Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/593406
PhotograPhy by Mark hug/Courtesy of rh (interior); Courtesy of rh (exterior) The ArT of CommerCe Long vacant and now revitaLized, the goLd coast's Landmark three arts cLub buiLding starts a new chapter as the grand chicago fLagship of RH. by matt stewaRt Restoring and repurposing historic buildings has become a passion for Gary Friedman, chairman and CEO of RH (for- merly Restoration Hardware). In 2013, following a painstaking 15-month makeover, RH unveiled its stunning Boston location in the former Museum of Natural History, while in 2014 the company breathed new life into the grandeur of Greenwich, Connecticut's former main post offce. So it's no surprise that for its new Chicago outpost, RH chose one of the city's most architec- turally and socially signifcant structures: the 70,000-square-foot Three Arts Club building at 1300 North Dearborn Street, which opened to great fanfare last month as RH Chicago, The Gallery at the Three Arts Club. Designed a century ago by John Holabird, of the distinguished Chicago architectural frm Holabird and Roche, the club provided a residence and creative haven for generations of young women involved in the "three arts": painting, music, and drama. The building received Chicago landmark status in 1981 but closed in 2003 and had stood vacant until Friedman came upon it a decade later. "We made several visits to Chicago," says Friedman of the company's search for the right space for its new RH Gallery, "but we didn't land on a location we really loved. On our last trip [we] spent the day going around to dif- ferent locations in Chicago, but nothing felt right. About an hour before our fight, I asked to take a look at the Three Arts Club. I remember driving up to that beautiful building, and I said, 'This is it.'" Once the decision was made, Jim Gillam, a principal and founding partner at the firm Backen, Gillam and K roeger Architects and the lead designer for all RH projects, stepped in. "This building is very unique and historically important, particu- larly in its Gold Coast neighborhood," says Gillam. "In terms of preserving what was there and was important to the people who lived there over the years, I think if they were to come back and see the building now, they would be very pleased—not just in terms of keeping and restoring the most important parts of the architecture here and below: RH Chicago, The Gallery at the Three Arts Club preserves the landmark building's exterior while adding contemporary touches, such as the glass-and- steel-covered courtyard housing Brendan Sodikoff's 3 Arts Club Cafe. continued on page 136 HAUTE PROPERTY Eye on Architecture 134 michiganavemag.com