historic mansions of prairie avenue

The First Gold Coast. 
The Holiest of Holies of the Social Life of the City. 
The Sunny Street That Held the Sifted Few. 

The Prairie Avenue historic district has garnered many nicknames over the years, all relating back to a time just after the Great Fire of 1871—before the completion of Lake Shore Drive and the subdivision of North Astor Street—when the South Loop address attracted the city’s ultra-wealthy. Properties like the Clarke House, the city’s oldest surviving structure, and Glessner House, a masterwork whose threatened demolition in 1966 precipitated the creation of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, have helped to set the stage for historic preservation battles, and many successes, over the past 50 plus years. 

Since 1972, the district has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and became a designated Chicago Landmark in 1979. This excursion explores the many historic structures within the landmark district, which includes nine mansions, three row houses and the landmark, Gothic Revival Second Presbyterian Church, with an additional stop to take in the tranquil beauty of the Women’s Park and Gardens. As this is a residential neighborhood, please be respectful of people’s property and keep to the public right-of-way.

I’m Ronnie Frey creator of the popular Instagram account @doorwaysofchicago.  I welcome you to follow me there and all my other socials like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube with the same handle @doorwaysofchicago.  I also give in person tours and private tours and those can all be found on my website doorwaysofchicago.com.  If you would like to reach out my email address is ronnie@doorwaysofchicago.com and you can also join my email list using the form at the bottom of each page of the website.

Additionally, I would love to invite you to visit my website: doorwaysofchicago.com for other tour offerings including live, in-person tours and private tour offerings.  I also have all my eATLAS app tours listed with links to each one.  Once there you can read my story and see my offerings of photography prints, greeting card collections, and even my curated interior design furnishing collections.  I’m an interior designer by trade and during the pandemic, I started my Instagram account as well as these walking tours to be able to share more of my passions with you!

I’m constantly on the search for wonderful architectural content to share with you as well as anything vintage, especially planes, trains, and automobiles…after all, they all have doors too!

Thank you, and as I always like to say, “See you out on the trails!”



Second Presbyterian Church - NOTABLE PROPERTY

East Cullerton Street Rowhouses

Clarke House Museum

Glessner House Museum

Kimball House

Coleman-Ames House

Women's Park & Gardens - NOTABLE PROPERTY

Keith House

Marshall Field Jr. House

William Reid House

The Harriet F. Rees House

Wheeler Mansion

Discover The Fabulous Mansions Of The South Prairie Historic District - PLUS MORE!

Historic Mansions Of Prairie Avenue

the deep pockets of graceland cemetery

Welcome to my THE DEEP POCKETS OF GRACELAND CEMETERY tour. On this tour, you will see the tombs and mausoleums of many famous architects like William LeBaron Jenney, John Root, Louis Sullivan, Mies Van der Rohe, and Daniel Burnham, and other rich and famous "deep pockets" like Marshall Field, Palmer Potter, George Pullman, Walter Newberry and more!

Here in the app, I have included several additional photos related to some of the stops.  As you open each stop in the app I would suggest you read about the tomb first and then click on the two arrows in the upper right-hand corner of the first photo you see and that will pop out the photos and videos so you can view them full screen.  

Graceland Cemetery History from Adam Selzer's Book: Graceland Cemetery, Chicago Stories, Symbols & Secrets (HIGHLY RECOMMEND!)

During Thomas Bryan's time in Chicago, there was hardly a week that he wasn't in the papers for something or another. An 1848 Harvard grad who spoke half a dozen languages, he built railroads, erected concert halls, founded the suburb of Elmhurst, ran for mayor more than once, and rubbed elbows with lots of famous people. 

The son of an abolitionist Virginia politician he served as a pallbearer for Abraham Lincoln.

When General Grant made a speech at the World's fair which was his first public speech, Thomas introduced him onstage.

In the 1880s he had an office in William Le Baron Jenney's Home Insurance Building, the first modern "steel frame" skyscraper. In the early 1890s, he was Vice President and Commissioner at Large for the World's Fair and Columbian Exposition, traveling the world and meeting with people such as the Pope to promote the interests of the upcoming Fair.

And in the middle of his Columbian Exposition work, he sold a 51 percent interest in a copier machine company to H. H. Holmes, the murderous "Devil in the White City," who paid him with a $7000 promissory note. Thomas never got a cent in cash, making him one of Holmes' biggest individual swindling victims.  

And, in the middle of all these exploits, he somehow made time to found Graceland Cemetery.  Enjoy the tour!

I’m Ronnie Frey creator of the popular Instagram account @doorwaysofchicago.  I welcome you to follow me there and all my other socials like TikTok and YouTube with the same handle @doorwaysofchicago.  I also give in-person tours and private tours and those can all be found on my website doorwaysofchicago.com.  If you would like to reach out via email please feel free:  ronnie@doorwaysofchicago.com

I have designed a growing number of tours in this eATLAS app that span many different neighborhoods as well as downtown Chicago.  I welcome you to check them out!  Many of them have promo videos you can watch prior to purchasing. 



William LeBaron Jenney
(1832–1907) died at age 75

Jenney was a renowned architect/engineer credited with inventing steel frame techniques, which led to the first skyscrapers in the world. But part of the credit should have gone to his wife, Elizabeth.  One day William saw her stacking heavy books on top of a bird cage and noticed it didn't collapse and then had an idea to use a steel skeleton over which walls were draped, so to speak, allowing for taller and lighter weight buildings. 

The first tall building he designed using this new construction technique was the Home Insurance Building, located at Adams and LaSalle streets in the Loop, an iron-and-steel-framed 13-story building, widely recognized as the world’s first true skyscraper. 

He trained young architects Daniel Burnham, John W. Root, and Louis Sullivan, all of whom are buried here at Graceland and you will see their tombs on this tour.

As the West Parks Commission chief engineer, Jenney designed Humboldt, Garfield, and Douglas parks and the boulevards that connect them. He also contributed to the landscape design of Graceland Cemetery. 

Additional photos:
1. His gravestone was designed with lines that look like a steel frame.
2. The Home Insurance Company Building that Jenney designed. Sadly, it was later torn down.
3. The Art Moderne-styled building at 135 S. LaSalle Street, which replaced the Home Insurance Building.  This Art Moderne-style building was built by Marshall Field as his office building.  It was the last building built before the GREAT Depression.  The interior lobby of the Field office building is AMAZING (no expenses spared) and if you would like to see it consider taking my CHICAGO ART DECO MADNESS tour in this app. 

William LeBaron Jenney

Dexter Graves
(1793–1845) died at age 52

Graves was one of the earliest white settlers in Chicago arriving in 1831  and was listed among “500 Chicagoans” on an early census taken before Chicago’s incorporation in 1837.  In 1834 Dexter built a hotel on Lake Street called the Mansion House which held the city's first public performance by an actor who ate fire, performed a ventriloquist act, and did magic tricks.  The admission was 50 cents and these shows later becamse knows as Vaudeville Acts.   Four short years later in 1837, the year Chicago officially became a city, its population had grown to 4,000 people. 

Graves had indicated in his will that he wanted the most substantial and imposing monument that money could buy. On his grave is a haunting bronze figure entitled “Eternal Silence” created by one of the most prominent sculpturists of the day, Lorado Taft.  

It wouldn't be Chicago without some legends now, would it? The most famous rumors surrounding the statue were, 1.) You couldn't take a picture of it that stayed in focus and 2.) If you looked at it in the eye you would see your own death.

Additional Photos of Lorado Taft Sculptures:
Photo 2-5: "Fountain Of Time" which is in Hyde Park at the west end of the Midway Plaisance.  You can see the striking resemblance of Father Time to the sculpture on Grave's tomb. 
Photo 4: Eternal Indian - Lowden State Park,  Oregon, IL
Photo 5-6: Pasteur and Idyll, Garfield Park Conservatory

Dexter Graves

John W. Root 
(1850–1891) died at age 41

One of the greatest architects in the Chicago School.  In 1873 his apprentice friend, Daniel Burnham talked him into starting their own firm .  As the chief designing partner at the famous Burnham and Root firm, he created The Rookery Building on S. La Salle and the north half of the Monadnock Building – at 16 stories, The Monadnock is regarded as the world’s tallest office building with load-bearing walls.  

His mother described him as a fun-loving prankster with a deep love for the arts and a never-ending urge to spend money. His instinct for beauty led him to a career in architecture, and the work he did as one of the heads of the firm of Burnham and Root helped put Chicago on the map as an architectural city.  

Root's second wife, Dora Monroe Root is buried here. Dora's sister was poet Harriet Monroe, who founded Poetry Magazine (still in existence today) which was published from Ralph Fletcher Seymour's penthouse studio in the Fine Arts Building where he worked for 60 years!  Harriet wrote a biography of John Root. 

Additional Photos:
2. Rookery Building
3. Rookery Spiral Staircase
4. Doorway of Monadnock Building where you can see the massiveness of the load-bearing walls which are 6 feet thick.

John Root

Peter Schoenhofen 
(1827–1893) died at age 66 

Peter Schoenhofen was one of Chicago's many brewers and he enhanced beer production and expanded the option for transporting beer. The Schoenhofen Brewery and the brewery district in Pilsen are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Administration Building and Powerhouse were designated Landmarks.

Peter was not religious and his mausoleum reflects that.  It is an Egyptian Pyramid, the doorway being flanked by a Christian angel on one side and an Egyptian Shpynx on the other.  The fabulous door handle features a snake wrapped around a staff, a popular image used in both Greek and Jewish Traditions.  He left large donations to Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic charities and the joke is he was trying to please whomever he thought he might meet on the other side!  

The pyramid was designed by architect Richard Schmidt, who also designed some of the Schoenhofen brewery buildings and the mansion of Peter's son-in-law, the brewer Joseph Theurer (now known as the Wrigley mansion).

Additional Photo
Photo 3. The Schoenhofen Brewery in Pilsen 
Photo 4-6:  Wrigley Mansion


Peter Schoenhofen

George Pullman 
(1831–1897) died at age 66

Renowned for luxury rail cars, Pullman made his original fortune by raising buildings. His system of using groups of men with jacks elevated buildings so smoothly that businesses could continue to operate during the lifting. Pullman then invested in his Pullman rail car empire, culminating in the creation of the town bearing the Pullman name. At his death, he was known for refusing to negotiate with unions, and his family feared desecration of his grave. Therefore, his Graceland tomb was built of steel-reinforced concrete. The grave was then sodded and fitted with the Corinthian column and exedra present today.

