631 N Central Ave
Chicago, IL 60644, USA

Seth Warner House (Austin Academy of Fine Arts) - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:
Completed in 1869, the Seth P. Warner House is the oldest house standing in Austin, Chicago's larges t community, and is among the oldest houses in the City of Chicago. As the first fine residence erected in Austin, then a village in the Township of Cicero, the home was beneficial in leading other urban dweller s t o discover the desirable suburban lifestyle which Austin exemplified before its annexation to the Cit y of Chicago in 1899. In late r years, the house served as a neighborhood cultural center and landmark of Austin' s beginnings. It also gains notoriety because it was built and inhabited by one of Chicago's earl y settler s and pioneer business - men, Seth Porte r Warner.

Seth P. Warner, born in 1810, arrive d in the city from Amherst, Massachusetts in 1837, He was the grandson of Colone l Seth Warner, a famous hero in the Revolutionary War. His culture d New England background was evident by the fac t that he was a director of the Chicago Sacred Musical Society, which was institute d in 1842, and he was late r a leader of the Choral Union, one of Chicago's first organize d singing groups. Beginning in the earl y 1.3^0's^ Warner had begun a financially successful career as the proprietor o f a blacksmith shop on Randolph Street. In 1846, he was commissioned, along with Charles M. Gray, i n the manufacture of one-hundred "Virginia Reapers", the new farm machine invented by Cyrus H. McCormick. Gray entered into a partnership with McCormick the following year, and it was out of this earl y partnership that the International Harvester Company evolved. By the-B: 1850, Warner had accumulated enough money to erect Warner's Hall, which was one of the most popular in the city for public entertainment of a higher order. When the Civil War broke out, Warner was one of the prominent citizen s o f Chicago who signed a call for the first patriotic mass meeting in the city a t Bryan Hal l i n support of sustaining the Union.

Seth Warner purchased a bloc k square in the new Austin subdivision on June 1, 1866 for the construction of his new home. Construction began in 1868, and the home was finished one year later. A t the time the mansion was built, there was little to obscure a fine, sweeping view of what was largely prairie land. Warner was described as being ". the first of Austin' s pioneers to erect a fine and costly residence, whose homes are models of architectural beauty, in which elegance is combined with comfort and convenience."! Its Tuscan Villa Italianate style of architecture, sweeping veranda, large windows, cupola and richly detailed interior lent status to the infant village and attracted other earl y settler s from Chicago. F or years afterward, it remained the showplace of Austin. I t was while living in his new home that Warner became one of the founders of the Austin Presbyterian Church, established in 1871. He spent his remaining years in Austin, a well-known and respected citizen, until his death i n 1891

The Warner home was sol d by the family in 1894, and after two successive owners, it was purchased in 1924 by Mr. and Mrs. George Haskell to house the Austin Conservatory of Music, which taught music, dramatic art and dancing. In the earl y 1930's, the Warner Home housed the Austin College of Music. A faculty of seventeen teachers taught piano, voice, or - central instruments, drama and dancing. In 1933, the College of Music was awarded a citation by the Century of Progress International Exposition f o r its contribution of weekly programs presented to the many visitors a t the Exposition. In 19 34, the house was rented and late r purchased by Pau l Vernon, a well-known local musician and violinist. He was a founder of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, and he moved his previously founded Austin Academy of Fin e Art s t o the house in the same year. The Austin Academy was described as ", one of the liveliest and most influential cultural center s on the [Chicago's] West Side." ^ The Austin Academy of Fin e Art s remained until 1979. An ironic fact is that nearly all of the home's owners have been musically and culturally inclined, beginning with Seth Warner himself. All told, the Seth Warner Home was used continuously as a "House of the Arts " for fifty-five years. Hundreds of students have gone out of its doors with a knowledge of and a better appreciation of good music, advancing the cultural life and enriching the musical community of the world. The home remains in a remarkably well-preserve d condition, a fac t which evidences meticulous care on the part of its owners.

The Seth Porte r Warner House is standing today as a reminder of the Austin community's rich and unique history— a history that can be trace d back to the period when the home was built and the surrounding area was little more than prairie land. It is a rare survivor of the earl y suburban growth and decentralization of Chicago. I t stands in is original location today as one of only a few buildings within Chicago's city limit s that predates the Great Chicago Fir e of 1871, and a monument t o the growth of Chica - go's western suburbs.

Photo by: Jerry Stoganskyj