• The Fortnightly Of Chicago
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• The Casino Club Chicago Il

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There are those who think Society is dead, but they are fools. In Chicago, at least, there will always be Society, because, don't you know, there will always be The Casino club.

If you don't think so, just ask that nice little insurance company that built the John Hancock Center next door to the Casino (but more about that later).

The Fortnightly Of Chicago

The 14 best nightclubs in Chicago for dancing the night away. We’re working hard to be accurate – but these are unusual times, so please always check before. The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first club opened at 116 E. Walton Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States, on February 29, 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club Room.

Chicago is a city full of clubs. It could scarcely function without them.

The most powerful club in town-its membership list fairly creaking with weighties and mighties-is of course the Chicago Club, which a century ago was able to get the federal government to rush out and put up Ft. Sheridan just so there would be troops on hand to put down labor riots and other untoward disturbances.

But, since it was established in 1914, the most absolutely, utterly, excruciatingly exclusive club in Chicago has been the Casino, and I can think of nothing short of a major earthquake to render it otherwise.

Even then, it would be the most exclusive rubble in the city.

For those of you who have not crossed the Casino's decorous if not terribly decorative threshold, the Casino occupies what amounts to a one-story little black and green building at 195 E. Delaware Pl. among the towering high rises of Streeterville just off North Michigan Avenue.

It is unmarked and, passing by it, you might think it maybe a pricey funeral home or the pied-a-terre of some wealthy, eccentric and extremely private person.

Its much marbled, pastel-colored, classic and great Art Deco interior is perhaps the loveliest and certainly most tasteful space in town-and I don't think has been more than dusted since 1928. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney would have loved it-though the club members probably would not have loved her bohemian ways.

There's a dining room, a lounge, a ballroom and not much else. Once, when I was addressing a luncheon gathering there, I remarked how much the pillared ballroom reminded me of a Parisian bal musette (or dance hall). The members were not amused.

It is not, as its name could suggest, some racy gambling den (unless you consider teatime bridge as racy, and I think there are some Casino Club members who actually do), full of rakehells, mountebanks and fallen or falling ladies. Like the tennis Casino in Newport, R.I., it draws its name not from Monte Carlo but from the principal definition of the word 'casino': 'A building or room used for social amusements.'

The social amusements at the Casino run to lunching, dining, napping (sometimes while lunching and dining), gossiping and the occasional dancing. Mostly, they run to what F. Scott Fitzgerald described in 'The Great Gatsby' as 'the rich being rich together.'

Not simply 'the rich,' but 'Society'-and Society includes many who, though belonging to the Truly Elite, are quite poor. One woman I know of, conned out of her fortune by a rascally husband, was taken regularly to lunch at the Casino and other places by friends who knew it was the only way the poor thing would get anything to eat. Happily, the scoundrel died before he could divorce her and remarry (as was presumed to be his plan), and she got all her money back.

But the Casino is more than a high-toned soup kitchen for the temporarily strapped. As one very social lady of my acquaintance put it: 'The Casino was founded by the elite for the elite, and they're still using it.'

The invasion of the socialite

I am as hard put to define 'Society' as the estimable Cleveland Amory was in his landmark book, 'Who Killed Society?' The book was published in 1960, and, despite that hyperbolic title, Society is of course still very much alive and kicking-not to speak of tea dancing and harrumphing.

But people have always been trying to kill it, and what's killing it most nowadays seems to be the 'socialite.'

As you might gather from reading all the social life magazines that now abound in the area (I think there's even one dealing with doings in Glenview, which I never realized had doings), the term 'Chicago socialite' is tossed around so loosely you'd think the title was available for purchase at Wal-Mart or bus station vending machines.

Seemingly anyone with the price of rental evening wear, an invite to a charity dinner and a news or magazine photographer pal or two can get himself or herself labeled 'socialite' in the public print. If Chicago had as many street cleaners as it does socialities, it would be a much tidier place.

But despite their relentless attempts to blur the distinction, there is a difference between socialites and Society. For the best measure of which is which, you need only pick up a slim little yellow book that says, 'The Casino, Members and By-Laws.'

The name of the game

I shan't list all 200 plus current members' names, but they include Adams, Armour, Baldwin, Bartholomay, Bensinger, Blair, Blettner, Butler (no, not the Oak Brook Butlers), Chaffetz, deFrise, Donnelley, Fentress, Gidwitz (the beautiful Christina), Graham, Harvey, Heineman, Jahn (Helmut the architect), Kroch, McCormick, Nielsen, Oldberg, Olmsted, Paepcke, Potter Palmer, (the Lord Peter) Palumbo, Paschen, Prince, Ryan, Ryerson, Smith, Sudler, Terra, Voysey, Wilkin (Abra, don't you know), Wirtz and Wood.

'By the time we found out,' one lady member told me, 'it was too late to start the blackball!'

