LANDMARK DESIGNATION REPORT COMMISSION ON CHICA~O LANDMARKS David Mosena, Chairman larry Parkmany,Vice Chairman Bush Temple of Music John W.<Baird, Secretary Alh:ia Mazur Berg 100 W. Chicago Ave./800 N. Clark St. Kein L Burton Marian De$pres Mi.chelle R. Obama Seymour Persky Preliminary Landmark recommendation approved by S.n Weese the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, J nne 7, 2000 The Commission t& staffed by the Chicago Department of Planning and Development 33 N. LaSalle St., Room 1600, Chicago, IL 60602 CITY OF CHICAGO 312-744-3200; 312-744-2958 (TOO) Richard M. Daley, Mayor http://www.ci.ehi.il.us/landmarks Department of Planning and Development Printed 2000; revised 2001 Alicia Mazur Berg, Commissioner i I l l '! i 1 I% J l BusH TEMPLE oF Music Ij i 100 W. CHICAGO AvE./800 N. CLARK ST. l l ;~ ~ DATE: 1901 I ARCHITECT: J. E. 0. PRIDMORE t J I In a city replete with classical Beaux-Arts influenced ~ j architecture, few buildings possess the dramatic flair ofthe Bush Temple ofMusic. For almost a century, this French Renaissance Revival building-with its elaborate roofline, finely crafted decora­ I tive details, and Old-World charm- has dominated the comer of I Chicago Avenue and Clark Street. I Built as the showroom and headquarters ofthe Bush and Gerts Piano Company, one ofthe nation's largest piano manufac­ turers, the Bush Temple ofMusic was designed by J. E. 0 . Ii Pridmore, one ofChicago's significant designers oftheater architec­ I ture. This elegant building once housed one ofthepremiervenues for performing arts in Chicago. It was converted to an office building in 1922. Above: The Bush Temple of Music is located in the Near North Side community area of THE PIANO IN TuRN-OF-THE-CENTURY AMERICA Chicago, southwest of historic Washington Square. The piano was an exceptionally important part ofAmerican social life and culture during the nineteenth and early twentieth Cover: A 1905 photograph of the building. centuries. In an era before radio and motion pictures, piano playing was a primary form ofentertainment in many American homes and owning a piano was a status symbol for middle-class Americans. By 1905, there were more pianos and organs in the country than Th e Commission on Chicago Landmarks. whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor, was bathtubs, a statistic that says much about the American love of established in 1968 by city ordinance. Th e Commission is responsible f or recommending to the City Council which individual buildings, sites, objects, or districts should be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which mUSIC. protects th em by law. As American families prospered in the 1880s and 1890s, Th e landmark designation process begins with a staff study and a preliminary summary of informa­ pianos became one ofthe first luxury items to reach the mass tion related to the potential designation criteria. Th e next step is a preliminmy vote by the landmarks market, and American piano manufacture increased dramatically to commission as to whether th e proposed landmark is worthy of consideration. This vote not only initiates the accommodate the demand. Between 1890 and 1900, the number formal designation process, but it places the review of city permits for the property under the jurisdiction of the Commission until a final landmark recommendation is acted on by the City Council. ofpi anos in American homes increased more than five times as fast This Landmark Designation Report is subject to possible revision and amendment during th e desig­ as the population. By 1900, one million pianos were in use in the nation process. Only language contained within the designation ordinance recommended to th e City Co uncil United States, while 171 ,OOOpianos, more than half ofth e world 's should be regarded as final. production, were being built in the United States each year by 263 firms employing 18,000 skilled workers. Music instruction, in public schools and private music conservatories and through private tutoring, increased during this period to accommodate the demand. By 1886, seven out often pupils in American public schools were being taught to read music. During the same decade, half a million people were learning to play the piano. Especially for young women, piano instruction was an important part ofone's education, an element ofrefmement and culture important to American ideas about culture. Piano Manufacturing in Chicago The first piano in Chicago is said to have been brought to the frontier town by 1834 by the pioneer Jean B. Beaubien, and within two years, early Chicago settlers could buy pianos made in On completion ni the Bush Temple of 1Vlusic, we Philadelphia and New York through a local merchant, James