HUBERT BURNHAM

I remain fascinated by the aerial view of Chicago, 1950.  A time capsule of Chicago, 1935.    The "Gray Towers" rising from the City.  Buildings that, though today are dwarfed, remain Landmarks. The Board of Trade. The Civic Opera Block.  The Pittsfield. The Field Building. The Bankers and Engineering Buildings. Carbide and Carbon.  Foreman Bank.  Roanoke Tower.  They are the work of a very few men. Visionaries, I would say.  Alfred Shaw and  Charles G. Beersman at Graham Anderson Probst and White.  The younger Holabird and the younger Root.  Hubert Burnham and Dan Jr.  Karl Vitzthum. Frederick Thielbar.  Walter Ahshlager.  Their fathers were classicists, inventors.  But these were the architects of DECO. And a vertical scale without limits.    

+++++

I physically ache when I see a photograph of the now demolished Diana Court.  Or stand in the lobby of the Board of Trade. Or the Field Building.  (And re-imagine  the mirrored elegance of Queen Azura's Light Bridge.) Such confident optimism!  Who can pass beyond the elevator doors at One North LaSalle and NOT know they are on the way to some very great height?   And I have the sense that this - might have been - just a beginning.  But it was not. It was lost on October 29, 1929.

Instead, these architects simply died or retired.  To Boca or La Jolla.  The few who survived Depression and War, though successful, were clearly diminished. The dream had died with the Century of Progress.

But their few buildings still, remarkably, live.  And so should their creators.

+++++

 This is the man who imagined a gold champagne cork on a green bottle - at the 40 storey Carbide and Carbon.  Who proved he understood the essence of vertical statement at the Bankers Building.  Whose original ornamentation at the Engineering Building is among the best in the City.  And who in 1934 hired Louis Skidmore and Nat Owings.

HUBERT BURNHAM

Very special thanks to SBK.

++++

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP

Fine Art Photographs of Chicago Landmark Architecture and Sculpture

++++

.



NO CHANGE.

From the completion of the Field Building in 1935 to the completion of the Prudential in 1955, there had been no major construction in the Loop. This 1950 photo could just have easily been taken in 1940.  But the world had indeed changed. Our view of the future at the Century of Progress had been THIS.   Our reality was THIS  .  And the question, "What do you do with 5 major railroad terminals, thousands of hotel rooms, and the millions of square feet of retail space that relies on an overnight stay in Chicago for anyone travelling cross county?" ..... had yet to be asked.

+++++

Architectural sculpture disappeared from the American vocabulary during the years of depression and war.  Almost.  Sigurd Naess asked Alphonso Iannelli to sculpt the Rock of Gibralter on the 1955 Prudential Building.  Iannelli had worked with Frank Lloyd Wright (if anyone ever worked "with" Frank) on the Midway Gardens project.  Link here for Iannelli's less famous work at the Adler Planetarium

+++++

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP

Fine Art Photographs of Chicago Landmark Architecture and Sculpture

+++++

THE WRIGLEY BUILDING

The City of Chicago prepares Landmark Designation Reports for all Chicago Landmarks. This one, for the Wrigley is spectacular.  All good wishes to the Department of Housing and Economic Development.  And especially to the project staff.  LANDMARK DESIGNATION REPORT. WRIGLEY BUILDING.  400-410 North Michigan Avenue.

Still need more Wrigley? Click on the PhotoLinks below  to visit
THE CHICAGO LOOP.org Wrigley Galleries.

+++

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP

Fine Art Photographs of Chicago Landmark Architecture and Sculpture

+++

Faces with the Names

Some days, weeks even, it is possible to research Chicago Architecture without running across a single face. Not one hint of the men or personalities who built Chicago. Yesterday was different. A trove of portraits - new to me - brought some history to life. Irving Pond: Architect of Lorado Taft's Midway Studios. H.B. Wheelock: architect, mentor to Daniel Burnham. Elmer Jensen: partner to William Lebaron Jenney. John Reed Fugard: Frederick Thielbar's partner on the Jewelers Building. Max Dunning: the Chicago Architectural Club. George Nimmons: Burnham designer and architect of the Reid Murdoch Building.

