Oil painting showing the demolition of the Philander C. Hanford house at 2008 S. Calumet Avenue in Chicago. Painted in 1953 by 17-year-old Jack Simmerling.
The immense brownstone house was designed in 1883 by architect Henry S. Jaffray with interior trim and decoration by Isaac Scott. The lavishly decorated interior showcased Hanford’s extensive art collection, which included one of the few Rembrandts in private hands in the United States. Hanford was head of the Hanford Oil Company, which was absorbed by Standard Oil in 1890 to become the Standard Oil Company of Illinois.
Hanford committed suicide in 1894, and the family did not occupy the house after that time. It sat largely unused for decades, with many of the furnishings left in place. Raymond W. Eyster purchased the house with the idea of creating a house museum. He died in 1952 from injuries sustained when the elevator in the house failed, plunging it into the basement. A sale of the furnishings was scheduled for February 1953 - on Friday the 13th - but the day before the sale, a fire destroyed the house and its contents. It was demolished soon after and the site was paved over for use as a parking lot.