An Exedra is a bench or seat where people could have conversations, especially in ancient Roman and Greek houses and gymnasia, typically semicircular in plan.

Additional Photos:
These are of the company town of Pullman, IL, and the Pullman Palace Car Company factory which George built for his workers and employees.  It was the first planned company town built in the U.S. and was one of the first times indoor plumbing was used versus outhouses. 

Pullman is now a National Historical Park, one of only a few National Parks in urban settings in the entire U.S.  

If you would like to experience this amazing town through my eyes, consider taking my PULLMAN NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK tour in this app.



George Pullman

Ryerson Tomb
(1818–1887) died at age 69

Martin Ryerson, Sr., who left his New Jersey home at the age of 16,  found himself in Michigan trading furs with Native American tribes and later made millions through lumber and real estate in Chicago. His son, Martin  Ryerson (who died at age 76), joined the lumber business after several years of practicing law. 

Ryerson, Sr. was a trustee at the Art Institute of Chicago, an incorporator of the Field Museum, involved in founding the University of Chicago, and a member of its first board of trustees. The Ryerson Tomb, designed by architect Louis H. Sullivan, (atypical of his highly ornate style) combines two Egyptian-styled buildings, the Pyramid and the Mastaba (a style of tomb predating the Pyramid in the shape of a stumpy, long bench). 

The style of this tomb is atypical of Sullivan's highly ornate style but he designed this in 1887 at age 31 when he was still developing his architectural style.

Additional Photos:
2. An Egyptian Mastaba Tomb

Ryerson Tomb

William Kimball 
(1828–1904) died at age 76

Kimball manufactured pianos and pipe organs but and made his fortune in real estate. Before the panic of 1857, he moved to Chicago and bought a music store. In 1879 he began building pianos and organs and was so successful that in 1882 he went into full-scale production. Kimball Avenue in Chicago is named for him.  If you look at the two marble slabs on the surface of the mausoleum, you can see they subtly resemble the shape of piano keys.

Additional Photos are of the Kimball Residence in the S. Prairie Avenue Historic District in the South Loop, a fabulous French Châteauesque mansion.  If you would like to see this home consider taking my tour HISTORIC MANSIONS OF PRAIRIE AVENUE in this app.

William Kimball

Louis Sullivan 
(1856–1924) died at age 68

Sullivan, an influential architect of the Chicago School, is often called the “prophet of modern architecture,” and conceived the phrase, “form ever follows function.” Among his works are the Auditorium Theater, the Carson-Pirie Scott store, and the Charnley House.  He influenced the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was Sullivan’s chief draftsman for 6 years (before anyone knew who he was).  Wright was fired by Sullivan because they butted heads and also because Wright was moonlighting on the side designing homes for people.  

Sullivan’s architecture is a “mixture of plain geometry and open massing punctuated with elaborate pockets of ornamentation in stone, wood, iron and terra cotta.” He was buried with a small stone marker, but after five years a more fitting memorial was designed by his friend Thomas Tallmadge with Sullivan’s profile set in one of his designs. 

Additional Photos:
3. Carson-Pirie-Scott Entrance
4.  His initials LHS  are hidden in the ironwork.
5. Krause Music Store in Lincoln Square - the last building he built before he died
6. Kraus3 Music Store Doorway
7. Kraus3 Music Store Detail
8. Ann Halsted Rowhouses in Oldtown Triangle on N. Lincoln Park W. This is some of his earliest work designed when he was in his early 20s and no one knew who he was.  It is also one of only a few examples of his early work left standing. You can see he was starting to experiment with the organic shapes which would ultimately become his signature style. 
9. Detail on Rowhouses
10. Detail on Rowhouses

If you would like to see the Ann Halsted Rowhouses consider taking my tour WORKERS COTTAGES OF OLDTOWN TRIANGLE in this app.





Louis Sullivan

William Goodman 
(1848–1936) died at age 88

An American lumber tycoon, he came to Chicago and is famous for founding the Goodman Theatre. His son Kenneth Goodman, was a playwright who had envisioned a theater that elevated professional training and performance standards. Sadly, Kenneth passed before William.  Notable architect Howard Van Doren Shaw designed this tomb to memorialize Kenneth.

William's son Kenneth has a diary preserved at the Newberry Library which speaks of a turn-of-the-century high society life filled with club meetings, formal dinners, trips on yachts, and being prescribed cocaine for headaches!  One of his plays, "A Game Of Chess" was performed all over the world. The Newberry Library has many of his manuscripts, many of which are hand-written!

Additional Photo
3. The Goodman Theatre vintage neon sign seen from the adjacent alleyway called the Alley Of Death.  This was the scene of the Iroquois Theatre Fire Disaster in 1903 where 600 men, women, and children died and another 250 were injured.

William Goodman

Potter Palmer 
(1826–1902) died at age 75 

In 1852 Palmer opened a store on Lake Street that catered to women particularly.  He pioneered the use of window displays, free delivery, return policies, and special sales. He was also the first to allow customers to take goods on approval and “charge” purchases. Soon most Chicago merchants adopted the “Palmer system.” 

Marshall Field and Levi Leiter eventually took over creating Field, Palmer, and Leiter which later became the famous Marshall Field & Co.  After selling to Field, Palmer invested heavily in real estate and is best known for building the Palmer House Hotel. 

Palmer helped to lay out Lake Shore Drive, was an original incorporator of the Chicago Board of Trade, and helped plan the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Bertha Potter, his wife (and half his age) became the queen of Chicago's High Society and is credited with inventing the brownie, called a portable dessert and served in box lunches at the 1893 World's Fair. They were baked in the kitchen at the Palmer House. 

Additional Photo:  Palmer House Hotel Lobby

Potter & Bertha Palmer

Charles Wacker 
(1856–1929) died at age 73

Born in Chicago, Wacker was a businessman and philanthropist. Wacker Drive was named after Charles. At age 37, he was the youngest one of the directors of the World's Fair of 1893.  After that, he was Chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission during which time he championed Burnham’s plan for improving Chicago, which included a lot of public spaces like our lakefront.

He lived in a workers cottage in Oldtown Triangle that his father, Frederick Wacker built for him right next to his own. Frederick Wacker was a 48'er (Europeans who revolted against their government in 1848 and then emigrated to the United States in search of a more democratic government). Chicago looks like it does largely because of these three men (The 2 Wackers and Daniel Burnham). 

The Wackers were also brewers and worked with Michael Diversey at his brewery which was called Lill & Diversey.  Diversey Parkway was named after him.

Additional Photos:
2. Charles Wacker's workers cottage
3. Frederick Wacker's workers cottage (his father)
4. Street view showing their two cottages and beyond them you can see the Ann Halsted Rowhouses, designed by Louis Sullivan
5. Lill & Diversey Brewery - historic photo

If you would like to see the Wacker's workers cottages and the Ann Halsted Rowhouses consider taking my tour WORKERS COTTAGES OF OLDTOWN TRIANGLE in this app.


Charles Wacker

Daniel Burnham 
(1846 – 1912) died at age 66

Burnham's most famous quip in a 1910 speech:  "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not be realized.  Make big plans; aim high in hope and work."  In the same speech, he also said, "Where a town lies near water, keep all the shore for the people."

Perhaps the most influential architect and urban planner in Chicago history, Burnham started as a draftsman for famed architect William Le Baron Jenney, father of the modern skyscraper. In 1873 he persuaded friend and colleague John Root to form their architectural firm, Burnham & Root, which became known for the Rookery, the second Rand McNally Building, the Monadnock Building, the Fisher Building, the Masonic Temple, and the Flat Iron Building in NYC. 

He was director of works at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. He believed that an improved urban environment could provide a positive transformative experience for inhabitants. Burnham’s masterwork, the 1909 Plan of Chicago, is considered a landmark in urban planning history.

Also buried here is his son, Daniel Burnham Jr. most famous for having designed the Carbide and Carbon Building in the Loop. 

Additional Photos:
Fisher Building (Monadnock Building in distance)
Carbide & Carbon Building

Daniel Burnham

Getty Family Tomb

The monument was erected in 1890 to Carrie Eliza Getty, the deceased wife of Henry Harrison Getty, a prominent Chicago businessman. Considered to be among Louis Sullivan’s finest works, it was designated a city landmark in 1971 by the Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks.  

Frank Lloyd Wright called it “entirely Sullivan’s own, a piece of sculpture, a statue, a great poem.”

Getty Tomb

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 
(1886–1969) died at age 83

Mies spent the first half of his career in his native Germany where he was director of the Bauhaus School Of Design (Bauhaus means "house of building" or "architecture house). Emphasizing open spaces and revealing industrial materials used in construction, he helped define modern architecture and founded the second Chicago School of Architecture which was often called the International Style.

The Armour Institute of Technology (now known as Illinois Tech or IIT), seeking international stature, appointed Mies as their Director Of Architecture, a logical choice for this goal due to his work in Germany.

Mies’ master plan for the IIT campus and numerous buildings throughout Chicago, including 860-880 Lake Shore Drive and the Loop Post Office  (where the Calder Flamingo sculpture is) still stand as masterworks of modern architecture.

Additional Photos:  Calder Flamingo with Post Office and plaza buildings

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ernie Banks
(1931–2015) died at age 84

Hall of Famer and prominent professional Major League Baseball player Ernie Banks, more notably referred to as “Mr. Cub”, played for the Chicago Cubs from 1953 to 1971. Ernie Banks was the Cubs’ first African-American player and one of the first Negro League players to join the MLB without first playing in the minor leagues. 

He is regarded as one of the greatest Cubs players of all time. In 2013, Ernie was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to sports.

Ernie Banks

Richard Nickel 
(1928–1972) died tragically at age 44

Noted architectural photographer Richard Nickel ironically died in Louis Sullivan’s Stock Exchange building in 1972, which was under demolition.  This was a time period right before Landmarking became law in Chicago.  Historic buildings and homes had been being demolished at an alarming rate for nearly 30 years. Historic preservationists fought many battles and Chicago's Oldtown Triangle became one of the first "landmarked" neighborhoods in the country, setting a precedent that many other cities followed suit with. 

Nickel spent over 20 years cataloging and collecting the works of Sullivan measuring and photographing his buildings before they were destroyed by the wrecking ball. He set up his camera about the time buildings were coming down, and he returned to sites at night to salvage decorative bits and pieces he could carry off – terra cotta, stone, metal castings. Through his efforts, we have a much better record of some of the greatest buildings in Chicago architectural history.

