Page 2 - Flyer for 999 N LSD 5A
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When Picturesque Views Meet Magnificent Spaces, Extraordinary Events Are Inevitable
PROVENANCE…
“999 North Lake Shore Drive was designed by renowned architect Benjamin Marshall of Marshall & Fox,
Architects and was completed in 1913.
“The red brick and mansard roofed 10-story structure commands one of Chicago’s most desirable corners,
the short bend of Lake Shore Drive, granting the building unencumbered views both east and north. The
three apartments on each floor have different plans, but each exploits the generous bow windows on the
Second Empire façade with its swells and recesses, bows, and (enclosed) balconies, limestone framed porte
cochere, it is the loveliest on this strip of extraordinary buldings.”
Excerpts above taken from Chicago Apartments: A Century of Lakefront Luxury.
“If you lived in Chicago any time after 1912 and drove a car along the lakefront on the near north side,
chances are you marveled at the rick brick building, 10 stories high, sitting like a contented cat on the
corner of the city’s most desirable residential street. If a pool had been taken 100 years ago or 50 or even
yesterday asking Chicagoans to pick their favorite apartment building based solely on looks, this one would
have been a frequent winner. Zipping past it with your foot on the accelerator and your eyes on the road
ahead is not the ideal way to appreciate 999 Lake Shore Drive. That’s a bit like guzzling Lafite Rothschild
from the bottle.
“Walk east past the other great properties, all completed between 1913 and 1929, past the dazzling rows of
flowers kneeling at the bases of the buildings they adorn, past the watchful eyes of uniformed doormen,
past the clean, manicured lawns and the parade of trees, past the small park across the street and beyond it
the Outer Drive and the blue-gray waves of Lake Michigan, until you get to the far end of the block and
999 Lake Shore Drive, gracefully sweeping around its corner, exposing its broad face to the world.
“Strikingly beautiful up close, 999 Lake Shore Drive does not reveal all its charms in a single glance.
Standing on the corner, you can crank your neck as far back as it will go and not be able to take it all in.
The best place to see it in the context of the entire street is from a blanket on Oak Street Beach. From that
vantage point you can see that the eight buildings on East Lake Shore share a similarity of scale and
rhythm, a compatibility of color and texture, and a moment in history when old world elegance reigned
supreme. They appear to have been cultivated to be seen together, like a garden in the Gilded Age.
“From the deck of a boat you can observe the sun’s love affair with 999. One moment it is blushing pink,
in the next a lusty red-violet. The building’s colors vary with the action of the waves, the passage of the
sun and the serendipitous stirring of the clouds.”
Excerpts above taken from 999: A History of Chicago in Ten Stories by Richard B. Fizdale, a resident of
the building, in order to commemorate the celebration of the building’s 100th anniversary.
Provenance Continued on the Following Page…
All information in this flyer is subject to verification.