Lincoln Park’s Wrigley House!

Lincoln Park’s Wrigley House!

Lincoln Park's Wrigley House!

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The Wrigley mansion in Chicago’s Lincoln Park was famously owned by the William Wrigley, Jr. family as one of his five mansions from coast to coast. The family initially spent a good deal of time in Chicago as it was the corporate headquarters of the William Wrigley Jr. Company, which he founded in 1891. Initially the company sold items such as baking powder and soap. In 1892 Wrigley started packaging two packages of chewing gum with these products as a premium. The gum quickly became more popular than the other products and with entrepreneurial genius, he quickly redirected the company to produce chewing gum. The wealth acquired from chewing gum made it possible for Wrigley to branch out into other interests. In 1916 he bought a minority stake in the Chicago Cubs and in 1925, purchased the team outright. Wrigley Field, the Cubs ballpark, is named after him. The former corporate headquarters building, The Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue which he commissioned to be built in 1920, is still one of Chicago’s most important landmark buildings, though it has not housed the company offices since 2005.

In Chicago, the Wrigley family lived in Lincoln Park in a mansion they purchased in 1911, referred to today as the Theurer-Wrigley mansion. It was originally designed by architect Richard Schmidt in Italian Renaissance-style and built in 1896 for brewer Joseph Theurer. The exterior is covered in an unusual ornate baroque terra cotta that appealed so much to Wrigley that he also had it used on The Wrigley Building. After Wrigley’s death, the mansion sat empty for several decades. In 1984 the city seriously entertained the idea of buying it as the official residence of the mayor of Chicago, but the plan fell through and it was eventually purchased by a prominent attorney who now has it for sale.

Massive in size at 15,000 square feet, the mansion contains nine bedrooms and nine baths including those in the three-story coach house with its two apartments. One of the most dramatic features of the house is the large elevated ballroom with bandstand and walk-in cedar coatroom. All rooms are large and intricately detailed with a marble entrance, mosaic work, a grand cherry staircase and rooms have Baroque ornamentation on the ceilings and walls. There is a pub with wine cellar and a walk-in safe which was used during prohibition to store alcohol. Exotic woods were used throughout such as mahogany, cherry and bird's eye maple. Also included is a library and garden room. Perfect for intimate or large scale entertaining such as fundraisers, the grounds provide a circular driveway surrounding the buildings with additional space in the estate’s coach house. The mansion enjoys open views across Lincoln Park to Lake Michigan. For more information.

One of Chicago’s most elegant mansions, the home of William Wrigley, Jr., founder of the William Wrigley Jr. Company chewing gum empire, is now for sale. Priced at $8.695 million.

Source: www.marybennett.org