While attempting to salvage architectural items from the Stock Exchange Building, a portion of the old building collapsed on him. His body went unnoticed for about four weeks until it was uncovered by demolition workers on May 9, 1972. He tragically died doing what he loved and was buried not far from Louis Sullivan. 

Additional Photos:
1. Sullivan
2. Stock Exchange Building under demolition - where Nickel died
3. Chicago’s First Regiment Armory, built a few years after the 1886 Haymarket Riot - demolished
4. Nickel protesting outside the Garrick theatre which was razed for a parking lot
5. A bulldozer backstage at the Garrick theatre 
6. Garick Theatre Building Facade
7. Salvaged portrait bust (like a famous German immigrant) from the demolished Garrick Theater - on a fence in the Gold Coast on Dearborn St.
8. Salvaged portrait bust from the demolished Garrick Theater - on the Second City Building on n. Wells St. In Oldtown.
9. Nickel stood in the way of Sullivan's buildings being demolished
10. Nickel with salvaged Adler & Sullivan ornament
11. Nickel with some of his saved fragments of buildings



Richard Nickel

Cyrus McCormick 
(1809–1884) died at age 75

McCormick was an industrialist and inventor of the first commercial grain reaper – a horse-drawn machine to harvest wheat – basing his work on that of his father and others. He formed what became McCormick Harvesting Machine Company (which later became International Harvester) where he innovated marketing and distribution techniques. IH still exists to this day. McCormick’s achievements have impacted agribusiness around the world.

Additional Photos:
2-3. A vintage McCormick Farmall International Harvester Tractor (IH)
4. Vintage IH ad
5. McCormick-Deering Model 4-S cream separator (at the Chicago History Museum)


Cyrus McCormick

Marshall Field 
(1834–1906) died at age 72

Marshall Field is a celebrated name in retail and Chicago history. In 1865 he and Levi Zeigler Leiter joined the merchandising firm of Potter Palmer. When Palmer withdrew, the firm became Field, Leiter, and Co. In 1881 Field bought out Leiter for $2,500,000, naming it Marshall Field and Co. In an age of unethical merchandising, Field emphasized customer service, liberal credit, the one-price system, the privilege of returning merchandise, and the department-store restaurant (The Walnut Room).  

Field is credited with the phrases, “Give the lady what she wants,” and “The customer is always right.” Field’s estate was valued at $125,000,000. His grandson Marshall Field III (1893–1956) founded the Chicago Sun (afterward the Chicago Sun-Times).

Additional Photos:
2. The Legendary Clock on the Marshall Field Store Building in the Loop
3. The Tiffany Glass Atrium Ceiling in the Marshall Field Store Building

If you would like to see the clocks and the amazing Tiffany Ceiling consider taking my tour CHICAGO ART DECO MADNESS in this app. 

Marshall Field

Stroll through historical Graceland Cemetery and discover all the tombs of the rich and famous.

The Deep Pockets of Graceland Cemetery

workers cottages of oldtown triangle

"Chicago has faced its fair share of adversity in its 184-year history, but the city has always risen from the ashes, both literally and figuratively. Its most remarkable renaissance came in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The inferno killed 300 people, left another 100,000 homeless, and cost a jaw-dropping $222 million (equivalent to $4.7 billion in 2020), but it also gave birth to a beautiful new city, built with brick and better than ever. 

Sadly, one iconic building style, the workers cottage, which flourished both before and after the Great Fire, has recently been falling victim to urban developers whose visions just don’t jibe with historic lot sizes or bygone architectural styles. As demand grows for apartments and other higher-density housing, many of these humble dwellings are at risk of being razed."  -bobvila.com

On this tour you will see 40 or more of these delightful cottages and the different styles they were designed and constructed in. Also, you will see some very rare instances where there are several cottages in a row or in one case an entire block of cottages on both sides of the street! 

Stops called "NOTABLE PROPERTIES" are not worker cottages but historically notable for the neighborhood.

I’m Ronnie Frey creator of the popular Instagram account @doorwaysofchicago.  I welcome you to follow me there and all my other socials like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube with the same handle @doorwaysofchicago.  I also give in person tours and private tours and those can all be found on my website doorwaysofchicago.com.  If you would like to reach out my email address is ronnie@doorwaysofchicago.com and you can also join my email list using the form at the bottom of each page of the website.

Additionally, I would love to invite you to visit my website: doorwaysofchicago.com for other tour offerings including live, in-person tours and private tour offerings.  I also have all my eATLAS app tours listed with links to each one.  Once there you can read my story and see my offerings of photography prints, greeting card collections, and even my curated interior design furnishing collections.  I’m an interior designer by trade and during the pandemic, I started my Instagram account as well as these walking tours to be able to share more of my passions with you!

I’m constantly on the search for wonderful architectural content to share with you as well as anything vintage, especially planes, trains, and automobiles…after all, they all have doors too!

Thank you, and as I always like to say, “See you out on the trails!”


NOTABLE PROPERTY
Unique Rowhouses 
Style:  Queen Anne and Second Empire
Architect: Harold Hansen
Circa 1886

Since they are close by, this cottage tour starts off with some historically significant homes that are not cottages: 
The Rowhouses at 164, 166, 168, 170 and 172 West Eugenie Street

This is an extremely rare variegated row of five opulent Queen Anne and Second Empire style houses and heavily ornamented.  There are a variety of window shapes, including bays, stained glass windows, and unusual, Eastlake -style porch structures. 

Harald Hansen was a Norwegian-born architect who received his training in Heidelberg and later became head of the Department of architecture at the University of Illinois. He built 12 units; three on Wells Street and nine on Eugenie. Only these five listed above remain standing today. Hansen's own home was 164 West Eugenie. The houses were built on land previously owned by the Chicago City Railway Company, whose structures included a car barn and a blacksmith shop.

At one time Eugenie Street between Clark and Wells was called "Pill Row" since many of its residents were doctors. Harold Hansen died in 1922. His daughter Carrie lived here until 1966! A copper bust of Carrie is seen on the roof of 172 West Eugenie. 

Now let's go see some workers cottages!  Continue across Wells Street, walking west. There are a lot of cottages not marked as stops on the tour - take them all in and ENJOY these little treasures!


Rowhouses by architect Harold Hansen

Matthew Buschwah Cottage (a Frenchman)
Style:  Italianate 
Circa 1874

Wooden cottage with original wood frame. 
Original doors.
Original cast iron railing.
Notice the double-carved brackets in the eaves.
Notice the dentil molding in the eave - the word dentil means "toothed".
Notice the heavy arched lintels above the doors and windows - this is a feature of Italianate design.
Matthew Buschwah was a scroll sawyer. 
Scroll saws are used to cut very intricate shapes like the wood inlays you see on a guitar, for example.

WORKERS COTTAGE HISTORY
In the 1850’s due to the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the railroads, and the invention of the telegraph, Chicago began to grow exponentially. When the city was founded in 1837 it had a population of 4,000 people; many were French.  By 1850 it had grown to 30,000. By the time of the Great Fire in 1871, the population was 300,000. The fire killed 300 people and 100,000 people lost their homes (1/3 of the city)! By the turn of the century (1900) the city had grown to 1.7 million people!  Chicago's current population is around 2.5 million.
 
Chicago’s central location and proximity to Lake Michigan set it up for success. Massive, labor-hungry industries like meatpacking and grain processing, and rail car manufacturing brought labor-seeking people (mostly German immigrants in Oldtown) by the thousands into the city. George Pullman's Palace car Company brought workers and Pullman Porters flocking to the bustling metropolis. 

Because of this explosive growth, so many people needed a place to live that these inexpensive, simply shaped homes, which could be built quickly, were constructed. Often times the owner would rent out the lower unit to a tenant to help pay the rent (that's why many are raised up with the 1st floor really being on the 2nd floor).

When they were built a brand-new cottage could be had for $125 down and $10 a month - furnished!

This tour will show you many of these delightful cottages and the different styles they were designed and constructed in. Also, you will see some very rare instances where there are several in a row or in a few cases an entire block of cottages on both sides of the street!


215 W Eugenie - Matthew Buschwah Cottage 

217 West Eugenie Street 
Built 1874 

Seen here is a wooden cottage with original high stairs and rail to the second floor. Especially noteworthy are the double bracketed eaves, dentil molding, and the ornate, over-scaled corbels (brackets) with downward-facing finials supporting the 2nd-floor porch overhang. 



217 West Eugenie Street

219 West Eugenie Street

225 West Eugenie Street 

NOTABLE PROPERTY - Home of Henry Gerber 
U.S. NATIONAL LANDMARK!
Circa 1884

1710 N. Crilly Court built in 1884 - Home of Henry Gerber where he founded The Society for Human Rights in 1924, becoming the first gay civil rights organization in the entire nation, nearly 100 years ago! He was a soldier stationed in Germany during the years after WWI. Inspired by the work German activists were doing to overturn their country's anti-homosexual laws, he returned to the USA.  

In 1924 he moved to Chicago and began writing and organizing and conducting secret, underground meetings here. He only lived at the home on Crilly Court between 1924 and 1925, but managed to found both the Society for Human Rights and the publication Friendship and Freedom. Quite productive. But the police got wind of it and broke in, shut down his organization, and threw him in jail. After that, he moved to New York City.

This home is a U.S. National Landmark and is only the third LGBT-related property to ever achieve this distinction.  The Stonewall Inn of New York is another and the James Merrill House in Stonington Connecticut is the third.  Merrill was a Pulitzer prize-winning writer. 

Other famous people that lived on this street are:
1. Sunny Sunbloom - graphic artist who invented the Quaker Oats man, Aunt Jemimah, and the Santa figure on the holiday Coca-Cola bottles sold around the world.
2. Rand and McNally - the map and atlas people.
3, George Spoor - an early filmmaker known for his 1 and 2 reelers which were 15-20 minute, black and white , silent films that starred his discovery and world phenomenon, Charlie Chaplin.

Home of Henry Gerber

319 West Eugenie St - PETER JUNG RESIDENCE 

405-07 West Eugenie 
Built 1880 
JOSEPH O'CONNELL RESIDENCE 

Wood frame workers cottage with a brick basement. Well-preserved cast iron railing on the front at the street. 405 was built in 1880; it is joined with 407 which was built in 1888. Read the plaque on the house about Joseph, inventor, and engineer for Illinois Bell who made substantial contributions to the invention of the telephone!

