Victoria House served as Great Britain’s government building for the 1893 World’s Fair. Remnants of some beautiful carpentry from the original structure have come on the market recently. This World’s Fair relic, however, comes as part of a house on Chicago’s northside, for sale in the range of $739,000.
The house at 1911 W. Farwell Avenue in the Roger’s Park neighborhood was built by Andrew Hall, an electrician who worked for a company involved with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, according to a story published by Curbed Chicago. After the close of the Exposition, Hall “arranged to buy the wood from the interior rooms of the Victoria House. He kept them in storage for 10 years until he bought the lot in Rogers Park in 1905.”
This gorgeous original oak woodwork can be seen in the home’s front foyer, dining room, and living room, featuring a grand carved-wood fireplace:
Victoria House occupied a prominent site on the fairgrounds, along the lakeshore just west of the North Pier and north of the Naval Pier and the Battleship U.S.S. Illinois exhibit. The Tudor-style building, designed by Robert E. Edis of London, had a handsome exterior of terra cotta with brick facings on the first story and half-timber and plaster with projecting gables and a tiled roof on the upper portion. The interior featured extensive oak paneling with designs reproduced from notable houses in England.
Exterior of Victoria House. [Image from Arnold, C. D.; Higinbotham, H. D. Official Views of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Press Chicago Photo-gravure Co., 1893.]
Interior of Victoria House, showing some of the carved oak woodwork. [Image from Unsere Weltausstellung. Eine Beschreibung der Columbischen Weltausstellung in Chicago, 1893. Fred. Klein Co. 1894.]