THE INSURANCE EXCHANGE. Terra Cotta

No question about it. Peirce Anderson knew terra cotta. And classic details. So well, in fact, that when George Beersman designed the Insurance Exchange addition 16 years after Anderson's original work, he saw little to improve with the primary street level ornament. It matches exactly.

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Beersman did clip a 45 degree corner here and there, simplify the column details, streamline the glass and find room for creativity at the cornice line. But the line between old and new is barely discernable. Had his plans for a twenty story tower topper been completed (reminiscent of the Straus Bank) his contribution to the project would have been less likely to be overlooked. Instead, twenty years of Depression and War almost allow us to forget that George Beersman knew a little about terra cotta himself. He designed the Wrigley Building for Graham Anderson Probst and White.