J
ORDINANCE
(Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House 1801 W. Division St.
WHEREAS, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), Section 2-120-630 through -690, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the (former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House at 1801 W. Division St., as more precisely described in Exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated herein (the "Building"), meets three criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (4) and (6) of the Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the Building was built in 1901 as a brewery-tied house, or tavern which exclusively sold Schlitz Brewery products. It was commissioned by Edward Uihlein, a German immigrant and the manager of Schlitz Brewery's operations in Chicago, and the Building is one of the best-remaining examples of fifty-seven such brewery-tied houses built by Schlitz in Chicago from 1897 to 1905; and
WHEREAS, the Building represents a distinct property type that conveys important themes from Chicago and American history from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including the rise of vertically-integrated manufacturing production and retail sales; the role of science and technology in the transformation of crafts into industries, including the brewery industry; increasing competition among businesses as the city and country grew; the role of the neighborhood saloon; the role of ethnic immigrants as both leaders of the brewing industry and as consumers; and the national question about the role of alcohol in society which would later culminate in national Prohibition; and
WHEREAS, the Building conveys the economic prominence of the brewing industry in Chicago and Milwaukee during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, made possible by those cities' access to grain markets, fresh water, natural supplies of ice, and train transportation; and
WHEREAS, the Building is representative of the brewing industry founded and managed by German immigrants, and who were prominent businessmen active in the city's affairs; and therefore reflects the importance of ethnic immigration in Chicago's history and development, in general, and specifically the contributions of the Chicago's German ethnic community, one of the city's largest ethnic groups; and
WHEREAS, the Building is typical of other brewery-tied houses in Chicago which were most commonly located on prominent corners of commercial streets, well served by street cars or elevated trains, and in neighborhoods settled by large ethnic and working class populations; and, as such, the building conveys the early social character and leisure habits of these early residents of Chicago's neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, as the unintended manifestation of legislation and social pressure by progressive reformers, the Building conveys the national debate about alcohol consumption and the "Dry" movement in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The proliferation of drinking places under the tied-house system was a factor in the establishment of national Prohibition in 1919; and
WHEREAS, the Building is one of a great number of buildings built in Chicago by the Schlitz Brewery, which may be traced back to the aftermath of the Fire of 1871, when the brewery sent water and, in particular, beer to the ravaged city, establishing a loyal customer base in Chicago, and solidifying its motto "The beer that made Milwaukee Famous"; and
1
WHEREAS, the Building represents a distinct and recognizable building type in Chicago's neighborhoods typified by such features as its display of brewery insignia, its prominent corner location on a neighborhood commercial street, its corner entrances marked by prominent turret, and other ornamental features, and its use of typically high-quality masonry construction and a picturesque style of architecture; and
WHEREAS, the Building exemplifies the German Renaissance Revival style of architecture which was used in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries for buildings with a strong German ethnic association, including Schlitz's tied-houses in Chicago. With its emphasis on visually-pleasing characteristics and motifs drawn from earlier periods, the German Renaissance Revival style helped the brewery-tied houses to present a legitimate and socially-responsible image amidst growing opposition to drinking establishments; and
WHEREAS, the Building displays distinctive features of the German Renaissance Revival style of architecture, including such typical stylistic features as its stepped and scrolled gable, the pair of semicircular lunettes with shell-like fluting at the top of the second-floor window openings, the "bonnet" roof over the bay window, and strapwork and heraldic motifs in the turret and gable decoration; and
WHEREAS, the Building was designed by architect Fritz Lang (d. 1925) who designed several other tied-houses for Schlitz. In the two years preceding the Division St. commission, Lang in partnership with Henry Kley designed the Schlitz brewery-tied houses at 3456 S. Western Ave. (1899), 1944 N. Oakley Ave. (1898), and 3325 N. Southport Ave. (1898). On his own, Fritz Lang also designed the Schlitz brewery-tied house at and 1201 W. Roscoe Ave. (1902); and
WHEREAS, the Building displays exceptionally fine craftsmanship and detailing in high-quality historic materials, displayed through its brick and stone masonry and pressed-metal architectural ornament; and
WHEREAS, characteristic of Chicago's brewery-tied houses, the Building displays Schlitz's "belted globe" insignia in its facade, the design of which is based on sculptor Richard Bock's design for Schlitz's exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; and
WHEREAS, Chicago's brewery-tied houses represent a distinct building type, and the individual examples of this type enhance the architectural character of diverse Chicago neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, the Building retains more than sufficient physical integrity to express its "historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value" as required by Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code, through its location, design, setting, materials, and workmanship. The Building retains the great majority of its historic materials, design, and detailing to convey its architectural and historic values; and
WHEREAS, the Building is owned by Tom Magee, who has consented to the designation;
and
WHEREAS, on March 3, 2011, the Commission adopted a resolution recommending to the City Council of the City of Chicago that the Building be designated as a Chicago Landmark; now, therefore,
Be It Ordained by the City Council of the City of Chicago:
SECTION 1. The above recitals are expressly incorporated in and made a part of this ordinance as though fully set forth herein.
2
■0
SECTION 2. The Building is hereby designated as a Chicago Landmark in accordance with Section 2-120-700 of the Municipal Code.
SECTION 3. For purposes of Section 2-120-740 of the Municipal Code governing permit review, the significant historical and architectural features of the Building are identified as: All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building.
SECTION 4. The Commission is hereby directed to create a suitable plaque appropriately identifying said landmark and to affix the plaque on or near the property designated as a Chicago Landmark in accordance with the provisions of Section 2-120-700 of the Municipal Code.
SECTION 5. The Commission is directed to comply with the provisions of Section 2-120-720 of the Municipal Code, regarding notification of said designation.
SECTION 6. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and approval.
3
Exhibit A
(Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House 1801 W. Division St. Property Description
Legal Description
LOT 1 IN SHERMAN'S SUBDIVISION OF THE NORTHEAST 1/4 OF BLOCK 1 OF COCHRAN AND OTHER'S SUBDIVISION OF THE WEST 1/2 OF THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 OF SECTION 6, TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH, RANGE 14, EAST OF THE THIRD PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN, IN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Permanent Index Numbers
17-06-403-009
Address Commonly Known As
1801 W. Division St.
4
City of Chicago Richard M. Daley, Mayor
Commission on Chicago Landmarks
Suite 1600
33 North LaSalle Street Chicago, Illinois 60602 (312) 744-3200 (Voice) (312) 744-9140 (FAX) (312) 744-2958 (TTY)
BUILDING CHICAGO TOGETHER
April 8, 2011
The Honorable Miguel del Valle City Clerk City of Chicago Room 107, City Hall 121 North LaSalle Street Chicago, Illinois 60602
RE: Recommendation that the (Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House at 1801 W. Division St. be designated a Chicago Landmark
Dear Clerk del Valle:
We are filing with your office for introduction at the April 13, 2011, City Council meeting as a transmittal to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago the recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks that the (Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House at 1801 W. Division St. be designated as a Chicago Landmark.
The material being submitted to you for this proposal includes the:
1. Recommendation of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks; and
2. Proposed Ordinance.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Sinperely,
jfrian Goeken )eputy Commissioner /Historic Preservation Division
ends.
cc:
Alderman Joe Moreno, 16 Ward
CITY OF CHICAGO COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
March 3,2011
RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHICAGO THAT CHICAGO LANDMARK DESIGNATION BE ADOPTED FOR THE
(FORMER) SCHLITZ BREWERY-TIED HOUSE (now Mac's American Pub) 1801 W. Division St.
Docket No. 2011-04
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago:
Pursuant to § 2-120-690 of the Municipal Code of Chicago (hereinafter, the "Municipal Code"), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (hereinafter, the "Commission") has determined that the (Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House (the "Building"), located at 1801 W. Division St., is worthy of Chicago Landmark designation. On the basis of careful consideration of the history and architecture of the Building, the Commission has found that it meets the following criteria set forth in § 2-120-620 of the Municipal Code:
1. Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the heritage of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, or the United States.
4. Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail or craftsmanship.
6. Its representation of an architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other theme expressed through distinctive areas, districts, places, buildings, structures, works of art, or other objects that may or may not be contiguous.
I. BACKGROUND
The formal landmark designation process for the Building began on October 7,2010, when the Commission received a "preliminary summary of information" at the Commission's regular meeting of October 7th from the then-Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning ("DZP") summarizing the historical and architectural background of the Building. At said meeting, the Commission voted to approve a "preliminary landmark recommendation" for the Building as part of a group of eight brewery-tied houses and one associated stable building, based on its finding that it appeared to meet three of the seven criteria for designation, as well as the integrity criterion, listed in the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance (the "Landmarks Ordinance").
The Commission's Landmark Designation Report for the Building, initially adopted by the Commission on October 7, 2010, and revised as of this date, which contains specific information
about the Building's architectural and historical significance, is incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit A (the "Designation Report").
At its regular meeting of December 2,2010, the Commission received a report from Patricia A. Scudiero, Commissioner of the DZP, stating that the proposed landmark designation of the Building supports the City's overall planning goals and is consistent with the City's governing policies and plans. This report is incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit B (the "DZP Report").
On December 21, 2010, the Commission officially requested consent to the proposed landmark designation from the owner of the Building. On February 4,2011, the Commission received a consent form, dated January 28,2011, and signed by Tom Magee, the owner of the Building, consenting to the proposed landmark designation of the Building.
II. FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
WHEREAS, the Building represents a distinct property type that conveys important themes from Chicago and American history from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including the rise of vertically-integrated manufacturing production and retail sales; the role of science and technology in the transformation of crafts into industries, including the brewery industry; increasing competition among businesses as the city and country grew; the role of the neighborhood saloon; the role of ethnic immigrants as both leaders of the brewing industry and as consumers; and the national question about the role of alcohol in society which would later culminate in national Prohibition; and
WHEREAS, the Building conveys the economic prominence of the brewing industry in Chicago and Milwaukee during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, made possible by those cities' access to grain markets, fresh water, natural supplies of ice, and train transportation; and
WHEREAS, the Building is representative of the brewing industry founded and managed by German immigrants, and who were prominent businessmen active in the city's affairs; and therefore reflects the importance of ethnic immigration in Chicago's history and development, in general, and specifically the contributions of the Chicago's German ethnic community, one of the city's largest ethnic groups; and
WHEREAS, the Building is typical of other brewery-tied houses in Chicago which were most commonly located on prominent corners of commercial streets, well served by street cars or elevated trains, and in neighborhoods settled by large ethnic and working class populations; and, as such, the building conveys the early social character and leisure habits of these early residents of Chicago's neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, as the unintended manifestation of legislation and social pressure by progressive reformers, the Building conveys the national debate about alcohol consumption and the "Dry" movement in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The subsequent proliferation of drinking places under the tied-house system was a factor in the establishment of national Prohibition in 1919; and
WHEREAS, the Building is one of a great number of buildings built in Chicago by the Schlitz Brewery, which may be traced back to the aftermath of the Fire of 1871, when the brewery sent water and, in particular, beer to the ravaged city, establishing a loyal customer base in Chicago, and solidifying its motto 'The beer that made Milwaukee Famous"; and
WHEREAS, the Building represents a distinct and recognizable building type in Chicago's neighborhoods typified by such features as its display of brewery insignia, its prominent corner
2
location on a neighborhood commercial street, its corner entrances marked by prominent turret, and other ornamental features, and its use of typically high-quality masonry construction and a picturesque style of architecture; and
WHEREAS, the Building exemplifies the German Renaissance Revival style of architecture which was used in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries for buildings with a strong German Ethnic association, including Schlitz's tied-houses in Chicago. With its emphasis on visually-pleasing characteristics and motifs drawn from earlier periods, the German Renaissance Revival style helped the brewery-tied houses to present a legitimate and socially-responsible image amidst growing opposition to drinking establishments; and
WHEREAS, the Building displays distinctive features of the German Renaissance Revival style of architecture, including such typical stylistic features as its stepped and scrolled gable, the pair semicircular lunettes with shell-like fluting at the top of the second floor window openings, the "bonnet" roof over the bay window, and strapwork and heraldic motifs in the turret and gable decoration; and
WHEREAS, the Building was designed by architect Fritz Lang (d. 1925) who designed several other tied-houses for Schlitz. In the two years preceding the Division St. commission, Lang in partnership with Henry Kley designed the Schlitz brewery-tied houses at 3456 S. Western Ave. (1899), 1944 N. Oakley Ave. (1898), and 3325 N. Southport Ave. (1898). On his own, Fritz Lang also designed the Schlitz brewery-tied house at and 1201 W. Roscoe Ave. (1902); and
WHEREAS, the Building displays exceptionally fine craftsmanship and detailing in high-quality historic materials, displayed through its brick and stone masonry and pressed-metal architectural ornament; and
WHEREAS, characteristic of Chicago's brewery-tied houses, the Building displays Schlitz's "belted globe" insignia in its facade, the design of which is based on sculptor Richard Bock's design for Schlitz's exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; and
WHEREAS, the Building is part of a larger group of brewery-tied houses and associated buildings in Chicago that together convey important aspects of Chicago and American history from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including: the rise of large, vertically-integrated commercial enterprises combining production and retail sales; the economic might of brewing companies in Chicago and Milwaukee; the role of the neighborhood saloon; the role of immigration and ethnicity in brewing and beer consumption; and the national debate about the role of the saloon in society which culminated in national Prohibition in 1919; and
WHEREAS, Chicago's brewery-tied houses represent a distinct building type, and the individual examples of this type enhance the architectural character of diverse Chicago neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, the Building meets at least three criteria for landmark designation as set forth in § 2-120-620 (1), (4) and (6) of the Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the Building retains more than sufficient physical integrity to express its "historic, community, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value" as required by § 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code, through its site, context, and overall design quality. The Building retains the great majority of its historic materials, design, and detailing to convey its architectural and historic values; and now, therefore
THE COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS HEREBY:
1. Incorporates the preamble and Sections I and II into its finding; and
2. Adopts the Designation Report, as revised, and dated as of this 3rd day of March 2011; and
3
3. Finds, based on the Designation Report, DZP Report, and the entire record before the Commission, that the Building meets three out of seven of the criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (4), and (6) of the Municipal Code; and
4. Finds that the Building satisfies the historic integrity requirement set forth in Section 2-120-630 of the Municipal Code; and
5. Finds that the significant historical and architectural features of the Building are identified as follows:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the Building. This recommendation was adopted UrrfLlTil tVKiK^l lj _.
Commission on Chicago Landmarks
Dated: flWch 3,XOl\
EXHIBIT A
(Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House
(now Mac's American Pub) 1801W. Division Street
Final Landmark Recommendation adopted by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, March 3, 2011
'. '^lV,, CITY OF CHICAGO 1 ¥ ^xhL & Richard M. Daley, Mayor
Department of Housing and Economic Development Andrew J. Mooney, Commissioner
Bureau of Planning and Zoning Historic Preservation Division
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council, was established in 1968 by city ordinance. The Commission is responsible for recommending to the City Council which individual buildings, sites, objects, or districts should be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law.
The landmark designation process begins with a staff study and a preliminary summary of information related to the potential designation criteria. The next step is a preliminary vote by the landmarks commission as to whether the proposed landmark is worthy of consideration. This vote not only initiates the 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.
This Landmark Designation Report is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within a designation ordinance adopted by the City Council should be regarded as final.
(Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House
(now Mac's American Pub) 1801W. Division St.
Date: 1900-01 Architect: Fritz Lang
The former Schlitz Brewery-Tied House at 1801W. Division Street is one of the best-remaining examples of the architecturally distinctive Chicago taverns built by breweries around the turn of the twentieth century.
In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, a combination of intense competition among brewing companies and increasing legal restrictions and social pressures on public drinking establishments compelled brewing companies in Chicago to adopt a "tied house" system. Developed in England a century earlier, the tied-house system involved the direct control of taverns not by independent entrepreneurs, but by large brewing companies which sold their products exclusively at their own establishments.
Brewery control of the tavern trade in Chicago began with the purchase of existing saloon buildings, but soon evolved into the acquisition of choice real estate and the design and construction of tavern buildings. At least forty-one of these tied-house buildings are known to survive in the city. They were built by large Milwaukee-based brewers, most notably Schlitz, and by several local brewers such as the Atlas, Birk Brothers, Fortune Brothers, Gottfried, Peter Hand, Standard, and Stege companies. In many cases, to attract customers, brewing companies employed high-quality architectural designs and popular historical styles of architecture for their tied houses to attract, and perhaps also to convey the legitimacy and decency of the neighborhood tavern in the face of rising social opposition.
In addition to the tied house's contribution to Chicago's historic neighborhood architecture, these buildings convey important aspects of Chicago and American history in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including the large influx of European immigrants, the growth of the vertically-integrated business model which sought to control all aspects of production from raw material to retail sale, and the increasing political power of anti-alcohol activists. The proliferation of tied houses in cities like Chicago was one of many factors that ultimately led to national Prohibition in 1919.
IP
The Schlitz Brewery-Tied House was built in 1900-01 and is located at 1801 W. Division St. in the West Town community area.
I_I
o
m u
IL7 g:
DIVISION ST.
id a i
z o z o
7) m
(A
n
N
©
o o o
CO
(Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied House
1801 W. Division St.
Building Design and Construction
Designed by architect Fritz Lang in 1900, this two-story brick tied-house is located in the West Town community area. Industrial development along the North Branch of the Chicago River beginning in the late 1860s and 1870s brought many factory workers to the West Town community. After the Chicago Fire of 1871, the area became a refuge for those who wished to build less expensive wood-frame homes, but which were prohibited within the established city fire limit. The Division Street horsecar line, opened in 1886, also encouraged settlement to the area. As early as 1890 the Division St. line was extended to provide downtown service, and by 1896 streetcars replaced the original horsecars. In the years that followed, as a flood of Polish immigrants settled in this working-class neighborhood, the commercial area around Division Street and Ashland Avenue became known as the "Polish Downtown". By 1900 almost 25,000 Polish immigrants lived within a half-mile radius of this intersection.
The building is rectangular in plan with a prominent comer turret and front gable. With its stepped and scrolled gable, semi-circular lunettes, strapwork and heraldic ornament, this former Schlitz-tied house exemplifies the German Renaissance Revival style of architecture.
The decorative front elevation faces north onto Division St., with a less decorated side elevation facing east onto Wood St. Both elevations are clad in warm yellow face brick with contrasting dark-red brick used for the storefront-level piers and quoins. Window and door openings are set within substantial limestone frames with arched heads. The second-floor window openings at the front elevation are further decorated with a geometric brick pattern and fluted lunette hood-moldings, typical of the German Renaissance Revival style. A finial rises between the lunettes pointing to the Schlitz "belted-globe" insignia, rendered in terra cotta (with a non-original painted finish). The gable above the globe combines a scrolled and stepped outline, also typical of the style, as are the heraldic shields and fleur-de-lis decorative motifs located near the gable.
The focal point of the design is the building's elaborate comer turret decorated with strapwork ornament, molding, pediments, and shells executed in pressed metal. A second projecting bay located on the side elevation also features strapwork as well as a "bonnet" roof. The entrance to the tavern is located beneath the corner turret. Brick piers with terra-cotta capitals frame the entrance as well as the storefront windows. There are two additional entrances at the side elevation serving the tavern and the upper-floor apartments.
The building was recently rehabilitated and remains a neighborhood tavern. Historic photographs show that the comer turret originally had a "bonnet" roof with a prominent finial, which no longer remains. Other changes include replacement windows and changes to the storefront sash and glazing; and the rebuilding of the parapet on the Wood St. elevation.
