Bush Temple of Music

“Located on the prominent corner of Clark Street and Chicago Avenue, the dramatic roofline, massive form, and French-inspired elegance of the Bush Temple of Music has been a visual landmark of the Near North Side of Chicago for a century.”

“The Bush Temple of Music was built as the headquarters and showroom of the Bush and Gerts Piano Company, one of the city's largest and most important piano companies, at a time when Chicago was the second largest piano manufacturing center in the country.”

“Pridmore was praised at the time for creating "a structure at once picturesque and striking with the dignity and beauty that will be appreciated in contrast to the ungainly outlines of so many of our modern business buildings." Pridmore was a significant architect specializing in the historic revival styles favored by Chicagoans during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”

“By 1901 the company decided to build a larger, more lavish headquarters. The elder Bush, who was company president, decided to construct a building that would combine sales and office space for the company with concert facilities and studios for piano and other music teachers.”

“Offers dramatic students more professional advantages in the way of stage technique, Privilege of Bash Temple Theatre for frequent public appearance of students. The Hush Temple Lyceum has a large and fully equipped stage devoted exclusively to the use of students of the school of acting.”

“The Bush Temple of Music is an elaborate example of the combination office-showroom-auditorium buildings built by piano companies in Chicago and other cities. Its unusual use of the French Renaissance Revival style was meant to enhance the reputation of the company and its pianos through the style's associations with French history and culture.”

“Through these aspects of its physical character, the Bush Temple of Music conveys to an onlooker the important characteristics that make up its architectural and historic significance. It is recognizable as a large-scale and unusual example of the French Renaissance Revival style.”

“Built as the showroom and headquarters of the Bush and Gerts Piano Company, one of the nation's largest piano manufacturers, the Bush Temple of Music was designed by J. E. O. Pridmore, one of Chicago's significant designers of theater architecture.”

“The Bush Temple Conservatory and Later Building History Besides its chief purpose as the headquarters of the Bush and Gerts Piano Company, the Bush Temple of Music also was a prominent cultural venue for the first decades of the twentieth century.”

“Other similar buildings by Chicago piano companies include those by Kimball and by Lyon & Healy, both located at the intersection of Wabash Avenue and Jackson Boulevard. The new Bush Temple of Music, however, would be the most visually elaborate of those in Chicago.”