Ah, life’s good for Richard Driehaus. His company, Driehaus Capital Management, manages about $3.6 billion for institutions and investors, he has a vast personal fortune – and the city gave him one of those nifty honorary street signs. And let’s not forget his historic downtown mansions, which sit kitty-corner from each other in a pocket of River North some have taken to calling the Cathedral District. Click on “More” for photos.
Driehaus keeps offices in the Ransom R. Cable House, 25 E Erie St. The 1886 design by Cobb & Frost has a Richardsonian Romanesque feel, with a rough stone facade and a stunning coach house.
But enough about the southwest corner of Erie and Wabash. On the northwest corner of the same intersection, Driehaus purchased the Samuel M. Nickerson House. The sandstone facade is more restrained on this mansion, designed by Burling & Whitehouse in 1883, though the interior is “an opulent palace with alabaster, onyx and 27 varieties of marble,” according to the American Institute of Architects Guide to Chicago. Driehaus is finishing up an intensive renovation of the mansion, which will reportedly house his art collection and be used for events. One source says the home might be the best perserved mansion of this vintage in the country, and the meticulous restoration has spared no expense.
It will come as no shock that the $100,000 Richard H. Driehaus Prize for architecture, awarded through Notre Dame, honors contributions in traditional and classical architecture.