30 May salvaging adler and sullivan’s louis frank house (1884) shortly before its demolition in 1968
the non-extant frank house was commissioned by successful chicago businessman louis frank with dankmar adler & louis sullivan as architects. in 1884 the house was constructed at 3155 s. michigan avenue. the slim, three story structure was well adapted to maximize residential space while remaining within a conventional city plot of land. the mansion was crowned with galvanized stamped steel ornament. the facade featured a luxurious two-and-a-half-story projecting bay, elaborate portico with arched fretwork, art glass and ornamental cast iron exterior newel posts and window guards.
prior to its demolition in 1968, the building housed the illinois institute of technology’s vandercook school of music. the images below offer a provocative visual record – as documented by richard nickel – of the house as it appeared days before its demise in the summer of 1968. salvaged elements live on in private collections and institutions.
the museum-quality cast plaster interior residential louis h. sullivan-designed ceiling medallion was one of several salvaged by richard nickel, david norris and bob furhoff in 1968. the medallion is a relic of the structure it belonged to, tying us to 19th century craftsmanship and the different iterations or occupants of 3155 s michigan. the frank house remnants find significance as a small token of the lineage of early salvage work in chicago.
the plaster ornament was likely modeled by james legge, who executed the plaster work for adler & sullivan’s auditorium building (1889). interestingly, identical cast plaster escutcheons were found and salvaged in other adler and sullivan houses (dating to the 1880s) during demolition in the 1960s.