He also was born here and lived at this property even before he built the cottage.  All-in-all he lived here for 98 years so imagine one family owning this property for that many years up until 1959.  That just doesn't happen much in the city of Chicago!


405-07 West Eugenie - O'CONNELL RESIDENCE 

SAINT MICHAEL'S CHURCH 

Twin Anchors Ribs 

335 West Concord Place 

329 West Concord Pl - HEINRICH FISHER RESIDENCE 

316 W. Concord Place

310 W. Concord Place

306 W. Concord Place

305 West Concord Pl - NICHOLAS BIRREN RESIDENCE 

1638 N. North Park - Workers Cottage

1722 N. North Park - Elaborate, Italianate Workers Cottage

331 West Menomonee Street 
Built 1875 
THEODORE BECKING RESIDENCE  - skilled wagon maker

This cottage's history took a dark and dramatic turn in 1932 when it became the scene of a violent episode involving Sam Mule, a bootlegger who notoriously ran counter to Al Capone's syndicate. Mule was shot dead through the front left window of the cottage, a pivotal event that underscored the turbulent and often violent history of early 20th century Chicago and the cottage's unexpected role as a silent witness to the tumultuous Prohibition era.

Decades later, the cottage would find itself linked to Hollywood when Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, and their family called it home during the filming of the 1986 sports comedy film "Wildcats" at Lane Technical College Prep High School. This episode added a contemporary layer to its historical narrative, bridging the gap between its storied past and modern significance.

Raised, wood frame two-story workman's cottage. Straightforwardly simple. This cottage and the cottages on either side make up a trio of what I call Papa Bear, Momma Bear and Baby Bear cottages.  If you walk up N. Orleans Street a few steps and look back towards these cottages you will see what I mean.  And if you are lucky enough sometimes you can see a fabulous Luft Balloon display attached to the front of Baby Bear Cottage. 


331 West Menomonee St - THEODORE BECKING RESIDENCE 

1824 North Orleans St - JAMES ROTTRAY RESIDENCE 

1819 North Orleans Street

NOTABLE PROPERTY - 1827 North Orleans St - JOHN W. WHITE RESIDENCE 

1838 North Lincoln Park West 
Built 1874 
FREDERICK WACKER RESIDENCE 

The unusual house that Frederick Wacker built has a fairy tale quality about it. It has all the characteristics of a Swiss Chalet, combined with an Italianate feeling. There is a wide over-hanging veranda supported by curved brackets, openwork hoods above the windows, and carved wooden spindle railings flanking the broad stairway. There is a coach-house in back. 

Although other houses in the area utilize interesting carved wooden trim, none approaches the picturesque quality of the Frederick Wacker house. Frederick Wacker was a forty-eighter (people that were part of revolts in Europe in 1848). He earned his living as a brewer. Before he established his own brewery he worked with Michael Diversey (Diversey Parkway was named after him).

Wacker was a founding member of organizations such as the Sharpshooter's Association and the German Singing Society. He was highly regarded as a leader in the German community.  This house was also featured  in the article on the Bob Vila website.

FREDERICK WACKER RESIDENCE 1838 North Lincoln Park W. 

1836 North Lincoln Park West 
Built 1884 
CHARLES WACKER HOUSE (Wacker Drive named after him)

Wood frame house with small eave brackets, intricate turned columns and wood fretwork for the entrance canopy in a floral motif with delicate iron cresting (somewhat rare to see) on the porch canopy roof. The large front bay window with incised fluted exterior casings in the classic manner is on a base with capitals and extends out at the ground floor. This design is emulated by the sloping fascia of the entrance canopy. 

Charles Wacker (1856-1929) was the son of Frederick Wacker (next door). The youngest director of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, he was a brewer, a building association man, active in German musical affairs, and a supporter of the Chicago Symphony. Mayor Fred Busse appointed him Chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission, where he served for 17 years. Obtaining massive public support for the "Plan" was his job and he was instrumental in implementing the Daniel Burnham Plan for the design of the city. He was an important figure in the molding of the City of Chicago. 

CHARLES WACKER HOUSE 1836 North Lincoln Park West 

Ann Halsted Rowhouses - Sullivan Row
1826 to 1834 N. Lincoln Park West - 5 brick rowhouses
 Built in 1884 and 1885 
Architect: Louis Sullivan - he designed these in his early 20s as one of his first projects when no one knew who he was. You can see early experimentation of what then developed into his style of very ornate and organic shapes (at the tops of the vertical relief columns on the building). These are among the few surviving examples of Sullivan's early architectural designs.

Cost in 1884 - $4000 per unit (now $1.3 million-plus)
Notice original stained-glass windows and cast-iron railings.

Later in his career, Sullivan hired Frank Lloyd Wright as a draftsman when FLW was in his 20’s - then fired him because they butted heads and FLW was moonlighting on the side. Sullivan was one of the early skyscraper architects. The line “form ever follows function” is his statement about architecture.

Other designs of Sullivan's you may be more familiar with are:
* Carson Pirie Scott State Street
* Auditorium Theatre
* Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church - Ukrainian Village
* Krause Music store - Lincoln Square (This was his last building before he died)
* Sullivan is buried at Graceland Cemetery along with many other world-famous architects

Ann Halsted Rowhouses

Large Italianate Farmhouse 1802 N. Lincoln Park W

NOTABLE PROPERTY - 226 West Menomonee Street

216 West Menomonee Street 
Built 1874 
FIRE RELIEF CHANTY

And last but certainly not least is this tiny yellow, down-to-earth Chicago cottage that has been variously remodeled. It is considered to be a Fire Relief  Chanty by members of the Chicago Commission On Historical and Architectural Landmarks.  Since so many people lost their homes in the Great Fire, these smaller chanty-type cottages were built like crazy all around the city just so people could have shelter.  This was the first workers cottage I ever saw and what inspired me to start researching them and their history.

I really hope you enjoyed learning about and seeing this very quaint but important housing style that is a HUGE part of Chicago's history. You would not normally expect homes like these in the middle of a booming Metropolis like Chicago.  I am obsessed with them and have photo journaled well over 800 of them here and in other cities.  

Now you can't unsee what you have seen and you will begin to notice them as you move about the city!  Join me in the pursuit to save them.  If you ever see a petition to save one that is going to be demolished by all means sign it and get involved!  Not all areas of Chicago are landmarked like Oldtown. 

Please check out my other tours on this app - they are all fun like this one with lots of historical information.  Also please check out my website, doorwaysofchicago.com for in-person walking tours, photography prints available for purchase, and gorgeous greeting card collections featuring my photos of doorways and architecture in Chicago's fabulous neighborhoods. 

If you want a quaint place to get a bite to eat continue down Menomonee, through the little courtyard to Wells St., hang a right and you will come upon Nookies Restaurant - a neighborhood staple.  Order a skillet, they are delicious! Very friendly staff.  Enjoy!


FIRE RELIEF SHANTY. 216 West Menomonee St 

See 30+ Stunning Chicago's Workers Cottages - An Architectural Vernacular Of the Late 1800's - PLUS OTHER NOTABLE PROPERTIES

Workers Cottages Of Oldtown Triangle

retro river north

Hi and welcome.  I’m Ronnie Frey creator of the popular Instagram account @doorwaysofchicago.  I welcome you to follow me there and all my other socials like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube with the same handle @doorwaysofchicago.  I also give in person tours and private tours and those can all be found on my website doorwaysofchicago.com.  If you would like to reach out via email please feel free:  ronnie@doorwaysofchicago.com.

I’m constantly on the search for wonderful architectural content to share with you as well as anything vintage, especially planes, trains, and automobiles…after all, they all have doors too!

Speaking of things vintage, welcome to my RETRO RIVER NORTH walking tour where you will get to see several establishments and their amazing vintage signs and vintage neon signs.  Plus along the way I will show and tell you all about many notable properties like I always do.  It’s hard to walk past a historical place and not include it on the tour - even though these other properties may or may not have a vintage sign they are still just as much a part of Chicago’s history.

I will give you a clue, the best time to take this tour is in the evening as the sun is setting or at dusk as you will be able to see most of the lights illuminated!  

Also for your convenience, I have included several photos related to many of the stops including some interior photos and a short video message about each stop.  You can either read the information in the app or if you’d rather, just listen to my video.  As you open each stop in the app I would suggest that you click the icon in the upper right-hand corner of the first photo you see and that will pop out the photos and videos so you can view them full-screen.  

Enjoy the tour!  If you are going in the evening, the last stop is at the Tortoise Supper Club and you may want to stop in to hear their live jazz -  the musicians start at 7:30 or 8 pm - it's a great way to end the tour!

Additionally, I would love to invite you to visit my website: doorwaysofchicago.com for other tour offerings including live, in-person tours and private tour offerings.  I also have all my eATLAS app tours listed with links to each one.  Once there you can read my story and see my offerings of photography prints, greeting card collections, and even my curated interior design furnishing collections.  I’m an interior designer by trade and during the pandemic, I started my Instagram account as well as these walking tours to be able to share more of my passions with you! 

If you would like to reach out my email address is ronnie@doorwaysofchicago.com and you can also join my email list using the form at the bottom of each page of the website.

Thank you, and as I always like to say, “See you out on the trails!”


LaSalle Flowers has been a family-owned florist on the corner of LaSalle and Superior in Downtown Chicago since 1936. This old neon sign is amazing. Not just the sign itself, but the fact that not many of this vintage are still found around downtown Chicago. Swipe for more photos.

Another very interesting thing is the black and white sign that is on the face of the building. On the right you can see the flower shop's phone number: SU-7-3680 and apparently the SU stood for Superior Street.

To get to the next stop walk west on Superior just a few steps to 154 West Superior Street  - it’s a mustard yellow-colored rowhouse that's sandwiched in-between two ugly high-rises.  You can’t miss it!


LaSalle Flowers

This old Italianate rowhouse at 154 W. Superior St. in River North stands out between two ugly high-rise buildings.
This is a true "Up House"! It was built in 1892 and it is likely that the whole block was filled with rowhouses like this one. 

The home’s previous owner turned down all offers throughout the years to sell to developers and even invited friends over for drinks while crews constructed the new buildings around him.⁠⠀

It was bought in 2019 for $900,000 and fully renovated into an office space for a law firm. At least that’s the word on the street. 

Swipe to see some photos of the house prior to being renovated!