Architect Fritz Lang
The former Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801W. Division St. was designed by architect Fritz Lang (d. 1925) who designed several other tied-houses for Schlitz. In the two years preceding
3
The photo of the front facade of the building (top right) shows its distinctive gable that combines a stepped and scrolled outline. The facade includes a combination of finely-crafted historic building materials including tan and dark-red pressed brick, cut limestone window enframements, and decorative pressed-metal of the corner turret. Centered within the front gable is the Schlitz "belted-globe" insignia (top left) rendered in painted terra cotta. The photo of the side elevation (bottom) shows an entrance to the apartments on the second floor, as well as a second entrance to the tavern, a typical feature of tied-houses to allow access to the tavern on Sundays when "dry" ordinances required the front door to remain closed.
the Division St. commission, the architectural partnership of Henry Kley and Fritz Lang designed the Schlitz brewery-tied houses at 3456 S. Western Ave. (1899), 1944 N. Oakley Ave. (1898), and 3325 N. Southport Ave. (1898). On his own, Fritz Lang designed a Schlitz brewery-tied house at and 1201 W. Roscoe Ave. in 1902. The Chicago Historic Resources Survey identifies a small number of residential and store and flat buildings designed by Lang on his own or in partnerships from the 1890s and 1910s.
Tied-House Architecture in Chicago
The former Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. is representative of a distinct and recognizable building type in the city. Research for this report has documented at least forty-one brewery-tied houses that survive in Chicago, and it is likely that there are other examples not yet identified. Although Schlitz built the majority of them, a host of other breweries built taverns in Chicago, including the Milwaukee-based Blatz, Pabst, and Miller breweries, as well as local brewers such as the Atlas, Birk Brothers, Fortune Brothers, Gottfried, Peter Hand, Standard, and Stege companies.
Compared to the independent shopkeeper or saloonkeeper, the brewing companies possessed substantially larger budgets for acquiring prime real estate and to build high-quality buildings. In the hands of brewers, the common "store and flat" building was elevated through well-designed architecture to attract customers and to promote the brewer's brand. The possibility also cannot be excluded that brewers employed attractive, and sometimes cheerfully picturesque, architecture to deflect criticism from their "dry" opponents who saw the saloon as a moral threat.
Brewery-tied houses are most commonly found at prominent and highly-visible comers of at least one, if not two, neighborhood commercial streets, typically with streetcar or nearby elevated train service. Brewing companies favored locating in neighborhoods that historically were working class, often with industrial complexes in walking distance. (It appears that no brewery-tied houses were located in Chicago's downtown.) While many of these neighborhoods had large immigrant populations, there is no indication that brewers located their taverns to serve specific ethnic groups. Contemporary observers of the Chicago saloon at the turn of the twentieth century noted that it was one of the few places where immigrants from several ethnic groups mingled, although most neighborhoods were predominantly one or a few ethnic groups.
The overall form of the brewery-tied house is based on the common "store and flat" building, with the street level a retail space and private apartments on the second and, in some cases, third stories. In some instances the rear portion of the tavern included an attached one-story hall. Structurally, the tied houses typically consist of load-bearing masonry exterior walls with a wood-frame interior structure and a flat roof. Rectangular in plan, the tied houses typically measure 25' wide with depths ranging from 75' to 120'.
5
With their corner locations, tied houses have two street-facing elevations. Ornamentation is concentrated on the narrow front elevation, with the longer side elevation typically being less ornamented to plain, depending on the prominence of the side street. The utilitarian rear elevation and the interior side elevation, often obscured by a neighboring structure, are most characteristically unadorned common brick. The street-facing elevations are typically clad in face brick, often in two contrasting colors arranged in attractive patterns or tapestry bonds. Though less common, limestone cladding is also found at the front elevations of some tied houses in combination with a face-brick side elevation. Limestone is also used for carved ornamentation, sills, string courses, and as contrasting accents in arched brick openings. Pressed metal, either painted galvanized steel or patinated copper, is used for bay and turret cladding, finials, cornices, copings, and other ornamental details such as around more elaborate window openings.
The primary entrance to the tied houses is most commonly located at a chamfered corner of the building, often marked with a projecting bay, or oriel window, or turret above it. The front elevation often originally featured large storefront windows lighting the tavern interior and a separate entrance leading to the second-floor apartments. The longer side-street elevation of the first story commonly includes relatively large window openings and a secondary entrance to thetavern.
Architectural ornamentation on the tied houses is concentrated at the upper stories and parapet. Upper-story bay windows or comer turrets, often clad with pressed metal decoration and topped with conical or bonnet roofs, are often located at the comer. A second or even third window bay is also commonly found on side elevations. Parapets frequently include false gables, often stepped or scrolled, and crenellation. In addition to horizontal stringcourses, narrow brick piers with stone or metal finials are also common. Patterned and tapestry brick, blind arches, corbelling, and pressed-metal and carved limestone decoration are often used in various combinations on the upper stories of tied houses. Depending on the individual building, and perhaps reflecting the character of the surrounding neighborhood, the use of ornamentation ranges from the more restrained to elaborate. In some of the more elaborate designs, complex rooflines and ornamentation is characteristic, including window openings at the second story framed with pressed-metal and carved limestone decoration that projects from the wall surface.
Tied-house facades are often branded with the trademark or insignia of the brewing company rendered in carved stone, terra cotta or pressed metal. Perhaps the most recognizable is Schlitz's "belted globe." The design is based on sculptor Richard Bock's design for Schlitz's exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Bock described it in detail in his memoirs which were later published by his daughter in 1989:
There was an exhibition piece I needed to do for the Manufacturer's Building, the Schlitz Brewery trademark of a huge globe with a buckled belt around it. This globe was supported by four female figures in playful poses representing the four hemispheres. At their feet were gnomes. Flanking this centerpiece were four pedestals constructed of beer kegs, three to a pedestal, and on top of each a herald blowing a trumpet.
6
Schlitz's tied houses typically feature the brewery's "belted globe" insignia set prominently in the facade. The origin of the design dates back to Schlitz's display at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (upper left), which was designed by Chicago sculptor Richard Bock (1865-1949, upper right).
,rr.
■BE
* Y"
NHHhsB§B|
.HI
; M TT7 7 7-----------
l Lr| _j /-J"--ujJJ-J-r-
n*^r, r*** *" p*i'".....
i - ' - . - . .
In addition to Schlitz, other brewing companies left their mark on former tied houses in Chicago, including the Blatz brewery (middle left, 835 N. Wolcott in the East Village Chicago Landmark District), the Peter Hand brewery (middle right, 1059 N. Wolcott also in the East Village Chicago Landmark District), the Standard brewery (bottom left, 2359 S. Western), and the Stege brewery (bottom right, 2658 W. 24th St.).
I- « rn.
3. . _-
TBI
Franz Rugiska, a sculptor who had also worked with Louis Sullivan, assisted Bock with the piece. Other brewing company insignia found on Chicago's tied houses include the trademarks of Stege, Peter Hand, Standard, Blatz and Birk Brothers breweries.
The German Renaissance Revival Style
An exotic relative of the Queen Anne, the German Renaissance Revival style developed in nineteenth-century Germany and was adopted in America for buildings with a strong German ethnic association, such as residences of successful brewers, tumvereins, and brewery-tied houses. Examples of the style are typically confined to cities with large German ethnic populations such as Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.
In its original manifestation, sixteenth-century German Renaissance architecture combined aspects of neo-classical architecture from Italy with mannerist interpretations of these forms in the Netherlands. The renewed interest in German Renaissance architecture in the nineteenth century was inspired by the restoration of the Heidelberg Castle (completed in the sixteenth century, restored in 1890) and the Royal Palace in Dresden (completed in 1556, restored in 1889-1901).
A characteristic feature of the style is the use of prominent gables, which in the case of the brewery-tied houses is rendered as a "false" extension of the parapet forming an ornamental silhouette. The stepped and the stepped and scrolled gable at 1801 W. Division St. is a trademark of the style.
Another characteristic of the German Renaissance Revival architectural style is the use of "bonnet"-form roofs over turrets and oriels. Examples can be found above the corner at the projecting side bay of 1801 W. Division St. In addition, the corner turret of the building was originally topped with a very prominent bonnet roof which no longer remains. Window openings in this style are not merely punched in the facade but framed to stand out from the facade, exemplified by the limestone frames at 1801W. Division St.
Specific ornamental motifs often distinguish German Renaissance Revival-style architecture. One is the semicircular lunette, either as applied ornament with shell-like fluting or as a half-round projection at the parapet level. Apair of these decorative lunettes is visible above the front facade windows at 1801W. Division St. Other uniquely-German motifs include the use of strapwork ornament, such as that rendered in pressed metal on the projecting bays of 1801 W. Division St.
The German Renaissance Revival style is relatively rare in Chicago, and examples are often broadly categorized with the Queen Anne style. By evoking German culture, the style no doubt appealed to German brewers who had maintained strong family and cultural ties with Germany. Besides tied houses, other examples of the style in Chicago include the Chicago Varnish Company Building (1895, a designated Chicago Landmark), Hamilton Public School (1905,
8
if
1801 W. Division displays several distinct features of the German Renaissance Revival style of architecture, including: the combined stepped and scrolled gable, and the semicircular lunettes with shell fluting above the window openings (top); the turret (bottom right) is decorated with strapwork motifs executed in pressed metal; and the circa 1970 photo (bottom left) shows the original "bonnet" roof which topped the turret at 1801 W. Division, but which no longer remains.
9
1650 W. Cornelia Ave.), and the facade of Eitel's Old Heidelberg Restaurant (1934,14 W. Randolph St.).
Drinking Establishments and the Brewing Industry in Chicago
The Origins of Drinking and Brewing Establishments in Chicago Today the term "saloon" conjures images from films about the "Old West." However, from the nineteenth century until Prohibition, all public drinking establishments in Chicago, including tied houses, were referred to in common usage as "saloons." After the repeal of Prohibition in 1919, the term "saloon" was legislated out of existence in favor of "bar" or "tavern," terms which remain in use today.
The origins of the public drinking establishment in Chicago go back to the city's days as a pioneer settlement when in the 1830s taverns that offered lodging, meals and alcohol were first established. One of the earliest was Mark Beaubien's Hotel Sauganash, built in 1831 (its site at the corner of West Lake St. and Wacker Drive is a designated Chicago Landmark). Other early Chicago taverns include James Kinzie's Green Tree Tavern, Elijah Wentworth's Wolf Point Tavern, and Samuel Miller's Fork Tavern.
