Perry H. Smith House
[Perry H. Smith House (1887) Cobb & Frost, architects /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
On November 7, 1930 a letter arrived at 1400 N. Astor Street instructing the home's owner James Offield to pay a large sum of money to guarantee the safety of his daughter, who the writers threatened to kidnap unless Offield ponied-up the cash. Young Betty Offield's mother was the daughter of chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr., so the real target was Grandpa who was one of the country's wealthiest citizens. Nothing ever came of it, and in 1932 when Betty's parents sent out the engagement announcement of their daughter's betrothal to James Hunt from their fine Astor Street residence, she was in line to inherit 1/10th of her now deceased grandfather's multi-million-dollar estate. But we're getting ahead of ourselves, the story of 1400 begins decades earlier with Mr. Perry H. Smith, the man who actually built the house on the corner of Schiller and Astor Streets.
[Perry H. Smith, Jr. House, 1400 N. Astor Street, Chicago /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Perry was actually a Junior Smith. His father, Perry H. Smith, Sr. had made a ton of money in railroads and real estate. He died in 1885 and left his widow, 3 sons and a daughter, over $2 million, which was a lot of cash back in those days. In 1887, Perry Junior went to the offices of Henry Ives Cobb and Charles Frost and asked them to design a house for he and his family on a largely vacant, newly emerging Astor Street. Potter Palmer had recently constructed one the the largest houses in Chicago around the corner, and Smith was ready to follow Palmer into the Astor Street wilderness. In 1891, Perry's wife Emma, a member of Chicago's mighty McCormick clan, became ill and they decided that she needed to seek a cure in Europe so the Smith's sold the house. The red brick mansion went through a number of owners before the Offield/Wrigley purchase, including Mrs. Louise de Koven Bowen who purchased the house for her daughter in 1913. The Bowen's lived just a few mansions away at 1430 N. Astor.
[Wrigley/Offield House, Astor Street, Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
In 1991, architects Hammond Beeby & Babka did a very sensitive addition at the rear of the 15,000 square foot house, including the brick-wrapped turret that compliments Cobb & Frost's design so well that you'd never guess it was new.
See a row of Palmer's investment in the neighborhood at: Potter Palmer Houses, Schiller Street, Chicago; and a story about the houses Mrs. Bowen built from scratch at: William McCormick Blair House.
Posted by designslinger at 7/18/2011 2:43 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History
Tags: Hammond Beeby and Babka Astor Street Gold Coast Gold Coast mansions mansions
Categories: Architecture, History
Tags: Hammond Beeby and Babka Astor Street Gold Coast Gold Coast mansions mansions
A good friend of mine lived in this house back in the 80's when we were kids. I just thought I should note that there is an original butler's elevator (4'x5') between the kitchen (back of the house prior to the addition) and the front door that spans the 4 floors. I spent a few too many hours stuck in that thing waiting for the parents to get home. It has all the makings of an excellent scary old mansion - ceilings on the 1st floor are at least 15 ft high.
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What a great story!! Thanks for the addition.
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