Orphans' home, Maplewood; the Found- 
lings' home, 114 South Wood street; Home for Incurables, on Ellis avenue and Fifty-sixth 
street; Home for the Friendless, 1926 Wabash avenue; Industrial School for Girls, South 
Evanston; Industrial Training School for Boys, Glenwood Park; Illinois Masonic Orphans' 
home, 447 Carroll avenue; Old People's home, northwest corner Indiana avenue and Thirty- 
ninth street; St. Paul's home for newsboys, 45 and 47 Jackson street; Evangelical Lutheran 
Orphan asylum, 221 Burling street; the Soldiers' home, South Evanston, the Home of 
Industry for discharged prisoners; the Washingtonian home for male drunkards, and the 
Martha Washington home for female drunkards, all denominational institutions, were built 
or purchased for charitable purposes; but the Washingtouian home, the Chicago Nursery, 
the Foundlings' home, the Home for the Friendless, and perhaps three or four of the other 
buildings, are all that justly may lay claim to architectural style. 

Chicago can boast very little of her Venetian ventures. Fragments of the style are 
scattered here and there throughout the city, but in the Butler building they have been placed 
together. Only in 1891 was Venetian design introduced in wholesale fashion, f. e., given a 
whole facade as distinguished from the shreds and patches which marked its former use. It 
is the library and readingroom erected by Edward B. Butler on Halsted street. This is a 
two-story structure of brick, two colors, buff and red, being iised in its construction. The 
entrance is at the northeast corner, and one passes through a small vestibule into the reading- 
room, a large apartment, 31x45 feet, occupying the entire ground floor. This structure is in 
connection with the Hull house. 



278 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 




IX. 



BEGINNINGS OF SUBURBAN BUILDING. 

.jUBURBAN growth is entirely dependent upon the increase of the city's population 
and on transportation facilities, when it is not the center of some great industry or 
educational institution. Hyde Park, Englewood and Normal Park became im- 
portant suburbs through the overflow of the city, Pullman on account of its manufactures, 
Evanstou on account of its schools, and Morgan Park for the same reason. The ;/ tu-lri of 
modern buildings were formed in 1869-72; but the panic came to thwart enterprise and hold 
the extension of homes in check for almost a decade. The Green Tree tavern, built in IS-!-'. 
was moved, in 1880, from the corner of Luke and Canal streets to No. 35 Milwaukee avenue. 
This stirring up the ghost of ancient Chicago's greatest house marked the beginning of a new 
building era, for while the old tavern was on rollers and the press of the city was singing its 
requiem, the spirit of progress was abroad. The capitalist beheld a city unable to contain 
itself, and, looking upward, dreamed of high buildings as a method of extending the business 
district without expanding its area. The man who for years was exposed to that grinding 
monopoly, the old Chicago boardinghouse or hotel, determined to look beyond the inside 
district for a home and build on the selected site a house which he could call his own. The 
shrewd real-estate man saw his opportunity and reopened forgotten subdivisions, erected 
summer cottages, sold them at fabulous prices and grew wealthy on the necessities of new 
Chicago. Even the railroad directors drank in the spirit of the times and introduced the 
suburban service. The beginnings of the modern suburbs of New Chicago were made. The 
original towns of Hyde Park and Lake show extraordinary advances for a single decade. 

Oakland may be termed the parent of modern Hyde Park. One of the first dwelling 
houses in what was Hyde Park village was erected in 1853, by Charles Cleaver, on the square 
bounded by Oakwood avenue, Brook, Elm and Cedar streets. It was a plain structure, not much 
superior to the soap factory and little store built by him in 1851, on the lake shore at the 
foot of Thirty-eighth street. The old Oakland house, on* Cottage Grove avenue and Oak- 
wood boulevard, was quite a building in its day, and the Oakland public school, erected in 
1874, at a cost of over $15.000, a very creditable building for that time, eclipsing the Cleaver 
ville 7,000 building of 1871. The first building devoted to educational or religious pur- 
poses in that village, and indeed in the entire south division, south of Van Buren street was 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 279 

built in 1854, in the vicinity of the soap factory, on the east side of Lake avenue, between 
Thirty ninth street and Oakwood avenue. In 1872 this cabin structure was moved and later 
stood on the west side of Hyde Park avenue, south of Fifty-fifth street. In 1870 the Forty- 
first and Prairie avenue Presbyterian house was erected at a cost of $0,500. In December, 
1880, the building of what was the second house in northern Hyde Park, designed by an ar- 
chitect, was begun. Prior to that time Gregory Vigeant was asked by Rev. D. A. Tighe to 
prepare plans for a church building. He selected the anglo-Gothic form, and within a year, 
improvements, costing over $21,000, graced the south side of Oakwood boulevard near Lang- 
ley avenue. In 1884 the 35,000 school building, on St. Lawrence avenue and Forty-second 
street, was erected. To-day that section of the city presents great apartment houses, a few 
beautiful churches, and a number of elegant homes, many of which are described in previous 
chapters. 

Forestville was the name given to a tract extending east from Indiana avenue to Cottage 
Grove and south from Forty-third to Forty-seventh, but it really included the tract between 
the east and west streets, east of State street. Nathan Watson's cabin, on the northwest cor- 
ner of Park avenue and Fifty-third street, was the pioneer building, erected about 1835. 
Later, S. McCarthy, James Purcell and John Hogan erected cabins. In 1856 the Hyde 
Park house was erected for Paul Cornell, on the lake front, south of Fifty-third street. It was 
a frame dwelling house, well constructed, and showed the higher idea of frame building. In 
1865 it became the property of others who transformed it into a large brick house, and car- 
ried it on as a hotel until its destruction by fire in 1877. Hopkins' store, a shanty ten feet 
square, was built in 1856, just south of Fifty-third street, on Hyde Park avenue. The Cornell 
church of 1858 stood on the corner of Hyde Park avenue and Fifty-third street. It was all 
$1,000 could accomplish, but it suited the simple taste of the worshipers. The pretentious 
stone building of the Presbyterians, erected in 1870, at a cost of $48,0(X), must be considered 
the pioneer of architectural buildings in that section of the city. In 1871 the Forty-seventh 
Methodist Episcopal church was completed. In 1858-0 the Waite seminary house was erected. 
This was four stories high, 40x60 feet. In September, 1863, the Masonic body placed a corner- 
stone for a proposed frame church; but the English Protestant Episcopal bishop caused 
the removal of the stone, as it was inconsistent with the character of a frame house. In 
March, 1860, however, a neat frame building was completed. In 1857 Judge Jamieson 
erected a cottage on Cornell avenue and Fifty-third street, and in 1850 Leonard Jamiesou 
erected one on Washington avenue and Fifty-third street. In 1873 was erected the South 
Park hotel building, on the corner of Fifty-first street and Cottage Grove avenue. It was a 
pleasant looking two-story-and-attic-frame structure 50x125 feet, but fell an easy prey to 
the fire of October 25, 1883. 

The house of Dr. Kennicott, at Kenwood, was the beginning of that beautiftil section of 
the city. It was a little frame building, erected in 1856, which would be called a squatter's 
cabin in Inter days. In 1850 Pennoyer L. Sherman built a small house, and before the close 
of the \\ar a few other cottages were erected. It was not built up in a hurry like the newer 



2SO INDUSTRIAL OH W AGO : 

suburbs. It was platted for the purpose of making it the model suburb of a great city, and 
an acceptable place of residence for its wealthy people. The location is accordingly the 
best that could be desired, the improvements, the most elegant, while churches, schools 
and other accessories of high civilization are within its borders. 

The tract bounded by Forty-seventh street, Cottage Grove avenue, Fifty-fifth street and 
Madison avenue, and north on Madison avenue to Fifty-first, thence on Fifty-first to Woodlawn, 
thence north on Woodlawn to Forty-seventh and west on Forty-seventh to Cottage Grove avenue, 
was known as Egandale. Dr. William B. Egan improved the grounds and intended to erect his 
home thereon. This was the first work of a landscape gardener or architect in or near Chi- 
cago, except the grounds of St. Mary's college. In 1809 a small frame building on the 
corner of Kimbark avenue and Fifty-fifth street was completed for St. Thomas Catholic con- 
gregation and used as a house of worship until work on the present architectural building 
was completed in 1890. The Baptist building on Madison avenue near Fifty-fourth street 
was erected in 1874 at a cost of little over $2,(XH>. 

The Wabash avenue district, south of Thirty-ninth street, gave token of its present 
importance as early as 1878. In that year the Springer schoolhouse was erected on the 
northwest corner of Forty first street and Wabash avenue. This was one of the great build- 
ings of that period, and may be termed the pioneer of the large houses now to be found there. 
The original Oak Eidge schoolhouse was established in 1851, when there were only six build- 
ings on South Park avenue south of Twenty- second street, and only seven houses in the entire 
neighborhood. In 1880-81 the school site was swallowed up in the South park system; the 
directors selected a new site on the east side of Prairie avenue near Fifty-third (200x200 
feet), for which they paid $7,000, and in the unpeopled wilderness erected a building which, 
it is alleged, cost $43,000. The Farren schoolhouse, on Fifty-first street and Wabash avenue, 
dates back to 1882. It was named in honor of John Farren, who was the principal in urging 
the erection of a large building there, when the revival of trade pointed out the certainty of 
the district becoming one of the leading resident sections of the city. 

In the neighborhood of the boulevard Dr. Willoughby and Messrs. Graham, McArdle 
and McNainara built homes on Michigan avenue, while on Wabash avenue, north of the boul- 
evard, the Cuinmings and Leeson cottages were erected, followed by the houses of Mrs. 
Mahony and those of Kouhn, Connolly and Seavern. 

Grand Crossing was raised above sea level by an accident and Paul Cornell. In IN") I 
an Illinois Central train ran into a Lake Shore & Michigan Southern train. The damage 
to the road-bed and rolling stock suggested the fact to the railroad directors that prevention 
was better than cure, and the order was issued, which has ever since made the crossing a 
halting place for all trains. In 1855 Cornell purchased land and water there with the object 
of establishing a manufacturing town, but not until 1871 did he put his idea in form. That 
year the Cornell house was erected, a square, substantial frame house adorned with heavy 
cornice and cupola, turned woods and moldings. In 1873 a schoolhouse was built on posts 
to which children were sometimes carried in boats. Ten years later the large building 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 281 

known as the Madison avenue school was erected away east on the prairie, beyond the shed, 
known as the rubber clothing factory. The Wilson sewing machine factory was established 
here in 1875 in the buildings of the old Cornell watch factory, erected at a cost of $70,000 
in 1870-71. This building, while designed for a great industry, showed many fine architect- 
ural points, and, until surrounded by the tasty, natty Queen Anne cottages of modern times, 
stood alone on that mixture of prairie and lake, an introduction to the suburbs and to the city. 

