Comments

1
There's something that really gets to me about those old city buildings (are they even tall enough to qualify as "skyscrapers"?) Part of it is the agedness of the photographs, but I'm also completely fucking enamored of the tiny details and nooks and embellishments borrowed from houses of the era. I feel like the worst kind of anti-modernist after looking at a building like this.
2
I have a question that is somewhat related: How come there's a lack of dated cornerstones in Seattle?
3
Loving Sullivan is nothing to be ashamed of. I am always just blown away imaging the amount of labor that must have gone into producing his intricate designs, and the follow up thought: wondering what people were thinking as they erased the evidence of all that effort.
4
Facade? Pfft, we have a room:

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/art…
5
Jen, you might get some useful info if you contact Eric Barnett at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Eric is the director of the SIUE museum, which has a huge sullivan collection. He might even be able to tell you who sold the piece, and he can certainly tell you more about it. I think they have at least some pieces of another elevator facade in their collection.
6
sullivan - genius - liebermeister
7
Sullivan's one of my heroes. Much more so than FLW. But then, like leek, I'm coo coo for cocoa puffs about prewar commercial blocks. Those Sullivan doors are as exciting to me as a Michelangelo would be.
8
Jen,
I am a devotee of Louis Sullivan. His student was Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm from Chicago and I have beheld the facade of the Carson, Pirie, Scott Dept. store which I'm not sure is around anymore. I've also seen the Auditorium Theatre (another work of Sullivan) in Chicago which is magnificent. I've visited his grave (he's buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery where Daniel Burnham is interred as well. Sullivan's gravestone is awesome as is the Getty Tomb which he designed. I'll send you a pic). Good that you note him. He was a visionary ("Form follows function"). I shall view the elevator door at SAM.
9
Carson Pirie Scott how houses one of the Galleries for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They're called the Sullivan Galleries... I'm not sure what else is in the building and yes, Sullivan's Grave is groovy. Makes me want to jump for joy... not his grave but Sullivan in general...
10
That is so cool! My great grandfather was one half of The Winslow Brothers Iron Works in Chicago, and worked with Sullivan -- and Frank Lloyd Wright -- on other projects. It'll be neat to have this here at SAM - another feather in the cap of their American art collection.
11
fnarf: You do follow Shorpy, right? Beautiful building porn all over the place.
12
Many pics from Shorpy have been my desktop. My favorite was a color shot of the shipping terminal in downtown Baltimore in about 1940.
13
Jen, please revert to the art historically endorsed "Leonardo" when referring to the great Renaissance artist born in the town of Vinci.
14
Stuart Grannen, owner of Architectural Artifacts, was the owner of the CSE elevator that sold last December.
15
"I feel like the worst kind of anti-modernist after looking at a building like this."

I think you mean the best kind!
16
This is great news! Sullivan is my favorite archtitect, a true modern master. An inspired purchase for sure.
17
uh, architect. As in: "I am an architect who apparently cannot type."
18
You can see many fine photos of Sullivan's work on Flickr, where there is a photo pool for Louis Sullivan. Incidentally, the Carson Pirie Scott facade in Chicago is still there, it's just been under wraps for the past year or two since Carson's closed. I find it very annoying that the new management keeps the beautiful cast iron under a plastic-wrap "billboard" for themselves, with no indication of when it will be taken off.
22
What a beautiful facade. I wish i could own the same. stock investment guide

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