Palmer Mansion
Encyclopedia
The Palmer Mansion, constructed 1882–1885 at 1350 N. Lake Shore Drive
, was once the largest private residence in Chicago
, Illinois
, located in the Near North Side
neighborhood and facing Lake Michigan
. It was designed by architects Henry Ives Cobb
and Charles Sumner Frost
of the firm Cobb and Frost
and built for Bertha
and Potter Palmer
. Palmer was a prominent Chicago businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street
. The construction of the Palmer Mansion on Lake Shore Drive established the "Gold Coast
" neighborhood, still one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city. The mansion was demolished in 1951.
of 1871, the buildings on State Street were destroyed, and Palmer was yet again responsible for its redevelopment. Construction on the mansion began in 1882, and its exterior work was completed in 1883. However, interior decoration would continue for another two years before the building was entirely complete.
Henry Ives Cobb
and Charles Frost were chosen as the architects for the mansion. The interiors were completed under the direction of architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee
. John Newquist, who had already worked with Palmer on numerous other constructions, was chosen as the contractor and stair constructer. Although it was originally budgeted at $90,000, after five years of construction, the mansion would cost the Palmers more than a million dollars.
The Palmer Mansion was used for many social gatherings, including entertaining former U. S. President
Ulysses S. Grant
, during his visit to the city, and receptions during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
for which Bertha Palmer was a major planner and booster. The Palmers also received many other guests, including: two other U. S. Presidents, William McKinley
and James A. Garfield; the Duke and Duchess of Veragua
; the Prince of Wales
, later to become King Edward VII
; as well as the Spanish princess Infanta Eulalia
.
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When Potter Palmer died in the mansion in 1902, he left his wife with a fortune of $8,000,000. After his death, Bertha Palmer
continued to reside in the house, as well as in homes she maintained in London
and Paris
, until she died at her winter residence in Sarasota, Florida
. She invested heavily in real estate in Florida where she developed farms, dairies, and cattle ranches that she administered herself, introducing many innovative practices that greatly increased the productivity of those types of business in Florida.
Even with these great investments in land, she parleyed the fortune into almost double what she had been left and, in 1918, bequeathed an estate of $15,000,000 to her sons Honoré and Potter Palmer, Jr., who sold the Chicago mansion in 1930, for $3,000,000, to the industrialist Vincent Hugo Bendix
, who had invented an automobile starter. Bendix renamed the property "The Bendix Galleries," after adding paintings by Rembrandt and Howard Chandler Christy
to Bertha Palmer's former art collection. While residing within the mansion, he modernized the elevator, and installed a barber's chair for his own use.
After living on the property for about five years, Vincent Bendix announced that the mansion would be razed to allow construction of the world's largest hotel on the site, estimated at approximately $25,000,000. The project was never put into action, and the property was sold to Potter Palmer's son in 1933 for $2,000,000, the amount of the building's mortgage
. The mansion stood vacant for years until it was demolished in 1950, to be replaced by two 22-story high-rise apartment buildings housing 740 families.
The mansion's painting gallery, including works by French painters Claude Monet
, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
, and Edgar Degas
that were collected by Bertha Palmer, were transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago
, and the furniture was sold.
The Palmer Mansion was designed by architects Henry Ives Cobb
and Charles Sumner Frost
. The architects referred to its architectural style as Early Romanesque
or Norman Gothic
. Alternatively, the mansion was supposedly based on a German
castle.
The mansion featured a three-story Italianate central hall under a glass dome. Other rooms were finished in a variety of historic styles: a Louis XVI
salon, an Indian room
, an Ottoman parlor, a Renaissance
library, a Spanish
music room, an English
dining room that could seat fifty, and a Moorish
room, the rugs of which were saturated with perfumes. A collection of paintings, collected by Bertha Palmer adorned the mansion's grand ballroom
, 75 feet (22.9 m) long. The room's mural
s in the frieze above them were by Gabriel Ferrier.
