24 Aug remnants of a newly discovered garrick theater graveyard on display

a friend invited me over to a warehouse where crates of terra cotta from the garrick theater, scoville factory, and rosenfeld flats have been in storage for several years. when i arrived, all of of the ornament was on display on the floor, arranged as partially complete building facade jigsaw puzzles. it reminded me of images i’d seen of the another, much larger garrick theater graveyard laid out at navy pier – a space offered by the city of chicago as temporary storage for any and all ornament as it was being stripped off the building during its demolition in 1960. while much of the ornament was distributed to institutions and museums, a sizable amount was pushed into lake michigan.

a few examples of exterior garrick theater terra cotta, sculpted by kristian schneider, ans fabricated by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills.  images and artifacts courtesy of the bldg. 51 museum.