Saloons which focused primarily on the sale of alcohol for on-premise consumption began to appear in Chicago in the 1840s. By 1849, there were 146 such licensed establishments in Chicago and an estimated twenty-six unlicensed ones. Saloons appeared first in the center of the city and later in neighborhoods populated by immigrants, particularly German, Irish and other European ethnic groups who brought with them the custom of social drinking outside the home.
Prior to the establishment of brewery-tied houses in the late-1800s, Chicago's neighborhood saloons were usually architecturally undistinguished from other "store and flat" buildings in the city. They were typically located on comers with street-level storefronts with large display windows. Separate entrances led to upper-floor apartments which often housed the saloonkeeper and his family. George Ade, a Chicago journalist and author, drew on his personal experience to describe a typical Chicago saloon in the 1880s:
When you had visited one of the old time saloons you had seen a thousand. Very often it stood on a corner as to have two street entrances and wave a gilded beer sign at pedestrians drifting along from any point of the compass. The entrance was through swinging doors which were shuttered so that anyone standing on the outside could not see what was happening on the inside. The windows were masked by grille work, potted ferns, one-sheet posters and a fly specked array of fancy-shaped bottles.
Just as saloons had a long presence in the Chicago, so too did brewing. In 1833, William Haas and Andrew Sulzer arrived in Chicago from Watertown, New York, and established the city's first brewery, producing English-style ales and porters. Haas and Sulzer soon moved onto other
10
enterprises, but the brewery they founded thrived under the management of several executives, including William Ogden, who was also served as the city's first mayor. By 1857 the brewery was led by William Lill and Michael Diversey and was brewing enough ale at its brewery at Chicago Ave. and Pine St. (now N. Michigan Ave.) to ship to Buffalo, New Orleans, and St. Paul. While Lill and Diversey could claim "lineage" back to the city's first brewery, other breweries successfully established themselves in Chicago in the 1840s and 1850s including James Carney, Jacob Gauch, Reiser & Portmann, Jacob Miller, Conrad Seipp, and John A Huck.
Huck deserves special mention, in that in 1847 he introduced Chicago to German-style lager at his brewery and attached beer garden at Chicago Ave. and Rush Street. Huck was one of several immigrants with knowledge of German brewing methods who started brewing lagers in cities with large German populations, including Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee. Unlike the traditional English-style beers, German lager had a light and crisp character with carbonation and lower alcohol content.
From the 1860s to 1870s, sales of lager beer began to outpace English-style beers, distilled spirits, and wines, and by the end of the nineteenth century lager would dominate the alcohol trade in America, giving rise to a large brewing industry. Abrewer's trade association described lager as a "light sparkling beverage peculiarly suited to the domestic palate," and praised lager as the "best adapted to the energetic and progressive civilization of the United States" due to its relatively lower alcohol content. By 1890 the thirst for beer in Chicago was so great that the Saloon Keepers Journal boasted that the per capita consumption of beer in Chicago was 49 gallons, more than twice the amount then consumed by residents of Germany.
The Growth of Brewing as an Industry
To satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand for beer, brewing evolved into one of America's and Chicago's largest manufacturing industries. In addition to its large immigrant population of beer drinkers from Germany, Bohemia, Ireland and Scandinavia, Chicago's proximity to natural resources made it an ideal location for brewing. As the central market for the vast amount of grain harvested in the Midwest, Chicago offered brewers access to barley, the key ingredient in beer. Fresh water was another important ingredient in brewing and was abundant in Chicago. The production and aging of lager consumed large amounts of ice, and the city's cold winters provided natural ice which could be harvested from lakes and stored in ice houses to allow brewing in warm weather prior to the invention of mechanical refrigeration.
Just as it attracted other industries, Chicago's central location within the national rail network was attractive to breweries, especially the large "shipping breweries" based in Milwaukee which were producing far more beer than Milwaukeeans and Chicagoans could consume. Edward G Uihlein, who led Milwaukee-based Schlitz Brewery's operations in Chicago, observed that the "expansion of the railroads throughout the U.S. made Chicago the freighting center for Schlitz, which opened up the market. The business, literally, exploded."
Chicago was also an important center for technological and scientific developments in the brewing industry. Chicago brewers were early adopters of mechanical refrigeration in the
11
1870s, allowing brewing to occur at any time of year. In 1872 German-trained chemist Dr. John E. Siebel founded the Zymotechnic Institute to test and analyze beer and yeast samples for Chicago brewers. He went on to establish Siebel Institute of Technology, which continues to offer courses in brewing in Chicago. Several trade publications for the brewing and saloon trades were based in Chicago in the late-nineteenth century, including The Western Brewer which served as a sounding board for the brewing interests as the temperance and prohibition movement gained strength.
The growth of the brewing industry in Chicago led to intense competition between an evergrowing numbers of brewers, especially after the completion of the Chicago & North Western Railway connection in 1857 which allowed Milwaukee brewers to ship beer to Chicago. The Best Brewery (later Pabst) of Milwaukee began selling in Chicago that year, with Blatz and Schlitz following in the 1860s. Historian Perry Duis observed that the industry had a "David and Goliath" quality with a few large breweries with huge production capacity contrasting with a great number of small-scale upstarts hoping to cash in on Chicago's market.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed five of the city's then twelve breweries and much of its drinking water infrastructure. In the immediate aftermath of the Fire, the Schlitz brewery sent trainloads of beer and drinking water to aid residents of the ruined city. Schlitz's good-will gesture earned the company a large number of loyal customers in Chicago, and it served as a basis for the brewery's advertising slogan, "The beer that made Milwaukee famous." Schlitz would become the most prolific builder of tied-house saloons in Chicago.
Despite the damage wrought by the Fire, and the establishment of outside competitors like Schlitz, the brewing industry in Chicago recovered. By 1890 Chicago had 34 breweries with 2,051 employees and payrolls of more than $ 1.4 million. Ten years later, in 1900, Chicago breweries produced over 100 million gallons of beer per year. The industry was dominated by entrepreneurs of German origins (74% of all Chicago brewers in 1900), followed by immigrants from England and Canada. The ranks of Chicago brewers included such well-known names as Peter Schoenhofen, Joseph Theurer, Francis Dewes, Conrad Seipp, Fridolin Madlener, and Michael Brand.
These brewers were well-respected members of Chicago's large and wide-spread German-American community. Most were members of the Germania Club (a designated Chicago Landmark), Chicago's premiere club for Chicagoans of German origin or descent. Schoenhofen upon his death left $75,000 to various charitable organizations in Chicago, including the Alexian Brothers' Hospital, the German Old People's Home, the Evangelical Lutheran Orphan Asylum, and St. Luke's Free Hospital. Theurer, who was Schoenhofen's son-in-law, served as president of the American Brewers' Association and was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and several clubs, including the Chicago Athletic Club. Although his wealth was made in America, Dewes came from a well-established family in Germany, where his father was a member of the first German Parliament in 1848. In Chicago, he was a member of the Chicago Athletic and Union League clubs. Seipp was an abolitionist before the Civil War and a staunch Republican in the years after. Madlener, whose son married a daughter of Seipp, was a supporter of Chicago's turnvereins (gymnastic societies) and sangvereins (singing
12
FIRST LAGER BEER BREWERY IN CHICAGO, T&47-John A. Huck, Proprietor.
The drawing above shows John Huck's lager brewery in Chicago in 1847. Many large breweries grew from such humble beginnings into major industries in Chicago, Milwaukee, and other cities in the late 1800s.
A cover illustration (above) from the Chicago-based trade publication The Western Brewershowing King Gambrinus, the unofficial patron saint of beer. The words "True Temperance" reflect the brewing industry's argument that beer was a temperate, even healthful, beverage due to its lower alcohol content compared to spirits.
Siebel's Brewing Academy (left) circa 1902-1904. Chicago was a leading center for scientific and technological advances in brewing, moving the field from an ethnic craft tradition to an important industry. Siebel's academy continues to teach brewing in Chicago.
13
societies). Brand was a member of the Illinois legislature from 1862-63 and was later a Chicago alderman from 1873-74. He was a member of the Iroquois Club as well as the Chicago Board of Trade. (The two buildings that were part of the Schoenhofen Brewery as well as the homes of Theurer, Dewes and his brother, and Madlener's son are all Chicago Landmarks.)
Beginning in 1889, Chicago's brewing industry faced new challenges due to investments and mergers arranged by British speculators who purchased several breweries and merged them into syndicates. The investors hoped that syndication would reduce competition and create advantageous economies of scale in purchasing grain and transportation costs. Rather than reducing competition, the syndicates were undermined by independent brewers who slashed wholesale prices resulting in the so-called "Beer Wars" of the 1890s, which drove barrel prices down from $6 to $3.
During the same period, brewers found themselves in an increasingly antagonistic relationship with Chicago's independent saloon owners. Prior to the introduction of the tied-house system, brewery salesman pursued aggressive sales strategies with saloons to ensure that their beer was placed in the retail market. In order to secure orders from saloon owners, breweries undercut their competitor's wholesale barrel prices. Brand loyalty was apparently not a consideration; in addition, brewery salesmen offered free samples, glassware, signs and other gratuities to garner a saloon keeper's loyalty. The intense competition allowed saloon owners to play rival beer salesman against each other, readily switching suppliers for a lower barrel price.
It was in this environment of cut-throat competition and declining profits in the 1890s that brewing companies would be drawn to the tied-house system as a business strategy to guarantee retail outlets for their products. Increased regulation of saloons by "dry" reformers would have the unintended effect of further encouraging the tied-house system.
The "Dry " Movement
The development of the tied-house system in Chicago owes just as much to opponents of alcohol as it does brewers and drinkers. As early as 1833, Chicago supported a local chapter of the American Temperance Society, made up of so-called "drys" who assailed the social disorder caused by drinking. Temperance began as part of a religious movement which encouraged moderation in alcohol consumption. Beer and wine were regarded as temperate substitutes to hard liquors (a theme which brewers would advocate up to Prohibition). Throughout the nineteenth century, the dry movement became more rigid, evolving from a position of moderate consumption to complete abstinence, and from moral persuasion to poUtical pressure.