Brookline. or Park Manor, boasted of a schoolhouse in 1868, and later of a little shanty, 
used for depot purposes. It is practically a part of Grand Crossing. In 1875 the Methodist 
Episcopal society erected a church, to meet the requirements of the denomination in the two 
settlements. No architect was necessary in its designing, nor was there one enfployed. In 
18845 a large Catholic church was erected near the crossing, which was the first modern 
building, if the Madison avenue school and the watch factory be excepted, in all that section. 

In January, 1889, the improvement of Dauphin Park, formerly a marsh, was introduced 
by S. E. Gross, who began the erection of a two-story, pressed-brick block, 100x80 feet, on 
Ninetieth street and Dauphin avenue. This building was designed for stores, flats and opera 
house purposes, and cost over $15,000. 

The Hyde Park and Lake water works building was completed in July, 1882, at a cost 
of $15, '115. The main structure fronts two hundred and ninety-five feet on the southeast 
corner of Oglesby avenue, and extends back one hundred and thirty-two feet on Sixty-eighth 
street. 

Windsor Park, Park Manor, Woodlawn and Park Kidge are new names of suburbs built 
up within the last ten years, in the northern half of the old township of Hyde Park. 

Roseland had a church as early as 1849, when a cabin was erected near One Hundred 
and Seventh street. In 1853 a frame house took its place, and in 1808 a third building, 
almost as modest as the first one, was erected. These buildings tell the history of the progress 
of the Hollanders. In 1882 the German Lutherans expended $f>00 on a school and church 
erected on One Hundred and Thirteenth street and Michigan avenue, and in 1884-5 
the German Methodists erected a frame house on One Hundred and Thirteenth street and 
Indiana avenue, at a cost of 1,200. The first modern building was the church of the Holy 
Rosary, on One Hundred and Tenth street and Indiana avenue, erected in 1883, at a cost of 
$11,000. It is a large frame structure, constructed on architectural principles. In 1883-4 
the Queen Anne cottage found its way to Roseland. and the prairie westward was soon dotted 
with grotesque dwellings. 

Gano is the name of a section Opened to settlement in 1887. During the year ending 
January 1, 1888, there were forty-three houses erected, and from that date to May 1, 1888, 
there were twenty-seven houses built. The name of Thomas Scanlan is closely identified 
with the development of this new section of the city. It was incorporated as a village in 1888, 
and became a part of the city in I SKI. 

Pullman is an architectural, economical dream, fully realized. Surveyed in 1879, it was 
built up in LSXO, in a Napoleonic manner, that won for its projectors and architects fame. 



2S2 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

In a former chapter its architectural features are referred to, arid in a subsequent chapter its 
sanitary arrangement is described. It is now a city within a city. 

South Chicago now boasts of several very fair modern brick structures. In 187(> it was 
a straggling village, but since 1882 it has been dressing gradually in city garb. From its 
beginnings in an Indian village to the present time it always entertained a hope of being 
the great city of the prairies, and now that it is a part of the great city, its hope is answered. 
In 1830 William See, a Methodist preacher of the region, secured a license to run a ferry 
across the Calumet river near its mouth, and sublet his franchise to one Hall, who con- 
ducted the business up to the time of Lieut. Jefferson Davis' report (1 833), when a stronger 
demand for Calumet property enabled the preacher to make a good sale. That preacher, by 
the way, kept one pretty good eye open for business, and while he preached in Chicago, and 
even solemnized there the first marriage between English-speaking people, yet held his Calu- 
met interests until he felt that the growth of the two places had progressed as far as it 
could reasonably be expected to, when he forsook the southern shrine and cast his fortunes 
entirely with Chicago. In the same year, 1830, he was granted a license to run the ferry at 
Calumet, Rev. See solemnized the marriage of one John Mann to Arkash Sambli, a three- 
fourths white and one-fourth Indian girl, and Mann, believing with Davis that Calumet was 
the destined port of importance, returned thither with his wife of mixed races and took up 
the ferry where Hale dropped it. But passengers were few, and to eke out an expense 
account, which grew as his family increased, Mann kept a trading post on the east bank of 
the river, not far from the ferry and in plain sight of the bank on either side of the river, so 
that he could be summoned at a moment's notice. His store contained only such articles as 
were demanded by Indians, and for these he received in barter the various peltries the 
Indians brought to sell. Until 1838 Mann conducted the double business of ferryman and 
trader, and might have been rich; but was given too fully to imbibing in the inferior 
liquor which he kept for Indians, and even a wife of Indian descent could not stand it 
always. When the last of the Pottawatomies left the region in 1838, Arkash took her chil- 
dren and went with them, and Mann sank rapidly until he left the Calumet and went to 
Kacine. The construction of a canal which should connect the Mississippi waterway was a 
hope indulged even then, and Stephen A. Douglas lent his influence to the selection of Calu- 
met as the natural terminal point. Lewis Benton, a man of some means, had believed in the 
same selection, and in 1833 had taken advantage of Davis' choice of Calumet for a fort, and 
purchased the land on both sides of the river, fully believing the advancing tide of immigra- 
tion would make him rich. He established a store, the first in Calumet and the only rival of 
John Mann's trading post on the east bank, and built a munber of houses in which his em- 
ployes were to live when the canal came. In 183f> he erected the Calumet house, and in 1837 
the Eagle hotel was built close by at the foot of Ninety-second street. They were primitive 
houses in every way, not much removed from cabins. Some who came to the Calumet through 
unbroken forests for a thousand miles, some who came across rivers unspanned by bridge 
from source to mouth, some who came in hopes of finding there the shrine where Fortune 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 283 

blessed her votaries, found a grave instead. On the east shore of the river, within sound and 
sight of the booming waves of the lake, on an elevation covered with oak trees, their tired 
frames were laid to rest. In regular rows, with rude wooden crosses marking the spot, just 
back from the sweep of the ferry-boat cable, almost at the door of Mann's trading post, the 
primitive cemetery was situated. In it were buried two children of John Mann and his long- 
suffering wife, who turned from these graves of her sons to follow her sire. There also were 
buried in the years that followed G. M. Jackson and his three children, W. A. Zirngibl, and 
many others who readied the place in that early day and hoped to see its harbor crowded with 
trade. In this cemetery, as the years passed, more than three hundred persons were buried. 
The last interment took place over twenty years ago, and time has now swept away all 
traces of the graves save little indentures in the sod, which seem to be calling kinsmen to 
remember them. August Mageritz, once a sailor, has purchased the. land which Lewis 
Benton once bought so boastfully, and just back of the little cemetery he lives in a weather- 
beaten cottage among the oaks, and waits, as so many have done before him, for the tide 
to come in. Three hundred graves, gathered in the years when Calumet and Chicago were 
rivals, nestled between the river and the lake, are there without a stone or board to mark 
a single one. 

One of the first stone buildings in the southern part of the present city was the light- 
house at South Chicago, built by the mason, Irwin, in 1851-3, three thousand feet south of 
the present lighthouse. The stone was quarried at Blue Island and carried on ftatboats 
to the mouth of the Calumet, The structure showed many points of the Martello tower, and 
after its restoration in 1870-71 relieved the landscape, as the cabins on the low prairie formed 
an eyesore. The North Chicago rolling mills were begun in 1880; the prairie was raised six 
feet, and soon those buildings came to the aid of the lighthouse in granting further relief to 
the great marsh. In 1888 the large buildings known as St. Xavier's academy formed 
a valuable addition. 

In 1860 the little church of St. Patrick's parish was built by the Rev. Thomas Kelly. 
Twenty years after it was remodeled and enlarged. In 1870 the little rectangular church 
of the Imnianuel Evangelical Lutheran society was erected; in 1872 the First Congre- 
gational house; in 1882 the Swedish Methodists and German Baptists, as well as the 
Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany society, erected small houses for worship. In 1882 
the church of the Immaculate Conception (Polish) was erected, at a cost of $23,6<X1; the 
church of SS. Peter and Paul (German) on Ninety-first street and Exchange avenue, at a 
cost of $10,000. and the German Evangelical Lutheran Zion's church, at a cost of $3,000. 

The first school building, known as the Bay school, was erected in 1853. It was a 
board shanty, 18x22 and nine feet high, quite in keeping with the character of directors, 
teachers and students. A similar house was erected a few years later, and with these speci- 
mens of scholastic architecture the young and old had to be content until 1870, when the 
first modern house was erected at a cost of $28,000. The location on Houston avenue and 
Ninety-third street pointed out one of two things the faith of the directors in the destiny of 



284 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

the district, or their desire to rid themselves of the onus of considering methods for the 
expenditure of taxes. In 1877 a $3,(KX) house was raised on Ewing avenue, south of 
One Hundred and Third street; in 1878 a f'2,000 house on Sixth avenue, south of 
Ninety-ninth street; in 1881, the new Ray schoolhouse, at a cost of $0,000; in 1882, the 
$12,000 building on Superior avenue and Eighty-ninth street, and the 114,000 building on 
Escanaba avenue and One Hundred and First street. 

The Evangelical Association erected a house of worship on Sixth avenue south of 
Ninety-eighth street (Colehour) in 1875; the German Baptists, on One Hundred and Seventh 
street, in 1870, and the Swedish Baptists, on Fourth avenue in 1883. In the latter year 
the builders Roehr & Duggan erected a large brick schoolhouse at Cummings. and thirty 
dwelling and business houses in that neighborhood. In 1875 the buildings of the Brown 
Iron & Steel Company, on the river bank, at One Hundred and Ninth street, were commenced, 
but not until 1884 was the prairie and marsh covered with houses. 

Dolton and Riverdale formed one settlement and boasted of two or three commodious 
farmhouses. Wildwood is another old settlement. At Riverdale a distillery was erected in 
1871 and a school building in 1874. Both structures were properly designed. The German 
Evangelical church, built in 1882, and a few modern dwellings erected subsequently, show 
some attention to architectural design. 

Kensington, or Calumet Station, pointed to John Cooper's boarding-house as its master 
piece of architecture. This was early in the fifties. In 1880 the settlement began to rise 
from its priinitiveness, and to-day boasts of a few well-built business blocks, dwellings and 
schoolhouse s. 

Calumet Park, at the junction of the Michigan Central with the South Chicago & 
Southern railroad; Tolleston, and other new towns, may be classed with the manufacturing 
suburbs. 

The Hammond settlement is as old as Roseland. In 1849 a Dutchman named Holman 
erected a log shanty near the Indiana line, which gave way some years later to a frame house. 
Joe Tracket built a house near the intersection of Dolton street and state line early in the 
fifties, which is still standing. In 1875 M. M. Towle ordered a tract to be platted and named 
Hammond. A large frame slaughterhouse was erected that year, which overshadowed his 
large store building of 1872, and a house was completed every day for some months. The 
fire of December 24, 1883, wiped out twenty-one business houses, and left that manufacturing 
suburb at liberty to build anew. West Hammond and the new Polish town have been built. 

