the "cherry circle" logo was the official "organ" of the chicago athletic association

the chicago athletic association (caa) was established in 1890 by notable chicago businessmen, marshall field, cyrus mccormick, and a. g. spalding as an exclusive club revolving around sports, business and social activities. in 1893 the club commissioned architect henry ives cobb to construct a venitian gothic style hotel completed shortly before the chicago world's fair.

since the club's inception, their logo was depicted as both monogram (i.e., caa) and an encircled letter "c," which was referred to as the "cherry circle." the latter is more well known for three reasons: the logo, which was the official "organ" of the association, is a prominent interior architectural design element found throughout the main building and madison street annex (e.g., monogrammed doorknobs, stencils and art glass). the logo received its greatest exposure when in 1917, club member william wrigley jr. (owner of the chicago cubs) adopted the logo that's still in use to this day. interestingly, around the same time the logo was "adopted" by the chicago cubs, it received a change in its color scheme. from the beginning, the encircled letter "a" was black and red. during wartime (i.e., wwi) however, the club decided to make it more patriotic by giving it the red, white, and blue color scheme, which is the version wrigely used for his baseball team. last, the 1907 annex (schmidt, garden, & martin) become home to the famous cherry circle bar during the 1940's and later brought back to life when the two buildings housing the association were converted into a boutique hotel.

the following images show the "cherry circle" logo used in or on a variety of elements, from stationary to architectural artifacts removed from the building during its extensive transformation into a boutique hotel which brought back the original "caa" monogram as their official logo. the objects belong to the bldg. 51 museum collection.

original yale & towne emblematic chicago athletic association building doorknob with beaded border and largely intact bower-barff finish.

hugh garden-designed polychromatic monogrammed cast plaster fragment salvaged from the 1907 addition.

hand-painted 19th century stenciled wall canvas fragment with monogram surrounded by laurel wreath.

dated 1911 letter from hotel guest hand-written on stationary and envelope with original black and red "cherry circle" logo.

brightly colored matchbook - possibly from the cherry circle bar. note: the "cherry circle" logo contains the red, white, & blue color scheme, adopted during wartime.