+++

The portraits here were found HERE . Enjoy the Link.

+++

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP

Fine Art Photographs of Chicago Landmark Architecture and Sculpture

+++

DANIEL BURNHAM

DANIEL HUDSON BURNHAM was born on September 4, 1846 in Henderson New York. In 1854 his parents, Elizabeth and Edwin, moved the family to Chicago where Daniel began his education at Snow's Swedenborgian Academy. Daniel continued at Chicago's Central High. In 1863, after an attempt by 17 year old Daniel, to enlist in the Union Army, he was sent to Waltham Massachusetts to study under Joseph Worcester and later, Tilley Brown Hayward, both Swedenborgians. The Swedenborgian faith and the lifelong connections it provided guided Burnham throughout his life.

Burnham returned to Chicago in 1867 working briefly for Loring and Jenney before heading West to Nevada during the Silver Rush in White Pine County. He returned to Chicago in 1872 working for architects John Van Osdel, H.B. Wheelock and finally, Carter Drake & White where he met partner John Wellborn Root. By 1874 the firm of Burnham and Root had gained the commission for the John B. Sherman mansion on South Prairie Avenue. Daniel married Margaret Sherman in late 1874.

From 1871 until Root's death in 1891, the firm of Burnham & Root gained ever larger and prestigious projects. Beginning with residential commissions from Chicago's wealthy and elite, they continued with the development of the Skyscraper. Projects included the Women's Building, the Masonic Temple, the Rookery, and the Monadnock Block. Root died before their largest and most prestigious commission could be realized: The World's Columbian Exposition. Daniel Burnham, assisted by his new design partner, Charles Bowler Atwood, and a strong collaboration with the country's eastern architects and artists guided the Exposition to a resounding success. And with the national reputation earned and the connections made, D.H. Burnham and Company moved to become among the largest and most important architects in the country. Skyscrapers, Department Stores, Railway Stations, and Urban Planning were areas of expertise and innovation.

With his large scale introduction of the Beaux Arts Aesthetic in both Architecture and Planning, Daniel Burnham and his Ecole designers, changed the face of the early 20th Century American Cities.  And none more than his hometown of Chicago.  Take a look.  Below is a Sampler of D.H.Burnham & Co's work in Chicago.  Click on Images to see more.

No Architectural firm, before or since, has had a greater impact on Chicago.

+++

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP

Fine Art Photographs of Chicago Landmark Architecture and Sculpture

+++

THE WRIGLEY BUILDING

and NORTHWESTERN TERRA COTTA COMPANY

We think of the Wrigley Building as the grand architecture of  GRAHAM, ANDERSON, PROBST AND WHITE.  And it is.  Trapezoids. Towers.  The Clock, of course. Bronze.  And gleaming Terra Cotta. GAPW led the team.
.

But designs for the terra cotta were not entirely generated by the Architects. Uncredited "Modelers"  from the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company are largely responsible for the play of light across the architect's surfaces..  And for the invention of those characters ....who inhabit the clay.

+++

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP . ORG

+++

SCHLESINGER and MEYER

LOUIS HENRI SULLIVAN

It is possible to be overwhelmed by Louis Sullivan's ornament at the Schlesinger and Meyer Department Store on Chicago's State Street.  Or to overlook it entirely. Two stories of black metal spanning enormnous sheets of plate glass on a gray day can camouflage Sullivan's highest art. Afternoon sun, in late summer, can make this remarkable Sullivan masterpiece ... unforgettable.

Symmetrical patterns contrasted with pure flights of fancy.  Incised geometries in opposition with three dimensional sculpture.  Heavy geometries. Organic metal ... sprung to life.  Hidden in the consistency of this black facade, Sullivan (etal) has created a highly complex and contradictory fantasy.  One that changes - unpredictably -  with the light and season.

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP

+

GEORGE UNGER

Who is George Unger?
.

George Unger is typically listed among the credits for the bas reliefs at the Medinah Athletic Club. Other credits include Carl Beil and Leon Hermant.  And the Medinah's architect, Walter Ahlschlager.

.

