07 Jun original cream-colored wrigley building ornamental terra cotta fragment joins bldg. 51 museum collection
a single cream-colored terra cotta round and tapered fragment salvaged from the north tower of the historically important wrigley company headquarters (1921-1924) was recently donated to the bldg. 51 museum and archive earlier this week. executed by the northwestern terra cotta company, the diminutive neoclassical style fragment was apart of a larger roofline finial that was one of many sections of exterior ornament that sustained damage from improper maintenance. the massive multi-pat finials were made with circular-shaped, hallow openings for installation of large steel rods designed to anchor the finials against the building.
original top section of a wrigley building roofline finial. the cream-colored glaze exhibits allover crazing. discoloration from the “elements” is minimal. a centrally located hole once contained a steel rod that anchored the entire assemblage (i.e., finial) to the building.
the wrigley building was built to house the corporate headquarters of the chicago-based wrigley chewing gum company (founded by william wrigley jr. in 1891). when ground was broken for the wrigley building in 1920, there were no major office buildings north of the chicago river. the michigan avenue bridge, which spans the river just south of the building, was still under construction. the land was selected by mr. wrigley for the headquarters of his company. the terra cotta-clad building was designed by the notable architectural firm of graham, anderson, probst & white using the shape of the giralda tower of seville’s cathedral combined with french renaissance details.
the wrigley building at sunset. note the number of massive roofline ornamental finials adorning the towers. photograph courtesy of the bldg. 51 museum photo archive.
the 425-foot south tower was completed in april 1921 and the north tower in may 1924. walkways between the towers were added at the ground level and the third floor. in 1931, another walkway was added at the fourteenth floor to connect to offices of a bank in accordance with a chicago statute concerning bank branch offices. the two towers, not including the levels below michigan avenue, have a combined area of 453,433 square feet of office space.
the two towers are of differing heights, with the south tower rising to 30 stories and the north tower to 21 stories. on the south tower is a gargantuan terra cotta clock with faces pointing in all directions (four sides). each face is 19 feet 7 inches in diameter. the building is clad in an off-white glazed terra-cotta executed by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills. the entire building is periodically hand washed to preserve or uphold the cream-colored terra cotta glaze.
the terra cotta clock tower. image courtesy of the bldg. 51 museum photo archive
in 2014 urban remains salvaged the exterior prairie style ornamental cast iron wall sconces from the wrigley chewing gum factory (housed in the heart of the central manufacturing district) located on the south side of chicago. demolition of the wrigley gum factory complex was awarded to heneghan wrecking in december of 2014, who has collaborated on large scale projects with urban remains for over a decade. however, shortly after demolition commenced, the job landed in a holding pattern it has yet to escape. as of this writing, the partially demolished plant sits abandoned and exposed to the elements.
looking over past blog post entries pertaining to wrigley, i was reminded of the rare early 20th century cobalt blue and brightly colored yellow letter wrigley chewing gum porcelain enameled sign discovered in the basement of one of the factory buildings. i distinctly recall receiving a call from an onsite foreman with heneghan about the discovery of the sign in the basement. i couldn’t make it down there at the time to document and remove, so it ended up getting badly damaged and presumably “lost” from the site by the time i did arrive.
what remained of this historically important sign was set aside for pick up, but quickly disappeared by the time i was given access to the site.
