The Herald Volume XIII, Number 1 Spring 2019 ARCHITECT HOWARD VAN DOREN SHAW AT 150 by William Tyre Friends, in partnership with Returning to Chicago in early 1893, Glessner House, will host a half- he rejoined the firm of Jenney & day symposium on May 11, 2019 to Mundie, and in April, married honor the 150th anniversary of the Frances Wells in a ceremony at First birth of architect Howard Van Presbyterian Church. By early 1894, Doren Shaw, who designed our Shaw established his own practice, National Historic Landmark setting up his office on the top floor designated sanctuary in 1900 of his family home on Calumet following a devastating fire. (See Avenue. He hired a draftsman, page 4, for more information). In Robert G. Work, and quickly this issue, we look back at Shaw’s established a reputation for designing life and several commissions he distinctive residences in a variety of received in the South Loop which architectural styles. exhibit the breadth of his abilities. In 1897, Shaw received his first large Howard Van Doren Shaw was commission through his Yale born on May 7, 1869 to Theodore classmate Thomas E. Donnelley. and Sarah (Van Doren) Shaw. Ave., and joined Second Presbyterian The building at 731 S. Plymouth Theodore was a successful dry by profession of faith in 1885. Shaw Court housed the Lakeside Press, goods merchant and a descendant earned a Bachelor of Arts degree later R. R. Donnelley & Sons. The of an early Quaker settler who from Yale in 1890 and that fall, vaulted fireproof structure with came to America with William entered the Massachusetts Institute reinforced concrete floors showed Penn. Sarah was a talented painter of Technology, where he completed Shaw’s ability to design a building and a descendant of a prominent the rigorous two-year architecture that was both beautiful and highly Dutch family that included the first program in just one year. functional. mayor of Brooklyn, New York. Shortly after Shaw’s death, fellow He returned to Chicago in 1891 and That same year, he received his first architect Alfred Granger noted that quickly obtained an apprenticeship in commission from Second Shaw had inherited his father’s the prominent firm of Jenney & Presbyterian Church, to design the “strength of character and quiet Mundie, an outstanding training Crerar Sunday School Chapel at 5831 firmness” while receiving “his ground that had produced architects S. Indiana Ave. (see The Herald, artistic taste, his love for color and including Daniel Burnham and Louis Spring 2016). The building, designed fantasy” from his mother. Sullivan. The office was located in and built at the same time as Shaw’s the Home Insurance Buildings, summer house, Ragdale, in Lake Shaw’s parents married in 1865 and Jenney’s most prominent building Forest, features a similar façade with started attending Second widely regarded as the first true twin gables sheathed in a smooth Presbyterian Church. They skyscraper. In the summer of 1892, stucco finish. The Chapel and established their home at 66 Shaw headed off to Europe for an Ragdale both exhibit Shaw’s early Calumet Avenue (later 2124 S. extended journey studying and mastery of interpreting the English Calumet). By the time Howard was sketching architecture. While in Arts & Crafts style. a young boy, the house sat in the Spain, he met and traveled with midst of the most exclusive The first of three houses Shaw James Renwick Jr., the architect of designed in the neighborhood stood residential district in the city. He St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, received a privileged upbringing, at 1900 S. Calumet Ave. and was and Second Presbyterian Church in commissioned by Charles attended the exclusive Harvard Chicago. School for Boys at 2101 S. Indiana Starkweather in 1899. Although Volume XIII, Number 1 Page 2 based on classic Georgian design, featured a large turntable set into the rather than a flashy display of money.” interesting features such as the floor so that the auto could be turned Brick and limestone piers are clearly Palladian window cut into the around when it was time to exit. The articulated as buttresses with recessed pediment over the main entrance ground level was visually cut off from the spandrels and large expanses of glass show Shaw’s interest in, and rest of the house by a projecting in between. Ornament includes rich mastery of, introducing his personal limestone lintel above which was set a stone carving and terra cotta plaques touch into each commission he large grouping of three windows, depicting historic printers’ marks. It received. denoting the main living spaces on the was built in four phases, the last second level. Although praised by completed after Shaw’s death, but true He designed two additional houses architects, Shaw’s handwritten note in a to his original design. in 1903. The first was built for scrapbook read “very avant-garde and John B. Drake, Jr. and stood at criticized.” Shaw’s final commission in the 2106 S. Calumet Ave., just a couple neighborhood was for