How does one become a member? The bylaws do not say. If they did, I think they would say something like: 'No person may join the Club who is not already a member.'

Though the Casino does have a small quota of non-resident members, I-now a Virginian-am not one of them. I do from time to time visit it as a guest, but am careful to count the times. The bylaws state: 'A Non-Member of THE CASINO may accept an invitation to the Club only once a month and must be accompanied at all times by a Member. A Non-Member may be invited to attend a party in the Club of 25 persons or more, irrespective of having used the privilege for that month.'

Alas, the standard for admission to the club is much high for non-members than for those people merely allowed to rent the club for parties. Consider the hired hall luncheon being thrown this month by non-member Sugar Rautbord for non-member and visiting author Dominick Dunne.

In the beginning

The initial raison d'etre of the Casino was to provide an oasis for Lake Foresters who, after a hard day shopping, tea dancing or captaining industry, just couldn't bear to drive or train all the way back to the North Shore to change into evening finery for nocturnal gavottes in the city.

Originally, the Casino was in a pink and white (gads) building at 167 E. Delaware Pl., but an unscrupulous real estate developer (imagine, in Chicago!) sold the property out from under the club and in 1928 it was compelled to move to its present site.

You can bet your booties that sort of thing never happened again. In the mid-1960s, the Hancock people decided to put up a major development on the block fronting Michigan between Delaware Place and Chestnut Street. They needed the entire block because they planned to erect an office tower and a residential one on the space.

But, then as now, a significant section of the block was taken up by the Casino. The Hancock people wrote to longtime club president Mrs. John Winterbotham asking to negotiate the purchase of the club property. They weren't even given the courtesy of a scornful reply. Years later, after Mrs. Winterbotham died, the Hancock's letter was found buried in a drawer of her desk-so far beneath contempt she didn't bother answering it.

Deprived of space for two buildings, the Hancock Center project developers were compelled to stick the residential tower on top of the office one, producing what was-for a time-the world's tallest building.

Falling into place

The Hancock folks were certainly decent about it all, though-going to the trouble of pumping 44,000 gallons of liquid grout into the soil under the Casino to solidify its base and keep teacups from rattling while their skyscraper was under construction.

Still, a large piece of machinery fell from the Hancock's girders during the construction, hitting the Casino's roof, and the area was bombarded by falling hammers, bolts and at least one bucket, though no one was injured.

In the middle of one horrid night, a huge chunk of ice broke off the Hancock and crashed through the Casino's roof into (gasp) the ballroom! Club employees discovering the damage in the morning were said to be 'aghast.'

Most of the time-when chunks of ice aren't falling through the roof-the place is about the quietest in the city. The acoustics are such that you can overhear even the most decorous lunch conversation-though some aren't decorous at all. I recall one in which a very grande dame kept booming on about how terrible the food was, how insufferably slow the service was, etc., etc., etc.

All the while, waiters kept shuffling about her table paying no attention whatsoever.

In the days before ethnic diversity, one prominent and now deceased Jewish society lady who was not a Casino member was so thrilled by a party thrown in her honor at the club that she had prominent mention of it made in her prepared obituary. A much beloved current member of the Casino reportedly is making plans for a party to be held in her honor there after her demise.

Some of the simply loveliest wedding receptions in town are held at the Casino. There are debs parties, too-but only the most select, and sedate.

'The flashy ones are sent to the hotels,' one member explained.

Probably the most excitement attendant to the Casino occurs, not on the club premises, but at mailboxes all over the Chicago area when the invitations are sent out for the Casino's annual December Ball-held the first Friday of that month and universally considered the most exclusive and most prestigious event on the Chicago social calendar.

Not only is the invitation list a carefully held secret; the membership of the committee that draws up the list is kept secret.

I'm told only 250 are invited to the December Ball dinner, and another 400 are allowed in later to join in the dancing. All others, including that great mob of Chicago 'socialities,' can likely be found that night holed up at home with the lights out, lest it be discovered where they aren't.

The Chicago Club, founded in 1869, is a private social club located at 81 East Van Buren Street at Michigan Avenue in the Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Its membership has included many of Chicago's most prominent businessmen, politicians, and families.

