D.H. BURNHAM and CO. The Heyworth Building

AN ELEGANT COMBINATION OF ORNAMENT AND STRUCTURE.

My sense of of D.H.Burnham and Company's Heyworth Building is that Frederick Dinkelberg, the building's designer knew exactly what he was doing. And that his sense of scale was "spot on." The building "reads" first as an elegantly proportioned mass. Then its components (those Chicago School staples) the bottom, middle, and top come into play -- where the middle is particularly ordered (no missing the steel frame construction here) and the arched top and cornice is particularly well proportioned. Note that Dinkelberg did not rely on contrasting materials to emphasize his point: he used depth, shadow and a contrast of geometry. And finally there is ornament. Beautifully detailed ornament. Applied with full knowledge that the Heyworth would stand next to Louis Sullivan's Schlesinger and Meyer.

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Though the selection of red terra cotta for the Heyworth's facade was no accident, its reason remains speculation. My vote is that Dinkelberg chose the darker color in deference to the designer next door he so clearly respected.

Credit due Pat Sabin for the Heyworth's postcard image.

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D.H.BURNHAM & Co's Heyworth Building.

DESIGNED BY FREDERICK DINKELBERG

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The Heyworth Building was constructed at 29 East Madison in 1903 (or so, depending on sources). And "despite the limitations of Burnham's stylistic vocabulary" (a direct quote from Burnham biographer Thomas Hines) this one seems to have turned out okay. Okay. This little Chicago School gem is one of my favorites in the Loop.  Clearly expressed steel frame construction wrapped in terra cotta and brick.  A bottom, a middle, and a top.  Original ornament.  And an intact cornice.  Only a little modification at street level disturbs the effect.

Burnham's best Chicago School work happens AFTER the World's Fair of 1893.  And that work was designed by East Coaster Charles Atwood and later by the man hired to be his assistant, Frederick Dinkelberg. (Dinkelberg occassionally gives Sullivan a run for the money when it comes to ornament.) (Both read Ruskin.  See Dinkelberg's work at the Railway Exchange)

This block of Madison Street (and around the corner on Wabash) has become a surprising assemblage of good Architecture.  Around the corner is the Silversmith (see previous post).

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 And the next door neighbor is good company too.

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FREDERICK DINKELBERG. O'Connor and Goldberg

This post was intended to be a description of the 1904 Heyworth Building at 29 East Madison --- one of Daniel Burnham's Chicago School gems designed by Frederick Dinkelberg. (And we'll get there, I promise.) But while editing the photos I realized that a diversion was in order: a closer look at Frederick Dinkelberg's 1917 storefront renovations for O'Connor and Goldberg Shoes at 23 East Madison (just west of the Heyworth's main entrance). Quite a shoe store, I'd say.

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Another of Dinkelberg's storefronts renovations can be found on the Railway Exchange.  At the entrance of the Archicenter.

Earlier in my career I spent quite a bit of time designing storefronts for regional shopping centers -- and thought I was pretty good at it.  But nothing in my portfolio compares to this.

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DANIEL BURHAM. The Silversmith Building. Brick and Terra Cotta

D. H. Burnham and Company's 1897 Silversmith Building (at 10 South Wabash)  is divided into two sections: green glazed terra cotta tiles for the lower portion (see previous post) and a combination of red brick and red terra cotta for the upper stories.  The masonry of the upper floors is both ornate and orderly.  Steel frame construction (buried inside that masonry) exhibits technical advance and  the underlying geometries.  The applied masonry and terra cotta, however, state that the building remains solidly Victorian.

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1897 was a year of relative stylistic calm in Chicago.  The Chicago School, local and beloved remained ascendent in its home City.  Schlesinger and Mayer was two years in the future. And Atwood's Reliance and Fisher Buildings were new in the skyline. 

Very few could have guessed the coming effect of financial boomtimes and the Ecole des Beaux Arts on the very fabric of the City. The 1909 Plan of Chicago wasn't even yet a gleam in Daniel Burnham's eye.

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D. H. BURNHAM and Company. The Silversmith. Glazed Terra Cotta

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The Silversmith's highly glazed, delicately ornamented green terra cotta contrasts with the brickwork that Peter Weber utilized for the stories above, much the same way Louis Suillivan's delicately ornate storefronts contrast with the white terra cotta above at Schlesinger and Mayer.

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Artist, artisan, architect, modeler.  Where does Architecture end and Sculpture begin?

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Certainly not with this detail.
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DANIEL BURNHAM's Silversmith Building. Designed by Peter Weber.

The 19th Century is quite close at the corner of Wabash and Madison. Under a dark corner of the El, dodge the pigeons and look up (at 10 South Wabash) for the deep green tile (Sullivanesque?) and restored red brick ornamented to Victorian complexity. A quick squint in morning light and the year is 1896. (Wabash Avenue is looking very good)

That tile and  brick building is The Silversmith designed by D. H. Burnham and Company's Peter J. Weber. Tile faces the first two stories with highly "manicured" brick above. This is a gorgeous little building. We'll talk about why, and why it is architecture, later. Today we enjoy.

Peter Weber joined Daniel Burnham in 1891 to assist Charles Atwood at the World's Fair. Educated in Berlin at the Charlottenburg Institute, Weber was right at home in Chicago's community of German and German immigrant architects. And he knew how to use brick. Clearly.

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Weber also designed the Fisher Building Annex (so he knew a little something about terra cotta, too) and went on to design Highland Park's Ravinia. His life and work is  well documented. His son, also in the business, kept Peter's papers in order right up through 1945, when they were donated to the Art Institute of Chicago.

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DANIEL BURNHAM. A Lucky Break for Peirce Anderson. And Peter Weber

Frank Lloyd Wright made much bruhaha of Daniel Burnham's offer to send him (all expenses paid) to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in the mid 1890's (perhaps early 1894) (after Louis Sullivan had canned him for moonlighting). But rather than a feather in Wright's cap, this offer showed that Burnham may have been thinking ahead. Far ahead . Ecole graduates were few and far between (especially in the midwest). And his lead designer, Charles Atwood, may have been showing his .... opium. A designer with international (beaux arts) appeal (for the corporates) and the advantage of Chicago School roots (for the locals) would be of real benefit. But that rare Ecole degree would be an absolute necessity for D.H. Burnham and Company to compete on a national scale..   But young  Frank (and later old Frank), loudly, bragged that he said "no" (saving Burnham from the PR nightmare of an affair with Mamah Cheney, the European tryst and the tragedies of Spring Green) to the offer that could have changed him from a house designer to a major force in Chicago's built environment.

Daniel wasted no time after Wright's refusal. The second choice was a young electrical engineer from Harvard who showed up in late 1894 asking Mr. Burnhams's advice regarding a Beaux Arts education . William Peirce Anderson returned with his Ecole degree to Chicago in 1899 and began his career with D.H. Burnham as the designer of Marshall Field & Company's State Street store. He was soon joined by Edward Bennett (at his own urging). Frank Lloyd Wright was history.

And Chicago -- began to take form as we know it today.

The period between 1895 (Atwood's death) and 1899 (when Pierce Anderson joined the firm) allowed designer, Peter Weber, an unforeseen opportunity: The Silversmith. (Detail Below).

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Nice job. Nice renovation, too.

Incidentally, Phoebe Hearst (of the California Hearsts) ended up paying for Edward Bennett's education at the Ecole. More on this, though, later.

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