Filling In the Holes
[Gage Group (1898) Holabird & Roche, Louis Sullivan, architects /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
This cluster of three buildings along the Michigan Avenue building wall that fronts Grant Park are known as the Gage Group. They have also been known as the McCormick Buildings, named for the family who built the structures in 1898, or as the Ascher, Keith and Gage Brothers buildings, millinery firms who were the first tenants. Today they are popularly identified by the brothers name, and sit near the top of the list in the pantheon of structures that make up the world-famous Chicago School of architecture.
[Gage Brothers Building, 18 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
The group had been designed by Holabird & Roche for the McCormick estate with the Thomas Ascher, Edson Keith and Gage Brothers companies already lined up to move in once the buildings were ready for occupancy. The Gages however wanted something else in their lease agreement, more decoration on the exterior of their building so it would stand out from the group. This was more than Holabird & Roche had planned, and would cost more than the McCormicks were willing to pay. So the brothers asked Louis Sullivan to give them a building front with a little something extra. He took an existing drawing of the facade, drew a new design in pencil on top of it, the Gage brothers coughed up an additional $2,500 for his signature florid decoration, and their building stood out from its neighbors.
[Gage Building ground floor construction, June-October, 2009; Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co., ground floor cast-iron detail (1903) Louis Sullivan, architect /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
From the exuberant cast-iron surround on the ground floor to the floral explosion in white terra-cotta at the top, the Gages got what they paid for. Unfortunately the beautiful cast-iron facade was removed in a 1952 remodeling, lost to the scrap heap, although a few pieces did end up in the collection of the Chicago's Art Institute. Last summer and into the fall, the lower facade of the building was under construction. After seeing the stunning renovation of Sullivan's Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. store on State Street, I wondered if we were in for a restoration of the original Gage ground floor design. I kept taking pictures as work progressed through the winter.
[Gage/Roosevelt University Building, February 11, 2010 /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
But alas, it was not to be. Although the sleek, polished gray-granite panels of the 1950s that surrounded the window openings were removed, this new facade turned out to be some kind of representational homage to the original. The openings are reminiscent of Sullivan's design and the flat panels are a tint of green which seems to want to honor the paint color of the cast-iron, but when you look at pictures of the 1898 design, the redo was a let-down.
Of course it would take a lot of money to replicate the thistles and flowing curves of Mr. Sullivan's original handy work, and Roosevelt University, a majority owner of the building, has its hands full maintaining the home of their main campus Sullivan's other Michigan Avenue masterpiece, the Auditorium Building.
See more of Louis at: Sullivan in Detail, Relics of Retail, Sullivan's Great Poem, and Supreme Reprieve.
Posted by designslinger at 11/22/2010 4:00 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History, Architects, Decorative Arts
Tags: architectural ornamentation commercial architecture Holabird and Roche Louis Sullivan
Categories: Architecture, History, Architects, Decorative Arts
Tags: architectural ornamentation commercial architecture Holabird and Roche Louis Sullivan
Yeah, it won't win any awards. Another lost opportunity. Still, not awful either.
True. Very true.