mission in 1917 limited the hours it was open to the public, to much protest. During hot summer days, the beach attracted as many as 55,000 bathers. It was a place to see and be seen. In 1934, soon after the formation of the Chicago Park District, federal funds also became available through the Works Progress Administration for improvements such as a tunnel underneath Michigan Avenue to Oak Street Beach and a comfort station. In the 1960s, shipments of sand from the Indiana Dunes augmented the beach. The area around Oak Street Beach had seen development prior to 1920, thanks to hotel owner Potter Palmer and architect/developer Benjamin Marshall. In 1882, Potter Palmer had built a castle home for himself at what is now 1350 N. Lake Shore Drive. Marshall built 999 N. Lake Shore Drive, at the curve of Oak Street and the Drive, in 1911-12; the Stewart Apartments at 1200 N. Lake Shore Drive in 1912 and then 199 E. Lake Shore Drive in 1912-13, followed by 209 E. Lake Shore Drive and the Drake Hotel in 1920. Raised within a wealthy Hyde Park family, Marshall was inspired to become an architect by the 1893 World’s Fair, said Brandon Womack, historian of the Benjamin Marshall Society. “He fully subscribed to the City Beautiful movement and its philosophies: orderly, beautiful, planned, with architecture that was inspiring.” He promoted the urban lakefront as a place for suburbanites accustomed to mansions and accordingly offered single-floor apartments with the same mix of rooms for specific functions: libraries, dining, orangeries, billiards. Tribune Tower with the InterContinental Hotel behind it (Anne Evans, courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Center). Bathers gather at Oak Street Beach near the Drake Hotel in the 1920s (courtesy of the Drake Hotel). 333 N. Michigan Ave. (Eric Allix Rogers, courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Center).
333 N.N.Michigan 333 MichiganAve. Ave.
Located on the south bank of the Chicago River, 333 N. Michigan Ave. was built in 1928 in the Art Deco setback style by the architectural firm of Holabird & Root. Its façade features reliefs depicting Native Americans and soldiers at Fort Dearborn, which partially occupied this spot in the early 1800s. Its unique site fronts 200 feet on Michigan Avenue – with a midblock entrance -- and 60 feet along the river and Wacker Drive. Because of a bend in the river, 333 is visible for the length of the Magnificent Mile to the north. Sentinel figures on its roof stare down at passersby while intricate metalwork of the Roman god Neptune picks up on the nautical theme of the building’s porthole windows. In the days when its members included Frank Lloyd Wright, Mayor Richard J. Daley, Carl Sandburg and William Wrigley, the Tavern Club featured an ice skating rink on its 26th floor terrace. Following a $75 million renovation, the Tavern Club at 333 offers a restaurant, bar and private events space.
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