Published: September 01, 2006 10:31 pm      

Devotees plan to mark architect’s 150th

For a guy born 150 years ago, architect Louis Sullivan has been in the news a lot lately.

Unfortunately, not much of it has been good news for buildings designed by the man considered one of America’s most influential architects.

His Pilgrim Baptist Church, on Chicago’s South Side, was devastated by fire in January. His personal vacation bungalow on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina last year.

And Carson Pirie Scott announced last month that it is leaving Sullivan’s landmark State Street building, which has housed a department store since it was built more than 100 years ago.

Well, at least fans of Sullivan, who was born Sept. 3, 1856 in Boston, have a birthday to celebrate. And how many architects get a six-week birthday celebration like the one that is kicking off this weekend in Chicago?

The architect who declared “form ever follows function,” whose students included Frank Lloyd Wright, will be the subject of lectures, tours, film screenings, classes and symposiums — all serving as a reminder of the man known for his mastery of designing tall office buildings.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to really look at Sullivan and his partner Dankmar Adler and their incredible career. Really get the opportunity to rediscover their architecture and look at what great strides were made in the late 19th and early 20th century by their firm, and then Sullivan on his own — marvelous buildings, many of which still stand throughout the Midwest,” said Ward Miller, director of the Richard Nickel Committee, one of the groups participating in the celebration.

Sullivan, who spent the bulk of his career in Chicago, played a vital role in making the city a hub for innovative American architecture in the late 19th century.

He moved to Chicago while he was still a teenager, drawn by the demand for architects that followed the Great Chicago Fire.

He left for a year to study in Paris and travel through Europe; He returned to Chicago and in 1880 joined Adler’s firm, being named a full partner three years later.

Adler solved the engineering quandaries. Sullivan focused on the design — embracing natural and organic forms for his ornamentation.

Their collaboration produced approximately 180 works — including the Auditorium Building in Chicago (renowned for the acoustics in its theater and once the city’s tallest building) and the Chicago Stock Exchange.

With its open floor plan and rejection of typical Victorian architecture, the firm’s James Charnley House on Chicago’s North Side (now called the Charnley-Persky House) is considered a pivotal work of modern architecture.

It was designed by Sullivan along with his protege Frank Lloyd Wright, who later called Sullivan the “lieber-meister” (“beloved master”).

Sullivan and Adler had a falling out in 1895, two years after Wright was fired for taking side jobs.

Sullivan’s last great commission was received in 1899 for the Schlesinger and Meyer Department Store — now home, at least until March, to Carson Pirie Scott. (The building is a National Historic Landmark, although some preservationists worry about how future tenants might want to alter the building’s interior or entrances for their own use.)

As Sullivan’s commissions dwindled — the architect insisted on forging a new type of American architecture at a time when Neo-Classical styles were in vogue — Sullivan’s works became more modest.

His lasting contribution in the later years of his life was a series of small Midwestern banks — often called his “Jewel Boxes.”

He died impoverished, in a Chicago hotel room, in 1924. Wright and Sullivan had reconciled about 10 years earlier, and Wright wrote an obituary of Sullivan in Architectural Record magazine.

Ironically, Sullivan’s works — once on the cutting edge of architecture — ended up playing a vital role in preservation efforts.

The destruction in the early 1960s and 1970s of his Garrick Theater Building and especially the Chicago Stock Exchange provided fuel for groups dedicated to preserving such landmark structures.

Miller’s organization — the Richard Nickel Committee — is named for the man whose mission became trying to save Sullivan’s works from demolition, and salvaging and photographing as much as he could when he lost the fight.

He disappeared in April 1972. A month later, his body was found in the rubble of the Chicago Stock Exchange; it’s believed he was crushed when the trading floor room collapsed.

That trading room was salvaged and rebuilt inside The Art Institute of Chicago. It features eight octagonal columns topped with ornate gilded capitals; skylights with complex geometric patterns and a dramatic color scheme of green, blue, gold and terra cotta.

Yet on a recent visit to the museum, the trading room was empty — with no museumgoers pausing to step inside.

John Russick — a curator at the Chicago History Museum, which is leading the Sullivan celebrations — said he hopes the upcoming events will help introduce the architect to a wider audience.

Sullivan, he believes, is one of the most accessible of architects, because whether or not you know his design theories, anyone can appreciate the sheer beauty of his work.

“I think his brilliance is evident in a lot of ways that are easy to grasp,” said Russick, chair of the Louis Sullivan at 150 Committee. “These buildings are meant to be appreciated by all of us, no matter who we are.”



Editor’s note: The following story was written for a 2003 special section celebrating the rebirth of the Van Allen building, the first of three prominent downtown Clinton buildings redeveloped by Community Housing Initiatives of Spencer.

By Scott T. Holland

Associate Editor

It has been called the most important historical building in Iowa. And through no small amount of effort, the Van Allen building soon will be reborn in downtown Clinton.

The building has been many things since its construction, which lasted from 1914 to 1916. Technically known as the Sullivan building, so named for its famous architect, Louis B. Sullivan, its common name refers to the tenants for which it was built, the Van Allen and Son Department Store.

Located at the corner of Fifth Avenue South and Second Street, the four-story structure housed Van Allen and Son for more than half a century, before it was leased in 1968 to Von Maur.

It was those 70 years as the area’s largest retail facility that the building became known in and around Iowa. But in truth, the store inside the building has never been as historically important as the building itself.

Sullivan is renowned as a leader of American architecture. He taught Frank Lloyd Wright, the country’s best known building designer. The Van Allen building is unique for two reasons. One is that of all the buildings Sullivan designed (several of which were banks), it is the one built most closely to its original plans.

Secondly, some 150 letters between Sullivan and John D. Van Allen have been saved, offering an insight into the minds of two men working together to create a lasting piece of American history.

A good deal is known about Van Allen himself, including his 1892 arrival in Clinton to acquire a partnership in an existing dry goods store occupying 2,500 square feet on the future site of the historic building. The three-story building, in which Van Allen had eventually occupied 11,000 square feet, had to be demolished to make way for Sullivan’s creation, which was built from 1912 to 1914. Construction was headed by Daniel Haring, a Pennsylvania man whose other Clinton works include the Wilson and Ankeny buildings, First Presbyterian Church and the Clinton Family YMCA.

In late 1988, rescuing the building became the key project of architectural historian Crombie Taylor, a longtime Sullivan admirer. Though the building reopened in late 1991 as a museum and cultural center, its permanent future was not permanently cemented until the recent past.

The city, interested in preserving the building for its historical value had acquired the building. In 2001, an agreement was reached between the city, Heartland Properties and non-profit developer Community Housing Initiatives to overhaul the building.

The first floor would be given to retail space, eventually determined to be the new home of Wagner pharmacy, a fixture in the downtown Clinton scene. The remaining floors would become apartments, furnished with furniture and appliances from other Clinton businesses.

That vision is soon to become a reality. Wagner is soon to open (doubling the space of its present location) and many of the 19 apartments are rented. CHI’s experience with the city has been so positive it is looking for another Clinton project to give the same treatment.

The building also will contain a small museum dedicated to the history of the building and its famous architect. Now, nearly 90 years after the building was conceived, it stands as a testament to a community devoted to remembering its past and planning for its future.