Tree Studio Building and Annexes

Infobox_nrhp | name =Tree Studio Building and Annexes
nrhp_type =


caption =
location= 4 E. Ohio Street, Chicago, IL
lat_degrees = | lat_minutes = | lat_seconds = | lat_direction =
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area =
built = 1894, annex: 1912-1913
architect= Parfitt Brothers, annex: Hill and Woltersdorf
architecture= Queen Anne, annex: English Arts & Craft
added = December 16, 1974
governing_body = Private/Friedman Properties
refnum=03000784 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

The Tree Studio Building and Annexes was an artist colony established in Chicago, Illinois in 1894 by Judge Lambert Tree and his wife, Anne Tree.

Tree arranged to have the original Tree building constructed in 1894, designed by the architecture firm of Parfitt Brothers. The building is constructed with steel frames and is two stories high. The ground level is covered in a cast iron arcade and designed as storefronts, while the second story is covered in a Roman brick and is designed to serve as artist studios with large windows to allow natural light to enter.cite web | title = Tree Studio Building | work = Chicago: A National Register of Historic Places Travel itinerary | publisher = National Park Services | date = | url = http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/chicago/c5.htm | accessdate = 2007-07-09]

Tree created a legal trust which stipulated that only artists could live in Tree Studios. This trust remained in force until 1959 when the complex was sold the the Medinah Temple, with which the studio complex shared a block. ]

Some of the studio's residents include sculptors Albin Polasek and John Storrs; illustrator J. Allen St. John; muralist John Warner Norton; painters Ruth Van Sickle Ford, James Murray Haddow, and Pauline Palmer; and actors Peter Falk and Burgess Meredith.cite web | title = Tree Studios, Annexes, and Courtyard | work = Chicago Landmarks | publisher = City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division | date = 2003 | url =http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/T/TreeStudios.html | accessdate = 2007-07-09]

Restoration of the property, guided by Albert Friedman, began in 2000 and included the building being listed by the World Monuments Fund.cite web | title = Tree Studios Medinah Temple | work = The Suites Collection | publisher = Friedman Properties | date = 2006 | url = http://www.thesuitescollection.com/tree/history.asp | accessdate = 2007-07-09] Friedman purchased the property in 2001, following which construction workers and artisans labored side-by-side, rebuilding Tree Studios by hand. Architectural details were re-created from surviving fragments in on-site woodworking shops.

The State Street building was listed as a Chicago Landmark on February 26, 1997. The Ohio Street and Ontario Street annexes and courtyard were added as Chicago Landmarks on June 27, 2001. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 16, 1974.

References

See also

*Chicago architecture