One pillar of the temperance movement was to force saloons to adhere to night-time closing hours and Sunday closure. George Ade recalled that during the 1890s saloons were "open all night and on Sunday. One of the most familiar statements in playful circulation was to the effect that when a drink parlor was opened in the loop, the proprietor went over and threw the key into the lake. The more famous hang-outs had not been closed for a single minute for years and years." A Sunday closing law was passed by the State of Illinois as early as 1851, but in
14
Chicago no attempt to enforce the law was made until the election of Mayor Levi Boone in 1854.
Boone had been elected by supporters of the Know-Nothing Party, a coalition of "dry" and anti-immigrant voters. Once in office, Boone raised the annual saloon license fee from $50 to $300 and called for the enforcement of the state's Sunday closure law. Thirty-three saloon owners who did not close on Sunday were arrested and scheduled for trial on April 21,1855. A gathering of protestors at the courthouse on the day of the trial clashed with police resulting in one death and dozens of arrests. This first outbreak of civil unrest in the city's history became known as the "Lager Beer Riot." For the city's working-class immigrant communities, particularly the Germans and Irish, Boone's policies were seen as an attack on their culture and leisure. They were joined by brewers and saloon owners whose profits were threatened. In the following city election, German and Irish voters drove Boone out of office, and his reforms were reversed, yet alcohol would remain a volatile political issue in the city for decades.
Attempts in 1874 to again enforce Sunday closure met with similar opposition, which in turn led to the watering down of the legislation to allow saloons to remain open on Sunday as long as windows remained shaded and the front door closed, though rear or side doors could be opened for customers. The "compromise" ordinance placed a premium on corner locations, as evidenced by the remaining brewery-tied houses.
A second pillar of "dry" reformers focused on the licensing of clrinking establishments, specifically restricting the number of licenses to discourage the establishment of new licenses. Dry's also advocated a "high license" movement which would increase the annual saloon license fee to raise revenue for police and social programs necessitated by alcohol abuse. The higher fees were also hoped to force small tavern owners out of business. In 1883 the Illinois State legislature passed the Harper High License Act which raised the annual saloon license fee from $103 to $500.
Facing bankruptcy, saloon keepers turned to brewers for help in paying the higher license fees. To keep their retailers in business and selling their beer, brewers subsidized saloon owners by paying part or all of the increased license fees. In exchange, brewers compelled the saloon keeper to exclusively sell only their beer. After passage of the Harper legislation, 780 of Chicago's 3,500 saloons closed, yet in the next year 516 new saloons opened with subsidies from brewing companies.
These efforts by temperance advocates to regulate public drinking establishments had the unintended effect of increasing the role of breweries in the retailing of their product, which led ultimately to brewers taking direct control over saloons in the tied-house system.
The Role of the Saloon in Chicago's Neighborhoods
Despite being increasingly hedged in by legal restrictions and demonized by dry reformers, the saloon in Chicago proved to be a remarkably resilient part of the social fabric of Chicago's neighborhoods. An abundance of writing by temperance advocates and sensational press articles portrayed the saloon as a haven for gambling, prostitution, political corruption and a host
15
Daddy's in There-
Ami Om Sbtu m4 St«cKw$«"»<wi .Ciisk^iflik few} A**- bi. Tfteie, T*«,
NmrCawOut
WHICH NEEDS IT MOST ?
For »he Money ItpwenM -te^i":- *.,
^Aay-Cftoicei jfrYw.fww Will Give Yoi;,; the Following Groceries: :
5 Pound* Tea 25 Cam* Tomatoes -10 Down Orange*."--- . 10 Dozen Btaoua* ■ 30C«n*.Cofo . 10 Pounds iktns
.10 Fifrj-pound Ssckl of
> lOBuMtFatttoct.
. > 100 Pouod* Gf anulaled -
^-.-SBwa* ■' :* 20 Pounds Butter .t
10 Pounds Rice - 10 Periods 0*t Writes 10 Pounds Coffee -
100 Cakes Soap. ,
- 4 Gallons Molasses 20 Gallons Oil ,.
BE EHOUSH MONEY LEFI TO BUY FOS YOUR WIFE AHO BABIES ?
; iauiiin nit *»*«t«4iri»»« c rt>aua*ni* ». .wsntsnu&'jMKa-;^
Founded in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1893, the Anti-Saloon League vowed that "The saloon must go." Illustrated pamphlets (top left and right) highlighted the damage caused by saloon drinking to the American family and home. As saloon owners during the tied-house period, brewing companies began to be perceived as soulless monopolies.
Chicago members of the Anti-Saloon League in 1910 (right) reviewing a petition for local-option legislation which would allow wards or even the entire city to vote itself "dry." The Anti-Saloon League became a major force in politics and was the organization most responsible for the passage of Prohibition in 1919.
mm
mmm
■ll
iili
J';
Hi
KgM
■ll
§■111
: :
Wmm
■
EnN
■
m
ilBi
16
of other social ills. A few contemporary authors, however, took a more scientific approach to understand what role the neighborhood saloon played in the social fabric of Chicago's neighborhoods.
One such study of the saloon in Chicago was prepared by The Committee ofFifty for the Investigation of the Liquor Problem, a non-governmental body led by the presidents of Harvard and Columbia universities and which included academics, progressives social reformers, anti-alcohol campaigners, and industrialists. In 1900 the Committee published an in-depth study of saloons clustered near the Chicago Commons settlement house in the West Town neighborhood. While the Committee promoted temperance and prohibition, its study recognized that the saloon was the "social and intellectual center of the neighborhood."
The researchers found that the saloon offered a range of legitimate creature comforts with the purchase of a 5-cent glass of beer. Compared with the unpleasant dwellings occupied by the working class, the saloon interior provided comfortably furnished and heated rooms where newspapers, music, and billiards were often available. The study also found that the ubiquitous free lunches offered by saloons distributed more food in Chicago than the combined efforts of charities fighting hunger at the time. Check cashing, telephones, and restrooms were other benefits cited by the study.
More importantly, the study found that the saloon also offered camaraderie, information about job opportunities, a safe place for the discussion of politics that would not be tolerated in the workplace, and the assimilation and mixing of members of different ethnic immigrant groups. It was not uncommon for weddings and funerals to be held in the back rooms of saloons.
It should be noted that social nonns of the period strongly discouraged women from patronizing saloons. The social benefits of the saloon were available only to men. Indeed, women bore the brunt of the domestic upheaval caused by alcohol abuse, and historians suggest that the suffrage movement was largely driven by women who wanted a voice in alcohol policies.
The Committee's study concluded that the saloons in West Town in 1900 were social clubs for the irnmigrant working class, and that while vice did exist in saloons, it had been greatly exaggerated by dry advocates and sensationalist journalism. Rather than continuing ineffective legal restrictions on saloons, the Committee recommended greater support for substitutes for the saloon such as turnvereins, trade unions, church societies, settlement houses, and public libraries.
The Establishment of the Tbed-House System in Chicago
The term "tied house" first appeared in eighteenth-century London where it referred to taverns owned by breweries where they only sold their brand of beer. The system was a form of "vertically-integrated" production, by which breweries expanded their business beyond mere production to also include the wholesale distribution and retail sale of their product. Intense
17
competition among brewers combined with government policies which sought to restrict saloons compelled brewers to embrace the tied-house system in nineteenth-century Chicago. The tied-house system reflects broader economic patterns of the time that encouraged the growth of large business enterprises such as industrial corporations and department stores.
The tied-house system offered brewers numerous advantages. The greatest of these was that retail outlets for their product could be assured. This was especially attractive to brewing companies in Chicago which were reeling from price wars and aggressive sales practices from competitors. Securing retail establishments was also advantageous to brewers because beer was perishable and impossible to stockpile during downturns. Similarly, the system allowed the brewer to control how their beer was stored and served to maintain the brand's reputation.
At its inception, the tied-house system also appealed to dry reformers. In 1892, the Chicago Tribune observed that it "would be of much advantage to the city from the standpoint of the social economist, because it means a reduction in the number of saloons and raises their character by putting ample responsibility behind them." Indeed, brewing companies also hoped that they could improve the image of the saloon in the face of growing criticism from social reformers and temperance advocates. The Chicago Brewers Association planned "to place the licensed places where their product is sold on such a basis of respectable conduct that the community will have no cause to complain of their existence."
The tied-house system in Chicago evolved gradually. As previously noted, brewers began to invest capital in saloons by subsidizing the license fees of saloon owners in 1883. At the same time, brewers established rental programs which offered fixtures, equipment and furniture for rent to saloon owners. The scale of these programs ranged from a few pieces for an established saloon to the complete outfit of a new saloon ranging from the bar itself all the way to the kitchen sink. A key feature of these rental agreements prohibited the saloon owner from selling beer from any other brewer, and the brewer's beer prices were non-negotiable.
Brewers took the next step toward the tied-house system when they began to rent commercial property and establish saloons selling only their products. Rather than dealing with independent saloon owners with little loyalty, the brewers employed their own agents to run the establishment. Compared to an independent saloonkeeper, the brewing company had more substantial financial resources, allowing it to rent choice storefronts in highly desirable locations.
Outright ownership of saloons by breweries began in Chicago in 1892 when two large brewery syndicates, the English-backed Chicago Brewing & Malting Company and the local combine known as the Milwaukee & Chicago Breweries Ltd., established a fund of $6 million to buy already-built saloons as well as land for new ones. In 1892, the Tribune reported that the first twenty saloons purchased by the conglomerate were located in "manufacturing districts occupied by a foreign-bom population," and the newspaper hoped that the character of these saloons would improve with the ample responsibility of the breweries behind them. By 1893 nearly half of the city's seven thousand saloons were tied to breweries. While some of these were pre-existing saloons, the majority were new buildings purpose-built as tied houses. Milwaukee-based Schlitz was the most prolific tied-house builder, though other Milwaukee
18
TUB SAM3tO!X-P008 MAN'S CtUB
Initially conceived of by "dry" reformers to moderate alcohol consumption, the "free lunch" became an important feature of Chicago saloons. The most ample lunches were available at tied houses due to the financial backing of the brewing companies. A1900 study of saloons in the West Town community area concluded that more food was supplied by saloons than the combined efforts of hunger charities.
brewers built in Chicago including Blatz, Pabst, and Miller. Local brewers also built tied houses in Chicago such as the Atlas, Birk Brothers, Fortune Brothers, Gottfried, Peter Hand, Standard, and Stege companies.
