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Series 9: Facilities, 1918-2000

 Series
Identifier: 9

  • Staff Only

Scope and Contents note

The emphases of the series are on the 109 E. Ontario space, since the Arts Club was there for over forty years and the 201 E. Ontario space, which was designed to the Club’s specifications. The series includes brochures, samples, invoices, blueprints, financial information, contracts, meeting minutes and correspondence. Correspondence is with architects, designers, building owners and rental agencies, vendors, Arts Club officers and members, lawyers, and city officials, regarding rental arrangements, designs and redesigns, ventilation, lighting, and plumbing repairs, parking, and other matters relevant to the spaces occupied by the Arts Club. Rental records (i.e. rentals of the Arts Club space by external organizations or for parties and receptions) are not complete. See Financial Records, Invoices and receipts, for other rental record information. Many blueprints are annotated on front and back, with additional sketches, lists, reminders, etc. They are stored flat in a large flat file drawer, 4a.

See also Series 12, Scrapbooks, for photographs and other information about the various buildings used by the Arts Club.

Dates

  • Creation: 1918-2000

Creator

Access

The Arts Club records are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Audiovisual recordings in this collection have been digitized and are available online. Access to the original audiovisual items is restricted.

Biographical/Historical note

The Arts Club has had a total of seven locations. At its founding, it was located in Chicago's Fine Arts Building, at 401 S. Michigan Ave., where it resided from 1916 to 1918. After that, it moved to 610 S. Michigan Ave., where it stayed from 1918 to 1924. Neither space had adequate room for exhibits, so it was decided to move again in 1924 to the North Tower of the Wrigley Building, 400 N. Michigan Ave., where it stayed until 1936. In 1936, The Club was offered larger quarters in the Wrigley Building's South Tower, so they moved there and stayed from 1936 to 1947. On April 30, 1947, the Arts Club lost its lease in the Wrigley Building, and spent the next few years looking for a suitable space, which they finally found at 109 E. Ontario St. (sometimes referred to as 101-111 or just 101 E. Ontario St.) in 1951. There they had a space built just for the Club, with interiors designed by famed architect Mies van der Rohe. It was in that location that they had the longest stay, from 1951 to 1995. In 1995 the 109 E. Ontario St. space was demolished (retaining the Mies van der Rohe-designed interior stairway for the new space) and the Arts Club held temporary space on 222 W. Superior St., and then moved in 1997 to a space that they now own and reside in, 201 E. Ontario St.

Arrangement note

Arranged chronologically, with rental records and blueprints at the end.

Repository Details

Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512