Having never heard of him, and being familiar with the others, I could never have guessed the significance of his participation.

.

A quick trip to the Netherland Plaza and Carew Tower in Cincinnati, where Unger is liberally credited will dispell any questions.  Carew Tower and the Medinah Athletic Club were concurrent commissions for  Chicago Architect Walter Ahlschlager.  And both commissions required a lot of "bizazz".  Fresh from New York and his commissions for the Roxy and the Beacon, Ahschlager knew "bizazz" - and set interior/theater designer George Unger to work.  In both locations.  And somehow ... the Medinah's potentates of Chicago .... found themselves inspiring rams, dolphins, and seahorses in Cincinnati. 

.

A small world indeed.

Link Here for photos of Chicago's Medinah Athletic Club.

Link Here for photos of George Unger, Carl Beil and Leon Hermant's Bas Relief "Contribution."

Link Here for photos of Cincinnati's Netherland Hilton

Link Here and Here for photos of Cincinnati's Carew Tower

George Unger may have died in Los Angeles in 1951. Unconfirmed.  I have been unable to trace his life through the War and Depression that spelled the end to Deco and flights of fancy that make the Medinah Athletic and the Netherland Hilton Landmarks in the 21st Century.

EXPLORE THE CHICAGO LOOP

+++

.

C is for Cordwell

JOHN DONALD CORDWELL 1920 -1999

I believe it was the early eighties. Late seventies, maybe.  The day, though, I remember clearly.  Brilliant sunshine and hours passed in Harbor Country waiting for the party.

 

The annual Solomon Cordwell Buenz office get-together was an event.  SCB was up and coming and  a job there was coveted.  I attended that year - in an old but still elegant Lakeside beach resort,  as the guest of their specifications consultant. I was nervous, reticent and would have been glad to pass the evening quietly, seated, on a far corner of the terrace.  Barbara M, though, would have none of that.  She took me by the arm and headed straight for "the boss."  "John."

 John Cordwell was in rare form. THE John Cordwell.  Director of the Chicago Plan Commission in the fifties.  Urban renewal philosopher. Architect of Carl Sandburg Village. RAF fighter pilot. A small crowd had gathered around him.  The English accent was unmistakable.  He wore an ascot.

 " My Grandmother had the perfect remedy for crabs."  He sipped from his wineglass, glanced at his admirers, and then turned away, as though he had crossed a line,  said enough.  But he turned and began again....(the smile was still imperceptible).

 "She was a remarkable woman.  Lived to be 108."  More small talk about her etiquette and fine character and then.... " of course I've never HAD crabs.  No, never.   And why SHE'D need to know a remedy for them is beyond me..."  Everyone's eyes rolled.....  He paused again.  This time at length.  Until someone asked, "well, what is this remedy?"  John shot back "IS THIS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW?".  Roars of laughter.  And then another carefully manufactured awkward silence followed by, "you simply rub sour cream on your private parts."

By this time, finally, everyone realized that we had been "taken."  And almost simultaneously, as a group, asked how sour cream could possibly work --  John was waiting.  "The little crabs eat the sour cream.  All of it.  And get so FAT that they simply fall off."  He chuckled, exited (stage left) and left us...  laughing and shaking our heads.

 I had forgotten all that. Until I found John's picture while researching SCB for a future post.  And I am reminded that Architecture is a story of buildings AND people  -- 

JOHN DONALD CORDWELL

and that we are losing both.  Far too quickly.

+++

A is for AHLSCHLAGER

Researching Chicago Architects for upcoming CAITL posts, two online resources recently caught my attention. 

First, AMERICAN BUILDER MAGAZINE, 1921 has an extensive collection of the works of Walter W. Ahlschlager.  (Don't miss Dutch Boy's advertisement for their very best White Lead Paint!)   Among Ahlschlager's credits are the Medinah Athletic Club (now the InterContinental on North Michigan Avenue) and Carew Tower in Cincinnati.  I was pretty proud of this "find" ... until Google told me that it was featured in ARCHITECTURECHICAGO PLUS .... back in 2006.  Still, it is worth the re-post.  

