The Elbridge G. Keith house at 1900 S. Prairie Avenue is one of just
seven surviving houses on the “sunny street that held the sifted few” – Chicago’s
most exclusive residential street in the late 19th century. The imposing three-story limestone clad house
with slate mansard roof is the last surviving example of the Second Empire
style which dominated the Prairie Avenue streetscape.
The house was built in 1870-1871 for Elbridge Gerry Keith, one of three
Keith brothers to reside on Prairie Avenue.
Keith was born on July 16, 1840 in Barre, Vermont, and was named in
honor of Elbridge Gerry, who served as vice-president under President James
Madison. He was descended from James
Keith, a Scotch Presbyterian clergyman who came to America about 1650, settling
in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He grew
up on the family farm, and after clerking in a general store in Barre, came to
Chicago in 1857, joining his brothers Edson and Osborne, and working in the
business selling hats and caps.
In 1865, he married Harriet Hall in her hometown of Ottawa,
Illinois. They set up housekeeping on
the 1700 block of Michigan Avenue. In
the same year, his brothers reorganized their firm as Keith Brothers and he was
admitted as a partner. It grew into one
of the largest millinery firms in the entire country. The firm continued as such until 1884, when
it was again reorganized as Edson Keith & Co. No longer a partner in the business, Elbridge
Keith that year helped to organize the Metropolitan National Bank, serving as its
president until its consolidation with the First National Bank of Chicago in
1902. In that year, he was elected
president of the Chicago Title and Trust Company, which position he retained
until his death.
Dining room
In 1868, Keith purchased a double lot on Prairie Avenue for $10,750 and
engaged John W. Roberts to design his new home.
Roberts began his career in the office of the prominent American
architect Richard Upjohn before coming to Chicago, and designed numerous large
residences in the city. In the 1880s the
house was significantly enlarged with the addition of the third floor mansard
roof, and an addition to the rear.
Keith was deeply interested in education, serving for many years on the
Chicago Board of Education. In 1883, a
school was built at 3400 S. Dearborn and was named the Keith School in his
honor. (It closed in 1959 and was demolished
soon after for the expansion of the campus for the Illinois Institute of
Technology).
Keith was extremely active in civic affairs. He was elected a director of the World’s Columbian
Exposition, and later treasurer of the University of Illinois. He was one of the incorporators and president
of the Union League Club, and at various times served as president of the
Commercial Club, the Banker’s Club, the Y.M.C.A. and the Chicago Orphan
Asylum. Additionally, he served as
treasurer of the Moody Bible Institute, the Chicago Bible Society, the Bureau
of Charities, and the Home of the Friendless.
He and his wife had six children – sons Carl, Harold, Stanley, and
Elbridge, and daughters Susie and Bessie.
Keith died at his home on May 17, 1905 and was interred in a large plot
at Graceland Cemetery. He left an estate
valued at $980,000. Bequests were made
to a number of charities including the Moody Bible Institute, the Chicago
Visiting Nurses’ Association, the Chicago Old People’s Home, Beloit College, the
American Sunday School Union, and the Chicago Home for the Friendless.
Keith also directed the income from a trust fund to his church of 30
years, the Christ Reformed Episcopal Church at Michigan Avenue and 24th
Street, and gave an outright gift to its longtime leader, Bishop Charles E.
Cheney. In September 1905, the church
dedicated a tablet in memory of Keith which read, “To the glory of God and to
the memory of Elbridge Gerry Keith, a beloved Bible class teacher in the Sunday
school and senior warden of the church.”
Elbridge Keith’s widow Harriet remained in the home for a number of
years after which she moved to a spacious apartment at 999 Lake Shore
Drive. She sold the Prairie Avenue house
in 1920 and later moved to Pasadena, California where she died in 1933.
In 1934, the house was acquired by a publishing company, Domestic
Engineering. It was used as offices for
various publishers until 1974, when it was purchased by Wilbert Hasbrouck, an
architect who had been involved in the rescue of Glessner House several years
earlier.
His wife Marilyn opened a book
store in the house known as the Prairie Avenue Bookshop, which featured
architectural books, prints, and fragments.
(For many years following, it was regarded as one of the pre-eminent
architecture bookstores in the country).
The building also served as the offices for the Hasbroucks’ publishing
company, the Prairie School Publishing Company, which produced The Prairie School Review.
In 1978, the Hasbroucks sold the house to journalists Steven Pratt and
Joy Darrow, the latter a grand-niece of the famed attorney Clarence
Darrow. They undertook extensive
restoration work on the house including a $60,000 reconstruction of the
elaborately bracketed cornice. In
October 1986 they opened the Prairie Avenue Gallery on the first floor, which
hosted dozens of art exhibits. The coach
house was leased to Royal Carriages, which boarded horses on the ground floor,
the drivers living up above. Following
Darrow’s death, daughter Marcy moved back in the house. In 1997, she leased the first floor to Woman
Made Gallery, which had been organized five years earlier to provide women
artists with the opportunity to exhibit, publish, and perform their work. In 1999, the coach house was completely
renovated into a single residential unit. Today, the first floor functions
as a special events venue hosting art exhibits, weddings, and more. For more information, visit www.keithhousechicago.com.
On October 25, 2014, a very special event took place when nearly two
dozen descendants gathered at the old family home for a reunion. They were all descended from Elbridge Keith's son Carl, who
had married Cornelia Alling of 2131 S. Calumet Avenue on January 1, 1901. Carl
Keith, who had written his reminiscences of the house and neighborhood in a
manuscript entitled “The Home” would no doubt have been very pleased to see the
house once again functioning as the Keith family home.
What a wonderful article! Thanks so much from all the Keith family!
ReplyDeleteLinda Keith Kidwell