The mansion's exterior included many turret
s and minaret
s, and on the interior, a spiral staircase that rose, unsupported, 80 feet (24.4 m) into a tower. Two elevator
s also served the building. The Palmers constructed their mansion's outside doors specifically without locks and knobs so that the only way to get in was to be admitted from the inside.
Lake Shore Drive
Lake Shore Drive is a mostly freeway-standard expressway running parallel with and alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan through Chicago, Illinois, USA. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue , Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S...
, was once the largest private residence in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, located in the Near North Side
Near North Side, Chicago
The Near North Side is one of 77 well-defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located north and east of the Chicago River, just north of the central business district . To its east is Lake Michigan and its northern boundary is the 19th-century city limit of Chicago,...
neighborhood and facing Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
. It was designed by architects Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb , born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Albert Adams and Mary Russell Candler Cobb, was a Chicago-based architect in the last decades of the 19th century, known for his designs in the Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles...
and Charles Sumner Frost
Charles Sumner Frost
Charles Sumner Frost was an American architect.Born in Lewiston, Maine, Frost was first a draftsman in Boston, and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While working in Boston he worked for the firm of Peabody and Stearns. He moved to Chicago in 1 882. There he began a...
of the firm Cobb and Frost
Cobb and Frost
Cobb and Frost was an American architectural firm. Cobb and Frost was founded in Chicago, Illinois by Henry Ives Cobb and Charles Sumner Frost in 1882. The firm was dissolved in 1889 when Cobb began work on designing the Newberry Library...
and built for Bertha
Bertha Palmer
Bertha Palmer was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.- Biography :Born Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré...
and Potter Palmer
Potter Palmer
Potter Palmer was an American businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street in Chicago.-Retailing career:...
. Palmer was a prominent Chicago businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street
State Street (Chicago)
State Street is a large south-north street in Chicago, Illinois, USA and its south suburbs. It begins on the Near North Side at North Avenue. For much of its course, it lies between Wabash Avenue on the east and Dearborn Street/Lafayette Avenue on the west...
. The construction of the Palmer Mansion on Lake Shore Drive established the "Gold Coast
Gold Coast Historic District (Chicago, Illinois)
The Gold Coast Historic District is a historic district in Chicago, Illinois. Part of Chicago's Near North Side community area, it is roughly bounded by North Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, Oak Street, and Clark Street....
" neighborhood, still one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city. The mansion was demolished in 1951.
Construction
At the time of the construction of the mansion, Potter Palmer was already responsible for much of the development of State Street. After the Great Chicago FireGreat Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S...
of 1871, the buildings on State Street were destroyed, and Palmer was yet again responsible for its redevelopment. Construction on the mansion began in 1882, and its exterior work was completed in 1883. However, interior decoration would continue for another two years before the building was entirely complete.
Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb , born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Albert Adams and Mary Russell Candler Cobb, was a Chicago-based architect in the last decades of the 19th century, known for his designs in the Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles...
and Charles Frost were chosen as the architects for the mansion. The interiors were completed under the direction of architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee
Joseph Lyman Silsbee
Joseph Lyman Silsbee was a significant American architect during the 19th and 20th centuries. He was well known for his facility of drawing and gift for designing buildings in a variety of styles.his most prominent works ran through Syracuse, Buffalo and Chicago He was influential as mentor to a...
. John Newquist, who had already worked with Palmer on numerous other constructions, was chosen as the contractor and stair constructer. Although it was originally budgeted at $90,000, after five years of construction, the mansion would cost the Palmers more than a million dollars.
The Palmer Mansion was used for many social gatherings, including entertaining former U. S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, during his visit to the city, and receptions during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
for which Bertha Palmer was a major planner and booster. The Palmers also received many other guests, including: two other U. S. Presidents, William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
and James A. Garfield; the Duke and Duchess of Veragua
Duchy of Veragua
The Duchy of Veragua was a Spanish hereditary domain created in 1537 in the reign of King Charles I in a small section of the territory of Veragua...