To get to the next stop head back east on Superior one block and turn left (or north) onto Clark St. and you will see the neon sign that says Stop & Drink Liquor, which is now called Clark Street Ale House.

Rowhouse - 154 W. Superior


Clark Street Ale House is a testimony to Chicago’s storied tradition of quirky neighborhood pubs and taverns. Since it was built in the late 1800s, the building has always been a bar-even during prohibition. Stop & Drink Liquor House became Clark Street Ale House in 1996, but the historic World War II-era Stop & Drink neon sign continues to proudly mark its spot.

To get to the next stop head back and turn left (or east) onto Superior Street.  Now walk 4 blocks and you will come to Rosebud on Rush at Rush Street.  Enjoy the walk because there isn’t even one boring block in beautiful River North. 


Clark Street Ale House

Housed in a charming brownstone just steps away from Chicago's famed Magnificent Mile, Rosebud on Rush is an ideal location for business luncheons, social gatherings, or special occasions. With a celebrity following, authentic Italian cuisine, and an impressive selection of wines, it's no surprise that Rosebud on Rush has a reputation for being "one of the top ten restaurants in America" according to Travel and Leisure Magazine.   How cute is the neon Rosebud sign on the side of the building?!

To get to the next stop, turn right (or south) onto Rush St and walk one block, then turn right (or west) onto Huron Street.  Walk one block and as you approach the intersection of Wabash Avenue you will see St. James Cathedral, a historic church, on the left.  Before turning left (or south) onto Wabash notice the amazing red doorways on the side of the church.  I’m going to tell you about them in the next video. 


Rosebud On Rush

St James Cathedral
65 E. Huron St
Architect: Holabird and Root
Circa 1857

When you visit St. James Cathedral, you can pray in the same space as Abraham Lincoln, who worshipped at St. James shortly after being elected President in 1860. 

 After the Civil War, tremendous growth led the church to enlarge and redecorate on an even grander scale. A few weeks after the splendidly redesigned church was formally rededicated in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupted, leaving nothing but the stone walls, and the bell tower, whose bells gave warning to the neighborhood of the fire.

The red doorways on the side and front of the church were some of the very first doors I took photos of when I started my @doorwaysofchicago Instagram account in early 2018!  The early days!

If it is open, step inside and admire the extraordinary interior.  Please be respectful of parishioners that may be inside praying or meditating. 

To get to the next stop continue south on Wabash one block and the Cable House is on the SouthWest corner of this intersection. 


St. James Cathedral

Cable House
25 E. Erie St

The Cable House is a Richardsonian Romanesque-style home. It was designed and built in 1886 by Cobb and Frost for socialite Ransom R. Cable. 

Not long after, in 1902, the house was purchased by Robert Hall McCormick for his son, Robert Hall McCormick III. The house is located in the River North district that was once dubbed "McCormicksville," due to the large concentration of McCormick family members living there within a few blocks of each other.

The Cable House is currently occupied by the offices of Driehaus Capital Management, owned by Richard Driehaus, a huge Chicago preservationist and philanthropist. 

Before you go to the next stop, walk to the rear of the house and you will see a fabulous courtyard with an amazing fountain and other really incredible features.  The owner has quite a collection of vintage automobiles and sometimes you can catch seeing one of them parked here.  How about this pink Ford Thunderbird?!

And that is your next stop but you may want to view the next two stops from across the street first then cross to get up close and personal as they are both spectacular from a distance and up close!

Cable House

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum is a museum located at 40 East Erie Street.  The museum is housed within the historic Samuel M. Nickerson House, built in 1883 for this wealthy Chicago banker. 

The mansion was designed for Mr. Nickerson by one of Chicago's earliest prominent architects, Edward J. Burling of the architectural firm of Burling & Whitehouse. Construction took four years and cost $450,000; it was reportedly the most expensive and elaborate private residence in Chicago at the time of its completion in 1883.

The interiors are spectacular with marble, onyx, carved exotic and domestic woods, glazed tiles, and stained glass. On display are original furnishings from the Nickerson era along with American and European decorative arts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including art nouveau furnishings and a number of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany.  Make sure to swipe to see interior photos and a reminder to tap the icon for full screen viewing.

The next stop is only a few feet away and right next door to the Driehaus Museum on Erie Street.  You can't miss it - it’s one of the most spectacular structures in all of Chicago - The Murphy.


Driehaus Museum

The Murphy
50 E. Erie St

The six-story, 32,000-square-foot Murphy Auditorium was built between 1923 and 1926 by the American College of Surgeons. It was designed by noted Chicago architects Benjamin Marshall and Charles E. Fox of Marshall and Fox who also designed the Edgewater Beach Apartment building, often called the Pink Palace.

It was added to the Driehaus Museum’s footprint in 2022. The building features a pair of cast bronze doors produced by Tiffany Studios at the front entrance.  And not only is it one of the most spectacular structures in all of Chicago but it has two of the most incredible doorways in the city too!  In addition, recently, the bronze doors were made the main entrance to the Driehaus Museum.

To get to the next stop continue walking east on Erie Street to the next corner  - and you are back at Rush Street.  Take a left and the McCormick Double House is on the corner.


The Murphy

McCormick Double House
660 N Rush St
Circa 1875

This Joliet Red Limestone-clad house was originally built in 1875 as a double house for Leander James McCormick and his son Robert Hall McCormick, two members of one of Chicago's best-known families. Leander and his brother, Cyrus McCormick, built on their father’s work on grain reapers among other agricultural items and then invented the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which later became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902.  Harvesting machines are also now called combines and having grown up on a farm in Indiana, I personally have driven combines in the fields for thousands of hours! McCormick Place is named after this family. 

The house is among the city's best and oldest surviving Italianate-style houses with finely-incised pedimented window hoods and an intact pressed-metal cornice.

At one point the famous French restaurant Chez Paul was in this home. Paul Contos opened Chez Paul at Delaware Avenue off Michigan Avenue but moved it into this mansion in 1964 after refurbishing the building. The steps and pillars are marble, as is the mantel in the Louis Room, which was presented to McCormick when he was Ambassador to Italy by Victor Emannuel III, King of Italy.

A replica of the restaurant's interior was used for a scene in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Bill Contos said of the replica, "It was either that or ship the McCormick mansion to the West Coast, and this just seemed easier." A similar set was used in the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Chez Paul closed in 1995 and the building is currently used for office space.

Additional Photos:
Vintage McCormick Farmall International Harvester Tractor (IH)
Vintage IH ad
McCormick-Deering Model 4-S cream separator (at the Chicago History Museum)
Info on the Milk/Cream Separator

To get to the next stop you will now turn around and walk south on Rush one block to Ontario Street and turn right (or west). Walk one more block and at the next intersection which is Wabash Avenue you will see the Pizzeria Due in a marvelous old Second Empire style home.


McCormick Double House

This stop is really two stops - I’ll explain 
Pizza Due - 619 N. Wabash & Uno Pizzaria & Grill - 29 E Ohio

Ike Sewell changed things back in 1943 when he created Deep Dish Pizza. Some folks call it Chicago deep-dish pizza. Ike figured that if you combined some of Italy's old, authentic recipes with impressive quantities of the finest meats, spices, vegetables, and cheeses, pizza would become a hearty meal. So he opened Pizzeria Uno as a fine restaurant specializing in his new Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, and it wasn't long before the restaurant had more customers than it could handle.

Because Uno didn't have enough room to expand, Ike did another wonderful thing. He opened another Chicago Pizzeria and called it Pizzeria Due on the opposite street corner in the lower level of a beautiful, Victorian mansion. The rest is legend. Pizzeria Uno and Pizzeria Due have become the most celebrated Pizzerias in the world.

If you look south at the next intersection of Wabash and Ohio, you will see Pizzeria Uno, which is also in a magnificent old Second Empire style home. You are headed that direction for the next several stops so you will be walking right past it. 

The next stop is directly across the street and you have probably already spotted it, the Medinah Temple - a huge Moorrish Revival building with the two onion shaped domes arising from the rooftop at either end!

Pizzaria Due

Medinah Temple
600 N Wabash Ave

The Medinah Temple is a large Moorish Revival building in Chicago designed by the Shriners architects Huehl & Schmid in 1912.

Among the many events that took place in this venue was the annual Shriner’s Circus. The auditorium’s acoustics also made it a favorite site for recording; many of the Chicago Symphony’s recordings from the late 1960s for RCA through the 1980s for Decca Records were recorded here.

The building’s two 10,000-pound copper onion domes had to be constructed on-site in the adjacent Tree Studios courtyard and craned onto the rooftop. With its crowning features in place, Medinah Temple re-opened in February of 2003 as the nation’s first Bloomingdale’s Home Store.  I worked here for 5 years and what a spectacular historic building it was to work in!  Often I would go out on my lunch breaks to walk around and find cool doorways to photograph!  Many of the photos you are seeing on this tour were taken during my time there!

A Temporary Bally’s Casino is currently occupying the building and it will be open 24/7 and have 800 slot machines, 50 gaming tables, a restaurant, and bars across three floors.

Swipe to see some interior photos of the space when it was the Bloomies Home Store and also old photos from when it was the original theatre!

To get to the next stop continue south to Ohio Street - take note of Pizzeria Uno across the street (you can’t miss those charming striped awnings!).  Turn right (or west) onto Ohio and walk halfway down the block and you will notice the Freehand Hostel across the street.


Medinah Temple

Uno Pizzaria & Grill

Freehand
19 E. Ohio St

The Freehand Hostel was previously The Tokyo Hotel, located here at 19 E. Ohio Street and has a dicey past! Designed by architect Ralph C. Harris, it is 15 stories tall, and has 150 rooms. It opened in 1927 as the Devonshire Hotel.

Before it closed in 2013, the Tokyo was not aimed at tourists, but rather longer-term residents, and earned quite a reputation for being home to "prostitution and criminal activity.”

In October 2013 the hotel was sold for $13.5 Million to a real estate development firm. Following extensive renovation by the famous Roman and Williams design firm of NYC, the building reopened in June 2015 as the Freehand Chicago Hostel. Roman and Williams are known for the Boom Boom Room in NYC and also are Gweneth Paltrow’s designers for all her projects and Goop stores.  They have designed all the Freehand locations in several cities as well as the design of the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel on Michigan Avenue. 

