To contact, please email: ThreeArtsFriends@gmail.com

Monday, July 19, 2010

Faire Ferrill Lees, former Three Arts Club resident, tells of good old days

Faire Ferrill Lees writes:

In June of 1963 I moved to the Three Arts Club. There I met my two suite-mates (Glenda Graves -now Hillard, and Marilyn Flo Ashmore), who became my life-long friends.

I grew up just 4 blocks away, until my parents died in a fire in March of that year. My older siblings arranged through members of the TAC Board for me to be accepted as a resident.

The Three Arts Club staff and residents became surogate members of my family helping me through my transition. During the next two years, I developed a love for classical music thanks to Anne Shumate, Leona Lauritas, and Molly Davie, modern art thanks to Edie Enthoff-Davis, and theater thanks to Shelly Shulman.

I did not however ever develop a love for Miss Ethel's favored vegetable, Okra.

We were blessed with Miss Maier (sic) as the Director, who referred to our group as "the Jet Set," but was a good sounding board.

Dinners were served by some great male students at many of the Design schools, and each week 2-3 residents joined Miss Maier's table for dinner.

Tea on Sunday was held in the Tea Room between the Reception Room and the Dining Room often in conjunction with a recital by one or more residents.

While the TAC assured we practiced the gentle graces, we also partook of the local color on the "Street of Dreams" at Butch Maguire's, the Zoo, Catfish Row and Easy Street.

I do hope that a way can be found to restore the Three Arts Club for new generations of those pursuing a career in the Arts.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Meeting Tomorrow with Office of Senator Dick Durbin

From Sue Basko -

Tomorrow, I have a meeting with an aide from the office of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin to discuss federal funding possibilities to recoup and restore the Three Arts Club as a home and club for women in the arts.

I think Senator Durbin has shown a strong interest in women, in the fine arts, and in advancing cultural institutions.

I will keep everyone posted on the outcome.

-- Sue

Monday, May 10, 2010

Krisha Fairchild, on living at The Three Arts, 1971

Krisha Fairchild sent in these eloquent, poetic words on what the Three Arts Club meant to her:

for me, moving from a state university campus
to the Three Arts Club, around 1971,
it was the safe haven i needed
in a city unlike any i knew...

it was a place where there were
just enough rules to protect me from myself...

a place where i could hang with other arty girls
with good upbringings, all of us ready to cut loose,
but still needing some gentle guidance...

it was a sorority without the snobs.
a dorm without the drunks.
a place to NOT get pregnant...
but rather to get exposed to the world of the arts
as others lived and strived it.

i cannot imagine how the city might have
bruised and damaged my sensibilities,
without the Three Arts Club as a buffer zone.

i have always remembered it so fondly.
and i will continue to embrace it as it was,
and hope it will be recreated someday.

aloha and light...

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Laura Stoller, Architectural Masters Candidate, to meet with Three Arts Club Friends


The Friends of the Three Arts Club recently received an email from Laura Stoller, a student pursuing a Masters in Architecture. A group of us plans to meet with her near the end of February, 2010. We are very excited to hear about her studies and her ideas for this magnificent place. If you would like to join us at our meeting with Ms. Stoller, please email here.

This is what Laura said:

My name is Laura Stoller and I am a Master of Architecture student at
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I happened to walk by
the Three Arts Club last summer and fell in love with it. My
concentration is in Preservation which includes everything from
building rehabilitation and adaptive reuse projects to recording and
documenting historic buildings. I will graduate in May with my
Masters and plan on becoming a licensed architect, focusing on
Preservation in Chicago.

The reason I am emailing is because my one-year thesis project is on
the Three Arts Club. I started the project in August and I will
present my thesis at the end of April. I spent last semester
researching everything I could about the building and digging up old
articles, images, etc. I was able to contact the developer and he
gave me a tour of the building, as well as the original set of
architectural drawings. I have reproduced the drawings electronically
using AutoCAD and now I am working on my proposed design for the
building.

I have a number of ideas for the new use of the building, including a
modern interpretation of the original Three Arts Club. I would love
to discuss my thesis with you and if you are interested, get your
imput. My goal is that my thesis project could help create a future
for this amazing building.

Margaret Squires, former Three Arts resident, speaks out

I recently visited Chicago and brought my 15 year old daughter to see my old stomping ground. I lived at the three arts club in the early 80's while attending The School of the Art Institute. I was shocked and saddened to see the vibrant place I remember now vacant. This is so wrong.

I had the most wonderful experience with my fellow women at this very unusual place. I feel blessed for my experiences in Chicago, due in great part to the three arts.

I went on on to live in Los Angeles and recieved my MFA in painting from UCLA. Now I'm a high school art teacher and parent of three children. Our young women need places like the three arts. We were all so inspired by each other. If I had money to add to the cause I certainly would. Good luck in obtaining an endowment. I would be happy to write another letter if needed.