; the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, later to become King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
; as well as the Spanish princess Infanta Eulalia
Infanta Eulalia of Spain
Infanta Eulalia of Spain was a Spanish infanta known for her controversial books.-Early life:Eulalia was born in the Royal Palace of Madrid, the youngest child of Queen Isabella II of Spain and of her husband, Francis of Spain...
.
Later ownership and demolition
Bertha Palmer
Bertha Palmer was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.- Biography :Born Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré...
continued to reside in the house, as well as in homes she maintained in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, until she died at her winter residence in Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
. She invested heavily in real estate in Florida where she developed farms, dairies, and cattle ranches that she administered herself, introducing many innovative practices that greatly increased the productivity of those types of business in Florida.
Even with these great investments in land, she parleyed the fortune into almost double what she had been left and, in 1918, bequeathed an estate of $15,000,000 to her sons Honoré and Potter Palmer, Jr., who sold the Chicago mansion in 1930, for $3,000,000, to the industrialist Vincent Hugo Bendix
Vincent Hugo Bendix
Vincent Hugo Bendix was an American inventor and industrialist. Vincent Bendix was a pioneer and leader in both the automotive and aviation industries during the 1920s and 1930s.-Background:...
, who had invented an automobile starter. Bendix renamed the property "The Bendix Galleries," after adding paintings by Rembrandt and Howard Chandler Christy
Howard Chandler Christy
Howard Chandler Christy was an American artist and illustrator famous for the "Christy Girl", similar to a "Gibson Girl".He was born in Morgan County and attended early school in Duncan Falls, Ohio...
to Bertha Palmer's former art collection. While residing within the mansion, he modernized the elevator, and installed a barber's chair for his own use.
After living on the property for about five years, Vincent Bendix announced that the mansion would be razed to allow construction of the world's largest hotel on the site, estimated at approximately $25,000,000. The project was never put into action, and the property was sold to Potter Palmer's son in 1933 for $2,000,000, the amount of the building's mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
. The mansion stood vacant for years until it was demolished in 1950, to be replaced by two 22-story high-rise apartment buildings housing 740 families.
The mansion's painting gallery, including works by French painters Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to...
, and Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
that were collected by Bertha Palmer, were transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, and the furniture was sold.
Architecture
Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb , born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Albert Adams and Mary Russell Candler Cobb, was a Chicago-based architect in the last decades of the 19th century, known for his designs in the Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles...
and Charles Sumner Frost
Charles Sumner Frost
Charles Sumner Frost was an American architect.Born in Lewiston, Maine, Frost was first a draftsman in Boston, and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While working in Boston he worked for the firm of Peabody and Stearns. He moved to Chicago in 1 882. There he began a...
. The architects referred to its architectural style as Early Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
or Norman Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
. Alternatively, the mansion was supposedly based on a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
castle.
The mansion featured a three-story Italianate central hall under a glass dome. Other rooms were finished in a variety of historic styles: a Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
salon, an Indian room
Indian architecture
The architecture of India is rooted in its history, culture and religion. Indian architecture progressed with time and assimilated the many influences that came as a result of India's global discourse with other regions of the world throughout its millennia-old past...
, an Ottoman parlor, a Renaissance
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
library, a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
music room, an English
Architecture of the United Kingdom
The Architecture of England refers to the architecture practised in the territory of the present-day country of England, and in the historic Kingdom of England...
dining room that could seat fifty, and a Moorish
Moorish architecture
Moorish architecture is the western term used to describe the articulated Berber-Islamic architecture of North Africa and Al-Andalus.-Characteristic elements:...
room, the rugs of which were saturated with perfumes. A collection of paintings, collected by Bertha Palmer adorned the mansion's grand ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
, 75 feet (22.9 m) long. The room's mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s in the frieze above them were by Gabriel Ferrier.
The mansion's exterior included many turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
s and minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
s, and on the interior, a spiral staircase that rose, unsupported, 80 feet (24.4 m) into a tower. Two elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
s also served the building. The Palmers constructed their mansion's outside doors specifically without locks and knobs so that the only way to get in was to be admitted from the inside.