Prominent Chicago families.

Chicago architect Alfred Phillips Shaw, the son of Enoch Shaw of Ireland and Ellen Phillips of Boston, was born in 1895. He studied in the atelier of the Boston Architectural Club, and then worked in both Boston and New York. In 1922 Shaw was recruited by Ernest Graham’s firm in Chicago, where he was a junior partner from 1933 until 1937. Later he formed several partnerships, the last of which was Alfred Shaw and Associates where he was president until his death.

Alfred Shaw left his mark on the city skyline and in the business and high-rise apartment districts along North Lakeshore Drive. Among the many buildings he designed and supervised were the Merchandise Mart, the Civic Opera House, the original McCormick Place, the interior of the Museum of Science and Industry and the Morton Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Besides his professional activities, Shaw painted and drew, wrote poetry, traveled widely, and read and wrote extensively. In 1932 he married Rue Winterbotham of Chicago and together they became prominent in the Chicago social and arts community. Alfred and Rue Shaw had two sons: Joseph, who became an archeologist, and Patrick, an architect.

The Winterbothams were an English family, emigrating to Connecticut in 1811. The branch of the family of this collection was headed by John Humphrey Winterbotham, who married Mahala Rosencrans. They were the parents of Joseph, who married Genevieve Baldwin, who became the parents of John (“Jack”) Humphrey Winterbotham, who married Anne Reynolds in 1900. John and Anne were the parents of Theodora Winterbotham Brown (born 1902), and Rue Winterbotham Shaw (born 1905).

Theodora Winterbotham, known as “Dodo,” married twice, the second time to Amos Brown from Boston. She was a passionate collector of Winterbotham genealogical material, and until her death corresponded on the subject with family members in the U.S. and abroad.

Theodora and her sister Rue came from a family long identified with furthering the arts in Chicago. For thirty-nine years Rue Winterbotham Shaw was the president of the Arts Club of Chicago. She was a life member of the Art Institute and for many years was a member of its twentieth century painting and sculpture committee. Rue Shaw brought many artists, musicians and lecturers of international importance to the city, including Alexander Calder, with whom she became friends. She supported contemporary art, was an active organizer of major art exhibitions, and she successfully commissioned architect Mies van der Rohe to design the Arts Club’s interior when it moved to East Ontario Street.

Alfred P. Shaw died in 1970 and Rue Winterbotham Shaw died in 1979.