New Life for the Somerset?

We recently received this comment to one of our posts on the Somerset:

My husband and his partner toured this property last week.


Let me begin by saying, not all developers have green scales for skin and only one motivation. We proudly have a long resume of historic preservation and would like to see this property regain some of it's original grace.

We are busy in the research phase at the moment; and I want to ask-

What (as a community) would you like to see this building become?

In addition to apartments, there is a tremendous amount of open space. The possibilities for retail, a cafe/restaurant, and on the top floor a community room/gym facilities available for the tenants/owners...
(as part of my research I'm looking into if I think I could find someone to do a CAFETERIA...no joke, they were all the rage in 1920's and there was one in the building originally!) Cool or not?

Obviously a new, more thoughtfully planned facade is a must...sadly it would take a lot of resources and a lot of time to recreate the terra cotta facade that once was there...an eventual goal perhaps.

Kindly reply.
Developer's wife...

PS. this is of course NOT a "done deal" at this stage in the game.

So fellow Uptowners, any reuse ideas for the Somerset?

Sheridan Park Hotel, 4631 Racine (formerly Pemberton Ave) Uptown Chicago

Stretches of what is now Racine Ave. were once known as Pemberton Ave.. The Sheridan Park Hotel was at 4631.

Here is the location today, courtesy Google Street Views:


View Larger Map

Film Noir Actor Robert Ryan's Uptown Chicago Connection

"I can't remember a time when there weren't some automobiles around, but in my earliest years they were very seldom seen. Almost all heavy hauling was done by horse and wagon, and the alley, which was the commercial thoroughfare, was full of various dobbins hauling ice, garbage, groceries, etc. In the hot summers the horses wore straw hats. The horses got to know the various stops and often would break in a new driver by showing him where to go. I remember my father taking me over to a nearby fire station and showing me the white horses that pulled the fire engines—the fire chief's name was Flavin. At that time, I am sure that every fireman, policeman, and prizefighter in Chicago had an Irish name."

A reminiscence from film noir icon Robert Ryan, newly unearthed by his daughter, sheds light on his Chicago childhood—and his family’s connection to a tragic chapter in the city’s history:

I was born on November 11, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois. We lived at 4822 Kenmore Avenue on the first floor in a six-apartment building. Chicago, then, as now, was the second largest city in America and the natives always speak of its three "sides"—north, south and west. There was no "east" side. The business and shopping center of Chicago is called the "Loop" because the elevated railway makes a complete circle around it.

The north side, where I was born, was the most newly settled of the three sides and our neighborhood could not have been very old. I suspect that it would have been called "nice" middle-class. Certainly not wealthy like the Lake Shore Drive section, nor poor like many parts of the west side. Kenmore Avenue was one block west of Sheridan Road which ran along the lake front—and—which was near the beaches of Lake Michigan where I spent so many of my boyhood summers...

Read full letter here: Robert Ryan's Letter

Read more about Robert Ryan here: Robert Ryan

Edgewater Beach Hotel 1948

Image available at:

http://www.zazzle.com/edgewater_beach_hotel_chicago_1948_postcard-239784787188254170

Edgewater Beach Hotel Taxi Schedule

Interior Sheridan Plaza Hotel, Sheridan and Wilson, Uptown

Residents of 4532 Magnolia, Uptown, Chicago

Now available on eBay: http://tinyurl.com/y8anr9f

On the back is written:
Henry S. Geuttman (sp?) and Margaret Doherty Hittnes (sp?)
ca. 1912 taken at 4532 Magnolia Ave. Chicago

When Rogers Park Was a Woodland