H. shall (>e<:upy a spa'e of Mulford. No piano manufacturers, however, existed in Chicago until1851 when G. A. Helmkamp began producing a variety of Tt;N THOUSftND SQUftRt; FEET ftS flftNO Wf\REROOMS musical instruments, including pianos. magnifkently decoratt'd The 1880s and 1890s were decades of great growth for and iurni.:<hcd, and second to none in the lJnitt>d States Chicago as a major manufacturing and distribution center for all kinds ofproducts, including pianos. The city's natural advantages as a manufacturing center-its central location to both raw materials 1 UPRIGHTS FROM $90 UP , Mi$Ceflaneous Makes'· SQUARES FROM 1S UP, Easy Payments and buyers and the network ofrailroads that radiated from the city-worked for piano manufacturers as well as other industries. Renlcrs--$2, $3, $4 and S.i By 1900 Chicago was the second largest center ofpiano manufac­ $.?50, $175. S.WO and up Rental arplird on purthas!' price turing in the United States after New York, with 21 piano factories producing 16 percent ofall American-made pianos. By the early 1920s, Chicago was the leading piano manufacturing center in the BUSH &GERTS PIANO COMPANY numberofpianosmade, nearly 125,000 a year. CH lGAGO Chicago manufacturers produced thousands ofpianos TttJptrt:ry R~tal: Steorf Wb(;it•alt l'tndqlltl"ttn; destined for parlors throughout the United States. In their intended 156 ~ORTtl CI.ARK ST. Cor. WE€0 and OA YTO:'i !>1 ~. n;·no EAST KI:-.ZIE 5T. small-town and rural audience, Chicago piano companies were 1\.:cwttulatton e>f Special jfcatnrc~ En~!' i:cmpl.: of mu~ic similar to the great mail-order companies-Sears, Roebuck & Co. \ltliHMUt.~ 'fh~< -·""-~--nv ,-,~:~u,.:!> nl"'t 1. -.:y, R\ .. f'tff*<lf F:•o,t r:~M- ~'+<tb~·t 'l.ltl')';) F~:--v. (-~~'U \~!l!l;" l!!o~ ,·,,~,·!"',:t, 1nt:; r":~-.~('~il'--:;~ -;-_.;.ira and ,:.-... ;t:!~ and Montgomery Ward-that also were headquartered in the city. ltttn-U 14ll-~-\';,...\~ wH>>: rc-.~~ t ·n-.;: ·--·~iM{' · t~ ~ndn~, ;:;.~, -,.,, ;.; t~ (,)f f·:e '>':Hi":tFo;'r u: !:J:"-, .,.,;Y~f· TW() trrn4l tfUfS1:-; -~· ,.~t:r'!" ~--n:-: :~!'e, -.v~r f:Dl;~ -.~d -.-.vr, t<t•· Unlike their Eastern rivals such as Steinway and Chickering, Chi­ 0:'-;: .. r\ ~~ t"jc ('-tv Hl :~t'" <':<'t::kr H>IIG£ IIOI)M. r\f't'Y rr:··•l('t:t •t>n- cago piano companies such as Kimball, Steger, and Bush and Gerts-the company that built the Bush Temple ofMusic-built YOt'\0 flOOR to.H~~ ._,,(.:--·~· .. ~,.-,.,_.,~~ •""''"'"'1"'"' ;:..t.Ano -....~.r..-r<f<)-rL~ ~n,; pianos for middle-class town and farm families without much money ::-;,,If'". f:'t;,t..-•.-.. • l~, , \\'r-.t<":tl.. J ·::aJ~ h-. ~::~- ~X : ~ ... ~~~ r·~_;n:" but with a strong desire for music and culture. .-:L •• >r, l"<•..,l TH~~~~::,~~~!{ ::_~ ~; :~~;~ (L,n; i :~~~:~ (~(}r.~~~:~',} o:t-r~:~~.:-:~~-:;J~·;r:~::r~~:-a;;r~;-:.:-~;::::/~;,\,,··:;·· ,~;,~~:!~ ~;~-~~~:;;f. ~l'l'f'r.:.l t·rq· ,)t'\1'•1 1•:'r ,f,'ff'l u-11-': wrl: {;t;~fr.J F.t>!:,~>.t,~.~.,.~ <'f tr.t' r,r·.t~Jr'1f, arrJ '·-"' :hi' 'If~-" '!,);.)r 1 The Bush and Gerts Company .-_•·ir·.t:,f ,,,-rn~l'n<d_Jfifl'l fr•• :.•. ;:,.,_ ,·:';;,'·\ n:_f '•n,f;'r;; of J •-'r'l-~~!-;· j~_H't.ih' t> ,~l>_ar:J4' 1 1'r ...J'%.1 to~ ..' 't(Jft:)"!r,J r,•;,':'"- U":-1 ,;ii <1/';' f r>iJ!;•:,.t !"~ /·Hr r.:!1 ,,.,,. !!:,-·!:- ,1,' ~~.· f' <<i tf;t• fi;;nh rn~~fl;o' ti.' _\ft.;t;; C~~J>.Jrt\', The Bush and Gerts Piano Company was founded in 1885 .'5r· \',•• ' h \:.'.;r;; .'--Jrrt' by William H. Bush, his son William L. Bush, and John Gerts in order to take advantage ofthis burgeoning demand for pianos. The The founders of the Bush and Gerts Piano Company were (top left to right) William H. Bush, his elder Bush was a pioneer Chicagoan, prominent in the lumber trade. f son William L. Bush, and John Gerts. Above: An advertisement for Bush and Gerts, published His son worked at an early age for several piano companies, in 1901, advertising their planned move into the Bush Temple of Music. including the Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, firm ofGeorge I 2 l 3 Woods and Co. and theW. W. Kimball firm ofChicago. Gerts, a native German, learned piano manufacture in Hamburg before emigrating to Chicago in 1870. During the 1870s and early 1880s, Gerts worked for several piano manufacturers before opening his own small-scale piano factory. The new partnership with the Bushes brought capital that allowed Gerts to expand production. The elder Bush also owned a building at the northwest comer of Chicago Avenue and Clark Street (the future site ofthe Bush Temple ofMusic) which the Bush and Gerts Piano Company used for offices and a showroom. The new company prospered during the 1890s, moving production into a larger factory building at the comer ofWeed and Dayton Streets.