In 1889 Hyde Park was annexed to the city. In Commissioner Dunphy's report 
for the last five and a half months of that year, is a reference to the marked activity in 
the building arts within the old township boundaries. He states: " Among the improvements 
in Hyde Park I notice the Oakland hotel as enlarged, at the corner of Oakwood and Drexel 
boulevards, also an eight-story, stone-and-brick apartment building, and six-story blocks of 
stores and flats, both on Cottage Grove and Bo wen avenues, large addition to Cornell's seven- 
story hotel, a large school building at Fiftieth street and Lake avenue, which is a great credit 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 285 

to its projectors, while there are five others in the old village of Hyde Park which were built 
during the year. There are many very fine dwellings along Drexel and Grand boulevards, 
as also on Forty-second and Forty-third streets, also on Lake, Bowen and other avenues and 
streets. Six new churches have been built during .the year, some of which are among the 
finest inside our present city limits. The Home for Incurables on Fifty-fifth street is one of 
the best constructed buildings for the purposes for which it was erected in this whole region. 
There are other charitable institutions just built, all of which reflect much credit on the peo- 
ple of Hyde Park. The South Chicago new steel works, which when completed will cost 
$1,000,000 and will furnisli employment for one thousand men, speak well for the river dis- 
trict. Then near by, but east of the river, are the new smelting works, which are of gigantic 
proportions. Several blocks of stores and dwellings have been erected in this vicinity. At 
and near Pullman and Kensington some notable improvements are to be seen. Tho old dis- 
trict of Hyde Park, which covered a goodly slice of Cook county, is virtually dotted in nearly 
its every part with improvements, and the closing year brings this notable territory in for its 
full share of them for the year ending December 31. Conspicuously is this the case at Park 
Manor, also in and around South Park, Woodlawn, and extending along down the Illinois 
Central railroad to Sixty-seventh street, north of which and lying between the Central and 
the grounds of Jackson park may be seen many fine residences. Indeed, this little nook 
seems to be a favorite spot for well-planned dwellings. Then on down and along Jeffrey 
avenue are other fine improvements, many finished and others well under way. At Grand 
Crossing, Colehour, Dolton and Burnside, many new buildings are to be seen, some fine ones, 
but mostly of a cheaper class, including many cottages, while there are some for business pur- 
poses." This extraordinary activity became more decided in 1890, and still more so in 1891. 
A better class of buildings in const ruction, material, finish and style were brought into exist- 
ence within the last two years. 

That section of the city known formerly as the Town of Lake may be said to have been 
dressed in brick, stone and wood since 1 882. For over thirty years prior to that time the 
cabins of squatters were found in clusters here and there. For a shorter period a few frame 
houses decorated the prairie, but not until 18119 was any decisive effort at improvement made 
outside the stock yards district. Since that time Englewood, Normal, Eggleston, Auburn, 
West Auburn, Englewood on the Hill, Chicago Lawn, Brainerd, South Englewood, Feruwood, 
and other suburbs have been transformed from the wilderness into a city of detached homes, 
drives, parkways, lawns and gardens. It may be stated that since the fall of 1882 this strik- 
ing metamorphosis has been effected. During the last five and a half months of 1889 there 
were one thousand and fifty-seven buildings erected in the annexed section of that township 
at a cost of 12,058,000 or 11,947.58 each. The great majority of these structures are dwell- 
ings, cottages as a rule prevailing. However, there are some costly buildings in the number, 
and notably so the packinghouse of Nelson Morris at the stock yards, a five-story structure 
of largo dimensions with all modern improvements and appliances. The roundhouse and 
repair shops of the Lake Shore road at Sixty-third street is a noticeable improvement. There 



286 INDUSTRIAL CUICAOO: 

are several blocks of stores and flats along State street, and many fine dwellings and a few 
business buildings erected at Englewood and Auburn. But the seven years' work proved only 
a fair beginning. In 1890 and 1891 many elegant residences, apartment houses and store- 
and-flat buildings were carried to completion, the more important ones of which are noticed 
in former chapters. Chicago Lawn, Edgemoor and new suburbs in that section are advancing 
slowly but surely. South of Eighty-third street, as far as Blue Island, progress is remark- 
able. 

The Normal school and boardinghouse was erected early in the seventies, fronting on 
Sixty-eighth street. The Methodists erected a church on Forty -fifth and Winter streets 
in 1877, and the Presbyterians erected one, in 1883, on Forty -third and Winter streets. 
The Catholics built the large frame house known as the Church of St. Rose of Lima, on 
Forty-eighth street and Ashland avenue, in 1882-3; St. Augustine's church, on Laflin and 
Forty-ninth streets, in 1879; St. Elizabeth's, on Dearborn near Fortieth street and St. 
Gabriel's, on Sherman street south of Forty-fifth street, in 1880. A few years later the 
people of St. Elizabeth's find St. Gabriel's parishes erected new buildings, the former on 
Forty-first and State streets and the latter on the original site. 

The first Presbyterian building, erected in 1868-9, was a diminutive structure until 
1883, when it was remodeled and enlarged. In 18fi9 the Church of St. Anne was erected, 
on Fifty-fifth street and Wentworth avenue. The Methodists erected a frame house on 
Stewart avenue and Sixty-fourth street, in 1875, which was a pretentious structure for the 
time and place. The Baptist church, on Englewood avenue, was erected in 1873, at a cost 
of $7,000, and enlarged in 1882-3 at a cost of $3,000. The Universalist building was erected 
in 188081. The English Protestant Episcopal society erected a chapel on Sixty-ninth street 
in 1883. The Catholic church at Auburn was built in 1884. The Reformed Episcopal church 
house, on Cedar street, was built in 1881-2. The Swedish Lutherans built a house on Butter- 
field street near Fifty-fifth in 1883; the German Evangelical society built one on Forty-sixth 
and Dearborn streets, and St. Martin's church was erected on Fifty-ninth street. 

The Rock Island railroad depot building, at Fifty-fifth and Clark streets, erected in 
1883, was a marvel in its day a thing of beauty. What is it now? That little gem of 
architecture in wood and glass, which signalized the coming of the builders into the wild 
lands east of Clark street, is scarcely noticed among the residences which have since grown 
up in that vicinity. The large church, and the larger schoolhouse just west, win all attention 
on that side. 

The Auburn schoolhouse, erected in 1876 at a cost of $15,000; the brick block or ter- 
race at South Englewood, erected the same year for Richmond & Noble; the depot build- 
ings, at the crossing of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
railroads, erected in 1882-3; the Dyer & McNiel frame houses on Eighty-third street; the 
old Ten Mile house, a frame building, on Vincennes avenue; and the large buildings known 
as the Convent of our Lady and the Church of the Sacred Heart, on Ninety-fifth street, 
erected in 1875, were the pioneer houses of the southwestern sections of the present city. In 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 287 

1874-5 the brick schoolhouse at Washington Heights rose above the trees, and southwest, at 
Morgan Park, a few pretentious brick buildings signaled progress. 

Morgan Park was the most ambitious of the southern suburbs after the fire. The Bap- 
tist seminary building, erected in 1868-9, at a cost of 100,000, was a brick structure, 214x48 
feet and four stories in hight. The Theological Union removed their buildings to the park in 
1877. The Female college building, completed in 1875, at a cost of $30,000, is one of the 
best attempts at architecture made south of the city in that year. The Military academy 
dates back to 1873. It is a two-story, attic-and-basement brick house, with mansard roof. All 
the buildings are much indebted to their beautiful location on the Blue Island ridge, but the 
enterprise which suggested them, as well as the architects who designed them, merit public 
approval. 

The Convent of Our Lady, on Ninety-fifth street, built in 1875, and the church adjoin- 
ing, erected in 1874, are important buildings even to-day, and vie with many within the old 
city limits. The Tracy avenue public schoolhouse was completed in 1875. A few substan- 
tial dwellings were erected on that avenue and in the old village of Washington Heights, even 
before the schoolhouse was projected, and modern cottages began to dot the prairie eastward 
to South Chicago. The Town of Lake of 1881-5 bears the same relation to the town of 1891 
that the old police station on Sixty-third and Wentworth would to the new station on the 
avenue farther south. 

Evanston is the Morgan Park of the northern suburbs. The buildings of the Methodist 
Episcopal college, known as the Northwestern university, may be said to begin with the 
university hall, erected in 1869, at a cost of $110,000. It is a three-story stone structure, 
with attic and basement, presenting modern architectural features. The Woman's college 
building is a large brick, three-story, basement-and-attic structure, with mansard roof and 
clock tower, erected in 1857, on the site of a building burned the year before. The prepara- 
tory building is a Colonial low-gabled house, with portico and square tower. Heck hall was 
erected in 1866-7. White or Milwaukee bricks were used in construction, and a building, five 
stories in hight, was given to Evanston. The building of the Evanston college for ladies, as 
completed in 1874, shows' an adaptation of the Italian style. It is a four-story brick house, 
with stone facing. The original Garrett Biblical institute building, a three-story frame 
house, 66x32, was erected in 1854. In 1867 the institute abandoned this building, in favor 
of the new Heck hall. 

In more recent days the first suburban terrace or block of residences was built at Evanston. 
Since that time residences have multiplied. Stone and brick have been substituted for brick 
in construction, and modern architectural forms stand where, a few years ago, the carpenter's 
Gothic or the plain square house represented architecture. The new Village hall, on Davis 
street and Sherman avenue, compared with the old hall, represents the change fairly. It is 
50x150 feet in area, two stories in hight, with a high ornamental corner tower and a smaller 
tower at the north end. Another index to architectural progress is the new rocked-faced 
stone church of St. Mary's parish, a Gothic structure, erected at a cost of over $70,000, 



288 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

The Lake View house, built in 1854, on the lake shore south of Graceland avenue, may 
be considered the pioneer attempt at architecture in the extreme northern section of the city. 
Eighteen years later the Town hall was erected at a cost of $17,000. The hotel above named 
is a three-story frame house, while the hall of 1872 is a red brick house. Each stands to-day 
a representative of its building days. The high school building of 1873 is an ornamental one 
of its class, while the Eavenswood schoolhouse, erected also in 1873, cost $15,000. The 
Martha Washington home for female inebriates occupied the old military school in 1882. 
The church building of Lake View began with the temporary house (erected in 1871 by the 
Chirk street Methodist society), moved to Lake View after the rebuilding of the Clark street 
house. In 1872 the Congregationalists built an $8,000 structure; in 1884 the Protestant 
Episcopalians erected a house for worship at a cost of f 10,000; the Third German Evangel- 
ical Reformed Friedens society built a brick house in 1883-4; the Congregationalists built on 
Seminary avenue and Lill street in 1884-5, and the Catholics erected a large building in 
1882, on Wellington street and Southport avenue. The Hose Hill cemetery building, a stone 
pile in the Norman castellated style, the Catholic Orphan asylum of 1879-80, and the Cath- 
olic church and school buildings of 1873, are all creditable houses. Of the various sections 
of the annexed territory few present liner improvements than Lake View. Lane Park 
received many improvements in 1887-8, including a church and several pretentious residences. 
Winnetka and ancient Ouilmette, or Wilrnette, are now forging ahead. 

