17 Jan bldg. 51 museum gifted original historically-important herman von holst comed substation exterior tiled panel
bldg. 51 museum gifted an original early 20th century multi-colored tiled panel salvaged from a chicago comed station demolished long ago. these distinctive tiles panels were used repeatedly on herman von holst’s substations in an attempt to beautify otherwise unsightly utilitarian complexes that public utilities magnate samuel insull hired him to build in residential neighborhoods across the city of chicago.
the geometrically configured glazed tiles with or without patterns are often attributed to the mosiac tile company, zanesville, oh. a 1929 product catalog is show below (courtesy of the bldg. 51 museum archive).
about the architect:
herman von holst is perhaps best known for taking on the responsibility of heading up frank lloyd wright’s architectural practice when wright went to europe in 1909, however it would be remiss to allow this event to eclipse the varied and prolific career of this notable architect.
von holst was born in germany and came to the united states at the age of 17 in 1891 when his father accepted a position to head the department of history at the university of chicago. he earned a bachelor of arts from the university of chicago and then a bachelor of science in architecture from the massachusetts institute of technology.
after returning to chicago he spent his formative years as a draftsman with the firm of shepley, rutan & coolidge, but by age 31 had established his own office in the rookery building in 1905.
in 1909 he moved his office to the non-extant steinway hall, 64 e. van buren, which during the late 1800s and early 1900s housed the offices of a number of important prairie school architects on the 11th floor including dwight h perkins, robert c. spencer, frank lloyd wright, and myron hunt.
von holst ran wright’s office with marion mahony as head of design and the team completed an impressive portfolio of buildings attributed to the prairie school. von holst also wrote a number of architecture books and taught architecture at the art institute of chicago and at the armour institute of technology which would later become iit.
from 1907 until 1932 he was a also a designer for the public service company of northern illinois and the commonwealth edison company and it was during this period that a large number of prairie style comed substations and peoples gas neighborhood stores were designed, the latter of which were frequent collaborations with george grant elmslie.
alfonso iannelli also performed work for some of von holst’s powerhouses, but i cannot confirm whether iannelli was involved on this particular building.
further reading:
DEMOLITION LOOMS OVER TWO VON HOLST COMED SUBSTATIONS, A POST-FIRE COTTAGE, AND 1880’S DOWNTOWN CHICAGO RESIDENCE
ANOTHER EARLY 20TH CENTURY SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO VON HOLST-DESIGNED SUBSTATION FACED WITH DEMOLITION
HERMAN V. VON HOLST’S SOUTHSIDE CHICAGO PRAIRIE STYLE GAITAN BUILDING (1924) THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION
DOCUMENTING DESTRUCTION OF VON HOLT’S HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO 40TH STREET SUBSTATION