The vision in this project was to create a place that feels secret and under the radar, appealing in a way that cannot be easily defined. It was inspired by summer camp and bunk houses.  Step inside the lobby if you have the time and you can even get a beverage or a drink at the famous Broken Shaker bar.  You will immediately be transported into what I call Northern Michigan meets Scandinavia!

To get to the next stop continue a few steps further west on Ohio and you will see an amazingly ornate arched doorway that has the words “Studio Building” carved into the limestone surround.  These are the Tree Studios.


Freehand Hostel

The Tree Studios
4 E. Ohio St
Commissioned in 1894 by philanthropist and arts patron Judge Lambert Tree and his wife Anna Field Tree  who was the daughter of Marshall Field, the Tree Studios were designed as an artists’ residence and have been home to over 500 artists.  You’ve likely heard of the famous Ivy Room which is here inside Tree Studios and makes for a spectacular venue for events and especially weddings.

Some of the great artists which have called the Tree Studios home include sculptors Albin Polasek, illustrator James Allen St. John; muralist John Warner Norton, painters Ruth Van Sickle Ford and John Singer Sargent; and actors Peter Falk and Burgess Meredith.

Muralist John Warner Norton is known for having painted the amazing 20-foot x 30-foot art deco mural map of the United States in the lobby of the old Chicago Motor Club building in the loop.

You can see the giant US map mural by Norton on my Chicago Art Deco Madness Tour which is available either here in the eATLAS app and also as one of my in-person tour offerings.  I’d love to have you join me live or here in the app!  It is a really fun one and paints the picture of what life was like back in the Roaring Twenties.  It’s hard to believe that was one hundred years ago now!

Swipe for Interior Photos!

Back to River North, to get to the next stop continue a few steps west to the intersection of State Street and turn right (or north).  Walk about halfway up the block and you will see a store called P.O.S.H. 


Tree Studios

P.O.S.H. - 613 N State St

In 1997, P.O.S.H. opened its doors in Chicago, with a desire to offer something unique to the consumer that had grown weary of “sameness”. The small shop was met with a warm reception as the search for pieces that haven’t been mass-produced for coast–to–coast consumption was shared by many.

For instance, they have a line of teas made by Mariage Frères (meaning the Mariage Brothers), a French gourmet tea company, based in Paris. It was founded on 1 June 1854 by brothers Henri and Edouard Mariage. 

"At some point in your life, you want something that feels authentic — something that speaks to you.” That thought is what drives the owners of P.O.S.H. to search high and low for the items that stock its shelves — an eclectic assortment of vintage Hotel and Estate Silver, Restaurant China and Dinnerware and an ever–changing mix of European Flea Market Finds.

Here’s a little-known bit of trivia, the word posh actually began as an acronym. It all started at the turn of the last century (the late 1800s/early 1900s) when there was considerable steamship traffic between England and India. The wealthy passengers would book their cabins on the Port side of the ship going Out of England and on the Starboard side of the ship for the return journey Home.

This kept them safely out of the blistering sun while making the 30–plus day journey into the sweaty climes of the Indian subcontinent. Tickets were stamped P.O.S.H. (for Port Out Starboard Home) and people began using the acronym as a word to describe luxury travel and elegant accommodations! Who knew?!

If you have a few minutes, step inside and you will be instantly transported to a Parisian-type flea market atmosphere.  Step all the way to the back of the shop and you can catch a glimpse into the courtyard of the Tree Studios.

To get to the next stop continue north to the next intersection (you are back at Ontario Street) and turn left (or west).  Walk halfway up this block and you will see a red neon sign that says, Redhead Piano Bar.

P.O.S.H.

Redhead Piano Bar
16 W. Ontario St has one of the coolest and most fun vintage neon signs in the city I think! I love what the establishment owners say about their sign:
"A flirtatious redhead looks fetchingly over her shoulder and she lures you into her chamber..." 

Tucked away on bustling Ontario Street, The Redhead Piano Bar has been a neighborhood mainstay and a favorite among locals and tourists alike since 1993. Offering nightly live piano music, The Redhead is the perfect late night spot for upbeat performances, engaging conversation, and meeting new people. 
It’s a cocktail piano bar dressed in yesteryear memorabilia which draws in the well-heeled for crooners & cocktails.

To get to the next stop continue walking west, cross over Dearborn street and you will see the neon sign for Chicago Chop House.


Redhead Piano Bar

Chicago Chop House at 
60 W. Ontario St. is in a 120-year-old historic Victorian brownstone built in 1897.

It first opened its doors 37 years ago in November 1986. This popular steak and barbecue spot is set in this charming brownstone with a big neon sign in the front so you do not miss it! 

For a real Chicago-style steakhouse experience, Chicago Chop House will not disappoint. The feeling is 'big' all around—big setting, big portions, and, yes, big prices. It has a warm clubhouse feel with historical black-and-white pictures on the wall. Service is refined, reliable, and pleasant. A piano player can be found on the first floor, and bars on all three floors.

Don’t forget to swipe for interior photos.

The next stop is across the street and you cannot miss the gigantic guitar neon sign belonging to the Hard Rock Cafe!


Chicago Chop House

Hard Rock Cafe
63 W. Chicago Ave

Hard Rock Cafe Chicago is marked by the giant iconic guitar that illuminates the parking lot.

For more than 30 years the cafe has been a one-of-a-kind dining, entertainment, and shopping destination known worldwide for embracing funky styles and blending them with legendary food, beverages, live music, and music history. 

Hard Rock International is the world’s largest curator of music memorabilia, and the cafe walls are lined with priceless pieces from musical legends like Billy Joel, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, and Prince.

Join them for LIVE MUSIC every Friday and Saturday. Check out their calendar on their website for details! 

The last three stops on the tour are 5 blocks away so, again, enjoy the walk down one of River North’s best corridors, Dearborn Street.  Walk back to Dearborn and turn right (or south) and walk about 4-5 blocks until you see the large scaled neon sign for Harry Caray’s Steakhouse at the intersection of Dearborn and West Kinzie St.

Hard Rock Cafe

Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse at 33 W. Kinzie St is an American steakhouse chain specializing in steak and Italian-American cuisine.

It was built in 1895 as the headquarters of one of the leading varnish manufacturers, the Chicago Varnish Company.

The building is a rare example of Dutch Renaissance Revival-style architecture in Chicago. The style is marked by a steeply pitched roof paired with stepped gables of red brick and light stone in contrasting colors. Often called a crow-stepped gable or a corbie step, this design gave convenient access for chimney sweeps and roofers in earlier times, where cranes were non-existent.

The building was designed by Henry Ives Cobb, a nationally recognized architect whose other significant works include the Newberry Library and the original buildings for the University of Chicago campus.

To get to the next stop continue south on Dearborn.  You’ll see the blue neon sign that says House Of Blues.  Once closer up you will see it is an oddly shaped building with a meandering roofline that curves down and almost touches the ground and sort of looks like a saddle. Walk up the drive on the side of the building and you will see the entrance to the House Of Blues, marked by another bright blue neon sign.


Harry Caray's Italian Steak House

House Of Blues at
📍329 N. Dearborn St. - River North
📐Bertrand Goldberg
📆Circa 1964

About 30 years ago, House of Blues was founded with a simple but powerful mantra far ahead of its time in the U.S: 

Unity in Diversity.

The pursuit of peace, love, community, and acceptance has guided the organization’s cultural development and continues to gain new meaning and applications over the passing of time.

House of Blues is committed to using its venues, voice, and platform to advocate passionately for human expression, racial equality, and spiritual harmony.

Members range from corporate CEOs to rock stars. The Foundation Room on the 4th floor features three prayer rooms--Divinity, Buddha, and Ganesh--each dedicated to a deity or devotional figure represented by the focal statue in the room. It is one of the most sumptuous environments in Chicago.

Persian carpets connect decadent main rooms and bars to intimate hideaways that reward those who discover them with centuries-old woodwork, palatial furnishings, and magnificently displayed statues.

Many a concert go-ers have taken a break from the dance floor to wander through the building and discover all these amazingly hidden and tucked-away spaces is truly a delight!  

Swipe for some interior photos and if it's open you can step inside the lobby and catch hints about the overall experience of the House Of Blues!

To get to the last stop, continue walking up the drive to the next street - use the stairs down and turn left onto State Street.  Walk a few steps and you will see a neon sign that says Tortoise.  


House Of Blues

Tortoise Supper Club
350 N. State St. is a Chicago-owned, swanky supper club featuring prime rib, steaks, fresh seafood, and live jazz.

The owners, Keene and his wife Megan founded Tortoise Supper Club in the fall of 2012 inspired to open the type of place that combines all the things you love in a restaurant. They wanted to open a swanky, sophisticated restaurant with a spirited, jazz-era atmosphere that also is warm and welcoming.  They were particularly inspired by the vibe from the swanky party scenes in the movies “White Christmas” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I met them recently and they are lovely humans!

At Tortoise you can hear nightly jazz in the bar which is open to the restaurant so you can even enjoy the jazz while eating as well. Often, when new guests leave Tortoise, they hear comments about how much they love the vibe and ambiance at Tortoise Supper Club. 

Swipe for some interior photos and catch a jazz set and supper here soon!

If you are taking the tour in the early evening and have time this would be a perfect way to cap off this tour in one of the most quaint and charming spaces in the city!  I think the jazz starts around 8 pm.

I really hope you enjoyed my tour of Retro River North and that you learned tons of historical nuggets that you may have not known before.  I welcome your ratings as they mean a lot to my growth on this app. Also, be sure to check out all my other tours in this app - they span so many different areas of the city.   If you use Instagram give me a follow at @doorwaysofchicago.  Please check out my live, in-person walking tours on my website.  Go to  doorwaysofchicago.com and click on WalkingTours.  

Also, it would mean a lot to me if you would rate me on Trip Advisor.  There are links that say "LEAVE A REVIEW" right on my website at the bottom of each page.  You can also find the same link to leave a review in my bio on Instagram under Linktr.ee.  Thank you!

See you out on the trails!

Tortoise Supper Club

Retro River North

chicago art deco madness 

Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, cinemas, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners.  It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition Internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925.

You will see many clean-lined and simple, "moderne" motifs of the deco period on this tour which include: streamlined shapes, horizontal lines (suggesting speed), verticality in buildings, zig zags or ziggurats, stair-stepping, sunbursts, silver and golden metallics, and a general sense of modern style & glamour of the roaring twenties and flapper eras.

Art Deco combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, it represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.