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Eileen Beckwith, former Three Arts Club resident, passes away



Eileen Patricia Beckwith, 84, of Pierre, died Sunday, December 13, 2009 at her home.

Memorial Services will be held at 10:00am, Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at Community Bible Church, Pierre.

Eileen was born October 11, 1925. When she was a few weeks old, she was adopted by the Orwall family in the Chicago area.

Years later, her adopted mother, Margaret, developed some of the first Burger King restaurants in the United States. Her adopted father, Solomon, was a Secretary to the Vice President of International Harvester, Vice President of United Benefit Life Insurance.

After high school graduation, she was accepted into the Three Arts Club, an exclusive boarding place for girls to study art, and also did some modeling for a catalogue company. She was gifted as a sketch and water color artist, and her art work has been a blessing to many.

She met Walter Beckwith in Chicago and on July 1st, 1944, they were married. God blessed their marriage with six children, and she often told of her immense joy at the birth of each of her six children.

Eileen was an active member of the Murdo Community Bible Church and Pierre Community Bible Church.

She was a dedicated homemaker, talented water color and sketch artist, an excellent bookkeeper and loving friend and mother. However, none of her experiences matched the joy of her salvation. In 1953, with tears streaming down her face, she went forward to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. God filled her life with grace and strength to walk through many difficult times.

Grateful for having shared in her life are her sons; David Beckwith, Carl Beckwith, and Dean Beckwith; her daughters, Nancy Christiansen and Grace Beckwith; ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband and one son, Gregg. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be given in her memory to the Pierre Community Bible. Church.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Group Trying to Restore Club as Place for the Arts

A new coalition has formed of people from the Friends of the Three Arts, people from the Gold Coast neighborhood, etc. We are trying to see if we can figure out a way to buy the Three Arts Club building, restore it, and turn it into a vital, internationally- important place for people in music, dance, theater, writing, film, painting, sculpture, etc.

Right now, we are searching for a major name/ major donor to back this plan and also to act as a leader for the future of this plan. We need someone that can put some major money into this, and this can be structured to suit that person. We also need someone with deep vision and interest in the arts and communication.

In the future, the Three Arts Club could be a place for women (or men and women) from all over the U.S. and all over the world to come and share in a community of others interested and active in music, theater, dance, comedy, film, video, painting, sculpture, writing (novels, poetry, journalism, songs, blogs, etc), internet, design, languages, culture, etc. The idea is that this group will be like a United Nations of the Arts, and also lots of fun. We hope to make the world a better place by sharing creativity and ideas with others from the whole world.

Able to help? Please email: threeartsfriends@gmail.com

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Columbarium Proposal Withdrawn - Hooray!

Just hours ago, we learned that the two architects and the family that were to be the investors on the proposed columbarium in the Three Arts Club have withdrawn their proposed project.

Thank goodness -- and thank all the neighbors who stood up against this horrific plan.

We are asking anyone and everyone to please help us get this building back for its proper mission as a home and club for women in the arts.

If you are interested or think you might be able to help, please send an email:

THREEARTSFRIENDS@GMAIL.COM

Friday, November 27, 2009

Columbarium Zoning in Other Cities

ZONING FOR COLUMBARIA IN VARIOUS CITIES

This is a comparison of how other cities zone columbaria. More cities will be added as research progresses. None of these cities allows columbaria as a right in a residential zone, as Chicago does.

MILWAUKEE- Milwaukee groups the uses for storage of human remains: Cemetery/ Columbaria/ Mausoleum – and these are NOT ALLOWED in Residential Zones.

LOS ANGELES – has very complex zoning, due to being so large and encompassing areas that are city, suburban, manufacturing, mountain, hill, oceanside, and agricultural, and many more. Los Angeles groups Columbaria with Cremating and Mausoleum. Columbaria/ Cremating/ Mausoleum are allowed in existing, functioning Cemeteries as an adjunct use. Existing cemeteries are not allowed to expand in size. New cemeteries go into LM, Light Manufacturing zones. Cemeteries are allowed in some other zones with Special Use approval if they meet a list of criteria, including they cannot have any building closer than 300 feet to any residential zone or residential use, they must have adequate parking inside for all uses including funeral procession line-up and are not allowed to have any parking or car line-up at all on the streets, must have a border of 10 feet of landscaping and irrigation, must be surrounded by a specific kind of border wall around the entire perimeter, must remove all graffiti the day it is appears, etc. Columbaria/ Cremating/ Mausoleums as a free-standing use outside of a cemetery are allowed in certain zones as a Conditional Use. Conditional Use involves several forms of notice to the surrounding properties and community, a hearing, and written findings of fact that the surrounding properties and community will not be affected.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY: St. Louis names “Cemetery” as a place for burial of the dead, including cremating as an accessory use. In “non-urban areas” there is a permitted use for “ Mausoleums or Crematoriums in an existing cemetery, any other provision of the law notwithstanding, but no such structure shall be situated closer than 100 feet to any cemetery property line.”

