Wirt Dexter Walker
Encyclopedia
Wirt Dexter Walker was a Chicago
lawyer (born September 1, 1860 died April 24, 1899) He was the son of successful Chicago attorney James M. Walker and Eliza M. Walker and was named after Wirt Dexter, the junior partner at his father's firm Walter VanArman & Dexter.
After his graduation from Yale University
he inherited a large sum of money upon his father's death. He began his own practice in 1883 and was secretary of the University Club of Chicago in 1887. He had health problems and became blind, at which point he retired from office work to travel.
He married Marie Winston in 1894.
to design a large summer cottage retreat in 1890, hoping a residence in the area would help his health improve. Blythewood was constructed, but Walker died a year later leaving no children. Wilson went on to design several other mansions for wealthy persons establishing summer retreats in the area, including Shadowbrook.
His wife was left with a $15,000 annual inheritance
and the Blythewood "cottage" on 450 acres (1.8 km²) after his death. Speculation on whether she would lose the income was reported in newspapers as she prepared to marry another lawyer, Victor Elting. She did not lose her income, but the property went to Wirt D. Dexter Art Gallery in Chicago whose trustees "sold it in 1905 to a Chicago tycoon, John Alden Spoor". Spoor was chairman of the board of the Union Stockyards and Transit Company in Chicago, and sold Blythewood to a group of local investors two years before his death in 1926.
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...
lawyer (born September 1, 1860 died April 24, 1899) He was the son of successful Chicago attorney James M. Walker and Eliza M. Walker and was named after Wirt Dexter, the junior partner at his father's firm Walter VanArman & Dexter.
After his graduation from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
he inherited a large sum of money upon his father's death. He began his own practice in 1883 and was secretary of the University Club of Chicago in 1887. He had health problems and became blind, at which point he retired from office work to travel.
He married Marie Winston in 1894.
Blythewood Farms summer cottage
He purchased land in the Berkshire County in 1888 and hired local architect H. Neill WilsonH. Neill Wilson
H. Neill Wilson was an architect with his father James Keys Wilson in Cincinnati, Ohio; on his own in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and for most of his career in Pittsfield, Massachusetts...
to design a large summer cottage retreat in 1890, hoping a residence in the area would help his health improve. Blythewood was constructed, but Walker died a year later leaving no children. Wilson went on to design several other mansions for wealthy persons establishing summer retreats in the area, including Shadowbrook.
His wife was left with a $15,000 annual inheritance
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
and the Blythewood "cottage" on 450 acres (1.8 km²) after his death. Speculation on whether she would lose the income was reported in newspapers as she prepared to marry another lawyer, Victor Elting. She did not lose her income, but the property went to Wirt D. Dexter Art Gallery in Chicago whose trustees "sold it in 1905 to a Chicago tycoon, John Alden Spoor". Spoor was chairman of the board of the Union Stockyards and Transit Company in Chicago, and sold Blythewood to a group of local investors two years before his death in 1926.