I’m Ronnie Frey creator of the popular Instagram account @doorwaysofchicago.  I welcome you to follow me there and all my other socials like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube with the same handle @doorwaysofchicago.  I also give in person tours and private tours and those can all be found on my website doorwaysofchicago.com.  If you would like to reach out via email please feel free:  ronnie@doorwaysofchicago.com

I have designed a growing number of tours in this eATLAS app that span many different neighborhoods as well as downtown Chicago.  I welcome you to check them out!  Many of them have promo videos you can watch prior to purchasing.

Chicago Board Of Trade
Architect Holabird & Root
Circa 1930
NOTE: NO VIDEO RECORDINGS ARE ALLOWED INSIDE THE BUILDING. THERE ARE SECURITY GUARDS SO OF COURSE, BE RESPECTFUL.

Chicago’s downtown business district is home to some of the city’s most perfectly preserved Art Deco architecture. 

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is home to the city’s oldest futures and options exchange. This 605-foot high skyscraper is clad in gray Indiana limestone and has a copper pyramid roof topped with an aluminum statue of the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres – a nod to Chicago’s history as a grain distribution and trading post.  

If the building is open, step inside the lobby and you will find many stunning Deco-styled elements. Once you enter, turn around and note the Deco grillwork around the doors.  Then look up to see the fabulous lighting fixtures on the ceiling.  On the right-hand side of the lobby take the stars down to the lower level and notice the terrazzo flooring with many Deco-inspired shapes, like ocean liners and airplanes. 

Come back up to the main lobby and walk into the 2-story section to find black marble columns with metal striped inserts, and a fluted metal wall cladding system. Also, notice the metal railing motif that runs both horizontally and vertically throughout this space. Also, take note of the many enormous waterfall-shaped columns and wall sconces mounted to the columns. There a deco-styled eagles in the wall panels. In the elevator banks, you will see golden "martini glass" inserts on the elevator doors made from ziggurat and sunburst patterns.

Take the escalator to the second floor and kindly ask the desk security if you can look at the original framed photographs of the building around this floor. This building is truly an Art Deco Classic!

HINT: The next three buildings are easier to see from the east side of the street and then if you want to venture inside you can cross to the west side.


Chicago Board Of Trade 

Bank Of America Building (Field Bldg)
Architect Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
Circa 1934

Note: There is a desk person in the middle of the building. If you are taking photos please do not point your camera or phone towards the Bank Of America part of the building. 

The construction of the Bank Of America Building (originally the Field Bldg) was completed in 1932 as a 45-story skyscraper.  It was built on the site of the first skyscraper in the world, which was called The Home Insurance Building (circa 1884). That building was designed by William Le Baron Jenney and was 138 feet tall.  

This building rises from a four-story base that covers the entire site. The exterior of the first story is faced with polished black granite. Windows are framed with polished aluminum. The entrances on the east and west facades rise the entire height of the base and are also framed in black granite. Five pilasters faced in white Yule marble separate the bays containing revolving doors that provide access to the lobby. 

If the building is open step inside.  The lobby features a multi-level arcade between LaSalle and Clark Streets allowing pedestrians to walk between the two streets and access the retail space without exiting the building. The elevator indicator panel and mailbox in the lobby are in an integrated design that resembles the building's exterior shape.  It is a spectacular interior and take note of the clocks on the walkways above, the fabulous reception desk design, and the sheer magnitude of the space.


Bank Of America Building (Field Bldg)

One North LaSalle
Architect: Vitzthum & Burns
Circa 1930

Note: Security/Desk personnel in this building are usually quite friendly.  Please ask them if you can take photos before doing so.  Please be mindful of residents moving about the building. 

One North LaSalle is an iconic example of the soaring, streamlined skyscrapers built during the 1920s. Currently, one of Chicago’s best-surviving examples of Art Deco architecture, One North LaSalle’s significant history is evidenced through its distinctive architectural details.  It is built near the presumed site of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle’s 17th-century camp.  The themed exterior and interior details are of early explorers and their interaction with Native Americans of the region. 

If the building is open, step inside. On the interior, the highly ornate elevator lobby features bronze elevator doors depicting full-figured female Grecian characters "Prosperity" and "Abundance" which symbolize success and reputation. The Native American Thunderbird lighting sconces between the elevator doors are stunning!

One North LaSalle Building

33 N. LaSalle
Architect Graham, Anderson Probst & White,
Circa 1928
This is a private office and residential building and the lobby is small so no need to go inside.  Observe the Deco exterior features of the building from across the street.

Originally the American National Bank building, 33 N. LaSalle is a pre-war treasure in the heart of Chicago’s financial center. This 38-story art deco tower was built in 1928, and its rich history is evident in all its vintage architectural details—from the original brass entrance to the patinaed motifs at the elevator banks. Now, this 402,000-square-foot skyscraper is home to dozens of exciting businesses.

As you head to the next stop stay on the north side of Madison.  

Thirty Thr33 N. LaSalle

Chapel in the sky
1924
Holabird & Root
Neo-Gothic
568-foot tall skyscraper 
It is the tallest church building in the world. 
First United Methodist Church of Chicago
Oldest congregation in the city- Established 1831
Started in a log cabin on the Chicago River

To get to the chapel you take the elevators to the 19th floor
That is the Pastor’s parsonage and is next three floors in the spire. Then you climb 25-30 steps single file in a tiny stairway to get to the top. The chapel seats about 30 people.

There are Art Deco/Mayan influences seen in the ceiling designs

Chapel In The Sky - 1st United Methodist Church

Commonwealth Edison Substation

115 N. Dearborn Chicago. The Spirit of Electricity (God Of Lightning) 
Sculpted by Sylvia Shaw Judson. 
Built 1931.

Sixteen years after she died, Judson suddenly became nationally known after the publication in 1994 of the sensational book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", whose cover was a hauntingly beautiful photo of a sculpture in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery. The book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for a record 216 weeks and crowds of tourists descended on Savannah hoping to glimpse the little cast-bronze girl whose weary arms seemed to be weighing good and evil. 

At that time Judson was virtually unknown, and she was dramatically rediscovered when the remarkable figure turned out to be one that she created in 1936 called "Bird Girl"

The movie by the same title is about the murder of a male hustler (Young Jude Law) by well-known antiques dealer, Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey) in May 1981 and the subsequent four murder trials that lasted more than eight years.   All of the scenes in the movie were filmed at the Mercer-Williams House on Monterey Square in Savannah, Georgia
 
Also in the movie are:
John Cusack
The Lady Chablis (Chablis Deveau) - one of the first transgender club performers in NYC

Spirit of Electricity - God Of Lightning Scuplture

Franklin Savings Bank - 105 W. Madison 

Stay on the north side of Madison as you walk towards Wabash Street.  Take in 105 W. Madison from this side of the street and even from the northeast street corner.  The lobby is small so no need to go inside but you will notice the Deco-inspired motifs on the exterior of the building: Deco-styled metal grill work and fluted vertical columns.

As you head down Madison toward Wabash Ave and the next stop, you will pass by the old Carson, Pirie Scott building on the corner of Madison and State (now a Target store).  Although not Art Deco, this is a super famous building designed by Louis Sullivan.  The ornate, Nouveau-esque curved doorway out of black iron is done in his signature style.  Look just above the doors on either side and you will find his initials, LS, woven into the design!

Franklin Savings Bank - 105 W. Madison 

The Silversmith Hotel
Architect Peter J. Weber - Daniel H. Burnham and Company
Circa 1896

The Silversmith Hotel is a boutique hotel located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It occupies the historic Silversmith Building, designed in 1896 by Peter J. Weber of the architectural firm of Daniel H. Burnham and Company.  While the building itself would not be categorized as Deco, you can see Deco elements in the green terra cotta ziggurat mouldings around the lower windows and doors and also the square rosette panels, also in green.

Silversmith Hotel

Marshall Field Store
Architect Daniel Burnham
Circa 1902 - 1906
Third largest store in the world

Step inside the old Marshall Field Store (now Macy's) from the Wabash Avenue side of the building and turn right at your first chance to head towards the elevator banks.  You will pass by the escalators so take note of the Deco claddings on the escalators which are done in large-scale horizontal, stainless steel flutings. 

After you pass the escalators, turn right again and you will find the Deco-styled elevator doors.  There are fluted stainless steel panels above the doors and the doors themselves have bronze insert plaques that are Deco-themed.  Since the building was built in 1901 it is likely that the deco influence you see here was a later addition. 

While in the building ask for directions to see the atrium that has the Tiffany Glass domed ceiling (not to miss) and if you want to then venture outside (on the State Street side) you can see the famous Marshall Field copper clocks.  Spectacular!

Marshall Field Store Elevator Doors and Escalators (Inside Macy's)

333 North Michigan
Architect Holabird and Root 
Circa 1929
NOTE: CHECK WITH SECURITY OR DESK PERSONNEL IF PHOTOGRAPHY OR VIDEO RECORDINGS ARE ALLOWED INSIDE THE BUILDING. BE RESPECTFUL OF RESIDENTS MOVING ABOUT THE BUILDING.

333 North Michigan is a long, narrow 1928 skyscraper with a base of polished marble and huge upper limestone embellishments depicting Native Americans and pioneers at Fort Dearborn, a Chicago fort built in 1803.  Architecturally, it is noted for its dramatic upper-level setbacks that were inspired by the 1923 skyscraper zoning laws. 

Head inside to see the fabulous golden bronze elevator doors with their male and female flapper images.

333 N. Michigan Avenue

Carbide and Carbon Building
Architect Burnham Brothers
Circa 1929
NOTE: CHECK WITH HOTEL DESK PERSONNEL IF PHOTOGRAPHY OR VIDEO RECORDINGS ARE ALLOWED INSIDE THE BUILDING. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL OF HOTEL GUESTS MOVING ABOUT THE BUILDING.

The lavish Carbide and Carbon Building is now a 5-star luxury hotel called Pendry Hotel. The building’s showstopping exterior is composed of black marble, and green-tinted terracotta, and its spire is coated in a thin layer of 24-carat gold. Inside the Michigan Avenue entrance, a lobby made with Belgian marble and frosted glass creates a grand welcome. 

Designed by the Burnham Brothers and completed in 1929, the rumor is that it was designed to look like a champagne bottle, with its golden top and green-tinted terra cotta facade. Truth is the top was designed to look like one of the batteries that would have used the chemicals that Carbide and Carbon made!