West of the old city limits well concerted efforts were made to build up a number of 
suburban towns, and these efforts were more than partially successful. Long before the 
south-side subdivision manager grasped the idea of setting out trees, grading and macad- 
amizing streets, building sidewalks and erecting houses, the far westerners of Oak Park had it 
in operation. 

In 1853 the Skinner hotel overshadowed the older cabins of Oak Park and pointed to a 
brighter building era. In 1 873 the Methodists erected a frame building on Forest avenue 
and Lake street, which they veneered with brick and ornamented with two towers and spires. 
The cost of this pretty building was $24,000. The Congregationalists followed this exam- 
ple in 1874, and built a 20,000 stone structure. The pioneer* of architectural churches 
was that of the Unity society, a frame house on a stone basement, completed in 1872 at a cost 
of over 112,000. The society known as Grace Protestant Episcopal church erected a brick 
house in Gothic form during the years 1882-3. The Scoville institute building of 1885, the 
water-works building of 1878 and the school buildings of this suburb show attention to arch- 
itectural detail. 

Austin was one of the first suburban settlements to show an appreciation of art in 
building. Many of the residences of twenty years ago are decidedly excellent structures. In 
the summer of 1872 the Methodist society commenced the erection of a stone church, 
the rock being supplied by Denis Burns, of Batavia, aiid shortly after, the Baptist society 
completed a frame house. St. Paul's English Protestant Episcopal society had their frame 
house torn down by a tornado in June, 1881. It was almost completed. In November of 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 389 

that year their second attempt at building was destroyed by tire, and not. until the close of 1883 
was their third house completed. In 1881 the Presbyterians erected a large frame building. 
The North schoolhouse, erected in 1879 at a cost of 120,000, and the Queen Anne dwellings 
of later days contribute to give life to the broad, shaded avenues. 

The Union church at Brighton Park, erected in 1874 at a cost of $5,001), was a frame 
house designed to last so long as the union between the Baptists and Methodists of 
that district would last. The fragile structure outlived that union. After reorganization a 
new house was erected on Green and Thirty-eighth streets at a cost of about $2,000. In 
1 880 the Baptists completed a frame house for worship. St. Agnes' Catholic school building 
was completed in 1884, after an expenditure of about $25,000. The new church of that parish 
is a large building with some architectural pretensions. 

A peculiar church was erected at Clyde in 1874 on the style which obtained at Riverside, 
namely, the Swiss chalet, as unsuitable to a prairie country and to this latitude as style may 
bo made. 

Riverside was conceived in 1 8(58, when Emery E. Childs and L. W. Murray bought 1 ,600 
acres from David Gage and organized the Riverside Improvement Company. This company 
gave Olmstead, Vaux & Co., the landscape gardeners, carte blanche to make the finest sub- 
division imaginable. Gage arranged to release the property lot by lot. During the first year 
$250,000 was expended in roads, sewers and general improvements. In order to allow the 
company to raise money, Gage was induced to release a part of the land. On the part 
so released the company borrowed the necessary funds. In 1809 the company had sold 
$850,000 worth of lots and had put this slim into improvements. The improvements by 
this time amounted to 1,000,000, including water and gas works. After the fire of 1871 
tho company found itself in financial straits, and again induced Gage to make further releases. 
The company then managed to tide over until 1 872, when it transferred all its assets to the 
Chicago & Great Western Railway & Land Company. Bonds were issued to the extent 
of $1,000,000. The Peck estate purchased $1(X),000 worth of preferred bonds. With the 
remaining $900,000 the most of the old indebtedness was paid off. The panic of 1873 caused 
the collapse of both companies and brought on a long series of judgment suits by creditors 
for about $700,000. The whole idea was Utopian. The Alpine idea of architecture prevailed 
and the Swiss system of construction was adopted. 

Tho Tilton schoolhouse was tho first important building in the Central park neighbor- 
hood, other than the railroad company's buildings of 1873. The little church buildings of 
St. Phillip's Catholic parish and of St. Barnabas' Protestant Episcopal mission were erected 
in 1878 and 1882, respectively. Within the last docade the rnodemizer has been earnestly at 
work in this district, ornamenting the prairie with homos, the idea of which was scarcely enter- 
tained twelve years ago. In 1874 the Hoffman avenue schoolhouse was erected at a cost of 
20,000, it being the pioneer of the large educational houses in that quarter of the city. Tho 
church buildings are frame structures, tho greater number small and unpretentious, wanting 
in every architectural feature. In 1838 Abrani Gale had a house, 18x34 feet, erected on the 



290 



INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 



ridge known as Galewood, for .175. That style obtained in Jefferson tip. to 1870, and does 
to-day to some extent; but there are several well-built frame houses and many brick residences 
and business blocks to be found there. Since 1887 that portion of Milwaukee avenue belonging 
to Jefferson township, has given substantial marks of progress. The Washburn & Moen 
Manufacturing Company's warehouse at Cragin, the first fireproof structure in the township, 
and, perhaps, the largest warehouse erected in the west up to 1884, is a marvelous piece of 
warehouse engineering. 

Montrose, Morton Park, Avondale, Irving Park, Maplewood and a dozen of other suburbs 
date back to the seventies for their improvements; but modern times have contributed largely 
to cover up those prairie stretches. 

In former pages the statistics of building operations from 1864-76, are given. Here let 
the tell-tale figures of 187791 find a place: 



Year. No. of Houses. 

1877 1,389 

1878 1,019 

1879 1,093 

1880 1,368 

1881 1,738 

1882 3,113 

1883 .'....4,086 

1884 4,169 

1885 4,638 

1886 4,664 

1887 4,833 

1888 4,958 

1889 7,590 

1890 11,608 



Frontage feet. 


Cost. 


35,033 


$ 6,922,649 


31,118 


6,605,200 


33,361 


6,139,580 


44,964 


8,206,550 


56,627 


13,467,000 


73,161 


15,842,800 


85,588 


17,500,000 


98,782 


20,689,600 


108,850 


19,624,100 


112,302 


21,324,400 


115,506 


19,778,100 


116,419 


20,360,800 


181,126 


31,516,000 


266,284 


47,322,100 



Miles. 

6.6 

5.9 

6.3 

8.5 

10.7 

13.8 

16.2 

18.6 

20.6 

21.2 

21.8 

22.0 

34.3 

50.41 



Total 56,266 1,359,121 $255,298,879 256.91 

The buildings erected during 1890 cover a frontage of fifty and one-half miles. In the 
south division 1,120 buildings were erected, have a frontage of 29,597 feet, at a cost of 
$15,400,800; in the north division 502 buildings, with a frontage of 14,055 feet, costing 
$3,681,200; in the west division 3,994, with a frontage of 91,336 feet, costing $13,687,600. 
Hyde Park shows up with 2,052, with a frontage of 44,481 feet, costing $6,624,300. In 
Lake 2,889 were erected, with a frontage of 63,297 feet, costing $5,578,100. Lake View 
added 1,051, with a frontage of 23,518 feet, costing $2,350,100. 

From October 10, 1871 to December 31, 1876, there was a sum of about $49,239,000 
expended on buildings, or a total of $304,537,879 from October 10, 1871 to December 31, 
1890. The totals do not include the large sums of money expended in sheds and additions 
or in moving old buildings and restoring them, nor does it touch the millions expended in 
the recently annexed territory, south, west and north of the old city limits, prior to 1890. 
Yet this can only be considered as a beginning. What will 1892 and 1893 see accomplished? 
A great deal a frontage of gigantic proportion and a floor-area almost equal to that of Chi- 
cago at the close of 1 888, 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 291 

The figures from the records of the departments of building in twenty-seven of the chief 
cities of the United States for the year 1889 have been compiled in a table which presents 
some surprising contrasts. Philadelphia built more new houses in 188!) than any other 
American city. The number is 11 .1)05 against 6,722 in New York; but while the cost of 
Philadelphia's 11,965 houses was $26,000,000, the investment in New York's 6,722 new 
buildings was $75,912,816, or nearly three times as much. In other' words, while the new 
structures in New York cost on an average $1 1,293 each, those in Philadelphia cost only 
12,172. 

No. Houses. Cost. Average. 

Chicago 7,590 $31,510,000 $4,552 

Brooklyn 4,500 25,679,405 5,706 

Boston 4,431 32,400,000 7,312 

Minneapolis 4,355 8,737,281 2,006 

Washington 4,048 6,165,715 1,523 

Cleveland 4,007 4,401,854 1,098 

Boston built only about one hundred and fifty more houses than Minneapolis, but she 
expended $32,400,000 to Minneapolis' $8,737,281. A mushroom growth in Cleveland is 
indicated by the amazing disproportion between the number of structures and the total cost. 
Following the comparison a little farther, there are six cities where the year's total of new 

houses ranges from two to four thousand: 

No. Houses. Cost. Average. 

St. Paul 3,756 $ 7,939,493 $2,113 

St. Louis 3,544 9,765,700 2,755 

Pittsburg 3,241 8,000,000 2,468 

Denver 2,741 10,807,377 3,942 

Omaha 2,498 4,663,735 1,803 

Cincinnati 2,104 4,143,214 1,969 

Among the towns where less than two thousand new houses were built are three that 
come within or almost within the metropolitan circle; and they show a remarkable closeness 

in their averages: 

No. Houses. Cost. Average. 

Newark 1,541 $5,000,000 $3,244 

Jersey City 930 2,930,857 3,151 

New Haven 628 2,066,700 3,290 

During the first six mouths of 1891 applications were made for permits to build 6,068 
buildings, to cover a frontage of 149,177 feet, at an estimated cost of $22,877,000. During 
the corresponding period of 1 890 permits were issued for 5,840 buildings, to cover a frontage 
of 132,461 feet, and to cost $21,445,000. The gain is in two hundred and twenty-eight build- 
ings, at an estimated cost of $1,632,000. To show the comparative activity in building of 
the different sections of the city, the following analysis of the building permit list for the 
first six months of 1891 is here given. 

No. I'V.'t. Cost. 

West side 1,966 52,573 $6,778,600 

South side 550 16,552 6,879,400 

North side 285 8,324 1,820,200 

Hyde Park 1,034 24,214 3,485,800 

Lake 1,569 32,532 2,683,600 

Lake View 664 14,982 1,230,100 



292 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

During the half year ending with June 30 permits were issued for the improvement of 
twenty-eight miles of frontage. These buildings would line one side of a street solidly 
for 25.09 miles. The total valuation of the buildings for which permits were secured exceeds 
by a few million dollars the totals of each year from 1884 to 1888, both inclusive. It is 
also equal to more than the combined totals of the three years 1878, 1879 and 1880. 

