One of Evanston's most beloved landmarks, The Chaumont (or, Chateau de Chaumont, to use its full name) at 1501-1509 Chicago Avenue, has graced the northeast corner of Chicago Avenue and Grove Street since 1927-28. In 1984 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Quinlan and Tyson real estate firm served as The Chaumont's original managers. An early brochure bearing their name proclaims:

This new building is approximately a copy of a structure erected centuries ago in old Blois, in the heart of the Chateau district in central France. The feature of the Chaumont is a central court typical of France, with a roof over the first floor shops providing a court yard. The exterior walls are of Bedford Stone with a slate Mansard roof. The architecture is such that the structure in no way resembles a commercial building. There are seven shops on the main floor and eighteen apartments, which are especially spacious.

Looking at a photo of the exterior of the French castle, the name seems fanciful applied to its Evanston counterpart. However, the private courtyard here, secreted on the east side of the building, does indeed bear a similarity to the courtyard in France. The apartment entrances are all on the second-story interior flagstone courtyard, which is entered by a stairway from Grove Street. The 18 apartments are 4 or 5 rooms-six apartments per floor. All were built with wood-burning fireplaces and equipped with a roll-a-way bed.

The Chaumont does a remarkable job of successfully integrating commercial stores and private residences. The stores all face Chicago Avenue and with their large expanses of windows fit perfectly with the commercial nature of the street. The apartments above present a more contained face to the street with their multi-paned casement windows, and the apartment entrance around the corner on Grove Street faces Raymond Park, known at the time as the suburb's church center. The one store with a Grove Street exposure has a beautiful multi-paned bay window on its Grove side.

Interestingly, three old newspaper clippings from shortly before the Chaumont was erected, found at the Evanston History Center, speak of "a seven-story store and apartment building." Perhaps the confusion was due to the seven stores originally in the Chaumont (today there are six). Another newspaper notice of the time reports that Thielbar & Fugard had prepared tentative plans for a four-story building.

The newspapers report that the land for the Chaumont was purchased for $265,000 by a syndicate of real estate men composed of Francis E. Manierre, Louis Manierre, Frederick H. Winston, and Frederick A. Cooper. Cooper owned the construction company that built the Chaumont. The building cost was reported to be about $300,000.

A few other interesting facts related to the Chaumont:

Its architect, John Fugard (1886-1968) of the firm Thielbar & Fugard, was an Evanston resident who lived at 806 Clinton Place. Thielbar & Fugard also designed the McGraw-Hill Building at 520 Michigan Avenue, in Chicago, which in recent years was disassembled and then rebuilt as the North Bridge shopping complex, and a 30-story building at 182 Lake Street, on the northeast corner of Lake and Wells, now known as Century Tower but originally built as the Trustees System Services Building.

Charles Dawes once occupied a house at 1505 Chicago Avenue, which was torn down for the Chaumont.

Click on the attachments below to view images of the Chaumont.