History[edit]

In the mid-1860s, a social group formed in Chicago, Illinois that met on State Street. The group later met on the top floor of the old Portland Block on the southeast corner of Dearborn and Washington Streets. Known as the 'Dearborn Club', members would meet in afternoons to drink and play cards. Members included Western Union co-founder Anson Stager, former New York State SenatorHenry R. Pierson, Judge of the Cook County Court Hugh T. Dickey, and dry goods merchant Philip Wadsworth. The Dearborn Club was shut down by the Cook County Sheriff's Office in 1868.^[2]

In January 1869, former members of the Dearborn Club organized a meeting in the Sherman House. Although nothing was decided, a second meeting was scheduled, and there a resolution was passed to create a new club for 100 Chicago citizens. For $100, a gentleman could join the Chicago Club. Wadsworth was elected the first president.^[3] Stager, Charles B. Farwell, George Pullman, George & David Gage, and Wirt Dexter each lent the club $500 to cover early expenses. Other charter members included Robert Todd Lincoln, the President's son, Perry H. Smith, the railroad magnate, Potter Palmer, and (later) Marshall Field.^[4]Former state representative Edward S. Isham drafted incorporation papers and Wadsworth delivered them to the state capitol of Springfield. The club then rented the former Henry Farnam mansion on the corner of Michigan Avenue between Jackson and Adams Streets. The first meeting of the Chicago Club was held on May 1, 1869.^[5]

The first clubhouse was destroyed by fire in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, so the club moved to 279 Michigan Avenue for two years, and then to the Gregg House at 476 Wabash Avenue. In 1876 the club built its first permanent home on Monroe Street across from the Palmer House.^[6]

In 1893, the club decided it needed larger quarters, and it purchased from the Art Institute of Chicago its former building on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street. This building has been put up in 1886-1887 and was designed by Burnham and Root to be the first home of the Institute, which moved across the street to its current location in 1892. This building remained the clubhouse until the 1920s, when it collapsed during remodelling.^[6]

To replace it, Granger and Bollenbacher designed an eight-story granite building in the Romanesque Revival style, which was completed in 1929. During construction, Burnham & Root's triple-arched entrance was moved around the corner from Michigan Avenue to Van Buren Street, where it remains the main entrance to the building, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and continues as the club's headquarters today.^[6]

Privacy[edit]

The Chicago Club's by-laws specifically forbid working members of the press from entering the building. The one exception to this rule seems to have been in 1982 when a Chicago Tribune editor was able to obtain limited access.^[7]

[T]he interior splendor of the Chicago Club is as private as a stately home in England, which it much resembles in décor. Indeed, few pedestrians passing by the eight-story red-granite clubhouse at Van Buren and Michigan even know what the place is. Club members – with such names as Field, Pullman, Lincoln, McCormick, and Blair – may have shaped Chicago history. But they also have developed a sense of privacy that politely but firmly excludes: 1) The entire world, except for the club's 1,200 carefully selected members; 2) Until recently, women; and 3) Reporters and photographers. 'We'll fight to the death on that one,' growls one club board member ...

How do you get in? Don't ask. How tough is it to join? In a word, very. Not only is there a long waiting list, but an applicant needs a sponsoring member, a seconder, lots of letters of support, and a good deal of patience. Most applicants test the waters first, so formal rejections are few. But not even the well-connected can breeze in ...

Historians might argue that the Chicago Club no longer has the power it wielded in the days when its 'millionaires' table' was the lunchtime gathering place of Marshall Field, George Pullman, N. K. Fairbank, John Crerar, and a half-dozen others, each worth millions in the days when that sum meant something. 'Everything to be done in Chicago was discussed by that group, and then word was passed out', as Stanley Field put it. ... But a visitor, seated on a lobby sofa, and those who sweep in for lunch, could hardly disagree with the recent pecking-order manual, 'Who Runs Chicago?' Its conclusion: 'The Chicago Club is the center of power in Chicago. It is mandatory for the city's biggest executives to join it, unless they want to be considered not-so-big executives.

The Casino Club Chicago Il 60617

University of California 'Centrality Study'[edit]

In 1975, G. William Domhoff, professor of sociology at the University of California, ran a network analysis study on the membership of think tanks, policy-planning groups, social clubs, trade associations, and opinion-shaping groups across the country for a research project he was doing on San Francisco's Bohemian Club. The Bohemian Club turned out to be the 11th 'most connected' organization in the country. Only three social clubs ranked higher: New York's Links Club (3rd), San Francisco's Pacific Union (7th), and The Chicago Club (8th).

Source:^[8]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Notes

1. ^'National Register Information System'. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
2. ^Blair 1898, pp. 13–14.
3. ^Blair 1898, pp. 14–15.
4. ^Andrews, Wayne (1946). Battle for Chicago. Harcourt Brace and Company.
5. ^Blair 1898, pp. 16–18.
6. ^ ^abc'The Gem of the Avenue' on the Chicago Club website
7. ^Anderson, Jon. 'Chicago's Ace of Clubs - How difficult is it to get in? Don't Ask'Chicago Tribune (April 11, 1982). p. J12
8. ^G. William Domhoff, 'Social clubs, policy-planning grups, and corporations: A network study of ruling-class cohesiveness,' The Insurgent Sociologist, Vo. 5, No. 3, 1975, p. 178.

Bibliography

• Blair, Edward T. (1898). A History of the Chicago Club.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links[edit]

The Casino Club Chicago Il