On the date given the Lunte-Waite block on Washington street was a thing of the past, 
even its foundations were removed to make way for the Cook County Abstract & Trust Co.'s 
building. The old Unity block, the old Ashland block, and hundreds of smaller houses through- 
out the city, were taken down or removed to make way for modern structures. There are four 
building enterprises opposite the single block bounded by Dearborn, Washington, Clark and 
Randolph streets, all under way. Three of them are to be sixteen-story structures, and the 
fourth is to be fifteen stories in hight. The permit for the building of the Ashland block, 
as granted, gives the estimated cost of the structure at $600,000. The Cook County Abstract 
& Trust Co's. building will cost at least as much. The combined hotel and theater projected 
by the German Opera House Association will cost $500,000, and the Unity building will rep- 
resent an expenditure of between $600,000 and $800,000. Before the close of July these 
four buildings, which will cost almost $2,500,000, were under way, while just _east of State 
street the building to replace the Vienna bakery building was started. Kapid progress is 
being made in all of the great building enterprises clustered around the Postoffice. The 
new Moiiadiiock office building, the hotel opposite, the Fair building, and the Woman's 
Temple, are nearing completion or are being pushed forward rapidly. There has never been 
a time in the history of Chicago when so many great building operations were in progress at 
the same time. 

It may be asked why should Chicago be able to enter the lists with the old cities of the 
continent ? Why should Chicago aim to take the lead of all modern cities in population and 
commerce and art ? Because here the pioneers saw the true gateway to the great grain fields, 
the great stock ranges and the great mines, the wealth of over half a million square miles. 
Because hero is the natural emporium for a country, the richness of which is yet but little 
known, while its prairies, valleys and hills are scarcely settled. 

In such a city, one of immense possibilities, enterprise congregates and it is a ques- 
tion now whether the limitations of commercial knowledge in this country, as in others, are 
not responsible for holding Chicago in check. The nations are represented here, but only 
yesterday did the dwellers stop to think of what is unaccomplished. Enterprise slept, and a 
city which has all the qualities to be first of all great centers in the world is now, at the be- 
ginning of the last decade of the nineteenth century, only the second in her own country. 
Her people have now awakened from that sleep, and, looking round, they see the day-star of 
her destiny. They labor so they may walk in its light. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 393 



X. 




ARCHITECTS' AND BUILDERS' ASSOCIATIONS. 

|ANY of the designers iind builders of the old city find mention in the history of 
their works. The architects and contractors of later days are named in this chap- 
tor, thus bringing close together the buildings and the leading persons of the 
drama of building. What has been accomplished by the architects' associations of the modern 
city in the interests of true building? They have banished the stono veneerer from the lead- 
ing business and residence streets, a feat which, only a decade ago, seemed impossible. The 
limestone slabs of other days, beginning with the Crosby opera house, had to give way to 
more endurable material, such as the Philadelphia pressed brick, and, from the foundation to 
the apex, buildings began to show the new era of care and taste in construction. Within, 
they have changed the forms of olden ideas in the arrangement of rooms and done away, for 
ever, with the age of interior painted woodwork. All this and much more they accomplished 
for the people. To the profession the association has brought immense benefits, for though 
its members have been instructed in discipline, their individual ideas have been systematized, 
as it were, and a spirit of honor and emulation inculcated, all of which, necessarily, raise up 
a standard that the young men must attain aud their seniors defend. Beginning associated 
life in November, 1884, the architects of Illinois have extended their influence; and as reforms 
in American laws and practice spread out from the law circles of Mississippi in the past, 
reforms in architectural life and stylo spread out from Illinois in the present; for the influ- 
ences of the architectural thought of this state, directed by association, now permeate profes- 
sional thought throughout the English-speaking countries, and receive some attention even 
from the great schools of France and Italy. Chicago has set about the abolition of tho 
grotesque aud monstrous in architecture under the genial sway of associated thought, so that 
all those strangely peculiar forms, masquerading under several names from 1882 to 1885, are 
fast giving place to nobler forms, are making way for a practical, useful, coherent style, 
which will transform the bizarre town of the past into a city which will stand for ages, a 
monument to study and sound sense. 

In the chapters devoted to descriptions of the buildings of this city the names of many 
of the first resident architects and draughtsmen appear, with, perhaps, the exception of W. 
H. Bushnell, who was a draughtsman in Ogden & Jones' office in 1843. He was also the 



294 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

story-writer of that period, and contributed sundry short tales to the press. Ho died at 
Washington, D. C., in March, 1 890. 

The architects of 1859, particularly those whose names have been carried down in the 
list of 1 SOU, were the designers of old Chicago, being at once the architects, draughtsman and 
superintendents of the time. They were as follows: W. H. Bayless, 25 Larmou building; 
W. W. Boyington, 82 South Dearborn street; Ed. Burling, 46 South La Salle street; W. H. 
Carter, 46 Van Buren street; Carter & Bauer, 51 South La Salle street; John De Clercq, 39 
Hubbart street; G. W. Gray, 101 South Dearborn street; George M. Hawkes, Tremout Ex- 
change building; Francis Kahle, 1 South Clark street; Otto H. Matz, 162 Lake street; L. 
N. Murphy, Tromont building; Peter A. Nicholson, 110 South Dearborn street; J. B. Picard; 
G. P. Eandall, 20 Portland block; William Thomas, 101 South Dearborn street; John M. 
Van Osdel, 8 Masonic Temple; T. V. Wadskier, 110 South Dearborn street; O. L. Wheelock, 
77 South Dearborn street, and Peter B. Wight, southwest corner of State and Randolph streets. 

The architects of 18(59 were Dankmar Adler,* W. N. Avenel, F. & E. Baumann* (also in 
1872-9), Baumann & Buschik, W. W. Boyington* (also in 1872-9), Thomas C. Boyington, 
Homer H. Boyington, Carter & William Drake* (also in 1872 with Wright), Cochrane* & 
Piqenard (with Miller in 1872-9), A. Dezendorf, George O. Garnsey* (also iu 1872-9), C. H. 
Gottig* (also in 1872), Kenney & Adlor* (also in 1872), Otto H. Matz* (also in 1872-9), 
Nocquet & J. L. Merriam* (1879), Nichols & Nichell, O. H. Placey* (also in 1872-9), G. P. 
Randall* (also in 1872-9), Rose & Chapman* (also in 1872-9), William Thomas & Son* (also 
in 1872-9), J. M. Van Osdel* (also in 1872-9), Van Pelt & Jennison, T. V. Wadskier* 
(also in 1872-9), 6. L. Wheelock* (Wheelock & Clay in 1879), John K. Winchell* (also 
in 1872), Fred. W. Wolf* (also in 1872-9). Horace W. S. Cleveland was the only landscape 
architect here in 1869-72-79. 

The names of the architects of 1871-2 are as follows: J. W. Ackorman,f C. H. Alex- 
ander^ W. N. Areud,f Armstrong & Egaii, J. Austinf & Le Lardoux, Barton & Treadwell, 
A. Bauerf & Loebnitz, J. H. Bigolow, William Blanke,f R- C. Blum, G. Boltenf & J. Zittel.f 
Burling,f Adlerf & Co., Felix Buschik, Cleveland & French, John C. Cochraue, Copelaud & 
Weary, J. B. & W. C. Corlies,f Cuddell & Blumenthal,f Do Forrest & Fisher, John Dillen- 
burg,f L. B. Dixonf & Hamilton, George H. Edbrooke,f C. W. Edson, Faulkner & Clark, 
William A. Furber,f Henry L. Gay,f G. M. Hawkes,f C. O. Hansen,f Hodgson & Brown, 
J. C. Hornblower, Horsey & Sheard, Henry S. Jaffray,f E. S. Jennison,f W. L. B. Jenney,f 
Theodore Karls,f A. J. Keuney, W. O. Kleinsrnith, C. W. Laing,f L. G. Laureau, M. J. 
McBirg, Henry Meissner, Merriain & Street, John R. Noff, C. M. Palmer (with Spinning iu 
1879), Payne & Gray, C. W. Pettie, W. H. Phelps, W. R. Preston, S. M. Randolph,! H 
Rehwolt,f Adam L. Robb, John W. Roberts, Rodger & Lyon, Rufus Rose, Roy & Clifford, 
Robert Schmid, Henry Schroeder, S. V. Shipman & Co.,f O. G. Smith, Smith & Boynton, 
F. S. Stewart, Tilley & Longhurst, Treat & Foltz,f John Tullyf & Osborn, H. Von Langen, 
S. C. Walshe, J. R. Willett,f York & Ross, G. Zucker.f 

Were here in 1859 also. 
tWere here iu 1879 also. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 295 

Thoy formed a circle of citizens devoted to architecture, who, ill the rash and hurry of 
uplifting a city from ruin, stood between art and barbarism and gave to Chicago many of the 
beautiful buildings which the age of steel and pressed brick found hero. 

The architects of 1879 who were not here at the beginning of 1872 are named in the 
following list, while those of 1872, who were here in J879, are marked thus * in the list of 
1872: John Addison, Minard L. Beers, A. H. Brodman, Burling <fe Whitehouse, Burnham & 
Hoot, W. L. Carroll, F. L. Charnley, Oscar Cobb, John C. Cochrane, Dewitt Davis, A. M. 
Colton, J. J. Dennis, William Drake, W. J. Edbrooke, Egan & Hill, S. Einersen, Julius 
Ender, John J. Flanders, George Frommann, Furst & Rudolph, Jesse M. Holden, H. M. Han- 
sen, H. P. Harned, C. C. Hotchkiss, Paul Huber, Wallace Hume, J. S. Johnson, Alex. Kirk- 
land, Henry Kley, J. Koenigsberg, J. H. Littletield, C. E. Lohman, William Longhurst, H. 
Lutter, Jr., Alban B. Lynch, D. W. Millard, C. C. Miller, J. T. Moulton & Son, O. J. 
Pierce, F. E. Schock, Henry Sierks, Alfred Smith, Philip Spitz, E. Steude, C. L. Stiles, W. 
Strippleman, W. C. A. Thielepape, Gregory Vigeant, F. H. Walscher, P. B. Wight, W. H. 
Wilcox, I. C. Zarbell. 

They came in time to experiment on the lines of the Queen Anne and other quaint forms 
of house building and immediately left the impress of their advent on the prairie north of 
North avenue, south of Thirty-ninth street and west of Ashland avenue; for in 1880-82 their 
adaptations of old English styles gave to the territory described great numbers of those 
wild-gabled homes, which, to the surprise of the owners at least, are still on their foundations 
with roofs and gables intact. 

The American Institute of Architects, now national in its influence and membership, was 
a local organization of architects up to 1809, when the Chicago and Philadelphia chapters 
were admitted. On December 7, 183G, when scarce twenty experienced architects could be 
found on the North American continent outside the cities of Mexico, Quebec and Montreal, a 
few members of the profession assembled at New York with the object of forming an associa- 
tion. In May, 1837, the adjourned meeting was held at Philadelphia, under call of March 
23, 1837, signed by T. U. Walter, as secretary of the first meeting. William Strickland, T. 
IT. Walter, A. J. Davis, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Vramp and Mr. Reichardt were the only architects 
present, but William Kelly, John D. Jones, and the student, N. Le Brun, were admitted at 
once, and may be classed with the charter members of the first American institution of archi- 
teota 

The organization lived one short summer, and not until 1857, when the American 
Institute of Architecture was established, did any organization appear to take its place. 
Richard Upjohn, elected president in 1857, held that position until 1876, when Thomas U. 
Walter was elected. He served until his death, in 1887, when R. M. Hunt was elected. J. 
C. Wells, the first treasurer, was succeeded in 1801 by R. G. Hatfield and he by O. P. Hat- 
field, in 1880, who served until 1890, when S. A. Treat was elected. R. M. Hunt was the 
first secretary. In 1800 and 1861 the office was filled by Henry Van Brunt and J. W. Ritch. 
During the war Charles D. Gambrill was acting secretary and E. T. Littell attended to the 



296 INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

duties of that office in 1805-7. H. H. Richardson was corresponding secretary for several 
years, but in 1869 Henry A. Simms was appointed secretary of foreign correspondence. 

