Ravenswood YMCA

All posts tagged Ravenswood YMCA

Wilson & Commercial Avenues

Before it was called Hermitage, this street was named Commercial Avenue. With the Abbott Mansion on your left shoulder, gaze first across Wilson Avenue.
New buildings can be seen for some distance down Hermitage. The Ravenswood YMCA once stood here. It was built in 1905. By the late 1970’s the building was in need of financially significant work to bring it up to the standards of the day.
As a result the YMCA was demolished. Developers later purchased the land. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Across the street is the All Saints Episcopal Church. Built in 1883, the church is believed to be the oldest frame church remaining in the city. We’ll get to that in a moment too.
Continue to turn to the right. A restaurant/ bar called O’Shaughnessy’s currently occupies the Pickard Building, located at 4557 N Ravenswood.

Pickard China

Pickard China used the building to house artists on the second floor. They painted imported white china.

President George W Bush formal china set.

President George W Bush formal china set. Credit: White House Museum

First established in Edgerton, Wisconsin, the company was moved to Chicago by its founder Wilder Pickard. Artists from Europe and the Art Institute of Chicago decorated the one of a kind ceramic pieces, now highly prized by collectors.
In the 1920’s the company developed a line of fine china dinnerware. The company moved to Antioch, Illinois in 1930.
The line of china used by the US Department of State for dinners in our embassies and missions is manufactured by Pickard. Perhaps you’ve been invited to dinner at an embassy and seen this local company’s product appear below your plate?

Albert “The Sausage King” Luetgert

Albert Luetgart was among the many entrepreneurs building an empire on the backs of hogs. The Foreman Brothers Bank, which was once located in the Pickard Building, was embarrassed to discover, in 1898, that it held Albert’s mortgage.

The Luetgart Sausage Works.

The Luetgart Sausage Works.

Albert had established a packing house and stockyard on the city’s North Side, in the 1700 block of  West Diversey Avenue, in 1879. It had become very successful over the years, from an initial investment of four thousand dollars to a point where the A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Co. was considered the ‘sausage king’ in the 1890’s.
On May 1, 1897 Mrs. Luetgert, Louisa, disappeared.
Albert told his children their mother was visiting her sister. After a few days, Diedrich Bichnese, Louisa’s brother, reporter her missing to the police.
Luetgert now said Louisa had run away with another man.
A police investigation demonstrated a history of domestic violence and financial difficulties. Albert, it turned out, was seeing a wealthy widow. He planned to marry her once he got rid of Louisa.
Further police inquiries discovered that Louisa was seen on the evening of May 1 entering the factory with Albert at about 10:30 p.m.. The police discovered that Albert had sent the night watchman home early that night, though the man confirmed he had seen Louisa enter the plant. And the police discovered Albert had purchased arsenic and potash the day before. Those chemicals were not common in the manufacture of food products.
A search of the factory found suspicious sausage and human residue in an oven. Two of Louisa’s rings and human remains were found. Albert was arrested and tried for the murder.
Albert claimed there were numerous reports of Louisa being seen around the US, casting enough doubt that the jury was unable to reach a verdict in 1897.
A second trial was held in 1898. This time the prosecution used George Amos Dorsey, an anthropologist at the Field Museum, to prove to the jury that the bones were human. Protesting his innocence, Albert was sent to prison. He died there in July 1899.
The trial was a media circus, widely reported and leading to media excesses. It was among the first cases that depended on a forensic expert to resolve the crime.

Zephyr Cafe & Ice Cream

Byron Kouris was among the many Greek- Americans who entered the restaurant business. In the 1960’s he started a chain called the Lunch Pail. He started Byron’s Hot Dogs with locations in Ravenswood (1701 W Lawrence Avenue), Wrigleyville (1017 W Irving Park Road), the Near West Side (680 N Halsted Street) and Lincoln Park (850 W North Avenue).

A restaurant called the Zephyr once operated in the Pickard Building. It was owned by Byron Kouris, better known as the owner of Byron's Hot Dogs.

A restaurant called the Zephyr once operated in the Pickard Building. It was owned by Byron Kouris, better known as the owner of Byron’s Hot Dogs. Credit: Shy Full of Bacon

In 1976 he started Zephyr in the Pickard Building. For 30 years, ending in 2006, the Zephyr was known for its huge ice cream dishes.
Byron’s was inducted into the Vienna Beef Hot Dog Hall of Fame. In 2010 a replica Byrons served hot dogs on the lawn of the White House for the 2010 Congressional Picnic.
Byron closed the Zephyr, to the sorrow of many neighborhood children with eyes larger than their stomachs. He died in March 2006 at age 76.
Here’s a question for you: why is this group of commercial buildings on Wilson Avenue HERE? In most cases, these intersections have small commercial strips facing Ravenswood Avenue. The Wilson Avenue strip extends for a block west past Ravenswood.
The answer lies about an eighth of a mile west where you may see a Chicago Transit Authority train running on the Brown Line elevated platform. Until the early 1950’s the Brown Line, then known as the Ravenswood Line, had a stop here at Wilson Avenue. In addition, the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad had a depot here serving Ravenswood.
The Brown Line was built into the neighborhood with the Western Avenue station opening in May 1907. A real estate boom followed. The ‘L’ allowed inexpensive and fast service from the area to the city center.

WALKING DIRECTIONS TO NEXT LOCATION

Continue the tour to All Saints Episcopal Church, 4550 North Hermitage Avenue.

  1. Cross the street to All Saints Episcopal Church
  2. Click the ‘Continue the Tour’ button below when you’ve reached your destination.