And next, THE WESTERN ARCHITECT, Volume 30, published in May 1921 contains (among other interesting articles) an obituary for the 95 year old Frederick S. Baumann. Bauman (according to JSTOR) is the City's first German immigrant architect.  His office opened in 1850.  With his brother, Edward, Frederick is responsible for the McComick House at 660 North Rush and the Washington Block at Washington and Wells.  Both are CHICAGO LANDMARKS.  He also did the recently restored facade of the Rae Building, with its very nice, but uncredited scultpure.  Baumann's published engineering work, well respected in his lifetime, is largely forgotten. A copy of his Foundations and Foundation Walls is available from GOOGLE EBOOKS - for the hardcore historians.

A is for Ahlschlager, B is for Baumann ...  My photo website is beginning to take shape.  For a look at the work in progress link here:  THE CHICAGO LOOP

WALTER W. AHLSCHLAGER

Now, if I could just find a picture of Frederick Baumann..... 

+++

SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

I am advised to see "something beautiful each day."  Often a tall order.

Untitled.  DENNIS DAVIS

Untitled. DENNIS DAVIS

But today was easy.  First, another remarkable blog post from Lynn Becker . Then, a first look at a collection of work by artist Dennis Davis.  And then, that little sunset.

And now?  I'm (almost) off on vacation.  For more work by Dennis Davis visit Miller Beach Art  For another post on this site?  We're two weeks away.  In the meantime, visit our work in progress --

THE CHICAGO LOOP

_______

D. H. BURNHAM & COMPANY.

Frederick Dinkelberg

Daniel Burnham hired New York architect Frederick Dinkelberg in 1892 to assist his new design partner Charles Atwood with the World's Columbian Exposition.  In addition to the Fair, Dinkelberg assisted Atwood with the Marshall Field & Company and the Ellicott Square commissions.  Dinkelberg went on to become Burnham's "facade designer" -- and is credited with design for the Heyworth Building, the Railway Exchange, the Conway Building and the Flatiron Building in New York.  Dinkelberg left D.H. Burnham and Company in 1908 when an internal reorganization named Peirce Anderson its lead designer.  Dinkelberg's "last hurrah" was the Jewelers' Building at 35 East Wacker.  (And it was quite a hurrah...) But of all  Frederick Dinkelberg's commissions this little house designed in 1891 may have been among his best memories.

The Villa Margherite. 4 South Battery Street.  Charleston, South Carolina

Credit Charleston County Public LIbrary

The opportunities that employment at D.H. Burnham & Company brought to Dinkelberg could not have been gained elsewhere.  But at a price.  DHB was a corporate machine, taking individual contributions and crediting them as its own. For the commission on Battery Street, Dinkelberg was given full credit. For his assistance to the opium addicted Atwood.... not so much.

Link to another photo of this little gem at the Art Institute of Chicago

_______

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CHICAGO

10 South Dearborn Street
C.F. Murphy Associates and The Perkins and Will Partnership

1969

 It's easy to get wrapped up in the History of Chicago's Buildings and Architects  -- but last Wednesday the light was so perfect that First National Plaza looked as crisp and new as 1969.

FIRST NATIONAL PLAZA

DeStefano Keating's 1 South Dearborn and SOM's Inland Steel in the Background
.

DANIEL BURNHAM'S CLOCK

(Only partially obscuring Helmut Jahn's Xerox Center)
.

I walked the length of Dearborn Street that sunny day of perfect light.  Marina City.  Daley Plaza. The Brunswick Building.  First National Bank.  Inland Steel.  The Marquette.  The Federal Center. The Fisher.  The Monadnock.  The Old Colony.  The Manhattan. The Morton.  Dearborn Street Station..... 

.

I was reminded of the quote on the Tree Studio -

.

Ars longa.  Vita Brevis.

+

FISHER BUILDING. The Client

LUCIUS G. FISHER

Lucius Fisher's father visited Chicago in 1837, where he found corn (of the small yellow variety) growing on State Street between Washington Street and Lake Street and decided that the place had little future.  He took his new wife (a distant relative of Marshall Field)  to Beloit Wisconsin to settle, raise a family  and become successful.  In 1866 he changed his mind and returned to Chicago. 

