carefully cleaned and refinished historically important original ornamental cast iron louis h. sullivan-designed 19th century gage building exterior facade stringcourse section – winslow brothers foundry, chicago, ills.

About This Item

exceptionally rare and historically important museum quality late 19th century refinished ornamental cast iron exterior gage building facade stringcourse fragment designed by notable architect louis h. sullivan. the intricately designed complete and intact panel was executed by the winslow brothers foundry, chicago, ills. multiple long and narrow sections, fastened together with riveted joint iron straps were mounted directly above the massive spandrel panels that were removed and mostly scrapped (with the exception of a few now belonging to museums). the stringcourse or frieze panels survived alterations when they were covered over instead of being extracted and scrapped. however, due to poor maintenance and/or neglect, the panels were ultimately removed years later, with most being discarded. two manageable fragments containing the repeating design motifs are available for sale, while the complete section has been added to the bldg. 51 museum collection. the small fragment has been cleaned of rust and paint and sealed with a clear coat lacquer. the larger panel will undergo restoration before being exhibited. the historically important gage group commercial buildings consist of three individual buildings located at 18, 24 and 30 s. michigan avenue, between madison street and monroe street, in downtown chicago. the buildings were built from 1890–1899 by the architectural firm holabird & roche for three millinery firms – gage, keith and ascher. the building at 18 s. michigan avenue has an ornamental façade designed by louis sullivan. it was listed on the national register of historic places on november 14, 1985, and was designated a chicago landmark on september 11, 1996. in addition, it is a historic district contributing property for the chicago landmark historic michigan boulevard district. the distinct façades of these buildings demonstrate two different approaches to the chicago school, a design movement that led to the creation of modern commercial architecture. the buildings by holabird & roche are straightforward, while the facade designed by sullivan exemplifies his more expressive and organic approach. the tallest building is known as “18 south michigan avenue” and was previously called the gage brothers and company building. before the chicago street addresses were changed in 1909, the building had the address of 130 s. michigan avenue. the ornamental flourishes at the top of sullivan’s façade were pushed upwards when four stories were added in 1902 by different architects. this is one of only five buildings in chicago designed by louis sullivan that are still standing. the two smaller buildings to the south are also part of the gage group buildings.