late 19th century leaded art glass window attributed to louis h. sullivan for the auditorium building

About This Item

historically important, late 19th century museum quality leaded art glass window attributed to architect louis h. sullivan for the auditorium building. the window was likely fabricated by chicago’s most important nineteenth century interior architecture firm, healy & millet (in partnership from 1880 – 1899). george louis healy the prominent chicago portrait painter, and louis j. millet met while attending l’ecole des beaux arts in paris. forming a partnership in chicago in 1880, they were an immediate success, providing glass mosaics, frescoes, stained glass and other decorations to some of the city’s most prominent buildings. the stained glass panel features a flowing interlace studded with jewels contained within a large rectangular border. the outer loops are accentuated with subtle floral motifs. contains a few age old repairs (i.e., small hairline cracks replaced with caming. the auditorium contains several documented variations of this panel design and color scheme created by healy & millet. adler and sullivan received the commission in 1886 from ferdinand peck and the opera festival. the auditorium building was to be a mixed-use building that combined a 400 room hotel, 136 offices, various stores, and a 4,200 seat theater. during the depression several attempts were made to raze the building because of financial difficulties and obsolete architecture. the great depression brought about a decline for the building until it was purchased by roosevelt university. in 1967 the theater was reopened to the public after a painstaking restoration. measures approximately 45 x 20. custom built wood frame for security and display purposes.