The Calumet Electric Railway

The Calumet Electric Street Railway Company operated on the South Side, with its main power house, office, and car barn at 93rd and Drexel from 1892 to 1909. The railway was established in May, 1890 and ran through a mostly vacant and swampy area of southwest Chicago. With the World's Columbian Exposition, came the prospect of potential real estate development in the southern portion of the city.

Map of the Calumet Electric Street Railway with the Burnside facility highlighted.

In 1892, real estate developer, William Jacobs secured a controlling interest in the railway and saught to expand operations, forming a stronger network to south side communities like Burnside, Kensigton, Pullman, South Chicago, and Dauphin Park to the Fair and central Chicago as well as to each other. To this end, a new office, storage facility and power house were constructed to Silsbee's plans at Burnside.

Silsbee's Calumet Electric Railway Poer House, constructed in 1892.

Funding for expendatures of this expansion were loaned through the National Bank of Illinois, run by Joseph Silsbee client William Hammond. This loan was at the center of the bank's collapse in 1896 as the bank had invested in the Calumet without having sufficient funds to do so. This ultimately led to Hammond's disgrace and suicide.

Jacobs maintained ownership in the railway until 1906. During his period of ownership, the railway never saw the success that was hoped for. Because of the economic panic of 1893, when the first rounds of improvements were made, no additional investment went into real estate speculation on the far south side of Chicago. Another round of improvements began in the mid-1890's as the area around Burnside began co capitolize on industrial development but even this proved to be too small to sustain the company. During this period, Silsbee oversaw expansion of the Burnside facility and likely other components of the railway system.

The Burnside facility for the Calumet Electric in the late 1890's

In many ways, Silsbee's railway work seems tangential to the central part of his business, which seemed to be residential design but there is enough evidence to suggest that not he both a successful and competint designer in this area. The concurrence of work on the Calumet with his work on the Moving Sidewalk at the World's Fair exhibits a technologically inventive side to Silsbee's personality that rarely mentioned and not fully understood. He has multiple patents related to railway construction and this work led to commissions for several industrial production facilities.

Home for John L. Fyffe

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting this home in Evanston and meeting the owners. One of their remarks sticks with me. The wanted to have a sign on their home stating that "on this date in history nothing happened here". They had been told by an architecture historian that their home had no historical value. It was plain-looking, wasn't designed by a well-known architect and no one famous lived there.   

The notion struck me as funny. I knew who designed it and considered that somewhat important. Even if the home were not designed by Joseph Silsbee, I thought it was a nice, though simple, example of Classical Revival architecture and an unusually large iteration of an American Foursquare. Having been able to examine the home closer, I now realize how interesting it actually was and how much the average viewer might be missing. 

The home was designed for grain trader, John Fyffe. Fyffe was Dublin-born and moved to Chicago in 1879. He married the sister of wealthy grain merchent and Silsbee client, William Bartlett. Fyffe commissioned Silsbee at the end of 1892 and the home was completed in 1893.

Clad in thin clapboard, the Fyffe home is unlike many of his other homes of this nature in that it is relatively modest in size and symmetrically arranged. It is carefully detailed with classical elements including pilasters in the central dormer, columns that support the front porch and a belt-course composed of dentils and bead molding. Built during the World's Columbian Exposition, it is a good but rare example of Silsbee's work in this style and period.

Take a closer look at a non-historic house today. You might be surprised with what you see.

Renovations for the University Club of Chicago

Often times, the most significant commissions are not those that are the largest of those that cost the most money.  The work that Joseph Silsbee did for the University Club of Chicago, though modest in comparison with other works, may have been the most important in sustaining his career.

Silsbee was a founding member of the club in 1887 and was hired to design renovations to the third and fourth floors of the Henning & Speed Building for use as the Club headquarters.  The officers and founding members of the club consisted of prominent citizens, many of whom were graduates of eastern Ivy League Universities.  Several were Silsbee's classmates at Harvard.  As the club grew, it's membership list reads like a directory to Silsbee's residential clients.

In 1889, the club had outgrown it's initial space and purchased a building on Dearborn street to renovate for it's new clubhouse.  Again, Silsbee was hired to oversee the renovations and a large addition.  The building was the Hansen Building, designed in 1885 by architect John Addison.  Addison was a talented architect and his five-story brick and terra cotta office building seemed to be a perfect canvas for Silsbee to add to.            

