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Historical Museum Features Benjamin Marshall at Annual Meeting
The Wilmette Historical Museum welcomes Steven Monz from the Benjamin Marshall Society as the guest speaker at our Annual Meeting this year. The Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, January 29, 2012, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The Museum is located at 609 Ridge Road in Wilmette. A brief Historical Society general meeting will precede the lecture and light refreshments will be served.
About Benjamin Marshall and his Wilmette residence
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Mr. Monz will discuss the important work of Benjamin Marshall, an architect whose designs include Chicago’s Drake Hotel, Edgewater Beach Hotel, South Shore Country Club, Blackstone Theater, and Blackstone Hotel. His fascinating home and architect’s studio, located in Wilmette at 612 Sheridan Road, graced the Wilmette harbor from 1921 to 1950, when the home was demolished.
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It was the sort of house that made an impression – a pink stucco, Spanish-style villa perched at the edge of Wilmette Harbor. Marshall’s design for his own family’s home combined innovative steel and concrete construction techniques and flamboyant furnishings. It included a bar with a moving diorama of a ship on a stormy sea, a Chinese temple furnished with a Buddha and luxurious satin floor pillows, and an “elevator” table that at the push of a button moved from the kitchen, where it was laden with food, to the dining room above. The mansion’s 30+ rooms were filled with exquisite antiques and artwork from Europe, Asia and North Africa. Movie stars, royalty and celebrities were frequent visitors to Marshall’s opulent Wilmette home.
One especially spectacular room was the natatorium, a combined indoor swimming pool and conservatory. The glass ceiling and walls overlooking the Harbor could be electrically retracted to open the pool and garden to the outdoors when the weather was pleasant.
The loss of this house was a significant blow to Wilmette’s architectural legacy. Not only was it linked to an influential Chicago architect and to the Goldblatt department store family, who purchased it from Marshall in 1936, but it was also a one-of-a-kind Roaring Twenties mansion. Today, the site is owned by the Baha’i Temple, and the home’s antique wrought-iron entrance gates are the only reminders of the once fabulous palace.
About the Benjamin Marshall Society
The Benjamin Marshall Society’s mission is to educate the public on Benjamin Marshall, his life and works. The society strives to revive Benjamin Marshall's dialogue on the civic responsibility of the urban architect and the role of architecture, planning and design in the urban environment and in society as a whole. For more information about the Benjamin Marshall Society, visit www.benjaminmarshallsociety.org.
About the Wilmette Historical Museum
The Wilmette Historical Museum is dedicated to exploring, preserving, and sharing the lively history of Wilmette and its surroundings on the North Shore of Chicago. Located in a beautiful 1896 landmark building at 609 Ridge Road in Wilmette, the Museum is operated by the Wilmette Historical Society, a volunteer organization, and by the Village of Wilmette. If you or your family has a connection to this area, we encourage you to join the Society. Joining supports the work of the Museum and brings you many benefits. For more information about the Wilmette Historical Society, visit www.wilmettehistory.org.
