17 Aug albert sullivan house: an early case of recycling architectural ornament

a case of recycling architectural ornament in the late 19th century. 

if you look closely at the ornament on adler and sullivan’s 1893 chicago world’s fair transportation building at least four sections of ornament reappeared in both plaster and bedford limestone (i.e., the exterior lunette) in the albert sullivan house (1892), where sullivan himself lived from 1892-1896.

richard nickel documented the interior and exterior beginning in the late 1950s – he even considered buying it for around 2500 in the mid-60s. the images shown here however, were taken as the house appeared in 1970, shortly before it was demolished. thankfully nickel and brother donald salvaged its ornament, including large sections of the facade for siue.

sullivan, who at the time was working on the world’s fair transportation building, had sections of the building’s exterior ornament recast and installed in his home, including the cove molding in his bedroom, a lion’s face on the first floor, cove molding in the vestibule, and a bedford limestone lunette located on the exterior above the entrance.

i’ve included a sections of original plaster cove molding salvaged from his bedroom and inner-vestibule. the salvaged carved stone lunette resides at lovejoy, and the lionhead was either stolen or destroyed prior to demolition.

note: i discovered that the house first caught fire in 1954 when two old ladies living there were burning paper to stay warm since there was no heat or electrical. sadly, they died in the fire. siskind actually met the women during the a and s project. i also learned that daniel brenner lived in sullivan’s room for a time!

courtesy of bldg. 51 museum collection and ryerson and burnham, art institute of chicago.

finally had the chance to document the sullivan-designed vestibule mosaic tile floor fragments nickel salvaged when the house was undergoing demolition in 1970. the fragments reside as the lovejoy library, where the richard nickel collection is located.

further reading: