Bachelor Benefactor
[Art Institute of Chicago (1893) Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, architects /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
Many of the world's museums are a maze of buildings constructed at different times during an institution's history. Often the addition is named for the donor who gave the kind of money that calls for naming rights, and just as often raises questions about motives and ethics in the ongoing battle between commerce and art. At Chicago's Art Institute the original main building is named for one of the museum's great benefactors, but the designation came long after the building was built, and after the donor's death.
[Allerton Building, Art Institute of Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
Robert Allerton's father was a Chicago pioneer who built an empire of wealth based on good timing, great decisions and street smarts. Samuel Allerton was a founder of the infamous Union Stock Yards, a grain merchant, a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, and a founder of Chicago's First National Bank. When he died in 1914 his entire estate went to his 41-year-old son. Robert dabbled in his father's commodity business but art was his passion and he used his inheritance to enrich his city's art museum. He donated funds to house the Institute's decorative arts collection in a cluster of galleries named for his mother Agnes, and by 1963 had given more money to the museum during his lifetime than any other donor in the institution's history. To show their appreciation, the Board of Trustees named Allerton the museum's first Honorary President.
[Public Notice 3, Jitish Kallat, artist, Grand Staircase, Art Institute of Chicago, November 15, 2010 /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
One of the the most visually dynamic parts of the main building, designed in 1893 by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, is the entry and Grand Staircase, which wasn't conceived in its current configuration until 1910. The Beaux-Arts temple was built as a compliment structure to the World's Columbian Exposition and originally contained two large lecture halls. When the Fair was over, the museum moved in. The lighted copy currently lining the flat surfaces of the tread panels is from a speech given by Swami Vivekanada on September 11, 1893 at the First World Parliament of Religions, an exhibit by artist Jitish Kallat titled Public Notice 3, which commemorates that September day in the distant, and not so distant past.
[The Women's Board Grand Staircase /Image & Artwork: designslinger]
Robert Allerton died in 1964 at the age of 91. He was survived by his son John Wyatt Gregg, who Allerton adopted in 1960 at the age of 87, when Gregg was 59. They first met while Allerton was attending a football game at the University of Illinois in 1922 and lived together for over 35 years. No one knows for sure just what the exact nature of their relationship was, but Robert called John his "son" and Gregg called Allerton his "father." The lifelong bachelor had met someone to share his life with, and as father and son were accepted into Allerton's conservative social circles. Ironically, or perhaps not, up until 1959 it wasn't legal in the State of Illinois to adopt a person over the age of 18, and there were rumors that the aging art patron had used his clout to get the law changed making it legal to adopt with no age restrictions. Although there was a lot of gossip and whispering about the older man and his "son" over the years, Allerton's private life remained private, and in 1968 four years after the great benefactors death, the trustees of the museum named their 1893 home in his honor, and remains the Allerton Building to this day.
See more of the Art Institute at: A New Wing Takes Flight and Mrs. Palmer's Paintings.
Posted by designslinger at 12/7/2010 3:32 AM 
Categories: Architecture, Art, History
Tags: Shepley Rutan and Coolidge Art Institute of Chicago museums
Categories: Architecture, Art, History
Tags: Shepley Rutan and Coolidge Art Institute of Chicago museums
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