23 Sep documenting the removal of surviving sullivan-designed column capitals from s.a. maxwell building (1881)
exhaustive photographic documentation and/or record of careful removal of the two remaining sullivan-designed cast iron storefront columns capitals from adler and sullivan’s s.a. maxwell loft building (more commonly referred to as the jewelers building) has drawn to a close. the fragments will be replicated to recreate the four original ornamental cast iron columns in their entirety (i.e., as they appeared when the building was completed in 1881) as restoration of the facade proceeds.
louis sullivan’s architectural compositions were created with parallels to living organic entities in nature. like a plant or tree, they sturdily root to the ground, rise upwards, then “blossom” at the top. it’s a metaphoric analogy that can be seen throughout sullivan’s fifty-year architectural career, and is clearly evident in his earliest standing work – the commercial loft building created in 1881-82 which is familiarly known as the jewelers’ building.
viewed as a whole, the entire street level facade solidly roots the ground on colossal ohio sandstone piers, rises upwards, then “blossoms” at the top with organically-inspired hand-carved sandstone ornamentation. the same symbolic analogy carries through in smaller architectural details of the exterior. recently revealed were the capitals of the first floor’s iron columns, long-covered-over in a 1955 remodeling by aldis and company to provide prospective tenants (in this case, the “harmony” café) with a more contemporary feel. the recently unearthed columns capitals exhibit a “blossoming” in an architecturally abstracted form, with outwardly flaring open flanges springing from the intersection of raised moldings and horizontal bands (i.e., concentric rings). the flared profile reflects the strength to support the heavy structural stone lintels above.
the rediscovered capitals were once part of ornamental cast-iron columns that extended up from the sidewalk. complex structural alterations in the 1950s removed most of the columns, leaving only the capitals at the top. as part of the building’s recent conversion into a boutique hotel, the columns are to be re-created. patterns are being made from photographs of the columns taken by sullivan historian richard nickel during the 1955 removal, as well as replications of screwed-on ornamental details he salvaged at the time aldis made the modifications. the recently uncovered column capitals were carefully removed to allow molds to be taken for the replication.
note: both eric j. nordstrom and timothy j. samuelson contributed descriptive information for this blog post.
additional information:
both the bldg. 51 archive and tim samuelson collection have generously loaned critical sullivan-designed cast iron ornament used at both the top and base of the columns (a total of four outfitted the facade at street level when the building was completed in 1881. the columns were later removed in two stages – the non-load-bearing columns located against the outermost sansdstone piers were destroyed when the building was converted to the “jewelers” building in the early 20th century, and the structural columns flanking the centrally located double-door entrance were removed in 1956, when aldis management company opened up the storefront with the use of a gargantuan girder to support the load of the last two remaining columns with ornament still amazingly intact.
around this time richard nickel extracted ornament from both top and bottom of the torched columns fearing that they would be scrapped, which in time, portions were. the topmost portions were kept in place, “resting” above the newly installed girder, but devoid of ornament. the columns were salvaged and transported to the art institute of chicago where they were exhibited in dan brenner’s “louis sulllivan’s free enterpise” show. when the show concluded in the fall of 1956, the columns were transported to the university of pennsylvania where xxx was a professor. years later they were moved again to the smithsonian, where they reside in storage today.
thankfully some of the ornament that nickel saved was given to samuelson and aquired by bldg. 51 through auction. the pieces are currently being recreated for use when the new, faithfully reproduced columns are erected during the final stages of restoration of the building’s storefront where it is being returned to its 1881 appearance.
further reading:
