Eda Isadore Hurd Lord (March 8, 1854 – February 26, 1938) was an American businesswoman from

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

. She was responsible for plotting the city's land and developing the residential spaces.

Early life

Eda Isadore Hurd Lord was born on March 8, 1854, the daughter of

Harvey B. Hurd Harvey Bostwick Hurd (February 14, 1828 – January 20, 1906) was a prominent Chicago lawyer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, and social reformer.Harvey Bostwick Hurd, 1828-1906 National Portrait Gallery https://www.si.edu/obje ...

(1828-1906) and Cornelia A. Hilliard. She had two sisters: Hettie B. Hurd (1855-1884) and Nellie Hurd Comstock (1857-1940).

Career

Real Estate developer

Eda Hurd Lord, was a successful businesswoman, one of the first in Evanston, and is responsible for plotting the city's land and developing the residential spaces. She designed 32 houses on the land she inherited from her father. Among her real estate properties (or related to her family): * 1890–91, 1625 Ashland Avenue, Joseph Silsbee, for

* 1896, 1600-02 Ashland Avenue, Myron Hunt, for

* 1897, 1580 Ashland Avenue, Myron Hunt, for

* 1898, 1570-74 Ashland Avenue, Myron Hunt, for

* 1899, 1420 Davis Street, Charles Ayars, for Jeannie Lord Ayars * 1908 2740 Ridge Avenue, Walter Griffin, for William Sinclair Lord * 1909 1583 Ashland Avenue,

George W. Maher George Washington Maher (December 25, 1864 – September 12, 1926) was an American architect during the first quarter of the 20th century. He is considered part of the Prairie School-style and was known for blending traditional architecture wit ...

, for Eda Hurd Lord * 1909 52-54 Lake Street, for Eda Hurd Lord, sold to Aaron N. Young, valued $88,295 (ca. $2,131,723.84 in 2017) * 1909, 1421 Elinor Place,

Perkins and Will Perkins&Will is a global design practice founded in 1935. Since 1986, the group has been a subsidiary of Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah (Arabic: دار الهندسة). Phil Harrison has been the firm's CEO since 2006. History The firm was establ ...

, for Eda Hurd Lord * 1910, 1415 Elinor Place,

, for Eda Hurd Lord * 1910, 1416 Elinor Place,

, for Eda Hurd Lord * 1911-1912 1575 Ashland Avenue,

, for George S. Lord * 1912, 1550 Asbury Avenue,

, for Eda Hurd Lord * 1911–12, 1631 Ashland Avenue,

Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia's capital city and the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and ...

, for Hurd Comstock * 1911–12, 1416 Church Street,

, for Hurd Comstock Lord's father, Harvey B. Hurd, was the first president of the Evanston village board of trustees, and founder and first president of the Evanston Historical Society. He hired Myron Hunt to develop his properties. Lord instead engaged Dwight Perkins and

and opened Elinor Place. Her grandnephew Hurd Comstock, son of her sister Nellie Hurd Comstock, hired

Patron of arts

She was the owner of the watercolor on paper ''A Woman with a Rose'' by Winslow Homer, ca. 1879, donated in 1938 to the San Diego Museum of Art. She also owned the watercolor ''Shepherdesses Resting'' (1879) and the drawing ''The Shepherdess'' (1878). In December 1879 at an auction held by William A. Butters and Company, she bought ''Man with Plow Horse'', currently on loan to the Chicago Art Institute. At the same auction she possible bought the pencil and gouache on paper ''Through the Fields'' (1879), in 1923 appeared at the J.W. Young Galleries, in Chicago, Illinois.

Personal life

On April 29, 1873, she married George Sterling Lord (1850-1916), a wholesale druggist for Lord, Owen & Co., a company started by his father Thomas Lord. She is the mother of

Eda Lord Dixon Eda Hurd Lord Young Dixon (November 30, 1876 – February 14, 1926) was a metal artist working within the Arts and Crafts movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Early life Eda Hurd Lord was born on November 30, 1876, in Evanston, Illino ...

(1876-1926). Her other children are: Jeannie Henry Ayers (b. 1875), Harvey Hurd Lord (1878-1920), Thomas Lord (1880-1951), Kate Kimball Lord (1882-1908), Sterling Lord (b. 1884), Robert Owen Lord (1886-1968), a banker, Margaret Lord Burnham (1892-1979), George Willis Lord (1894-1977). She is the grandmother of

Eda Lord Eda Hurd Lord (July 30, 1907 – October 22, 1976) was an American writer and longtime companion of writer Sybille Bedford. Early life Eda Lord was born in Durango, Mexico on July 30, 1907. Her father, Harvey Lord, was managing a mine there, bu ...

and Suzanne Lord Folds. She was a talented musician and a patron of arts. She moved to California in 1921. She died on February 26, 1938, at

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, and is buried at

Lake Forest Cemetery Lake Forest Cemetery is a rural cemetery in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States. The site was first identified for burial in 1857 when the town of Lake Forest was planned. Later, William Le Baron Jenney designed a winding road system and Ossian C ...

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest ...

Legacy

The novel "Childsplay" is an semi-autobiographical novel recounting in part

's life as a child living with her grandmother at 1558 Ridge Avenue,

. In 1963 Sterling Lord published ''Victorian Vignettes: Eda Hurd Lord 1963''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Eda Hurd 1854 births 1938 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American women 20th-century American women Businesspeople from Evanston, Illinois Burials at Lake Forest Cemetery