In 1807 the system of consolidation of architectural societies was adopted and the New 
York chapter was admitted. F. C. Withers was elected secretary and served until the begin- 
ning of I860, when Bussell Sturgis was elected. P. B. Wight was chosen secretary and 
served two years; Carl Pfeiffer, two years; A. J. Bloor, four years; C. F. McKim, one year; 
H. M. Congdon, two years; A. J. Bloor, two and one-half years; George C. Mason, Jr., three 
and one-half years; A. J. Bloor, three years. In 1887 W. A. Potter was elected secretary; 
in 1888, A. J. Bloor; in 1889 and 1890, John W. Boot. C. D. Gambrill, elected in 1878, 
declined, when W. R. Ware was elected. He also declined, leaving Mr. Bloor to carry on 
the business of the office. As has been stated, the system of chapter organization was intro- 
duced and the New York chapter admitted to the institute March 19, 1807; Philadelphia, 
November 14, 1869; Chicago, December 13, 1809; Cincinnati, February 14, 1870; Boston, 
December 0, 1870; Baltimore, January 13, 1871; Albany, May 28, 1873; Rhode Island, 
November 10, 1875; San Francisco, November 4, 1881; St. Louis, April 10, 1884; Indianapo- 
lis, July 2, 1884. and Washington, September 21, 1887. In the last given year western 
architects took part, in the institute proceedings and in 1889 the western men merged their 
associations into the national association and the old institiite took on a new life. 

The twenty-first annual convention of the American Institute of Architects was held in 
the Art institute at Chicago October 19 to 21, 1887. Among the Chicago members present 
were D. H. Burnham, H. W. Hill, A. F. Pashley, S. S. Beman, S. A. Treat, N. S. Patton, J. 
W. Root, L. D. Cleveland, Henry Lord Gay, Louis H. Sullivan, M. E. Bell, William W. 
Clay, S. V. Shipman, William Holabird, J. L. Silsbee, J. J. Flanders, W. L. B. Jenney, W. 
A. Otis, D. Adler, John Addison, Aug. Fiedler, A. Smith, James R. Willett, P. B. Wight and 
F. L. Charnley. A paper was read by D. Adler entitled "Paramount requirements of large 
theaters;" one by M. E. Bell, "The national building question;" one by W. W. Boyington 
"Differences between the methods of architectural practice prevalent now and fifty years 
ago;" one by Charles H. Ham, "Manual training as applied to the building arts;" one by D. 
H. Burnham, "Suggestions for harmonizing architectural societies in the United States;" one 
by L. H. Sullivan, "Opera houses," and one by Mr. Fredericks, "The diniugroom." The 
officers elected were R. M. Hunt, New York, president; W. A. Potter, New York, secretary, 
and O. P. Hatfield, New York, treasurer. John W. Root was chosen a director, and S. S. 
Beman, a member of the committee on publications. 

The twenty- second annual meeting of the American institute was held at Buffalo, N. Y., 
October 18 and 19, 1888. The report on the consolidation of architectural associations was 
presented and led to a lengthy debate. President Hunt pointed out that the American insti- 
tute required thirty-one years to gather two hundred members under its standard, while the 
Western institute enlisted a greater number within forty-eight months. This point was made 
to sustain the motion admitting the Western association, and with other similar striking points 
won the friendship of the convention for the measure. R. M. Hunt was chosen president; A. 



THE BUILDING INTEKE8T8. 297 

J. Bloor, secretary; R. W. Gibson, secretary of foreign correspondence; O. P. Hatfield, treas- 
urer; E. T. Littell, N. Le Bran, G. A. Frederick and W. W. Clay, trustees. The proposition 
to consolidate all architectural societies, leaving to each local or state organization a chapter 
character was entertained favorably, and the consideration of all plans for consolidation left 
over for the next annual convention meantime a letter ballot to be taken on the whole ques- 
tion. The twenty-third convention elected the late John W. Root, secretary, and Samuel A. 
Treat, treasurer. 

The twenty-fourth annual convention of the American institute, and the first since con- 
solidation with the Western association, was held at Washington, D. C., in October, 1890. 
President Hunt not being present, W. W. Carlin took the chair. Among the Illinois mem- 
bers in attendance were D. Adler, F. Baumann, Julien Barnes (Joliet), W. W. Cliiy, Henry L. 
Gay, S. M. Randolph, John W. Root, S. V. Shipman and S. A. Treat. President Hunt's 
address was read by E. H. Kendall, of New York City; the reports of committees were pre- 
sented and the relations of chapters to the institute considered. The officers elected were: 
R. M. Hunt, president; W. W. Carlin and J. W. McLaughlin, vice presidents; John W. 
Root, secretary; S. A. Treat, treasurer; W. M. Poindexter, Washington, D. C. ; George C. 
Mason, Jr., Philadelphia, Penn. ; G. B. Ferry, Milwaukee. Wis. ; Levi T. Schofield, Cleve- 
land, Ohio; C. J. Clark, Louisville, Ky. ; E. F. Fassett, Kansas City, Mo. ; Alfred Stone; 
Providence, R. I., and M. J. Dimmock, Richmond. Va., directors. Papers were read on "The 
science of aesthetics," by Henry R. Marshall; "Foundations for Kansas City municipal 
buildings," by S. E. Chamberlain; "Thoughts on architecture," by Frederick Baumaun; 
" The law of the development of Gothic architecture," from posthumoiis papers by H. B. 
Wallace. 

A. J. Bloor, the historian of the institute, states that the " papers of members of the institute, 
published in the proceedings of the past, include essays on iron and fireproof construction, 
by the late R. G. Hattield, P. B. Wight, G. B. Post, A. J. Bloor, N. H. Hutton, F. Schumann 
and the late D. Lienau; on building soils, foundations, heavy buildings, masonry, concretes 
and mortars, terra cotta, special minor instructions, etc., by the late J. T. Sturgis, N. H. Hutton, 
the late A. C. Nash, F. Baumann, E. T. Potter, W. L. B. Jenney and R. B. Gibson; and on 
colonial, American or governmental architecture, by the late President Upjohn, J. L. Smith- 
meyer, P. B. Wight, President Hunt, A. Cluss, R. S. Peabody, C. A. Cummings, W. A. Potter, 
H. M. Congdon, J. Moser, M. F. Bell and George C. Mason, Jr. Acoustics and sanitary 
subjects, including the questions of heating, ventilating, sewerage and plumbing, have been 
treated by A. Cluss, the late H. R. Searle, the late C. Pfeiffer, Col. G. E. Waring, T. M. 
Clark, L. W. Weeds, the late R. Briggs, - - Tudor and Glenn Brown. C. C. Haight, J. H. 
Hopkins, R. S. Peabody and C. A. Cummings have furnished papers on church architecture. 
The subjects of apartment and tenement houses have produced papers respectively from the 
late J. R. Niernsee and A. J. Bloor. D. Adler (architect, with his partner, L. H. Sullivan, of 
the Auditorium in Chicago) has a paper on the theaters; J. C. Cady (architect of the Metro- 
politan opera house in New York) one on opera houses; J. L. Sinithmeyer (architect, with 



29S INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

his partner, Mr. Pelz, of the Congressional Library) one on library buildings; G. A. Frederick 
one on diuingroorns, and J. H. McNamara, one on domes and towers. Specialists in the 
{esthetics of architecture have furnished to the columns of the proceedings the following 
papers: 'Technical proportion,' by D. T. Atwood; 'A now style,' by A. F. Oakey; 'Painting 
and sculpture,' by Prof. C. E. Norton; 'Wall and window decoration, etc.,' by A. J. Bloor; 
and 'The harmony between colors and music,' by E. G. Lind. Legal, ethical, protective 
and educational questions, involved in architectural study and practice, have elicited papers 
from the late R. G. Hatfield, T. M. Clark, Professor Watson, the late A. C. Nash, J. A. 
Fox, C. A. Ham, J. W. Wilson, G. A. Frederick and J. W. Yost; while historical and 
archieological papers have been supplied by T. J. Clarke and W. W. Boyington. The subject 
of building laws, applicable to this country, has been treated by E. Anderson, A. Stone, T. M. 
Clark and G. A. Frederick, and has been vigorously treated by a number of the chapters in 
their relations with their several governments, to the great benefit of Iwth the public and the 
profession. 'Architectural and other art societies, etc.,' and 'Landscape treatment, etc.,' 
are by A. J. Bloor; and 'Suggestions toward the best and speediest methods for harmoniz- 
ing and utilizing all the architectural societies in the United States,' was furnished by D. 
H. Burnham, in response to a circular letter of my own to the members of the institute, 
furnishing that title and requesting answers to the questions implied in it. One of the latest 
proceedings includes a sketch of the professional life of one of the founders of the institute, 
but still active in practice, James Ren wick; and among the proceedings issued are memoirs 
of the late President Upjolm, and one by George C. Mason, Jr., of the late President 
Walter. 

" It is patent to all unprejudiced observers of the growth of fine architecture and of the 
professional and social status of its practitioners in this country during the last thirty years, 
that by far the most potent factor thereto has been the institute, and its influence on public- 
spirited laymen of artistic cultivation or tastes has already reacted generously for the benefit 
of the profession. Unless it be the prix de Rome of the Ecole des beaux arts, there is not, so 
far as my knowledge goes, either in this country or in Europe, any prize more tempting to 
the student of architecture, and more provocative of the putting forth of his best powers, 
than the ' Rotch traveling scholarship,' administered by the Boston chapter, and founded by 
the heirs of Benjamin R. Rotch, the father of a Boston practitioner and fellow of the 
institute, Arthur Rotch, in pursuance of his expressed munificent intentions. Its income of 
$2,0<M) supports two students for two years in their travels in Europe. In this connection 
must be noted the recent very handsome gift for a similar object, to the architectural depart- 
ment of Columbia college of 120,000 by C. F. McKim, fellow of the institute and member of 
its New York chapter. Still more recently S. B. Avery and his wife have, in the name of their 
son, O. P. Avery, a member of the institute and its New York chapter, given to Columbia 
the latter's fine collection of architectural books, valued at many thousand dollars, with a 
fund, payable in two installments, of $30,000 additional for its maintenance and the purchase 
of new books. F. A. Schermerhorn, a trustee of the college, has for a number of years been 



TUB BUILDING INTERESTS. 299 

a munificent donor to its architectural department, his latest gift providing for an income of 
$13,000 each alternate year. The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York is now being 
enriched, under the comniissionership of three members of the local chapter, with an archi- 
tectural department, the fruits of the influence of N. and P. L. Le Brun, fellows of the insti- 
tute, on a generous lover of architecture, Levi Have Willard, who bequeathed some $80,000 for 
that object, witli strict instructions as to the fulfillment of his wishes in the matter and 
manner of selection. The Philadelphia chapter, too, has recently, through the influence of 
T. P. Chandler, Jr., been made the administrators of a fund of about $20,000 to be used, after 
a period for the accruing of interest, in behalf of the art and the profession. 

