Potter Palmer House to Be Demolished in 1930

In 1930, the doors of the Potter Palmer "Castle" on the Gold Coast, one of the few remaining showplaces of the 1880s and 1890s, swung wide for the curious public. Following a two-day society charity benefit, which welcomed everyone according to a signboard, the turreted mansion among towering apartment buildings will be handed over to wreckers. An apartment hotel will rise in its place.

Potter Palmer, an early mercantile prince and innkeeper, built the grand home on Lake Shore Drive during the 1880s. For more than 40 years, entry to the "Castle" was reserved for the socially elite. In its early days, the mansion stood as austere and aloof as the stately chatelaine who ruled it, reigning over Chicago society for three decades.

Mrs. Palmer, who passed away in 1918, was the sole social dictator of Chicago's elite. She also maintained homes in London, holding a firm place in European social circles. Gaining an audience with her required navigating through 27 intermediaries—butlers, maids, social secretaries, and the equivalent of ladies-in-waiting. Her closest friends made appointments in writing. The most elaborate Palmer social functions were held on New Year's Eve, and an invitation was a carte blanche for Chicago's events of the ensuing year.

The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII of England, was a guest at the Palmers'. Presidents Grant, Garfield, and McKinley were also entertained at the "Castle."
When Czar Nicholas II of Russia was crowned, Mrs. Palmer chartered a special boat and train to attend the coronation in St. Petersburg. Many Russian nobles later returned to be guests at a house party on Lake Shore Drive. The drive, once a leisurely boulevard beside Lake Michigan, now buzzes with workers and children from the West Side swimming in the lake near the Castle's turrets.

Modernity has left the old home largely unchanged, still heavy with tapestries, lined with suits of armor, and adorned with busts of ancient and noble Romans. Potter Palmer Jr. was the last family member to live in the "Castle." When he sold it to Vincent Bendix, head of a manufacturing concern, he stipulated that he would continue to occupy it until his granddaughter Bertha could make her debut there. That event occurred last winter, and Bertha is assisting with the charity benefit. Even the final affair at the "Castle" retains an air of exclusivity, with only the downstairs rooms open to benefit patrons.

This article was published on June 6, 1930 in The Boston Globe. #Chicago #GildedAge #PotterPalmer #PalmerCastle