Silsbee oversaw complete modifications of the interiors for the club's use.  On the exterior, he was responsible for a two-story and attic addition that dramatically changed the profile of the existing structure.  The addition is marked by two large intersecting gable roofs.  It is remarkable how Silsbee's addition almost seemlessly blends with Addison's structure.  Facing Dearborn street, the pilasters of the original structure are extended an additional story and capped with ornimantal terra cotta.  The bottom of this large gable is composed as an abstract over-sized Paladian window with a giant terra-cotta encrusted pediment at the top of the gable.  A flag pole extended from the center of this element.  An excellent image of this feature, with foliate elements intertwining the initials "U C", can be found in the archives of the Art Institute. 

In 1892, on the eve of the World's Columbian Exposition, Silsbee was hired once more to renovate the rooms, staircase and elevator to prepare the club for the numerous visitors that were expected for the World's Fair.  At this time, Silsbee also renovated the second floor of the club so it could be sublet to the Chicago Literary Club.  Silsbee and many other University Club members were also members of this club.  It began meeting in the University Club library, pictured below, a year before it made it's permanent home on the second floor.

It is in the meetings of the Literary Club where we get a rare glimpse of Silsbee's interest in architecture theories.  His close friendships with prominent club members Frederick Gookin and Joseph Kirkland are worth noting but more important is the fact that Silsbee delivered scholarly papers at the club.  Though they were never published, he presented papers on Color in Architecture and Back Yards.  The most interesting presentation would have been his contribution to a four-part series given by himself along with architects Irving Pond, Peter Wight and Louis Sullivan in 1895.  In this series, each architect pondered the question: "Can Architecture Become Again a Living Art?".  The Literary Club stayed in the University Club building until 1906 when it moved to the Orchestra Building in rooms designed by club member, Irving Pond.   

The most remarkable room in the University Club was the Banquet Hall.  This was a two-story space on the sixth floor.  It had a dramattic curved beam ceiling and the walls were decorated with the shields of the colleges represented by the club members.  At the time of the 1893 renovations, there were thirty-seven.

As with all of the rooms in the clubhouse, the room had elaborate woodwork and was richly decorated.  At the end of this room was an ornate balcony, where musicians could perform during club events.

In 1909, The University Club moved to its current clubhouse, the masterpiece of architect Martin Roche, on Michigan Ave.  The Dearborn Street clubhouse was sold to the Press Club of Chicago.  Silsbee was also a member of this club and it is due to the pride that the Press Club had in this building that we have the above images.  All of the images are from various club publications now found online.  The Press Club stayed in the building until it moved in 1915.  It moved back to the building in 1929, where is stayed until the club disbanded in 1939.  The entire block, which also contained Henry Cobb's Boyce Building, was demolished in the 1960's.        

Home for Herman Hettler

When I started researching this home, I didn’t intend on blogging about it anytime soon.  I thought that I might some day see the interior and wanted to wait until that day.  After my experience at the home a few weeks ago, I now doubt that day will ever come.  My bad experience with a caretaker of the property also piqued my interest because, except for maybe an experience I had with a B&B owner in upstate New York, it may be the most negative experience I have had with a Silsbee homeowner.  After a little digging, I found that the recent history of the home was just as rich as the 100 years that preceded it.

I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this blog that on the eve of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Joseph Silsbee’s office was extremely busy.  It was busy with work for the Exposition but it was also busy with work on homes and public buildings, seemingly evidence that the entire city was preparing to put on a huge show for the influx of guests that would be arriving.  

In 1892, construction began on a large home he designed for lumber dealer, Herman Hettler.  Hettler was co-owner of Hartwell Lumber.  Edwin Hartwell, the senior partner in the firm lived a block north on Newport (now Stratford Place).  At the time, the streets Hawthorne and Newport comprised a small enclave of large, very remarkable, architect-designed homes.  Though few still exist, shingle style homes by George Maher, Burnham & Root, Louis Sullivan as well as two other homes by Silsbee graced the streets.

Hettler’s home has a wide front porch supported by delicately detailed columns.  It extends across the front of the home and incorporates a porte-cochere, giving the home a strong horizontal character.  A side gable roof arrangement seems to accentuate this horizontality and, as a counterpoint, a large round tower in the front rises above the steep roof line.  The base and parts of the first floor are made of large rough-cut stone with the upper stories clad in shingles.  Flared barge boards at the dormer, half timbering in the turrett and a side double-gable give the home an English character.  It is the only known shingle-clad home designed by Silsbee that still stands in the city of Chicago.  This is significant as Silsbee has been noted by many historians as the architect that introduced Chicago to the Shingle Style.  Also, Silsbee's contributions to the style have particular importance as it relates to the early work of his former employee, America's most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

One mystery on the site is a small garden cottage, once referred to as a “Japanese tea cottage”.  Local lore states that it was used by Hettler’s company at the World’s Columbian Exposition.  After some research, I found that the Hartwell Lumber Company did have an exhibit in the Forestry Building at the fair but I found no evidence that this building was used as part of it.  It is likely that it was an exhibition piece as it showcases an array of siding sizes and shingle styles.  It is s simple structure yet beautifully detailed with a flared base, compound trim at the windows and door and a T-shaped bay window arrangement on one side.  Given the style and detailing on the small structure and the fact that it was constructed the same time as the home, I believe that it is very likely that Silsbee was involved in its design.  If there are any World’s Columbian Exposition sleuth’s out there, I’d love to hear your opinion.