" It may be noted, too, that the best known of the architectural departments attached to 
the universities, or other institutions of the higher culture, have been inaugurated, and for 
many years conducted by members of the American Institute of Architects, e. g.,. those of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia college by W. R. Ware, of Cornell by 
C. Babcock, and of the Illinois university by N. C. liicker. Recently, too, a similar depart- 
ment has been added to the curriculum of the University of Pennsylvania, under the auspices 
of the Philadelphia chapter of the institute. H. T. Auchmuty, who has done so much with 
the training schools he established years ago at his own expense for the proper education 
(denied them by the internal administration of so many of the building trades) of American 
artisans connected with the building arts, was, it may also be noted, the pupil and afterward 
the sometime partner of the Nestor of the profession, James Renwick, architect of the Catholic 
cathedral in New York." 

The Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects was organized in 1 869. An 
annual meeting was held at '21 East Van Buren street in 1873. W. W. Boyington presided. 
The officers elected were W. W. Boyington, president (re-elected); J. C. Cochrane, vice presi- 
dent; C. C. Miller, secretary; P. B. Wight, treasurer; J. R. Willett and W. L. B. Jenney, 
members of executive committee, with W. H. Drake, C. P. Thomas, S. E. Loring and J. 
C. Cochrane, members of committee on admissions. In the address the president referred to 
the fire of 187J, and drew the attention of architects to the work required of them under the 
improved conditions of the new Chicago. This address was amply rewarded by attention to 
t he principles enunciated. The work of the chapter for the ensuing decade may be said to 
have been limited to the election of officers, for from all printed records at hand the names of 
the following officials only could be obtained. In 1874 W. W. Boyington, president; C. C. 
Miller, secretary; J. R. Willett, treasurer. 1870-7, P. B. Wight, president; H. L. Gay, 
secretary; J. R. Willett, treasurer. 1877-8, P. B. Wight, president; H. L. Gay, secretary; 
J. R. Willett. treasurer. 1878-9, A. Bauer, president; S. A. Treat, secretary; J. R. NVilleM. 
treasurer. 1880-5, A. Bauer, president; S. A. Treat, secretary; J. R. Willett, treasurer. 
ISS.V-6. A. Bauer, president; A. G. Quackenboss, secretary and treasurer. 

In October, 1886, an election of officers resulted in the choice of L. D. Cleveland for 
president; W. L. B. Jenney, vice president; M. L. Beers, treasurer, and A. F. Pashley, seoiv 
tary. At this time the secretary pointed out the increase in membership and other evidences 



300 .INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO: 

of revived interest in the association, after a long term of inactivity. This society was influ- 
ential in 1873-4, and to it and the Association of Underwriters the conception and adoption 
of Chicago's building laws of that period are credited. December, 1887, S. V. Shipman was 
elected president; John Addison, vice president; W. A. Otis, secretary, and William W. Clay, 
treasurer. A paper by Frederick Baumann, on the sanitary construction of residences, won 
attention in the fall of 1887, and suggested many improvements in sanitary engineering. In 
December, 1888, W. L. B. Jenney, W. W. Clay, W. A. Otis and S. S. Bemaii were elected 
president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, respectively. 

On December 12, 1889, the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and 
the Illinois State Association of Architects resolved upon permanent union, in view of the 
action consolidating the Western and Illinois associations with the American institute. On 
January 20, 1890, a joint meeting was held at Chicago, when the resolution of the committees 
of both bodies, passed December 12, 1889, was adopted, and the Illinois Chapter of the 
American Institute of Architects was brought into existence, the Illinois State association 
merging into the Chicago chapter and the latter into the Illinois Chapter of the American 
Institute of Architects. The new organization ordered that articles of incorporation be 
tiled, and that the assembly rooms of the permanent exhibit, as tendered by Mr. Gay, be used 
as headquarters until permanent quarters might be rented. 

In May, 1884, the necessity of organizing a western architects' association was well set 
forth in an editorial in the Inland Architect. In June a circular was addressed to architects, 
by E. H. Taylor, secretary of the Des Moines, Iowa, association, drawing further attention to 
the subject. This letter led to the call for the meeting of November following, and under 
this call a convention of architects was held at Chicago, November 12, 1884, to organize an 
association. The convention was called to order by R. C. McLsan, who nominated D. H. 
Burnhain for temporary president. S. M. Randolph nominated Henry I. Cobb for secretary, 
and both were chosen unanimously. A committee on constitution, C. K. Ramsay, of St. 
Louis, John W. Root and W. L. B. Jenney, of Chicago, and also one on by-laws, Messrs. 
Ramsay and Jenney, above named, with I. Hodgson, Henry I. Cobb and George Wirth, were 
appointed. The reports were received on the 13th, and adopted in the amended form. C. 
E. Illsley, of St. Louis, was elected president; Henry L. Gay, secretary; D. Adler, treasurer; 
D. H. Burnhain, S. A. Treat, Louis H. Sullivan, Sidney Smith and W. L. Black, directors. 
A vote of thanks to Secretary Gay for the use of the Permanent Exhibit hall was adopted. 

The second meeting of this association, its first convention, was held in St. Louis, Mo., 
in November. 1885. President C. E. Illsley, of St. Louis, presided; Treasurer D. Adler and 
Chairman of Directors D. H. Buruham, both of Chicago, presented their reports ; Mrs. Louise 
Bethune, of Buffalo, N. Y., was admitted to membership; a system for conducting competi- 
tions was adopted; the annual dues were increased from $2 to $5; W. L. B. Jenney was 
elected first secretary for foreign correspondence; the committee on statutory laws was re- 
elected; a committee on the organization of state societies was created; W. L. B. Jenney was 
appointed one of the delegates to the convention of the American Institute of Architects, and 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 



801 



officers for 1886 wore chosen. D. Adler was elected president; John W. Root, secretary; S. 
A. Treat, treasurer, and Messrs. Jenney, Illsley, Taylor, S. Smith and Millard, directors. 
The list of charter members was confirmed at this meeting and ordered to be published. 
This list, embracing two hundred and fifty-three names, contains the names of eighty-seven 
Chicago architects, as shown in the following roll: 



Addison, John. 
Adler, D. 
Aschlager, F. 
Banmann, E. 
Baumann, F. 
Beers, M. L. 
Beman, S. S. 
Berlin, E. C. 
Blumenthal, A. 
Boyington, W. W. 
Burling, E. 
Burnham, D. H. 
Buruham, F. P. 
Charnley, F. L. 
Clark, B. W. S. 
Clay, W. W. 
Cleveland, L. D. 
Cobb, H. I. 
Cobb, Oscar. 
Cochrane, J. C. 
Colton, A. M. F. 
Cudell, A. 
Deam, H. P. 
Dixon, L. B. 
Drake, W. H. 
Druiding, A. 
Egan, J. J. 
Edbrooke, G. H. 
Edbrooke, W. J. 



Flanders, J. J. 
Foltz, F. 
Frost, C. S. 
Furst, C. J. 
Gay, Henry Lord 
Halberg, L. G. 
Hansen, C. O. 
Hill, H. W. 
Holabird, William. 
Huber, J. H. 
J affray, H. S. 
Jenney, W. L. B. 
Jennison, E. S. 
Johnson, O. 
Karls, Theodore 
Lautrop, Paul C. 
Lesher, W. T. 
Longlmrst, William. 
Matz, Otto H. 
Miller, C. C. 
Moody, A. 
Moore, J. H. 
Otter, John. 
Palmer, C. M. 
Pashley, A. T. 
Patten, N. S. 
Pierce, O. J. 
Quackenboss, L. G. 



Randolph, S. M. 
Rehwoldt, H. 
Roche, M. 
Root, John W. 
Ruehl, P. W. . 
Rudolph, C. 
Schaub, L. J. 
Schock, F. R. 
Schroeder, R. E. 
Shipman, S. V. 
Sierks, H. 
Silsbee, J. L. 
Smith, A. 
Smith, G. A. C. 
Spohr, George S. 
Starbuck, H. F. 
Stiles, C. L. 
Strippleman, William. 
Sullivan, Louis H. 
Thomas, C. P. 
Tilton, J. N. 
Townsend, F. B. 
Treat, S. A. 
Vigeant, G. 
Weirzbieniec, J. A. 
Wheelock, O. L. 
Whitehouse, F. M. 
Willett, J. R. 
Wilson, H. R. 



Rae, Robert. 

The associates from cities and towns, outside Chicago, were as follows: 

Alexander, J. F., Ind. Baldwin, M. H., Tenn. Beaver, L., Ohio. 

Ball, W. K., Iowa. Bethune, Mrs., N. Y. 

Bariiett, Geo. I., St. Louis, Mo. Blake, J. S., Iowa. 

Bauman, J. F., Tenn. Brady, T. W., St. Louis, Mo. 

Beattie, John, St. Louis, Mo. Bruce, A. C., Ga. 



Allen, F. S., Streator, 111. 
Annan, T. B., St. Louis, Mo. 
Arey, C. D., Ohio. 
Baldwin, G. G., Iowa. 



302 



INDUSTRIAL CHICAGO : 



Buffiugton, L. S., Minu. 
Bulkley, L. C., St. Louis, Mo. 
Bullard, S. A., Springfield, 111. 
Bullard, G. W., Springfield, 111. 
Carr, E. T., Kas. 
Chamberlin, S. E., Mo. 
Chandler, J. S., Wis. 
Class, A. C., Wis. 
Clausen, F. G., Iowa. 
Clayton, N. J., Tex. 
Cobby, A. E., Dak. 
Cook, Edwin, Mo. 
Cook, S. A., Kas. 
Cooke, J. E., Minn. 
Cordner, J. G., Iowa. 
Corser, F. G., Minn. 
Crapsey, C., Ohio. 
Curtin, C. A., Ky. 
Cusack, W. H., Tenn. 
Cutler, J. G., N. Y. 
Davelear, William, Wis. 
De Knox, G. M., Mo. 
Dodson, W. C., Tex. 
Douglass, James, Wis. 
Drach, G. W., Ohio. 
Dunham, C. A., Iowa. 
Elgin, W. E., Elgin, 111. 
Ellis, F. M., Iowa. 
Emberly, Wm., Jersey ville, 111. 
Falkerson, W. A., Iowa. 
Fallis, E. O., Ohio. 
Fassett, E. F., Mo. 
Ferry, G. B., Wis. 
Field, G. W., Neb. 
Fisher, G. L., Neb. 
Flanders, J. R., Tex. 
Foley, W. E., Mo. 
Forbush, W. R., Ohio. 
Furber, P. P., Mo. 
Furlong, T. J., Mo. 