The gold leaf is not an imitation, rather it’s real 24 karat gold! The really cool thing is it was pounded out making it 1/5000 of an inch thick! The building's base is a gorgeous, reflective black granite - a very popular material used in the Art Deco era because of its sleekness and glamor.

Carbide & Carbon Building - Pendry Hotel

Chicago Motor Club
Architect Holabird and Root
Circa 1928

The historic Chicago Motor Club Building is a slim 17-story tower that was erected at record-breaking speed – in just 234 days, including the demolition of the pre-existing building on the site. Peek inside and appreciate the original artwork by pioneering American muralist John Warner Norton – a two-story-high map of the national highway system.

Everything about the building screams money, power, and progress, especially the lobby.  On the exterior take note of the wave/sunburst patterns found in the limestone base of the building (at the sidewalk level) which also weave their way around the fabulous entrance doors.


Chicago Motor Club Building

Discover Art Deco architectural treasures in Chicago's Loop

Chicago Art Deco Madness 

historic homes, cottages & buildings of wicker park

Chicago has faced its fair share of adversity in its 185-year history, but the city has always risen from the ashes, both literally and figuratively. Its most remarkable renaissance came in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The inferno killed 300 people, left another 100,000 homeless, and cost a jaw-dropping $222 million (equivalent to $4.7 billion in 2020), but it also gave birth to a beautiful new city, built with brick and better than ever. 

"Sadly, one iconic building style, the workers cottage, which flourished both before and after the Great Fire, has recently been falling victim to urban developers whose visions just don’t jibe with historic lot sizes or bygone architectural styles. As demand grows for apartments and other higher-density housing, many of these humble dwellings are at risk of being razed."  - Bob Vila

On this tour, you will see 40-50 of these delightful cottages and the different styles they were designed and constructed in. In addition, you will see and learn the history of at least 25-30 other stunning and historically significant homes, mansions and buildings in the charming neighborhood of Wicker Park.

I’m Ronnie Frey creator of the popular Instagram account @doorwaysofchicago.  I welcome you to follow me there and all my other socials like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube with the same handle @doorwaysofchicago.  I also give in person tours and private tours and those can all be found on my website doorwaysofchicago.com.  If you would like to reach out via email please feel free:  ronnie@doorwaysofchicago.com

I have designed a growing number of tours in this eATLAS app that span many different neighborhoods as well as downtown Chicago.  I welcome you to check them out!  Many of them have promo videos you can watch prior to purchasing.

Wicker Park is sort of like an area that time forgot.  The area speaks of a long-lost set of skills and of an elegant suburban lifestyle that once existed in Chicago. This very popular  Chicago neighborhood has a most fascinating potpourri of Victorian architecture from lowly cottages to extravagant mansions. The area was settled predominantly by Germans and Scandinavians, both rich and poor.  On this tour, you will see beveled, jeweled, leaded, and stained glass windows, carved doorways, carriage houses, gazebos, and gingerbread porches. 

At the time of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Wicker Park was still mostly open prairie.   

The Fire did two things: 
1. Acted as a catalyst for the settlement of this area. 
2. Created a merchant class for those in the lumber & building trades.

The pyrophobia of the times is evident in the massive brick & stone structures they built.  Ornamentation is mostly metal, not wood. 

Many of these nouveau riches settled here and conspicuously displayed their wealth. The wealthy Germans came who wanted to escape the German ghetto now known as Old Town. This new money was scorned by the WASP South Prairie Avenue Society where the McCormicks, Kimballs, George Pullman & Marshall Field lived. 

The first horse-drawn streetcar was at North and Milwaukee with a route to downtown. For those without a horse or carriage in those days, the only option beyond walking was to hail a horse-drawn taxi – known then as “hacks.” They were described as bumpy rides, long trips, and trouble with kids.

In addition to its architecture, Wicker Park is also important in U.S. Labor history. After the Fire, times were hard for this new immigrant working class. They often worked 10 to 12 hours days. Contractors would often neglect to pay them. As a result of their grievances, the Germans, in cooperation with the newly formed American Federation Of Labor declared May 1, 1886, as a day of demonstration for the 
"Eight Hour Day Movement”. 

It was a whole week of demonstrations and as part of it the “Haymarket Protest Meeting” occurred. Although the meeting had begun to break up by the time the police stormed it, the Riot still occurred, complete with a stick of the newly discovered explosive, dynamite.

Only 8 years later the Pullman Strikes started in May 11, 1894.  They lasted for two months and severely disrupted rail traffic in most of the United States.  

It marked the first time the federal government (4000 troops!) was called to break up a strike and it was ugly with many people being killed and millions of dollars of property ransacked.  To this day we celebrate Labor Day as a result of this time of unrest in the labor sector of our country. 



WORKERS COTTAGE HISTORY
In the 1850s due to the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the railroads, and the invention of the telegraph, Chicago began to grow exponentially. When the city was founded in 1837 it had a population of 4,000 people; many were French.  By 1850 it had grown to 30,000. By the time of the Great Fire in 1871, the population was 300,000. The fire killed 300 people and 100,000 people lost their homes (1/3rd of the city)! By the turn of the century (1900) the city had grown to 1.2 million people. 
 
Chicago’s central location and proximity to Lake Michigan set it up for success. Massive, labor-hungry industries like meatpacking, grain processing, and rail car manufacturing brought labor-seeking people by the thousands into the city. George Pullman's Palace Car Company brought workers and Pullman Porters flocking to the bustling metropolis. 

Because of this explosive growth, so many people needed a place to live that these inexpensive, simply shaped homes, which could be built quickly, were constructed. Often the owner would rent out the lower unit to a tenant to help pay the rent (that's why many are raised with the 1st floor being on the 2nd floor). When they were built a brand-new cottage could be had for $100 down and $10 a month - furnished!  They were built in all shapes and sizes. 

Sadly, these iconic workers' cottages, which flourished both before and after the Great Fire, are falling victim to urban developers whose visions just don’t jibe with historic lot sizes or bygone architectural styles. As demand grows for apartments and other higher-density housing, many of these humble dwellings are at risk of being razed. 

1236 N. Hoyne - Brick Workers Cottage
Style: Italianate
Built: 1886
Features:  
-Double brackets in the eaves
-Dentil molding in the eaves
-Beautiful arched and carved terracotta lentils over doors and windows with scroll designs at both ends

Before you head to the next stop be sure to swipe through and check out all the related historical photos I have uploaded.

1236 N. Hoyne - Workers Cottage

1301 N. Hoyne Apartment Building

1311 N. Hoyne - Workers Cottage

1317 N. Hoyne - Workers Cottage

1343 N. Hoyne - Georgian Residence

NOTABLE PROPERTY - 1345 N. Hoyne
Style:  Second Empire
Circa: 1895

The Second Emporer of France (Napolean III) commissioned a man named Baron Haussmann for the renovation of Paris.  It was a vast public works programme between 1853 and 1870. The medieval neighbourhoods were overcrowded and unhealthy.  The renovation included: 
-the building of wide avenues
-new parks and squares
-new sewers, fountains, and aqueducts.
-the street plan and distinctive appearance of the center of Paris today are largely the result of Haussmann's renovation, this new Second Empire style was born and its influences spanned the globe. 

This Second Empire-style house, with a combination of Romanesque columns and classical egg-and-dart moldings, was built in 1895. The steeply pitched roof (called a Mansard roof) is clad in slate with diamond-patterned contrasting tiles to create a design or decoration of the roof.  Notice the highly decorated 3/4 columns at the corners of the 3-story bay window. Prominent Chicago surgeon, gynecologist, and professor, Karl Sandberg, who was a native of Norway, lived here. 

Before you head to the next stop be sure to swipe through and check out all the related photos. St. Louis has an abundance of Second Empire architecture.   The three homes in the photos show these more decorative slate tiles in different colors and patterns on the Mansard roofs and in the last photo you can see iron cresting atop the roof lines.




1345 N. Hoyne - Second Empire Residence

1400 N. Hoyne - Giant Workers Cottage

1407 N. Hoyne - Second Empire Mansion

1417 N. Hoyne - Italianate Residence

1427 N. Hoyne - Romanesque Revival Residence

1426 N. Hoyne - Tiny Workers Cottage

Wicker Park Lutheran Church

2128 W. Le Moyne - Workers Cottage

2131 W. Le Moyne - Workers Cottage and Sausage Factory

NOTABLE PROPERTY - 2137 W. Pierce
Style: Late High Victorian / Super Queen Anne
Circa: 1888

This splendid example of late Victorian ostentation is situated on an expansive lot that used to be flooded for ice skating. This architectural fantasy, which is basically Queen Anne + Romanesque with some Germanic and even Asian motifs, was built in 1888 for Herman Weinhardt, president of the Niemann and Weinhardt Table Company.

The Kramps family occupied the house from the late 1890s until 1979 (80 years!). The pressed metal bargeboard is the most obvious element of its decorative features, which merges Victorian and Germanic aspects. 

Known for its gardens, gazebo, and conservatory, the house was pictured in a German language guidebook published for the 1893 World's Fair, called "Chicago, Die Garten Stadt" (The Garden City).  This publication served as a reference guide for exterior decorative restoration of the home in the late 1990s.

Before you head to the next stop be sure to swipe to see the cover of the German Guidebook.


2137 W. Pierce - High Late Victorian Era Residence

1520 N. Hoyne - Second Empire Residence

1521 N. Hoyne - Queen Anne Residence

1558 N. Hoyne - Modified Queen Anne Residence

2039 W. North - Turkish Baths 

2108 W. North - The Robey Hotel

1420 N. Wood - Fly Boy and Lil Mama

1395 N. Milwaukee - Workers Cottage Parklet Sculpture

1338 N Wicker Park Ave - Queen Anne Residence

1348 N. Wolcott Ave - Workers Cottage

1270 N. Wolcott Ave - Second Empire Workers Cottage

1266 N. Wolcott Ave - Workers Cottage
Style: Italianate
Circa: Late 1880s

In the 1990 movie "Flatliners" with Kevin Bacon, Keifer Sutherland and Julia Roberts, several scenes were filmed here. The film's premise: Seeking answers about the afterlife, Chicago medical student Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland) persuades his fellow pupils to help him end his life, and then resuscitate him in the nick of time. 

1266 N. Wolcott Ave - Workers Cottage

See 40+ Stunning Wicker Park Workers Cottages - An Architectural Vernacular Of the Late 1800's - Plus 25+ other notable historic homes, mansions and buildings.


Ronnie Frey @doorwaysofchicago

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