| Address | 1304 W. Washington Boulevard, Chicago, IL |
|---|---|
| Built | 1869 |
| Architect | Otis L. Wheelock |
| Status | Designated Chicago Landmark |
| Designation Date | January 12, 1993 (Final)City Council Journal of the Proceedings, p. 27808 |
| Neighborhood | Near West Side |
| Type | House |
| Landmark ID | L-106 |
Direct quotes from the Chicago Landmark Designation Report
“On the Groesbeck House, the first floor windows are more attenuated than those above. Ornamentation is meager, almost non-existent, restricted only to the painted black rope molding of the window frames.”
“The Esmonds made an initial call on Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Ross who lived just a block away from Dr. Groesbeck. There is no question that the two men knew each other, as in 1866 Abraham Groesbeck was president of the Chicago Medical Society and Joseph Ross was vice president.”
“Richard T. Crane, who came to Chicago from New Jersey in 1855 just a year before Dr. Groesbeck, was president of the Crane Brothers' Manufacturing Company. Trained as a brass and iron worker, Crane opened a small foundry in a corner of his uncle Martin Ryerson's lumber yard.”
“Its state of preservation, both inside and out, is remarkable for such a vintage building. Dr. Groesbeck and the Early Chicago Medical Community Biographical data on Abraham Groesbeck can be found in Charles D. Mosher's 1876 Centennial Historical Album of Chicago Physicians and in A. T. Andreas' 1885 History of Chicago.”
“Dr. Groesbeck was born on May 24, 1810, in Albany, New York, and given a classical education at the Albany Academy. He left school at the age of fifteen to study medicine under the tutelage of one Dr. Jonathan Eights for whom he had already been working in his out-of-school hours.”
“Of Chicago's early elite, a preponderance hailed, like Dr. Groesbeck, from New York State. Dr. Groesbeck's architect, whose name is not listed on currently available building records, chose to build his client's house in the Italianate mode, a style that dominated American domestic design between 1850 and 1870.”
“The generous thirty-eight-foot lot allowed the designer of the Groesbeck House to create a wide, varied street facade, given interest by the combination of flat walls with a gently curved bay.”
“As the house had full exposure only on the front and rear facades, maximum window area was critical for natural illumination and ventilation of the interiors. Certainly the most characteristic motif of the Italianate is the fenestration with its long thin window shape framed by either U-shaped or segmentally arched tops.”
What other designation reports say about this building
“One of the few surviving buildings from this era is the Abraham Groesbeck House at 1304 W. Washington Blvd. (1869). Among the other area residents was Mary Todd Lincoln, widow of the slain President, who lived in the 1200-block of Washington Boulevard.”
“The house of Dr. Abraham Groesbeck (built 1869, 1304 W. Washington Blvd.) illustrates this residential style. The Groesbeck House was also designed by Otis Wheelock, the architect of the Wheeler-Kohn House and is a…”