Francis J. Dewes House

Prussian immigrant and brewer Francis J. Dewes commissioned the construction of this lavish Chicago home in 1896. The mansion demonstrates the increase of ostentatious architecture in homes that were built in this part of the city in the years following the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. The home also demonstrates the immense wealth enjoyed by Dewes who inherited wealth from his father, a brewer who served on the German Parliament. Francis Dewes became a leading regional brewer and like most producers of alcohol, the era of Prohibition put an end to his family's brewing operations. Dewes died in 1922, leaving the house to serve as the home to Chicago's Swedish Engineers Society, an organization who used the historic mansion for nearly four decades.

Francis J. Dewes, a son of a brewer and member of the German Parliament, came to the U.S. from Prussia in 1868 at age twenty-three. Dewes' arrival came at a time when an influx of Germans began to come to the U.S., notably the Midwest. Indeed, from 1820 to 1930, almost six million Germans emigrated to the U.S. In Chicago, Germans constituted one-sixth of Chicago's population in 1850. By 1900, people of German descent stood as Chicago's largest ethnic group, totaling 470,000 and representing twenty-five percent of Chicago's total population.

Dewes first took employment as a bookkeeper for such breweries as Rehm and Bartholomae and the Busch and Brand Brewing Company. By 1882, he founded a brewing firm, and with brewing in his blood, Dewes realized immediate success. He also made deals with numerous Chicago taverns, establishing a solid network of drinking houses that sold his beer.  During the late 1890s and into the first decade of the 1900s, the breweries he owned shuffled names and merged until he finally dedicated his brewing and entrepreneurial efforts towards Standard Brewing, which remained successful until the period of Prohibition. 

By 1890, Dewes had already become a millionaire and, by 1896, had the lavish mansion built. The architecture reflects the growing trend of elaborate homes constructed after the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. One of the architects, Arthur Hercz, traveled to Chicago from Hungary for the Fair, and then he stayed to work on Dewes' house. The other architect, Adolph Cudell, was a German immigrant. The luxurious home included carved stonework decor, ornamental cornices and lintels, an entrance flanked by caryatids, and tall female figures acting as columns. Furthermore, floodlights illuminated the entrance, which provided an appearance akin to a European embassy. 

Dewes lived in the mansion until he died in 1922. Shortly thereafter, the Swedish Engineers Society of Chicago purchased the home and used it as its headquarters, which remained the home's purpose until the 1960s. The house changed hands several times from the 1970s through the twenty-first century. Today, the Dewes mansion is a special event and luxurious wedding venue.

"Dewes, Francis J., House - Chicago, IL." Waymarking.com. Accessed July 4, 2023. https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm8AB5_Dewes_Francis_J_House_Chicago_IL.

Harzig, Christiane. "Germans." The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. chicagohistory.org. 2005. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/512.html.

"Historic American Buildings Survey: Francis J. Dewes House (now Swedish Engineers' Society)." National Park Service Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. loc.gov. 1960s. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/il/il0100/il0112/data/il0112data.pdf. The exact date of publication is unknown, but it was somewhere between 1965 and 1970.

Skilnik, Bob. Beer: A History of Brewing in Chicago. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, Inc, 2006. 

"The Standard Brewery, est. 1892." Made in Chicago Museum. Accessed July 4, 2023. https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/single-post/standard-brewery/.

Trexler, Susie. "Building Feature: Francis J. Dewes House, Chicago." Secret Knowledge of Spaces (blog). May 8, 2017. https://secretknowledgeofspaces.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/building-feature-francis-j-dewes-house-chicago/.