20 Apr louis h. sullivan-designed eli b. felsenthal store and flats terra cotta cornice blocks added to bldg. 51 museum collection
April 20, 2022
in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products
several original and amazingly intact louis sulllvian-designed eli b. felsenthal store and flats (1906) terra cotta cornice blocks were acquired by the bldg. 51 musuem collection last week.
while working for landmarks, tim samuelson spent a great deal of time both documenting and rescuing terra cotta ornament and “tapestry” brick during its demolition. thanks to his efforts, sullivan-designed ornament lives on in various public and private collections.
the felsenthal store, apartment, office and loft building was designed and built by louis h. sullivan in 1906 for eli e. felsenthal (friend and family attorney for sullivan’s former partner, dankmar adler). the two-story masonry building was located at 701-709 east 47th street, chicago, ills.
the project marked the transition in sullivan’s practice from tall commercial skyscraper buildings to the heavily ornamented low-rise structures erected during the later part of his career.
the demolition of the sullivan-designed building in 1982 launched an ambitious effort to carefully search chicago’s seventy-seven community areas to identify and document significant buildings (both commercial and residential). the resulting 12-year effort was later published in 1996 as the “chicago historic resources survey” (which to this day, has not been updated due to lack of funding).
