 |
| Tree Studios, the continuing gift of Judge Lambert Tree (JWB, 2011) |
A few days back I
showed you two statues that Judge Lambert Tree donated to the city, the statue
of the French explorer LaSalle that stands at the corner of LaSalle and
Stockton and “A Signal of Peace” that stands just north of the Diversey Harbor
inlet on the lakefront path.
You’ll find that blog entry here.
Lambert Tree was
born in the nation’s capital in 1832, the son of a post office clerk. He was educated in private schools,
enrolled in the University of Virginia, and began to practice law in 1855. It was in Washington, D. C. that the
young lawyer sought advice from Senator Stephen A. Douglas concerning the best
place in the West to begin his law practice. Douglas recommended Chicago, a city that gained almost
100,000 souls between 1850 and 1860, moving from the twenty-fourth to the ninth
largest city in the union during that decade.
It was in the law
offices of Clarkson and Tree on the corner of Lake and Clark Streets, so the
story goes, that the newly transplanted lawyer first met Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, just a few years away from the
presidency, dropped by Clarkson and Tree to borrow a law book. Tree leant him the tattered volume, and
after a time gave up hope of ever seeing it again. That was when Lincoln returned with the book, having had it
rebound before returning it. This
act of thoughtfulness and honesty may well have been a lesson that Lambert Tree
carried with him for the rest of his life.
 |
| The image of Mrs. Annie Tree on the Ohio Street annex (JWB, 2011) |
Tree didn’t hurt
his chances in his new city by marrying Annie J. Magie, the daughter of a Chicago
pioneer, in 1859. By 1864 Tree was
President of the Chicago Law Institute and in 1870 he was elected to the Cook
County Circuit Court. In 1885
President Grover Cleveland appointed him minister to France, where he worked
for three years and where he commissioned the LaSalle sculpture.
As a judge Lambert
Tree took a determined stand against corruption, one of his first official acts
involved an investigation of the city council that led to a trial, the outcome
of which yielded the first conviction for corruption in Illinois. It was the first . . . evidently not
the last.
Lambert Tree was
also a strong supporter of the “City Beautiful” movement, a motivation that led
to the position for which he is most remembered today – as a patron of the
arts.
 |
| Ornamentation above Ohio Street entrance (JWB, 2011) |
There were the
sculptures, of course. But there
was also the first artists’ colony in the country, which Judge Tree established
in a studio building that still stands today on State Street between Ohio and
Ontario. The original building, at
600 North State Street, was designed to house European artist who had come to
Chicago to work on the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.
The studio building
was constructed on the Tree family’s property; Judge Tree’s home stood on
Wabash where the Medinah Temple-Bloomingdale’s Home Store is now located. Tree Studios would have been a
half-block walk to the west. The
Parfitt Brothers designed the airy ateliers with retail space at street level,
and the project was completed in 1894.
 |
| The Ohio Street entrance to Tree Studios (JWB, 2011) |
Judge Tree died in
1910, whereupon his widow sold Tree Studios to the Order of the Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine, using proceeds from that sale to construct two annexes to the
original studio building, each building finished by 1913, each running east and
west on Ohio and Ontario streets.
By 1912 the Tree family home was gone and Huehl’s and Schmidt’s Medinah
Temple stood in its place.
Over the years an
impressive list of artists used the studio spaces in Tree Studios. John Henry Bradly Storrs, the sculptor
who created the statue of Ceres that stands atop the Board of Trade building,
was one. Albin Polasek, who
created the Masaryk Memorial in Hyde Park and who served as head of the
sculpture department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for over 30
years, was another.
 |
| Ohio Street entrance to Tree Studios (JWB, 2011) |
The Tree Studios
and annexes were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December
of 1974; it was 23 years before Chicago landmark status came, but that was only
for the original building on State Street. Finally, in 2001 did the building on Ohio and Ontario
receive landmark status.
By that time Albert
Friedman, a real estate developer, had come to the rescue, announcing a plan to
save Tree Studios, Medinah temple and the courtyard between the two, restoring
the badly deteriorated exterior ornamentation, converting the temple into
Bloomingdale’s Home Store, and re-purposing the Studio buildings for retail
space and business offices. The
deal was moved along as the city contributed $17.5 million dollars in Tax
Increment Financing money to the project.
The renovation,
orchestrated by Daniel P. Coffey and Associates, led to Friedman Properties
receiving the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation President’s Award from Landmarks
Illinois.
So this block
survived the caprices of time, largely intact, bringing a charming sense of
historical character to a section of the city where high-rise towers
predominate.
I think Judge Tree would
render a favorable verdict.
Posts
2 comments:
Very nice article I am doing research on Tree Studios because we have a painting by one of the artists who lived there, Louis Grell, in our upcoming auction. If you would like to see it, please visit www.aspireauctions.com
Lambert Tree was born in the nation’s capital in 1832, the son of a post office clerk. He was educated in private schools, enrolled in the University of Virginia, and began to practice law in 1855. It was in Washington, D. C. black salwar kameez girl , black punjabi suit for girls , that the young lawyer sought advice from Senator Stephen A. Douglas concerning the best place in the West to begin his law practice. Douglas recommended Chicago, a city that gained almost 100,000 souls between 1850 and 1860, moving from the twenty-fourth to the ninth largest city in the union during that decade.
Post a Comment