Brewster Apartments
| Brewster Apartments | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Residential building |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival |
| Location | 2800 N Pine Grove Ave Chicago, Illinois, 60657 |
| Construction started | 1893 |
| Completed | 1896 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 8 |
| Lifts/elevators | 3 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Enock Hill Turnock |
| Developer | Bjoerne Edwards |
| Designated | October 6, 1982 |
The Brewster Apartments (originally known as Lincoln Park Palace) is a residential building in the Lake View neighborhood of Chicago.
Located at Diversey and Pine Grove (originally Park), it was designed by architect Enock Hill Turnock for Norwegian-born Bjoerne Edwards, publisher of American Contractor, with construction started in 1893 and completed in 1896. Edwards would die from an eighth-floor fall at the construction site before the project was completed.
The Romanesque Revival building was designated a Chicago Landmark on October 6, 1982.[1]
Architecture
The building features a stone exterior of pink jasper and employs steel skeleton-frame construction, which enabled the advent of skyscrapers at the end of the 19th century. The most prominent building feature is a full-height atrium with open cast iron stairways, bridge walkways paved with glass blocks, and a massive skylight.[1]
In popular culture
The Brewster Apartments has served as a set location for the movies Running Scared, Child’s Play and Hoodlum.
Notable residents
Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld lived in the building in 1897 after leaving the governorship.[2]
Legend has it that Charlie Chaplin lived in the building in 1915–16 while employed by Chicago’s Essanay Studios,[3] and the penthouse owners have sworn by this tale of early film history,[4][5] but historians say that Chaplin only lived in Chicago for three weeks, and slept on “Broncho Billy” Anderson’s couch instead of getting himself an apartment — at the time, he was known for being far too tight with money to rent a place as pricey as the penthouse was.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Brewster Apartments". Chicago Landmarks. City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division. 2003. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
- ^ "John Peter Altgeld". Chicago Tribute Markers of Distinction. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
- ^ Achilles, Rolf (2013). The Chicago School of Architecture: Building the Modern City, 1880–1910. Shire Publications. p. 52. ISBN 9780747812395.
- ^ Chronicles of Old Chicago: Exploring the History and Lore of the Windy City (Paperback – July 1, 2014) by Adam Selzer
- ^ The Moving Picture World newspaper, page 8, Jan. 2, 1915 (full-page announcing "Essanay announces it has secured Charles Chaplin")
- ^ Flickering Empire: How Chicago Invented the U.S. Film Industry (Wallflower Press, 2013) by Adam Selzer and Michael Glover Smith