Waller & Beckwith Realty Co.

Family-owned Chicago real estate company.

The Waller family arrived in Chicago from Kentucky in the 1860s, when James B. Waller settled on the north side of the city. He developed the surrounding area into the Buena Park neighborhood, and established a real estate company with his brothers William, Edward, and Henry. James B. Waller died in 1887 and the company remained in the Waller family. James B. Waller's grandson, also named James B. Waller (b.1888), took over as president in 1920, partnering with James L. Beckwith. Among the buildings managed by Waller & Beckwith was the Pattington, located at 660-700 W. Irving Park Blvd. Constructed in 1904 and included in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, the u-shaped, multi-unit building with connecting courtyards was bought by Waller & Beckwith in 1923 and managed by them for many years. The company kept offices there until the 1970s. James B. Waller (b.1888) attended Princeton and Harvard universities, and in addition to running the family real estate company, served as alderman of Chicago's 43rd ward for two terms. He was married twice, first to Sarah I. Given, from 1925-1935, and then to Nettie Johnson from 1935 until his death in 1949. James L. Beckwith died in 1955, at the age of 69. While the offices of Waller & Beckwith were located in the Pattington, the Waller family occupied a home at 1365 N. Astor Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. Now the headquarters of the Society of Architectural Historians and known as the Charnley-Persky house, the structure was designed by Louis Sullivan in the early 1890s and owned by the Waller family from 1918 to 1969. The Waller & Beckwith Realty Co. records were initially acquired by the Charnley-Persky House Museum Foundation, in hopes there would be information related to the house among the papers. As there was not, the materials were donated to the Newberry Library.