Midway Gardens (opened in 1914, demolished in 1929) was a 360,000 square feet indoor/outdoor entertainment facility in the
Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. It was designed by architect
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
, who also collaborated with sculptors
Richard Bock
Richard W. Bock (July 16, 1865 – 1949) was an American sculptor and associate of Frank Lloyd Wright.
He was particularly known for his sculptural decorations for architecture and military memorials,Lorado Taft''The History of American Sculptur ...
and
Alfonso Iannelli
Alfonso Iannelli (February 17, 1888 – March 23, 1965) was an Italian-American sculptor, artist, and industrial designer.
Based in Chicago for most of his life, Iannelli was born in Andretta, Italy on February 17, 1888. He came to America in ...
on the famous "sprite" sculptures decorating the facility. Designed to be a European–style concert garden with space for year-round dining, drinking, and performances, Midway Gardens hosted popular performers and entertainers but struggled financially and the structure was torn down in October 1929.
History
Midway Gardens was opened on the site of the former Sans Souci amusement park on the southwest corner of Cottage Grove Avenue and East 60th Street. Edward C. Waller commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design and build the Gardens in 1914. Construction was completed very quickly,
[Cashman, Sean Dennis (1988)]
''America in the Age of the Titans: The Progressive Era and World War I''
pp. 367-68. New York University Press. and the Gardens opened in June, 1914.
[Sengstock, Charles A. (2004)]
''That Toddlin' Town: Chicago's White Dance Bands and Orchestras, 1900-1950''
pp. 56-58. University of Illinois Press.
Although at first business was strong, Waller never had enough funds to back the construction and upkeep of Midway Gardens and declared bankruptcy in March 1916.
[Sebesta, Judith A. "Spectacular Failure: Frank Lloyd Wright's Midway Gardens and Chicago Entertainment." ''Theatre Journal'', Vol. 53, No. 2, May 2001, pp. 304–07.] At this point, Midway Gardens was purchased by the
Schoenhofen Brewing Company and renamed "Edelweiss Gardens" (after the brewery's main beer brand). Wright, who generally exerted strong creative control over his completed projects, was disgusted by the aesthetic changes the new owner made to the Gardens. He wrote that Edelweiss had added "obnoxious features" and that the whole effect of "the proud Midway Gardens" "was cheapened to suit a hearty bourgeois taste". Edelweiss Gardens continued through the war years (closing briefly in 1918) and stayed open as a dry establishment during
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
.
[ In 1921, the building was sold once more, to the E. C. Dietrich Midway Automobile Tire and Supply Company, and renamed "The Midway Dancing Gardens".][http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%20Pages/PhRtS180.htm]
Finally, in October 1929, Midway Gardens was closed permanently and demolished. A testament to Wright's design, the building was so solidly constructed that tearing it down sent the wrecking company into bankruptcy.
Features and entertainment
Midway Gardens was an indoor/outdoor entertainment center intended to act as a beer hall and concert
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...
/dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and cities in ...
which featured bands including the Midway Gardens Orchestra. The large area (equivalent to a city block) offered entertainment to a wide variety of people in a German-style meeting place. The Gardens included restaurants, saloons, newspaper and cigar stands, and arcades. When Prohibition was passed, the Gardens lost part of their entertainment value.
When it opened, Midway Gardens was an upscale entertainment venue that was also affordable to the common person. Max Bendix
Max Bendix (1866–1945) was an American composer, conductor, and violinist; he worked for many years with Theodore Thomas, and he was the first concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1891 until 1896. He also served for a time as co ...
and the National Symphony Orchestra frequented the concert section because they were the "house band". The ballet dancer Anna Pavlova
Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20t ...
performed numerous times as well. Frank Lloyd Wright brought in popular acts to sing, dance, and play music, which created a bourgeois environment. After it became Edelweiss Gardens, however, the high class atmosphere switched to one of vaudeville, ragtime, and cabaret. In the early 1920s, a young clarinetist Benny Goodman played in the house band.[
]
Design
The modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
architecture of the Gardens was based on strict geometrical forms.[ A large, open–air central area, filled with tables and chairs, was ringed by a series of three–story buildings with indoor spaces for dancing and other activities, as well as ]cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
ed balconies with overhanging roofs.terraced
In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...
gardens, pools, and a music pavilion and stage.
The building itself was made of yellow brick and patterned concrete block. It featured highly intricate ornament and many geometric sculptures, which Frank Lloyd Wright named "sprites" and were co-designed with Alfonso Ianelli. Some of these sculptures escaped demolition and can be found elsewhere.[
]
References
* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.180)
External links
Archival Photographs of Midway gardens from the University of Chicago
{{Frank Lloyd Wright
Buildings and structures demolished in 1929
Frank Lloyd Wright buildings
Buildings and structures in Chicago
Demolished buildings and structures in Chicago