LUCIUS GEORGE FISHER.  Credit Google

Lucius was born in Beloit on November 27, 1843. He passed the entrance exam to Beloit College, but instead headed west to Colorado during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.  He returned "across the plains" in a wagon pulled by a six yoke of oxen. (I wonder how often the Grandkids heard THAT story.)  He then headed east to New York City where in 1863 enlisted in the Union Army, fighting in the Shenendoah Valley.  In 1866 he, too, moved to Chicago.

His first job in Chicago was with the Rock River Paper Company.  Shortly after he bought a controlling interest in the Wheeler and Hinman Paper Company which he renamed Union Bag and Paper. In 1870 he married Katherine Louise Eddy.  And from this point on, Lucius' success  was nothing less than meteoric.  Katherine's brother, Alfred D.  became general counsel to the Standard Oil Company.  And Lucius' aquisitions in the "Bag Business" paralleled the acquisitions in  "Oil Business."

Eventually Lucius was worth some $27,000,000.00 (that's in 1900's value) owning 18 paper mills, vast areas of timber, and several pulp mills.  In the mid 1880's he invested heavily in Chicago Real Estate.

This is the man who came to Daniel Burnham in 1895 with the commission for the Fisher Building, which would be the headquarters of Union Bag and Paper Company.

Burnham's life experience was much like his client's (less the Civil War experience): missing college, an adventure out west, an advantageous marriage, and a successful career beyond all expectations.  Fisher's journey of expansion and consolidation had taken him from Rock River to the Union Bag, Burnham's would cover Union Stockyards to Union Station.

________

Lucius Fisher did enjoy his architecture.  In 1900 he bought the Nickerson Mansion.  And each night, after a day at the Fisher Building, he came home to THIS.

__________

Union Bag and Paper Company merged with Camp Manufacturing in 1956 to form Union Camp.  The Union Camp was acquired by International Paper in 1999.

__________

Although the flat bottomed paper bag was invented by a man, Ms.Margret Knight in 1870 invented the  device to cut, fold and paste paper bag bottoms

__________

The cherub-like sculptures on the south face of the Fisher Building are often referred to as "The Fisher Twins"  Lucius did not have twins, and his son was 18 at the time of construction.  So THAT mystery remains unsolved.

__________

DOOR PERSON AT THE FISHER



The charming and informed Door Person at the Fisher Building told me that, not so long ago, two cabs filled with "Fishers" arrived unannounced  at the Building, posed for a family portrait, and left.....  Wouldn't I like a copy of THAT photo.

__________

+

THE FISHER BUILDING

CREDITS

LOCATION
343 South Dearborn Street
The Chicago Loop

CLIENT
Lucius Fisher

ARCHITECT (Original Structure)  1896   
D.H. Burnham and Company
Charles Atwood, Partner-in-Charge of Design
E.C. Shankland, Engineer

ARCHITECT (Addition)  1907                        
Peter Weber with E.C. and R.M. Shankland Engineers

ARCHITECT (Lobby Renovation) 1920 (unconfirmed) 
Unknown


CONTRACTORS (Original)
Pioneer Fireproof Construction Company
Northwestern Terra Cotta Company
Rittenhouse & Embree Company
Evans Marble Comopany
Frank L. Davis
Winslow Brothers Company
L.H. Prentice Company
Grimshaw Company and General Electric
Alfred Barker
P. F. Corbin

LINKS
Chicago Landmarks
Historic American Buildings Survey.
Charles Bowler Atwood
Village Green

CURRENT MANAGEMENT
The Village Green

_______________

The credits are just the beginning.  Each has a story.  Over the next few weeks we will be looking at the Fisher's structural innovations, its fireproofing, elevators, and interior finishes.  It's expression of the Chicago School of Architecture.  And its personal stories.  But today, we celebrate the FISH.....

 

Lucius Fisher, I think,  must have had quite a sense of humor.  Fish... Fisher....  Get it ??

_______________

For more photographs of CHARLES ATWOOD's work in Chicago,

 LINK HERE

_______________