Gombert, C. A., Wis. 
Goodwin, G. L. M., Minn. 
Guager, A. F., Minn. 
Guines, W. G., Mo. 
Hackney, W. F., Iowa. 
Hall, S. J., Ohio. 
Hamilton, F. B., Mo. 
Harnmatt, E. S., Iowa. 
Harteau, D. M., Wis. 
Haskell, J. G., Kas. 
Hawley, W. A., Iowa. 
Hayes, W. H, Minn. 
Hellmers, C. C., Jr., Mo. 
Herthell, J. W., Mo. 
Hodgson, I., Minn. 
Hogg, J. O., Mo. 
Hohenschild, H., Mo\ 
Hovey, G. T., Ohio. 
Hyde, F. D., Iowa. 
Illsley, C. E., Mo. 
Johnston, John, Mo. 
Josslyn, H. S., Iowa. 
Kane, J. J., Tex. 
Kent, E. A., N. Y. 
Ketcham, E. H., Ind. 
King, G. E., Colo. 
Kirchner, H. W., Mo. 
Kledus, L., Mo. 
Koch, E. V., Wis. 
Kouhn, J. J., Neb. 
Kramer, G. W., Ohio. 
Lee, C. H., Iowa. 
Legg, J. B., Mo. 
Leitz, Paul S., Peoria, 111. 
Levering, L. L., Mo. 
Lindsay, H. C., Ohio. 
Linthwaito, H. W., Ohio. 
Lloyd, G. W., Mich. 
Long, F. B., Minn. 
Martin, J. M., Iowa. 



Matthews, W. S., Tenn. 
Matthews, J. S., Wyo. 
May, Charles F., Mo. 
McDonald, H. P., Ky. 
McDonnell, J., Wis. 
McNamara, J. H., Mo. 
Meagher, James, Mo. 
Mendelshon, L., Neb. 
Millard, D. W., Minn. 
Miller, G. H., Bloomington, 111. 
Mix, E. T., Wis. 
Morgan, T. H., Ga. 
Murphy, A. M., Ga. 
Nier, William, Mo. 
Osborne, G. W., Mo. 
Osgood, S. J., Mich. 
Owsley, C. H., Ohio. 
Parker, M. H., Mich. 
Payne, G. W., Carthage. 
Pfeiffeiiberger, L., Alton, 111. 
Philpot, T. N., Wis. 
Pipe, G. W., Mo. 
Plack, W. L., Iowa. 
Plant, J. C., Minn. 
Preston, J. N., Tex. 
Preston, S. A. J., Tex. 
Probst, H., Mo. 
Ramsay, C. K., Mo. 
Randall, J. R., N. M. 
Rapp, G. W., Ohio. 
Reinke, Aug., St. Louis, Mo. 
Ricker, Prof. N. C., Cham- 
paign, 111. 

Ross, W. L., La Harpp, 111. 
Robinson, W. G. 
Reed, J. W., Ind. 
Rennick, F. A., Mo. 
Roberts, J. W., Colo. 
Rosenheim, A. F., Mo. 
Ross, J. W., Iowa. 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 303 

Eowe, H. S., Ky. Swasey, W. A., Mo. Wall, N. W., Colo. 

Bueckert, E. G., Ohio. Taylor, E. H., Iowa. Washborn, L. P., Kas. 

Sanborn, W. W., Iowa. Taylor, J. K, Minn. Weary, F. O., Ohio. 

Schwienfurth, C. F., Ohio. Taylor, J. S., Mo. Wehle, O. C., Ky. 

Smith, O. C., Ohio. Terrell, Elah, Ohio. Williams, C. J., Ohio. 

Smith, Sidney, Neb. Thompson, B. F., Ohio. Wirth, George, Minn. 

Smith, A. L., Mo. Treherne, H. S., Minn. Wood, L. M., Kas. 

Staltze, G., Wis. Tubbersing, F. E., Quincy, 111. Wright, A. P., Mo. 

Struck, C. S., Minn. Tyndall, W. H., Tex. WykofF, J. C., Iowa. 

Sully, T., La. Van Brunt, A., Mo. Yost, J. W., Ohio. 

The third annual convention was held within the Permanent Exhibit hall, in November, 
1886. President Adler delivered the address. He quoted from a French journal on the 
progress of American architecture: "Thirty years ago there were, perhaps, throughout the 
entire United States of North America, ten edifices of such nature as to call forth the serious ap- 
probation of the European architect. What a change to-day! There has been a progress with 
a speed that can only be likened to a locomotive running under full steam. The United States 
has become, in the last thirty years, a country where Europe should seek its models. * * * 
Bravo, America!" L. H. Sullivan read an able essay on "Inspiration;" W. W. Boyington, one 
on his own experience in building foundations; one by Professor Bicker, on "Architectural 
grammar;" one by Isaac Hodgson, of Minneapolis, entitled "Hints on a national style of 
architecture," and one by Ketcham, on "Insane hospitals." The paper by John W. Boot, 
on "Architectural freedom," was read at a subsequent social meeting held in the rooms of 
the Union League club; but one by Dr. De Wolf, on the "Belation of state medicine to the 
.profession of architects," was delivered before the convention. The convention, complete in 
all appointments, elected the following named officers: J. W. Boot, president; J. F. Alexander, 
secretary; S. A. Treat, treasurer; G. W. Bapp, Charles Crapsey, G. M. Goodwin, D. Adler 
and C. A. Curtin, directors. A paper, by Mr. Illsley, was ordered printed. 

The fourth convention of western architects was held at Cincinnati in November, 1887. 
During the year ending November 1, state associations were organized in Tennessee, Wis- 
consin, Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, western New York and Arkansas. Minnesota, Iowa, 
Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana and Texas had prevkmsly organized, and all except 
that of Indiana were progressing. Beports of the several committees were received arid 
discussed, and the following named officers elected: Sidney Smith, Nebraska, president; J. 
F. Alexander, Indiana, and W. C. Smith, Tennessee, vice presidents; N. S. Patton, secretary, 
and Samuel A. Treat, treasurer. The collection of drawings and photographs presented was 
large, but did not equal in number or interesting features the first exhibit of such works 
held at Chicago in 1884. 

The fifth annual convention assembled at Chicago in November, 1888. The proposition 
to urge the extension of the French decimal system to weights and measures, as well as to 
money, in the United States, was received with enthusiasm, as was D. Adler's report on con- 



304 INDUSTUIAL CHICAGO : 

solidation. W. W. Carlin, of Buffalo, was elected president; L. S. Bnffington and Mrs. Louise 
Bethune, vice presidents; N. S. Patton, secretary; S. A. Treat, treasurer; and Sidney Smith, 
A. Van Brunt, C. Crapsey, S. M. Randolph and F. Baumann, directors. This association was 
consolidated with the American Institute of Architects as related in the history of that body 
in a former page. 

Without the walls of Paris, Rome, and, in a lesser degree, Vienna, women have been 
unknown in architectural circles. In 1891 Boston was admitted, so to speak, into the exclu- 
sive circle, and the spell of inactivity which hung over American girls in this department of 
art was broken. The prizes offered for first and second designs for the Woman's building of 
the World's Fair presented the opportunity, and Boston girls won. Sophia G. Hayden, who 
took the first prize, is a girl in her early twenties, who came from the Roxbury high school to 
the Institute of Technology and took the complete four years' course, graduating with the class 
of 1890. Her home is on Forest Hills street, Jamaica Plain, and she is teacher of mechanical 
drawing in the Eliott school. She is quite a reserved young woman, gifted with tremendous 
perseverance and fondness for her work. She made her designs at home, working in her own 
room during the hours before and after her work of teaching drawing. Except a Miss Rock- 
fellow, who graduated in 1888, Miss Hayden was the first to take a complete course in the in- 
stitute. Louise Howe, who took the second prize, is a Cambridge girl, who resides on Appleton 
street. She is a draughtswoman in the office of Allen & Kenway. Her work on her design 
was done at the institute. Before going for her two years' special study in architecture she 
had been for four years at the museum of fine arts. 

Among interior decorators women have attained an enviable place during the last decade, 
and in no place more than here have they shown the extent to which original designs may 

be carried. A reference to the history of the society of decorative art will point out the 



liberality of organized art workers and supporters of art in the city, but it gives only the 
smallest idea of the number of workers and patrons to be found here. 

The Illinois State Association of Architects was organized early in the last decade. 
In 1884 W. W. Boyington was elected president, Henry L. Gay, secretary, and Louis H. 
Sullivan, treasurer. D. H. Burnhain was chosen president in 1886 and L. H Sullivan, secre- 
tary. The officers elected October 16, 1886, were D. Adler, president; S. A. Treal and N. S. 
Patton, vice presidents; C. L. Stiles, secretary; S. M. Randolph, treasurer; L. D. Cleveland, 
John W. Root, C. M. Palmer and William Holabird, members of the executive committee. In 
March, 1887, a paper, entitled "What are the present tendencies of architectural design in 
America?" was delivered by John W. Root; Dankrnar Adler, C. L. Stiles and W. W. Boying- 
ton also spoke on this subject, the latter claiming there was now no place for the sturdy 
Tuscan or Doric, the graceful Ionic, the gorgeous Corinthian or the masculine Composite. 
They are historical even now in the United States. He was not so sanguine as his brother 
sp3akers of seeing an American national style of architecture. In April, 1887, L. H. Sullivan 
delivered an essay on " What is the just subordination in architectural design of detail to 
mass?" He pointed out that as man is something more than an animal, so is architecture 



THE BUILDING INTERESTS. 305 

infinitely more than building, or in other words that architecture is a building with a soul. 
W. W. Clay, Frederick Baumann, C. M. Palmer and J. J. Flanders delivered instructive ad- 
dresses in May, 1887. In June a paper on the uses of glass and paper in house building was 
read by John W. Root. 

The elections of October, 1887, resulted in the choice of the following named officers: 
Samuel A. Treat, president; L. D. Cleveland, first vice president; Clarence L. Stiles, second 
vice president; R. C. Berlin, secretary; H. W. Hill, treasurer; L. H. Sullivan, W. W. Clay, 
John W. Root and Alfred Smith, executive committee. William W. Clay was elected presi- 
dent in November, 1888, William Hollabird and F. Baumann, vice presidents; O. J. Pierce, 
secretary; C. M. Palmer, treasurer, and Messrs. Treat, Beaumont, Sullivan and Stiles, directors. 
The report of a committee, formerly appointed to devise means for the establishment of an 
Architect's Protective League, as outlined by L. H. Sullivan, reported November 17, that the 
plans were feasible and were looked upon favorably by correspondents. The legitimacy of 
an association for mutual assistance and protection in courts of law was suggested; but the 
author pointed out that the real object of the league was to have authentic legal opinions on 
all questions relating to the profession. 

The question of complete freedom in building was considered by the Ill