ST. LOUIS CITY: City of St. Louis – It appears that all forms of burial of the dead must take place in an existing cemetery. Cemeteries are a “Conditional Use” in residential and other zones, subject to notice, hearing, findings, long list of criteria. Mortuaries are a Commercial use. Case where rezoning occurred to make it legal for a particular mortuary to exist in a residential zone by classifying that lot as commercial was held to be spot zoning and void: Spot zoning ordinance amending general zoning laws by classifying a mortuary as being in a commercial instead of residential district held arbitrary and void. Mueller vs. C Hoffmeister Undertaking and Livery Company, 121 S.W. 2d 775, 343 Mo. 430.

MINNEAPOLIS – Crematories are prohibited, except where accessory to a cemetery, and not within 1,000 feet of the border of any cemetery. Every burial or placing into a vault must be within a public cemetery. No new cemetery or burial place can be established and no existing cemetery can be enlarged without consent of the City Council; the goal appears to be to move cemeteries outside the City. Burials prohibited outside cemeteries. No human body shall be buried at any place except in a public cemetery or placed in a vault outside of a public cemetery without a written permit from the department of health. Several ordinances regarding burials and diseases, concern for public health.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Monday, November 9, 2009

Three Arts Club proposed to become burial place for the dead

A purchase offer has been made by a group that plans to turn the Three Arts Club into a columbarium, a place with vaults that hold the cremated remains of the dead. A place once filled with the most vibrant, alive women will soon become a somber place for the dead -- unless we can stop it. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=32573&seenIt=1

A group of about 15 people met yesterday afternoon at a cafe nearby the Club. They were mostly nearby neighbors and some former residents. All were concerned.

What it would take now to get the building -- a solid purchase offer for about $7 million, plus money to restore and run the place as a home and club for women in the arts.

Our dream -- to have women from all over the U.S. and all over the world come to stay at the Club in Chicago to work on and share their creativity.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Poll: Should Three Arts Club Reopen for Women?


Our recent poll asked the question: “Should the Three Arts Club return to being a home and club for women in the arts?” 52% responded, “Yes, I hope it happens.” 41% replied, “Yes, and I am willing to help.” 0% replied, “No.” And 5% replied, “I need more information to decide.”

In this photo, the Three Arts Club is shown empty and dark, as it has been for about five years now, since the Board of Directors abandoned the Club's proper mission of running a home and club for women in the arts, sold the building, and left with the proceeds. The building is now in a state of limbo, owned by someone else -- as we are hoping it can be returned to the women and to its intended use.

If you wish to help, please email: THREEARTSFRIENDS@GMAIL.COM

Also, please feel free to add comments after these articles by clicking on "comment." After you write your comment, you will be asked to spell a word. That prevents spam. Thank you so much for your interest.


Sunday, May 24, 2009

Dorothy Mills, lived at Three Arts while at Goodman Theater


This is Dorothy Mills, who lived at the Three Arts Club when she was studying at the Goodman Theater School.  She has many fond memories of the Club.   She believes the Club, if revived, could provide many more generations of women with a good place to live while studying or practicing in the arts.

Dorothy is shown with a quilt of the insignia of the Three Arts Club -- the same that is on a mural in a cove above a window on the front of the building.

From Barb Mills:

I made the quilt for Dorothy for Mother's Day since she always talks about the Three Arts Club. I am the younger (Barbara Mills) she is the older (Dorothy Mills) my mother-in-law.

It is what is called a "whole cloth" quilt made of silk which just means I did not make it from a bunch of different pieces. I painted the copy of the Three Arts Mosaic with silk paint and then quilted by hand. It also has vintage buttons and some antique gold embroidery floss from about 1909. It took about a month to make.

Barb took the photos of the building that are shown on this website during a visit to Chicago with Dorothy a couple of years ago.  They arrived at the Three Arts Club and were surprised to find it vacant.  They were allowed in and did take some nice photos.  The building looked much lovelier when it was filled with beautiful wooden, antique furniture, interesting donated art on the walls, a large Grandfather clock in the front hall, giant vases filled with fresh flowers, the sparkling fountain in the courtyard, and 50-100 of the most talented women in the world.  Now it sits vacant.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Three Arts Club - First Floor Plan - original

This is the original floor plan of the Three Arts Club first floor.  In the center is the courtyard, called here "Garden," which has a European-style fountain in the center, and French doors leading to each wing of the building.  The "enclosed porch" became known as the Tea Room, favored by the residents for its coved ceilings and meditative feel.   The room shown on the north side of the courtyard as the "Living Room" became the Ball Room, while the "Living Room" on the east  side was called the Drawing Room.  The lovely Library, in the southeast corner, remained a cozy book-filled hideaway, until recent years when the Board of Directors damaged the landmarked features of the room by removing the built-in shelving and wood decoration and emptied the room of furniture.  The Dining Room retains its castle-like wall murals.