The tied-house system transformed saloonkeepers from independent business owners to dependency on, and employment by, the controlling brewery. An entrepreneur wishing to start up a saloon with a brewer's sponsorship could set up a tied house with a small investment, however, his job security depended on turning a sufficient profit for the brewer; under-performing saloonkeepers were frequently replaced. Edward G Uihlein of the Schlitz Brewery portrayed the tied-house system as protecting both the interests of the brewer and the saloon keeper, who was now his employee:
For our own purposes we often invested funds by financing our customers [saloon keepers]. In this manner we not only reached higher sales figures, but we also insured our clients against the competition. We could set our own prices, but of course we never took advantage of the situation. When we rented to a merchant who handled our product exclusively we were very sure of his reputation and his compliance with all laws and ordinances. A respectable merchant need not fear an increase in rent unless an increase in taxes or cost of maintenance made it necessary. Needless to say, our policies were not highly regarded by the competition. However, after some time, when we had achieved a reputation for keeping our contracts and the most inconsequential of promises we had not problem renting all available space. The final result was the respect of the whole business sector in Chicago.
While dry reformers initially believed that the tied-house system would lead to improvements in the character of the saloon in Chicago, they must have been appalled to observe how the system encouraged the proliferation of drinking establishments. Rather than one saloon selling multiple brands of beer, the tied-house system created multiple saloons, each selling only one brand of beer. In 1906 the Tribune reported that "wherever one (brewing company) started a saloon to sell his beer exclusively, his rivals felt constrained to start saloons of their own in the neighborhood. The result has been a costly multiplication of drinking places." George Ade observed that "new saloons were opened whenever there seemed to be a fair chance of
19
attracting a group of bar-drinkers. They grew in number along the main thoroughfares, filtered into side streets and invaded residential districts."
In his 1890 description of Chicago's then predominantly Czech and Slovak Pilsen neighborhood, religious missionary John Huss wrote that he "counted 72 liquor saloons on one side of the St., and presume there were as many more on the other side, within a distance of about one and a half miles." A year later the Women's Christian Temperance Union, founded in Evanston by Frances Willard, counted 5,600 saloons in the entire city, enough "if placed side by side on a St. they would form a stretch of saloons 10 miles long."
Both contemporary observers and historians of the tied-house period in Chicago suggest that the lack of job security and increased competition between the ever-growing number of saloons forced some saloon keepers to host vice on their premises in exchange for kickbacks. According to Ade, "it was not until the saloons multiplied until each one had to resort to 'rough stuff in order to get money in the till that the urban proprietor who wished to run a 'nice, quite place' .became lost in the shuffle."
While the tied-house system offered brewers advantages in distribution and sale of their product, the system was flawed in that it laid the social problems associated with alcohol and saloons on the brewer's doorstep. Rather than merely brewing beer, breweries began to be regarded as giant and soulless monopolies. The brewing companies' failure to respond the complaints of dry advocates against saloons would give the Prohibition movement greater traction in the first two decades of the twentieth century.
Like all other liquor sellers, the tied house was legalized out of existence by Prohibition in 1919. Yet, unlike other alcohol retailers, Federal regulations explicitly prohibited the re-establishment of the tied-house system after the repeal of Prohibition in 193 3. Tied-house buildings that reopened as taverns in 1933 were owned or leased by independent tavern keepers.
Schlitz Brewery's Tied-House System in Chicago
Though not the first tied-house builder in Chicago, Schlitz was the most prolific, and its architectural legacy is readily identifiable by the brewery's "belted globe" insignia which survives on many of its tied houses. The origins of the Schlitz Brewery go back to August Krug who emigrated from Germany to Milwaukee in 1848. With his wife he established "Little Germany," a restaurant and tavern catering to Milwaukee's large German population. Krug brewed small batches of lager for the tavern, which gained such popularity that he established the August Krug Brewery in the tavern's basement.
In 1850, Krug adopted his 8-year-old nephew August Uihlein who had arrived from Germany. Once settled in Milwaukee, the young August went to school and was trained in the brewing business by his uncle. Also in 1850, Joseph Schlitz, also from Germany, was hired by Krug to serve as bookkeeper for the growing brewery. August Krug's brewery continued to prosper until his death in 1856. Joseph Schlitz took over the brewery's interests through marriage to Krug's widow, and changed the name of the business in 1858 to the Joseph Schlitz Brewing
20
l$olid Block oi Saloons in Ashland Avenue, Likely to Be Thinned Out if. $1,000 License Is Adopted
Ji-«cM» titM* » *>m» Mtfon h«*i. it pmtmrir win u<> mr*n « iM**o» «t »wnt»*» r»<r,« wti*a iMiiiK'Jt <« mwu et tw tlx mnoa* tor hum. *. «w* mm» iwiniinii » ntBtiWtWHHMtmW^ufwW*" **>*»
M. Th. ll-t lU k M«M» «*»« tWI »« > » ««» ». tM *>,#* t-<«« "HHT mil MlaMW;
"^tuM tctW^c^''^ ^*»*»<»J»W**«ry^wr «mttt l^aaltwu «*n sr* pUno»4 Mrgrtr V- toMifn ».">4 0>* out *< Virions. TM* »»ta*iy «wM U* tun *«k nO>hw « (In tuw la AIM bat smtt at tt* mIhh tn tl» n-r w* J» mH>
In 1906, the Chicago Tribune published a composite photo of an unbroken row of saloons on Ashland Ave. near the Stockyards. It reflected the growing concern at the time over the proliferation of saloons in Chicago, an unforeseen consequence of the tied-house system. Such multiplication of saloons would lead to federal legislation, passed after Prohibition (and which remains in effect today), which prevents brewing companies from owning retail establishments.
Company. August Uihlein, who by then was 16 and attending St. Louis University in Missouri, returned from school and persuaded Schlitz to hire him as bookkeeper.
In 1860, August Uihlein left Schlitz to take a higher paid position at the Ulrig Brewery in St. Louis. In following years, August's brothersHenry, Edward and Alfred Uihlein immigrated to the United States and found work in the brewing industry. It was Edward who would build Schlitz's tied houses in Chicago.
Edward G. Uihlein (1845-1921) was 18 years old when he arrived in St. Louis in 1863 and soon started a small metal manufacturing company which proved so successful that he moved to Chicago where he opened a second factory and retail store. Uihlein's business survived and thrived after the Fire of 1871, however, the following year he accepted Joseph Schlitz's invitation to be the brewery's manager for its expanding Chicago market.
On May 7,1875, Joseph Schlitz perished in a shipwreck off the English coast while en route to Germany. Prior to his journey, he made out his will which left the four Uihlein brothers with a controlling share of the brewery's stock. Edward was appointed as vice-president of the brewery, but remained in Chicago to manage Schlitz's operations there. The quartet of Uihlein brothers would use their entrepreneurial and managerial talents to raise Schlitz to a globally-recognized brand by the turn of the twentieth century. During the tied-house period, Schlitz was the third-largest brewer in the United States, behind Pabst of Milwaukee and Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis.
Like other "shipping breweries," Schlitz brewed their beer in Milwaukee and shipped it to its Chicago plant (1903, Frommann & Jebsen, demolished) near the tracks of the Chicago and North Western Railway ait W. Ohio and N. Union Streets. From there it was shipped by the barrel to saloons, and bottled when that technology became available.
Under Edward Uihlein's management, Schlitz built fifty-seven tied houses in the city from 1897 to 1905 at a cost of $328,800. They were mostly located on corners of commercial
21
The Joseph Schlitz Brewery company in Milwaukee in 1888 (above) was one of a half-dozen "shipping breweries" in the nineteenth century using pasteurization, refrigeration and rail transportation to brew and sell far more beer than the local population of Milwaukee could consume. Chicago was a major market for Schlitz.
Edward G. Uihlein (1845-1921) immigrated to America from Germany as a boy and was groomed for the brewing industry through family connections. He was one of four brothers who promoted the Schlitz Brewery into a global brand.
Joseph Schlitz Brewery,
HENRY UWtt.«m.....;.....Pr«.W«nt
AJ.FHEOUIHUeiMSupml.>l»,)«e.iJ AUGUST DIHLBUC.___..Baarmry
Annual Capacity, 600,000 Barrels,
May 1st appears the latest and best product of the celebrated Joseph Schlitz Brewery, brewed exclusively from Canada Barley Malt and Finest Bohemian Hops.
EDWARD UIHLEIN, Manager, Chicago,
Corner Union and Ohib-sts.
As the director of Schlitz's Chicago operations, Edward Uihlein oversaw the distribution of Schlitz's beer from their Chicago facility at Ohio and Union Streets, as indicated in the advertisement at left. Under Uihlein's management, Schlitz built at least fifty-seven tied houses in the city from 1897 to 1905 at a cost of $328,800.
22
streets in immigrant working-class neighborhoods. The location of the Schlitz's saloons provides no indication that the brewery catered to a specific ethnic group, focusing instead on areas with large concentration of industrial workers. For example, in 1904 Uihlein purchased a ten-acre site opposite the planned industrial town of Pullman, which had banned alcohol. It was a prime location to attract the thirsty workers of Pullman, and Uihlein constructed "Schlitz Row," a two-block long stretch that included three tied houses, a stable building, and housing for managers employed by the brewery. The tied house at 11400 S. Front Ave. (1906) and the stable at 11314 S. Front Ave. (1906) remain from "Schlitz Row," as well as some additional buildings.