the Nyberg of doors north of his family home. Shaw’s later commissions in the Automobile Works at 2435-37 S. For the Drake house, Shaw turned neighborhood reflect its rapid Michigan Avenue, reflecting the to the Tudor style creating a transformation from residential to growth of “Motor Row” along that pleasing asymmetrical brick façade, commercial in the first decades of the 20th street. Completed in 1912, the anchored by a central recessed century. In 1907, he designed a printing building featured huge plate glass entryway and a wrap-around porch. plant for the publishers, Ginn & Co. windows at ground level to showcase the automobiles, with a variety of The second house designed that Shaw ornament enlivening the façade year was more controversial. Built above. for his Yale classmate Ralph Martin Shaw (no relation) at 2632 S. Prairie Although Shaw never designed Ave., the narrow brick rowhouse another building in the neighborhood, was stylistically different from its he remained active, designing everything from houses to industrial buildings, and from a planned company town (Marktown) to what is Built of reinforced concrete in the regarded as the first modern shopping Classical Revival style, the most notable mall (Market Square in Lake Forest). feature was a series of three-story brick He died on May 6, 1926, one day columns which lent a grand effect to the before his 57th birthday while being façade. The building was the center of treated for pernicious anemia in two preservation battles at the turn of the Baltimore, having been awarded the 21st century; the reconstructed façade prestigious gold medal from the survives at 2203 S. Martin Luther King American Institute of Architects the Dr. day before his death. In 1911, Shaw received another His wife later wrote, “It was said about commission from the Donnelley William Morris, ‘You can not lose a company, which had outgrown its man like that by his own death, only Lakeside Press building on Plymouth by your own.’ I know his family feels Court. That year, the company acquired this to be true of Howard Shaw.” He all of the lots on the east side of the 2100 was buried at Graceland Cemetery, the block of Calumet Ave., directly across the family plot denoted by a distinctive street from the house in which Shaw’s marker of his own design. widowed mother was still living. Considered one of the finest examples of “Industrial Gothic,” the building’s design reflects Shaw’s directive to design the GREAT NEWS! neighbors, but more importantly, structure “so that it will not be beautiful addressed the need for housing an only today, but one hundred years from Check out our new website: automobile. The ground floor was now. We want to build it so people will historicsecondchurch.org centered by the entrance to the say that it is art, intelligence and beauty “motor row” or garage that Volume XIII, Number 1 Page 3 Friends of Historic Jane Dewey Under $100 DESTINCTIVE DESTINATIONS Second Church Jacquetta Ellinger Robert Adamshick Jerry &. Jan Erickson Frank Baldwin & Friends of Historic Second Church is proud to gratefully Diana Faulhaber Barbara Ellson announce that the National Trust for Historic acknowledges the Jackie Finch & Nancy Bothne Preservation has named Second Presbyterian following Jim Jepsen Alisyn Cochran Church as one of its Distinctive Destinations. The memberships, Barbara J. Floyd Rochelle Davis nearly 200 sites that carry this honored designation Glenn & In memory of donations, and Donna Gabanski Lorraine Coles represent diverse historic sites across the country contributions from Margaret Grinnell Jim & Judy Elsass illustrating the breadth and depth of the American September 27, 2018- Karen Haring Holly Harms-Laspina story. Check us out at savingplaces.org/distinctive- destinations. March 15, 2019. Ray Hofmann & Roberta Harper Victoria Simms Senator Mattie Hunter Robert Irving Linda Jebavy FRIENDS CELEBRATES THE ROARING 20S $100,000 and up Jim & Darleen Jackson Chris & Jane Kerbaugh Anonymous Bob & Christine M. Landem The Roaring Twenties were Caroline Jacobsen Debra Mancoff marked by a feeling of novelty and $10,000 - $50,000 Charles Katzenmeyer In memory of a break with traditions. New Anonymous Virginia Kerr Philip & Elinor technologies brought modernity $5,000 - $9,999 Michael Leo Kirk Mancoff Curt & Betty Klooster Marcia Palazzolo through automobiles, motion Jeff & Annette Adams pictures and electrical appliances. Anonymous Dr. Sharon Kobak Joan Pernecke Art, architecture and music Sandra Lancaster Judy & Allen Koessel In honor of Mary Dorothy Korn Bucaro flourished. $3,000 - $4,999 Kathryn Korn Lorene Decatur & Rev. Wednesday June 19, 2019 Law, Ware, Shedd, Deborah Lielasus Col. Gary Miller 5:30 pm to 6:00 pm Docent Tours Murphy Foundation Nate Lielasus & USMC John Cramer Nancy Robinson 6:00 pm -“Roaring 20s” $1,000 - $2,999 William & Judy Lussie Peggy Robinson presentation by Kathleen Skolnik, Ada Schupp In memory of Susan & Jeffrey Ruff Art and Architecture Historian Foundation Mary Gene Yee Vicky L.