The October 14th Chicago Tribune had an article by Blair Kamin about several works by noted architect Louis Sullivan have been found in Chicago at 22 South Wabash Avenue in the form of an iron storefront complete with his signature nature-inspired ornamentation.
Workers have removed scaffolding from the front of the building so it is now on view for all. This is all part of a $190 million restoration of the former Carson Pirie Scott store next door.
Of course, the last several years have not been kind to Sullivan's legacy with three buildings destroyed in 2006 including Pilgrim Church. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina's storm surge seriously damaged Sullivan's vacation cottage in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
In 1961, his Garrick Theater building was demolished to make way for a parking garage. In 1972, the Chicago Stock Exchange Building was demolished to build an undistinguished office building.
Great news that some lost Sullivan has been discovered.
Chicago and the Elements Have Not Been Very Nice to Louis Sullivan. -- Cooter
Showing posts with label Louis Sullivan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louis Sullivan. Show all posts
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Louis Sullivan--Architect
In 2006, we celebrated architect Louis Sullivan's 150th birthday. Unfortunately, three of his dwindling number of Chicago structures burned down: the Wirt Dexter Building, George M. Harvey House and Pilgrim Baptist Church.
Sullivan approached architecture in unconventional ways with "form follows function." He was born in Boston in 1856. In 1879, he came to Chicago and joined the architect firm of Dankmar Adler (Adler Planetarium) and four years later the firm became Adler & Sullivan.
Two of their famous buildings in Chicago are the Auditorium Building and Chicago Stock Exchange. In 1887, they hired a young draftsman from Wisconsin named Frank Lloyd Wright, but fired him in 1893 for taking outside commissions.
In 1895, the partnership dissolved, but Sullivan continued designing the Schlesinger & Mayer department store, which later became Carson Pirie Scott & Co. in 1904. This building no longer houses that store, but has been completely renovated for other uses, fortunately.
Toward the end of his career he faced poverty, alcoholism, and small commissions building structures in small Midwest towns like Cedar Rapids, Clinton, and Grinnell, Iowa; Newark and Sidney, Ohio; Owatonna, Minn.; west Lafayette, Ind.; and Columbus, Wis. Each of these structures still stand.
He died in Chicago on April 14, 1924 at age 67 and is buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.
From April 2007 LifeTimes "Louis Sullivan buildings: Going, going and gone" by Robert Goldsborough. Robert is an architecture aficionado and mystery novelist.
Quite an Amazing Man. --Da Coot
Sullivan approached architecture in unconventional ways with "form follows function." He was born in Boston in 1856. In 1879, he came to Chicago and joined the architect firm of Dankmar Adler (Adler Planetarium) and four years later the firm became Adler & Sullivan.
Two of their famous buildings in Chicago are the Auditorium Building and Chicago Stock Exchange. In 1887, they hired a young draftsman from Wisconsin named Frank Lloyd Wright, but fired him in 1893 for taking outside commissions.
In 1895, the partnership dissolved, but Sullivan continued designing the Schlesinger & Mayer department store, which later became Carson Pirie Scott & Co. in 1904. This building no longer houses that store, but has been completely renovated for other uses, fortunately.
Toward the end of his career he faced poverty, alcoholism, and small commissions building structures in small Midwest towns like Cedar Rapids, Clinton, and Grinnell, Iowa; Newark and Sidney, Ohio; Owatonna, Minn.; west Lafayette, Ind.; and Columbus, Wis. Each of these structures still stand.
He died in Chicago on April 14, 1924 at age 67 and is buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.
From April 2007 LifeTimes "Louis Sullivan buildings: Going, going and gone" by Robert Goldsborough. Robert is an architecture aficionado and mystery novelist.
Quite an Amazing Man. --Da Coot
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