Prior to the tied-house period, saloons in Chicago neighborhoods were often indistinguishable in function and appearance from common "store and flat" buildings. However, tied-house brewers in general, and Schlitz in particular, maintained a much higher standard of architectural design and construction for the saloons they built. Uihlein commissioned established Chicago architects to design the Schlitz-owned tied houses, including Frommann & Jebsen, Kley & Lang and Charles Thisslew. It can only be assumed that breweries like Schlitz chose high-quality architecture not only to compete for customers, but more importantly to project an image of propriety in the face of growing criticism of saloons and drinking.
In addition to his successful career with Schlitz, Edward Uihlein was a prominent and socially-active figure in Chicago's German-American community, serving on the boards of charitable, arts and ethnic organizations including the Chicago Historical Society and the Germania Club. Uihlein was also an avidhorticulturist and served a term as a commissioner of Chicago's West Parks Commission. He was also vice president of the Horticultural Society of Chicago, which is the predecessor of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois.
The End of the Tied-Hoitse System
Even as tied houses were being constructed in Chicago in the 1890s and 1910s, the dry movement intensified. The multiplication of saloons under the tied-house system contributed to the growing political resistance to public drinking establishments. During the 1890s and 1910s, dry reformers gained strength through the Anti-Saloon League, a very successful poUtical action group which vowed that "the saloon must go."
By 1906 the political influence of the Anti-Saloon League was evident in Chicago when the city passed ordinances which doubled the annual license fee for saloons and capped the number of licenses until the population doubled; and, in 1915, Mayor Thompson finally enforced the Sunday closure laws. Three years later during World War I, the U.S. Congress passed wartime prohibition to conserve grain for food supplies. During the war, Schlitz, like many other breweries, was attacked in the press for the German heritage of its founders and managers. A dry politician named John Strange told the Milwaukee Journal that "we have German enemies across the water. We have German enemies in this country too. And the worst of all our German enemies, the most treacherous, the most menacing, are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz and Miller."
National Prohibition passed in 1919 and remained in effect until 1933. At the beginning of Prohibition, there were 1,345 breweries in America. Schlitz was one of only thirty-one
23
breweries that survived the "noble experiment." Like other breweries, Schlitz sustained itself by selling malt syrup, ostensibly for baking but which was widely used as a beer starter for home brewers. Schlitz's "cereal beverage" Famo, or de-alcoholized beer, sold well only in the first years of Prohibition.
After the repeal of prohibition in 1933, revised state and federal regulations of the alcohol industry prohibited breweries from owning or having financial interests in retail establishments, thus preventing the re-establishment of the tied-house system and monopolies. The system was replaced with the current "three-tier system," with an independent wholesale distributor placed between the brewer and the tavern owner.
Despite the end of the tied-house system, Schlitz was one of the nation's largest brewers up to the 1960s when the brand declined after the recipe for its beer was changed. In the 1970s, the company and brand rights were bought by Pabst which continues to brew Schlitz beer.
24
Criteria For Designation
According to the Municipal Code of Chicago (Sect. 2-120-690), the Commission on Chicago Landmarks has the authority to make a recommendation of landmark designation for a building, structure, object, or district if the Commission determines it meets two or more of the stated "criteria for landmark designation," as well as possesses a significant degree of its historic design integrity.
The following should be considered by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in determining whether to recommend that the former Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. be designated as a Chicago Landmark.
Criterion 1: Critical Part of the City's History
Its value as an example of the architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other aspect of the heritage of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois or the United States.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. represents a distinct property type that conveys important themes from Chicago and American history from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including the rise of vertically-integrated manufacturing production and retail sales; the role of science and technology in the transformation of crafts into industries, including the brewery industry; increasing competition among businesses as the city and country grew; the role of the neighborhood saloon; the role of ethnic immigrants as both leaders of the brewing industry and as consumers; and the national question about the role of alcohol in society which would later culminate in national Prohibition.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. conveys the economic prominence of the brewing industry in Chicago and Milwaukee during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, made possible by those cities' access to grain markets, fresh water, natural supplies of ice, and train transportation.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. is representative of the brewing industry founded and managed by German immigrants, and who were prominent businessmen active in the city's affairs; and therefore reflects the importance of ethnic immigration in Chicago's history and development, in general, and specifically the contributions of the Chicago's German ethnic community, one of the city's largest ethnic groups.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. is typical of other brewery-tied houses in Chicago which were most commonly located on prominent comers of commercial streets, well served by street cars or elevated trains, and in neighborhoods settled by large ethnic and working class populations; and, as such, the building Conveys the early social character and leisure habits of these early residents of Chicago's
' neighborhoods.
As the unintended manifestation of legislation and social pressure by progressive reformers, the Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. conveys the national
25
debate about alcohol consumption and the "Dry" movement in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The subsequent proliferation of drinking places under the tied-house system was a factor in the establishment of national Prohibition in 1919.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. is one of a great number of buildings built in Chicago by the Schlitz Brewery, which may be traced back to the aftermath of the Fire of 1871, when the brewery sent water and, in particular, beer to the ravaged city, establishing a loyal customer base in Chicago, and solidifying its motto "The beer that made Milwaukee Famous."
Criterion 4: Important Architecture
Its exemplification of an architectural type or style distinguished by innovation, rarity, uniqueness, or overall quality of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801W. Division St. represents a distinct and recognizable building type in Chicago's neighborhoods typified by such features as its display of brewery insignia, its prominent comer location on a neighborhood commercial street, its comer entrances marked by prominent turret, and other ornamental features, and its use of typically high-quality masonry construction and a picturesque style of architecture.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. exemplifies the German Renaissance Revival style of architecture which was used in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries for buildings with a strong German ethnic association, including Schlitz's tied-houses in Chicago. With its emphasis on visually-pleasing characteristics and motifs drawn from earlier periods, the German Renaissance Revival style helped the brewery-tied houses to present a legitimate and socially-responsible image amidst growing opposition to clrinking establishments.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801W. Division St. displays distinctive features of the German Renaissance Revival style of architecture, mcluding such typical stylistic features as its stepped and scrolled gable, the pair semicircular lunettes with shell-like fluting at the top of the second floor window openings, the "bonnet" roof over the bay window, and strapwork and heraldic motifs in the turret and gable decoration.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. was designed by architect Fritz Lang (d. 1925) who designed several other tied-houses for Schlitz. In the two years preceding the Division St. commission, Lang in partnership with Henry Kley designed the Schlitz brewery-tied houses at 3456 S. Western Ave. (1899), 1944N. Oakley Ave. (1898), and 3325 N. Southport Ave. (1898). On his own, Fritz Lang also designed a Schlitz brewery-tied house at and 1201 W. Roscoe Ave. (1902).
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801W. Division St. displays exceptionally fine craftsmanship and detailing in high-quality historic materials, displayed through its brick and stone masonry and pressed-metal architectural ornament.
26
Characteristic of Chicago's brewery-tied houses, the Schlitz brewery-tied house at
1801 W. Division St. displays Schlitz's "belted globe" insignia in its facade, the design of which is based on sculptor Richard Bock's design for Schlitz's exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Criterion 6: Distinctive Theme
Its representation of an architectural, cultural, economic, historic, social, or other theme expressed through distinctive areas, districts, places, buildings, structures, works of art, or other objects that may or may not be contiguous.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Divsion St. is part of a larger group of brewery-tied houses and associated buildings in Chicago that together convey important aspects of Chicago and American history from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including: the rise of large, vertically-integrated commercial enterprises combining production and retail sales; the economic might of brewing companies in Chicago and Milwaukee; the role of the neighborhood saloon; the role of immigration and ethnicity in brewing and beer consumption; and the national debate about the role of the saloon in society which culminated in national Prohibition in 1919.
Chicago's brewery-tied houses represent a distinct building type, and the individual examples of this type enhance the architectural character of diverse Chicago neighborhoods.
Integrity Criteria
The integrity of the proposed landmark must be preserved in light of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and ability to express its historic community, architecture or aesthetic value.
The former Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801W. Division St. retains excellent physical integrity, displayed through its siting, scale, overall design, and historic relationships to its surrounding neighborhoods. It retains the majority of its historic materials and original detailing and imparts a strong sense of its original visual character.
The building features the majority of its physical characteristics that define its historic and architectural significance, including historic wall materials in brick and limestone, its prominent comer turret, original ornamentation in pressed metal, its display of the insignia of the brewing company that built the building, and its comer and side entrances to the tavern.
Changes to the building include the loss of the "bonnet" roof and finial that originally topped the corner turret. Windows, doors, and the storefront windows have also been replaced, although these changes are minor, and are a common and reversible change for commercial storefronts.
27
Significant Historical
and Architectural Features
Whenever a building, structure, object, or district is under consideration for landmark designation, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is required to identify the "significant historical and architectural features" of the property. This is done to enable the owners and the public to understand which elements are considered most important to preserve the historical and architectural character of the proposed landmark.
Based upon its evaluation of the Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801W. Division St., the Commission recommends that the significant features be identified as follows:
All exterior elevations, including rooflines, of the building.
The Schlitz brewery-tied house at 1801 W. Division St. possesses excellent integrity. View of the building circa 1970 (left) and today (right).