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Townhouses at 4541-4555 North Hermitage Avenue and contiguous lots on Paulina Street

1985-1988
These townhouses, designed by the firm of Environ, Inc., were built on the site of the Ravenswood YMCA, a large 1905 building which by the late 1970’s had failed to meet increasingly stringent standards for access for the disabled. As a result, the building had either to be razed or retrofitted at an expense which turned out to be prohibitive.
The YMCA building was demolished and the site remained vacant for several years, monitored closely by UPRAVE and other community groups.
Finally in the mid-1980’s a developer bought the lot and subdivided it into townhouses.
While the architectural quality of these townhouses may not equal that of some of the older buildings in the neighborhood, the developer and architect made a good effort to integrate this project with the neighborhood, yet add something fresh and innovative.
Note the Prairie Style of the Hermitage Avenue townhouses, which is replicated on some the Paulina Street houses.
Most of the Paulina Street houses are, by contrast, gabled and decorated with window and door ornaments similar to those used in the 1880’s. While these decorative differences add some variety to the street, they conceal the fact that all the townhouses are based on one prototype, rotated and slightly changed into a total of four models.

SOURCES

Galley Proofs from AIA Guide to Chicago Architecture, 1993.

WALKING DIRECTIONS TO NEXT LOCATION

Continue the tour to 4533 North Hermitage Avenue.

  1. The next building is south 79′ from you.
  2. Click the ‘Continue the Tour’ button below when you’ve reached your destination.

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4250 North Paulina Street

While architect Benjamin Franklin Olson can be said to have done more aesthetic harm than good refurbishing the Ravenswood Presbyterian Church, this building has a number of appealing features, particularly in the east facade of the sanctuary. Note the cut stone which accentuates the vertical elements, elegantly laid brickwork which gives a horizontal texture, and concave wall welcoming the visitor to the church’s main entrance. The cloister and parish house also integrate well with the sanctuary building and make a pleasant whole. The building cost about $150,000 in 1930.

Bethany United Church of Christ. Credit: Google Street View

Bethany United Church of Christ. Credit: Google Street View

Olson also designed St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, 2335 North Orchard Street (just south of Fullerton), a 1959 Neo-Gothic church. Like this church, St. Paul’s integrates a number of different building materials into a pleasing whole.

Until the construction of the Bethany United Church of Christ in 1930 the grandest house in Old Ravenswood was the Bennett Mansion. The Bennett Mansion stood on the current site of the church. The structure was torn down to create the current church. Credit: Ravenswood Lake View Historical Association


Until the construction of the Bethany United Church of Christ in 1930 the grandest house in Old Ravenswood was the Bennett Mansion. The Bennett Building stood on the current site of the church. The structure was torn down to create the current church. Credit: Ravenswood Lake View Historical Association

HISTORICAL FEATURES

Before the church was built, Robert J. Bennett had a large, brick house on this site, which was the finest house in this neighborhood For many years. Bennett, who was a partner in the wholesale grocery firm of W.M. Hoyt Company, is best known locally as a real estate developer and philanthropist. He owned extensive property in Ravenswood and commissioned a number of houses, such as the McLaughlan and Knight homes that we just saw, as well as apartment buildings, one of which we will see later on the tour. He also built an office building, known as the Bennett Building, at the northwest corner of Wilson and East Ravenswood avenues. In 1891 he donated the land for and underwrote the construction of the first YMCA in Ravenswood, which was built at the back of his office building. Eleven years later he donated land at the southeast corner of Wilson and Hermitage for a new YMCA .

SOURCES

Permit #835331; Plan AB 369; Water 210222; File 220772; 44; Page 484 on 3/6/1930. Also check Parish records.

WALKING DIRECTIONS TO NEXT LOCATION

Continue the tour to 4251 North Paulina Street.

  1. The next building is across the street, about 33′ from you.
  2. Click the ‘Continue the Tour’ button below when you’ve reached your destination.

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4500 North Paulina Street

Decorative diamond-pattern brickwork in frieze and pronounced corner turret. Rusticated limestone on first floor, with small stone porches with Ionic columns. Its architect, Morrison H. Vail, boasted that the building had fronts of pressed brick with Bedford stone trimmings, hardwood [interior] finish with mantels, sideboards, and consoles, gas and electric fixtures, and steam heating, among other
features (Inland Architect). It cost $25,000 to build.

HISTORICAL FEATURES

This building was commissioned by Robert Bennett, who asked Morrison Vail to design the structure. Vail worked extensively in Ravenswood and also lived here. His house was in the 4200 block of Paulina (now the playground of the former Courtney School at Paulina and Berteau) and one of his offices was in the Bennett Building on the northeast corner of Ravenswood and Wilson avenues. He and Bennett worked together frequently. In 1895 alone Vail announced plans for three apartment buildings on land owned by Bennett. Vail also designed the first YMCA building for Bennett at the back of the Bennett Building (now demolished) and the apartment block at 4625-4627 N. Paulina.

4500 N Paulina St. Credit: Google Street View

4500 N Paulina St. Credit: Google Street View


After living in Ravenswood for years, Vail and Bennett both moved to Pasadena, California in the early twentieth century.

SOURCES

CCL Survey; Permit N1035 on 8/10/1895, Economist. 8/17/1895.

WALKING DIRECTIONS TO NEXT LOCATION

Continue the tour to 4601 North Paulina Street, the American Indian Center.

  1. Continue north about a tenth mile to the next street, Wilson.
  2. Click the ‘Continue the Tour’ button below when you’ve reached your destination.

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