325 N. Wells Street, Chicago
[325 N. Wells Street Building (1912) L. Gustav Hallberg, architect /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Architect L. Gustav Hallberg's warehouse for the Chase & Sanborn Coffee Company is just one of two former warehouse buildings still standing along the main branch of the Chicago River, which was once lined with brick storehouses from one end to the other. Constructed in 1912, Hallberg's building had a more refined appearance than many of its plain jane neighbors. Sitting on a broad limestone base, with wide window openings and splash of classical detailing, Chase & Sanborn's coffee building was just one of a number of reinforced factory and warehouse buildings in Hallberg's portfolio.
[325 N. Wells Street Building, 325 N. Wells Street, Chicago /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Hallberg emigrated from Scandinavia in 1871, and joined Chicago's buregeoning Swedish immigrant population, just in time for the Great Fire. Not as well known today as some of his contemporaries, he was a prolific designer, drawing up plans and overseeing the construction of houses, industrial and commercial buildings all across the city, right up until his death in 1915 at the age of 71.
[Helene Curtis Building (1985) Booth Hansen Associates, architects /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
In 1985 architects Booth Hansen Associates redid the interior and added a 2-story glass penthouse to the top of Hallberg's 73-year-old building for Helene Curtis Industries, manufacturers of personal care products. The company had been making shampoo since the 1920s, and their executive offices were located in their manufacturing plant on the city's near northwest side. When young Ron Gidwitz took over as CEO of the company after his father Gerald, one of the founders, moved into the chairman's chair, the Gidwitz's decided to move downtown and into the former Chase & Sanborn warehouse, then known as the Exhibitor's Building. The new 2-floor penthouse contained the boardroom and executive offices, providing directors and company managers with sweeping views of the Chicago skyline. The makers of Suave shampoo, the country's top-selling brand, were purchased by Unilever in 1996 and the building was put up for auction in 2003.
Today the penthouse addition is owned by DIRTT (Doing It Right This Time) makers of modular office systems, while Kimball Office and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology fill out the remaining floors once filled with burlap bags of packed with coffee.
See some of Hallberg's residential work at: A Community's Art and Socials, Sororities & Consuls, and the other surviving former warehouse at: How Many Bays Does A Building Have?.
Posted by designslinger at 11/17/2011 4:30 AM 
Categories: Architecture, Adaptive Reuse, Architects, History
Tags: L. Gustav Hallberg commercial architecture Chicago Loop River North Chicago River warehouses
Categories: Architecture, Adaptive Reuse, Architects, History
Tags: L. Gustav Hallberg commercial architecture Chicago Loop River North Chicago River warehouses
You've put together an amazing website. I'm impressed by the amount of research you do. I have one minor correction for the post about the Tree Studios. Your write up says that the studios were built on the site of the Tree homestead which the family had occupied since the 1840's. However, Lambert Tree didn't move to Chicago until 1855. In 1859 he married Ann Magie the daughter of H.H. Magie, a Chicago pioneer and real estate investor. I'm not certain, but it's possible that Judge Tree received the land from his father-in-law. And regarding H.H. Magie, it appears that one of his buildings still exists at 70 W Hubbard
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Thanks! You're absolutely right about the Judge and the Magie's. The property had been in his wife's family since 1840, and we've edited the post to make it a little clearer. We also posted your comment with the Tree Studio post, including a thank-you from us for bringing the issue to our attention. Glad you like the site.
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