28
Selected Bd3liography
Ade, George. The Old-Time Saloon: Not Wet-Not Dry, Just History. New York: R. Long &
R.R. Smith, 1931. Andreas, AT. History of Chicago, III. S.l: s.n, 1893
Baron, Stanley, and James H. Young. Brewed in America: A History of Beer and Ale in the
United States. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1962. Print. Bock, Richard W, and Dorathi B. Pierre. Memoirs of an American Artist, Sculptor, Richard
W. Bock. Los Angeles, Calif: CC. Pub. Co, 1989. Chicago Brewing Equipment Directory. Chicago: Zymotechnic Alumni Association, 1911. Chrucky, Serhii. "Tied Houses." Forgotten Chicago, <http://forgottenchicago.com/features/
chicago-architecture/tied-houses/>. Duis, Perry. The Saloon: Public Drinking in Chicago and Boston, 1880-1920. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1983. Grossman, James R, Ann D. Keating, and Janice L. Reiff. The Encyclopedia of Chicago.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. George, John E "The Saloon Question in Chicago," American Economics Association,
Economic Studies II (April 1897). Helas, Volker. Villenarchitektur/Villa Architecture in Dresden. Cologne: Taschen, 1991. A History of the City of Chicago Its Men and Institutions : Biographical Sketches of
Leading Citizens; Illustrated. Chicago: Inter Ocean, 1900. Hitchcock, Henry R. German Renaissance Architecture. Princeton, N . J: Princeton University
Press, 198 h
"HomeTown in Baden Honors Uihleins."M/7vw«fee Journal 1 Mar. 1931. Huss, John. What I Found in Pilsen. Chicago: Chicago City Missionary Society, 1890. Knox, D. M. "The Development of the Tied House System in London" Oxford Economic-Papers, New Series, vol. 10, no. I (Feb 1958) 66-83. LeMasters, E E. Blue-collar Aristocrats: Life-styles at a Working-Class Tavern. Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1975. Melendy, Royal L. "The Saloon in Chicago" The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 6, No.
3 (Nov., 1900), pp. 289-306. Mickelson, Gunnar. "Rise of Uihlein Dynasty, Canny August Spread Schlitz Fame to Corners
of Earth." Milwaukee Sentinel, January 17,1932. Milde, Karl. Neorenaissance in der deutschen Architektur der 19 Jahrhundrets (Dresden:
VerlagderKunst, 1981), 278-300. Notz, John K. "Edward G. Uihlein, Advocate for Landscape Architect Jens Jensen." Wisconsin
Academy Review, vol. 44, no. 3 (Summer 1998), pp. 8-14. One Hundred Years of Brewing: A Complete History of the Progress Made in the Art,
Science and Industry of Brewing in the World, Particularly During the Nineteenth
Century. Chicago and New York: H.S. Rich & Co, 1903. Pierce, Bessy Louise. A History ofChicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Reilly, Michael R. Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co.: A Chronological History 1933-1969. Sinkevitch, Alice, and Laurie M. G. Petersen. Aia Guide to Chicago. New York: Harcourt
Brace, 1993.
29
Simon, Andreas. Chicago, Die Gartenstadt: Unsere Parks, Boulevards UnciFriedhofe, in
Wort Und Bild: Nebst Anderen Skizzen: Ein Lesebuch Fur Naturfreunde. Chicago:
Franz Gindele Print. Co, 1893. Skilnik, Bob. Beer: A History of Brewing In Chicago. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 2006. Stack, Martin. "Local and Regional Breweries in America's Brewing Industry, 1865 to 1920."
The Business History Review. Vol. 74, No. 3 (2000): 435-463. Stege, C E. Stege, a Main Trunk and Several Branches. Villa Park,lL: CES Associates,
1981.
"The Death Roll." American Brewers'Review 1 Sept. 1908:474.
Uihlein, Edward G Memories of My Youth. \9\1. Unpublished manuscript. Translated into
English by Rosina Lippi, 1978. Chicago History Museum. Vredeman, de V. H, Heiner Borggrefe, Thomas Fusenig, and Barbara Uppenkamp. Hans
Vredeman De Vries Und Die Renaissance Im Norden. Munchen: Hirmer, 2002. Year Book of the United States Brewers Association.NewYork: The Association, 1909,
1918, 1919.
30
Acknowledgments
CITY OF CHICAGO
Richard M. Daley, Mayor
Department of Housing and Economic Development
Andrew J. Mooney, Commissioner
Patricia A. Scudiero, Managing Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Planning and Zoning Brian Goeken, Deputy Commissioner, Historic Preservation Division
Project Staff
Matt Crawford, research, writing, and photography Susan Perry, research Terry Tatum, editing Brian Goeken, editing
Illustrations
Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development: cover, pp. 2, 4, 7 (middle and bottom rows), 9 (top and bottom rows), 29 (bottom).
Chicago Daily News negatives collection, courtesy of the Chicago History Museum: p. 10 (bottom, DN-0008122). One Hundred Years of Brewing: p. 13 (top left). The Western Brewer 1898: p. 13 (top right).
The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, Siebel's Brewing Academy, c. 1902-1904, Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-17537): p 13 (bottom).
Westerville Public Library, Westerville, Ohio; online archives of the Anti-Saloon League: p. 16 (top right and left). Perry Duis, The Saloon: Public Drinking in Chicago and Boston, 1880-1920: p. 19. ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune: pp. 21.
Wisconsin Historical Society online, H. H. Bennett Studio Collection: p. 22 (top left, Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, circa 1888).
A History of the City of Chicago Its Men and Institutions: Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens; Illustrated: p. 22 (top right).
Memoirs of an American Artist, Sculptor, Richard W. Bock: p. 7 (top right). Sussex-Lisbon Area Historical Society, www.slahs.org/schlitz/1893exhibit.htm: p. 7 (top left). Chicago History Museum, call number 1996.67, contact sheets from Schlitz Brewing Company Saloons in Chicago, no date, photographer unknown: p. 9 (middle).
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council, was established in 1968 by city ordinance. It is responsible for recommending to the City Council that individual building, sites, objects, or entire districts be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law. The Commission is staffed by the Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, Historic Preservation Division, 33 North LaSalle Street, Room 1600, Chicago, IL 60602; (312-744-3200) phone; (312- 744-2958) TTY; (312-744-9140) fax, web site: www. cityofchicago. org/landmarks
This Preliminary Summary of Information is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within a final landmark designation by City Council ordinance should be regarded as final.
31
COMMISSION ON CHICAGO LANDMARKS
Rafael M. Leon, Chairman John W. Baird, Secretary Phyllis Ellin Yvette M. Le Grand Andrew J. Mooney Christopher R. Reed Edward I. Torrez Ben Weese Ernest C. Wong
The Commission is staffed by the:
Department of Housing and Economic Development, Bureau of Planning and Zoning
Historic Preservation Division 33 N. LaSalle St., Suite 1600 Chicago, Illinois 60602
Printed October 2010; revised and reprinted February! 2011.
HOUSING*
ECONOMIC
DIVILOPMINT
EXHIBIT B
DEPARTMENT OF 7.0NING AND LAND USE PLANNING
December 2. 2010
Report to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks
on the
Brewery-Tied Houses
(Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied Houses
1801 W. Division St.
11400 S. Front Av.
3456 S. Western Av.
958 W. 69th St.
2159 W. Belmont Av.
1944 N. Oakley Av.
3159 N. Southport Av.
5120 N. Broadway (later Winona Gardens)
(Former) Schlitz Stable
11314 S. Front Ave.
The Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning finds that the proposed designations of the above-referenced Brewery-Tied Houses and associated stable building as Chicago Landmarks support the City's overall planning goals and are consistent with the City's governing policies and plans.
From the 1890s up to passage of Prohibition in 1919, brewing companies built and operated their own taverns, or ''tied-houses*'' throughout Chicago's neighborhoods. Brewing companies employed high-quality architectural designs and popular historical styles of architecture for their tied houses, and those that survi ve contribute to the historic architectural character of the city's neighborhoods. The identified buildings were all built by the Milwaukee-based Schlitz Brewing Company from 1898 to 1906. and many are familiar for the brewery's "belted-globe" insignia displayed on their facades.
The proposed designations of these buildings would compliment the City's efforts to identify and preserve the rich architectural and historical heritage of Chicago's diverse neighborhoods. Several of the buildings are located in areas that have an area, redevelopment, tax increment financing plan and/or enterprise /one designation (sec Table A. attached hereto and'incorporated herein), and the goals and objectives of these areas support the preservation of important historic resources, through landmark designation and economic incentives. All the buildings occupy or are near prominent intersections of neighborhood commercial streets, and. in concert with their distinctive
architectural and historical character, are visual landmarks in their respective neighborhoods.
Seven of the nine buildings are located in Business and Commercial ('"B" and "C") zoning districts that are intended to accommodate retail, service and commercial uses which are compatible with the character of existing neighborhoods. The remaining two buildings are legal non-conforming uses located inResidential ("R") zoning districts which primarily accommodate residential use types but which also allow compatible nonresidential uses.
Preserving buildings such as these provides many long-term benefits to the City. Chicago Landmark designation assists in the preservation of Chicago's architectural heritage, unique neighborhood character, and the visual evidence of our rich history. By retaining existing buildings and adapting them to modern conditions, historic preservation contributes to the city's efforts to encourage sustainable development. It also maintains the unique features of our city as a continued draw for tourists, visitors and new residents.
\
DZP Report Table A
(Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied Houses
Zoning Zoning and Land Use
Ward Designation Community Area designations and plans
1801 W. Division St.
J_B3-2 West Town_Orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey
11400 S. Front Av.
B3-2 Roseland
Southeast Side Enterprise Community
Orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey
3456 S. Western Av.
12
C1-2 McKinley Park
Archer/Western TIF Enterprise Zone #1
958 W. 69th St.
17_RS-3 Englewood
69th Street Corridor Redevelopment Area Enterprise Zone #6
Englewood Enterprise Community_
2159 W. Belmont Av.
32
C1-2 North Center
1944 N. Oakley Av.
32_B3-1 Logan Square Orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey
3159 N. Southport Av.
32_B3-2 Lake View_Orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey
5120 N. Broadway (later Winona Gardens)
46
C2-3 Uptown
Lawrence/Broadway TIF
(Former) Schlitz Stable
11314 S. Front Ave.
RS-2 Roseland
Southeast Side Enterprise Community
Orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey
(Former) Schlitz Brewery-Tied [House
3456 S. Western Ave. Date: 1899
Architect: Kiev & Lant>
958 W. 69th Si. Diiie: IS9S
Architect. Unknown ■
(Former) Schlitz Stable
113I4 S. Front Ave, : Date: 1906
Architects: Frommann & Jensen (attributed)
City of Chicago ■
Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning
(l oimei ) .Schlitz Brewery-Tied house
I 1,40(1 S. lTi.nl Ave. Dale: I«'»()(?
A:elntcel>: Kronini.iiiii i^Jcbsen i.itmhutc