11 May van allen building: a photographic study of louis sullivan’s polychromed terra cotta ornament
photographic study of louis h. sullivan-designed polychromed terra cotta ornament adorning the van allen building or department store located in clinton, ia. the four-story commercial building was commissioned by john van allen and constructed between 1912-14 as louis h. sullivan as architect.
to achieve a rhythmic balance, sullivan designed false dividers on the main facade to make the width of the windows synchronize with the side elevations through the use of terra cotta ornament, beginning with an organic burst springing out above the first floor, extending upwards like a giant stem and then blossoming at the top.
sullivan’s terracotta ornament required considerable hand-sculpting by kristian schneider to achieve the extensive undercuts within the ornament, which was a distinctive feature not seen in sullivan’s bank buildings built around the same time period.
the richly colored polychromed matte finishes were done at a time when the american terra cotta company was experimenting heavily in colors, application techniques, finish, etc. in the case of van allen, the colors were carefully hand-applied versus the less costly and time-consuming spay glaze technique. in addition, american’s kilns had to carefully packed to prevent running of the color. american was known to be more stringent about the art of terra cotta fabrication, whereas the northwestern terra cotta company had much greater resources and technology but were focused more on efficiency and production.
in a future blog post, i will discuss crombie taylor’s restoration work, van allen foundation and share john vinci kodachromes of the interior from the 1980s.
images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.