In the past twenty years, the home had a tumultuous history.  It was auctioned by the Hettler family in 1984.  At the time, the home had retained many of its original features.  It was sold to the highest bidder, the neighboring Chicago City Day School.  In early 1996, the school demolished the coach house that stood behind the home.  It is likely that Silsbee designed that as well.  The property became a galvanizing agent for local preservationists.  A preservation official with the city was fired for allowing the demolition and a tide of support for a landmark designation of the street followed.  The school, in turn, threatened to tear down the home and went as far as to file a permit for demolition.  The local landmark designation was approved and demolition was not allowed.  The process was taken to the courts but newspaper accounts taper off after that.  The home still stands.  This recent history can be seen as a snapshot of how preservation activism plays out in some communities.  It is also evidence of just how vulnerable historic structures like this home actually are.               

Store and Flats for John Scovel

Silsbee is well known for the Shingle Style homes that he designed in the Edgewater Suburb in Chicago.  These are the homes that Frank Lloyd Wright cut his design teeth on.  Some have asserted that Silsbee even introduced the style to Chicago.  All of the buildings he designed in Edgewater were not in this style though.  In 1892, he designed a simple flat building for Edgewater resident and investor, John Scovel.      

The design of the building is almost vernacular in nature and has no stylistic ornamentation.  Instead, Silsbee relies on the building mass, with it's prominent corner tower (once topped with a conical roof) and careful detail of materials as keynotes to this design.  Note the fine metal trim and banding and use of fairly complex metal profiles framing windows and panels in the bay and turret.  This same attention in metal work is seen in a band of metal trim at the roof level and another at the coping.      

Though the turret roof is missing and the storefront and windows have been completely altered, the building still retains much of its detail and it is the last known surviving work by Silsbee in Edgewater.  It stands just blocks from the site of Silsbee's former home and would have been within a short walking distance of dozens of other Silsbee designed structures.  You can find more information about Scovel's building and other structures in Edgewater in the "Articles" on the Edgewater Historical Society website.  

Mrs. Isaac Bowen Residence - the latest casualty?

The aim of the blog is to typically present a random building designed by J. L. Silsbee.  There is nothing random about today's choice.  This relatively modest stone home was designed for Mrs. Isaac Bowen in 1892.  It was designed at a high point in Silsbee's career.  His office would have been over-crowded with residential commissions and he would have been overseeing the final touches on his many buildings and projects designed for the World's Columbian Exposition.  For the period, it is not a remarkable work of architecture.  Nor does the home have a remarkable history.     

Regardless of it's architectural and historical significance, it is nicely detailed with several of Silsbee's signature design elements including stone arranged in a random ashlar coursing as seen in almost all of his stone structures.  It has a large recessed arch with a porch area at the top floor, a feature also seen in the Henry Stone Residence.  It also has a dominant round front bay that is also seen in the Henry Barber Residence. The porch structure at the entry is nicely detailed but is not seemmlessly incorporated into the rest of the structure as it is in many of his more carefully designed homes.  That said, it is still a fine building with a lot of detail. 

It is somewhat late example of Silsbee's Romanesque designs.  The style saw it's height of production from 1878 to about 1886, though he continued work in this masonry style into the years just before his death.

What is unique about the structure, is that it appears that it will be the latest Silsbee building to be lost due to poor maintenance and care and general lack of appreciation of historic architecture.  Since moving to Chicago 13 years ago, I have seen relatively few of Silsbee's buildings get demolished but they still seem to get demolished on a regular basis.  An odd situation for a city that touts itself as an architectural capitol.   A stone beauty designed for Mrs. Anson Piper on Indiana Avenue (1887) was demolished in 1999.  The Kirkland School (1892), in the Gold Coast Neighborhood, came down about five years later.  His last remaining Edgewater home, designed for J. L. Cochran (1890), came down in 2006.    

Even if the exterior of the home is saved, the building is completely gutted and is currently exposed to the elements.  Wood trim and fine porcelain subway tile lay in piles in the alley behind the structure.