Friday, May 22, 2009

What was important about
the Three Arts Club?

Please tell us your experience with the Three Arts Club of Chicago.  Did you stay there?  When?   What did you like about it?   How has that experience affected you?   

Do you think it is important to have a place that houses women in the arts?   Why are women important to the arts?   What are your ideas and thoughts? 

Please add your comment by clicking on Comment just below this article.   Thank you for sharing.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

What was the Three Arts Club of Chicago?

The Three Arts Club of Chicago was founded in 1912 by a group of famous Chicago women to provide a place that girls and women could live while studying and working in the arts.  They began by renting an existing large house on LaSalle.  In 1914, they had their own building designed and built.  It is a grand building.  Over the years, the Club opened itself up to women of all ages, and in all disciplines.  In recent years, the Club has been home to women from all over the world -- from all over the United States and from every continent.   They came to stay for a few days or a few years.   The women were working, studying, auditioning, interning.   They were in theatre, comedy, film, dance, music, singing, composing, conducting, sculpture, glass art, painting, drawing, performance art, writing of all kinds -- journalism, screenplays, poems, books, plays.   

The set-up at the Three Arts Club:  the first floor was the group living space:  a large drawing room with a fireplace, seating areas, and a grand piano, with French doors out to the courtyard; the library with bookshelves and seating; and several smaller sitting rooms; the ballroom with a small, low stage;  the tea room with its coved ceilings and windows in on the courtyard and out to the street; the dining room with its castle-like murals and fountain; the kitchen.  All of this surrounded the interior courtyard with a fountain, plants, and cafe tables with chairs.   Upstairs were bedrooms with shared or private baths.  The fourth, or top floor, had originally been used as art and music studios and maid's quarters.   Recently, due to extreme popularity of the Club, the rooms on the fourth floor were used as bedrooms.   A painting studio with air system was also on the fourth floor.  

The lifestyle:  The girls and women at the Three Arts Club shared breakfast and dinner each day in the dining room.   They also shared their cultures, languages, and arts.   They shared dreams and ideas, and many collaborated on projects.   If  a resident was a filmmaker and needed an actress, or a music composer, or a writer -- dinner time was a great place to find one!  

The residents made friends from all over the world.  The Three Arts Club was truly a multicultural, multiracial, multilingual experience.   It was like a sorority -- but of seriously creative, intelligent women of all ages, from the whole world.  

Since we began our struggle to save the Three Arts Club, we have heard from people in the arts who realize the value of the Club to the world, to women, and to the arts, and especially, to Chicago.   Moreso, we have heard from former residents.   In the photo of the tea room, the lady shown is a former resident from many years ago.   She has fond memories of living at the Three Arts while studying at Goodman Theater School.   She was shocked to know that the Three Arts Board members had turned their backs on the mission of the Club.  Everyone else tells us the same thing -- that they are shocked.   The Club was popular, was filled with residents, and was running in the black.   Some repairs were needed, but they were small in comparison to the fact the property was exempt from real estate taxes and was located in the wealthiest and most convenient area of Chicago. 

Have you read Virginia Woolf's, "A Room of One's Own"?  This is what we all got at the Three Arts Club - a time and a space that was just for us, for our minds, for our creativity.  And those rooms were contained in a nurturing, safe community in a gently cloistered setting set amid one of the world's greatest cultural cities -- Chicago.

What happened to the Three Arts Club?

Many have asked, "What happened to the Three Arts Club?"   The answer is that several years ago, the Board of Directors kicked out all the women,  reneged on its mission to run a home and club for women in the arts, sold the building, and left with the $13 million in sale proceeds.  The Friends of the Three Arts Club group has tried valiantly to save this wonderful place for women.  The building is now up for sale by its current owner, a private developer   -- and we are hoping it comes to us.   We are going to need lots of help.  That other group now calls itself "3Arts," and has lost or spent much of the money, reportedly down to $7.4 million in about two years.   They are not running a home and club for women in the arts, needless to say!  Much help is needed!  YOUR help is needed.  

Three Arts Club - please help it return

This is the Three Arts Club Tearoom.  We often sat in here to study, reflect, and dream about grand possibilities.   The possibility of which we now dream is that the Three Arts Club will once again be returned to its rightful use as a home and club for women in the arts.  Please add your comments and please take the survey.   

You can contact by emailing:  THREEARTSFRIENDS@GMAIL.COM