In 1917, Mrs. Emily Ryerson and several prominent friends built the 2700-2710 N. Lakeview Avenue row houses as their own homes. Photo by Julia Bachrach.
During troubling periods in the past, I’ve often felt inspired by historical figures who overcame tremendous adversity in their own lives and times. So, in an effort to uplift you during the global crisis we all trying to endure, I want to share the story of Emily Ryerson Sherfesee. A creative and resilient woman, she was a Titanic survivor who went on to make important contributions to Chicago and the world.
Emily (née Borie) Ryerson. Photo from United States Passport Application.
“Cupid Smiles on Them: Wedding of Miss Borie and Mr. Ryerson of Chicago,” Philadelphia Inquirer, February 1, 1889, p. 3.
Emily (née Borie) Ryerson Sherfesee (1863-1939) was born in Philadelphia and raised in an affluent nearby suburb. Her father John J. Borie was from a family that had made a fortune in sugar refining. She had great talent in art and enjoyed the life of a debutante. In 1889, Emily married Chicagoan Arthur Larned Ryerson (1851-1912), an attorney and member of the famous American steel family. The couple settled on Chicago’s fashionable Bellevue Place and had four children. The Ryersons were prominent in high society. They belonged to exclusive private clubs and often attended or hosted elite balls and charity events. They attended St. James Episcopal Church and were quite involved in the church community. Indeed, Arthur L. Ryerson was a vestryman who occasionally gave addresses at church events.
St. James Cathedral, 65 E. Huron Street, Chicago. Photo courtesy of Eric Allix Rogers.
The Ryersons built a second home on Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York. They spent summers there and travelled extensively, but Chicago remained their main home until 1906, when they moved to Haverford, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. In early 1912, Emily and Arthur took their three younger children on a trip to Europe. Their eldest son, Arthur Larned Ryerson, Jr., a student at Yale University, remained behind. While home in Pennsylvania for spring break, Arthur and a friend were killed in an automobile accident on April 9, 1912. Attempting to return home as quickly as possible, the Ryersons boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg, France. When the ship sank on April 15, 1912, Emily and the children were rescued, but Arthur Larned Ryerson, Sr., perished.
RMS Titanic, 1912. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Entryway of Emily Ryerson’s row house at 2700 N. Lakeview Avenue. Photo by Julia Bachrach.
Emily Ryerson returned to Chicago to settle here with her three children in 1913. The Chicago Tribune reported that, although she was still in “deep mourning,” she would “in time resume her former position as one of Chicago’s most delightful society leaders and hostesses.” An accomplished artist, she especially enjoyed making jewelry with precious stones. She set up a new home on the North Side and eased an art studio on nearby E. Pearson Street. Within a couple years, Emily became active in Chicago society and philanthropic events once again. In early 1915, she and a group of younger friends, all of whom were artists or architects, began to cooperatively plan a series of contiguous homes as their own residences.
They intended to build six row houses, but ultimately only four of the structures rose between 2700 and 2710 N. Lakeview Avenue. In addition to Mrs. Ryerson, the project sponsors included architects Henry C. Dangler and Ambrose C. Cramer, as well as artists Abram Poole, Frederic Clay Bartlett, and George French Porter. (The homes of Bartlett and Porter were never realized.)
Lakeview Row Houses from “Domestic Architecture of Henry Corwith Dangler, Architect, “Architectural Forum, Volume 36, April, 1922, p. 137.
Years earlier, while studying art in Paris, Abram Poole had introduced two of his American friends—aspiring architects Henry Corwith Dangler (1881-1917) and David Adler (1882-1949). Later, Dangler and Adler were both working for highly respected Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw when they decided to form their own firm. One of their first commissions was to design a series of Georgian style row houses as an investment for millionaire businessman George French Porter (1881-1927), who was also a painter, designer, and patron of the arts. Those row houses were never built, but they likely inspired the Lakeview Avenue row house project.
L: Main Façade, House of Henry Corwith Dangler, Architectural Forum, Volume 36, April, 1922, p. 138. R: Close up view of Dangler House at 2708 N. Lakeview. Photo by Julia Bachrach.
The Lakeview Avenue row houses began to capture media attention even before construction began. Chicago Tribune society page writer Mme. X published a long column on March 15, 1915, suggesting that the row houses would emulate the “wise, sophisticated, self-respecting buildings” of London “from the time of the regency.” She explained that while the row houses would follow a “uniform architectural scheme,” each residence would suit the needs of its owner. For example, Dangler and his family would have a winter garden, and Mrs. Ryerson would have a fourth-floor workshop for jewelry-making.
“Kits of Comfort for French Troopers in the Trenches,” Chicago Tribune, February 16, 1915, p. 3.
The owners moved into their row houses in early 1917. Shortly thereafter, Dangler died of tuberculosis in his newly completed residence. Both Poole and Cramer lived only briefly in their homes. Emily Ryerson had become involved with many important causes at this time. In 1915, she had served as chairman of a committee that made layette kits for French soldiers fighting in the trenches during the bitter cold months of winter in WWI. She became an aide to Herbert Hoover when he provided food relief to millions of Belgians and French during the war. Emily Ryerson also headed the American Fund for French Wounded and the Society for Fatherless Children in France. For these efforts, she received a Croix de Guerre, an important French award.
View of Row Houses looking south from 2704 N. Lakeview Avenue. Photo by Julia Bachrach.
“Private Wedding Ceremony for Mrs. Ryerson,” Chicago Tribune, December 11, 1927, p. 18.
Emily Ryerson was an avid world traveler. Among her many European trips was a one to Geneva, Switzerland in 1920, when she attended a conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. A few years later, she was visiting China when she met Forsythe Sherfesee, an American financial advisor to the Chinese government. He was a Yale University graduate who was 18 years her junior. The couple married in Chicago in 1927. They travelled extensively together. While they were visiting Uruguay in 1939, Emily Ryerson Sherfesee died of a heart attack.
I hope you are inspired by Emily Ryerson Sherfesee’s zest for life and resilience. Because I find Emily and her lovely row house so intriguing, I added her to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Where Women Made History database.